Re: [ARSCLIST] MP3 bit rates and usage factors for Web pages

[andy kolovos <akolovos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marie Azile O'Connell wrote:

> My instinct has been to give
> a very short excerpt of audio, with text, but to keep out the 'prized' part of
> the audio that the person really wants.  If they want it badly enough, then
> they will have to get in touch with the company, University and pay for it!

This was our instinct initially.  But I've found that trying to create 
coherent excerpts to mount on the web takes a heck of a lot of time.

Time I wish I had.

Like I wish I had an assistant, or at least a consistently reliable intern.

So I'm currently weighing the ethical and economic concerns related to 
putting up full interviews.  What I like about using full interviews is 
that someone accessing the material can listen and follow along by 
reading the marked up transcript.  What I don't like is that someone's 
words and our bread and butter can be easily harvested for some 
nefarious or odd-ball purpose.  I mean, I'll be surprised the day 
someone makes a killing selling bootlegged oral history interviews, 
especially when they'd have to be dressed up from cruddy sounding .mp3s, 
but still.

And as another poster mentioned, permissions are a huge issue too.  Many 
of our interviews were conducted before researchers had informants sign 
release agreements as a general practice.  Many of our informants are 
dead.  I've also found that even if an interviewee is happy to give 
permission for access and copying, many people are reluctant to allow 
for web-based access to audio of their interviews.  I can't blame them 
either.

For those people who we've lost touch with, we're following the American 
Folklife Center's practice of making a "good faith effort" to establish 
contact and get permission to make materials available on the web.  The 
big test for this method is coming shortly--we've got a Feb/March goal 
of getting our test collection up and accessible.

andy

--
*********************************
Andy Kolovos
Archivist/Folklorist
Vermont Folklife Center
P.O. Box 442
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 388-4964
akolovos @ vermontfolklifecenter.org
http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org