From: Keith Sanborn (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Feb 23 2004 - 08:04:31 PST
>
>
>i for one don't understand why mr. hoberman and arcade are fighting these
>efforts to publicly place the archive vs. applauding and cooperating with
>them. the family wishes to place the archive where it can be accessed
>publicly in a protected manner. for whatever reasons, the archive is
>currently NOT publicly available and NOT protected.
>
>if the pf inc.'s motives were truly "altruistic" as professed, these actions
>would not be perceived as a legal mess, but rather an excellent opportunity.
>
>
_
This is the first time I have ever heard the efforts of Jack's sister
to gain possession of the material as being synonymous with "placing
the archive where it can be accessed publicly in a protected manner."
Is that her stated motive? Sorry if I missed that somewhere in all
the "discussion."
I really don't think anyone has been accused of first degree altruism
in any of these "discussions." If so, I'd be the first to defend them
from such a charge. There might be a case for second degree, though.
What is needed is for the work to be preserved in an accessible form,
or "accessed publicly in a protected manner." This is of course a
contradiction in terms, but one every archive has to deal with.
Archives are "gatekeepers." Period: The Plaster Foundation is a
"gatekeeper." Jack's sister and any foundation she might set up would
be a "gatekeeper." Archives decide, on whatever basis they
choose-though theoretically it's supposed to be the best service to
the work archived-who gets access and how much. They make judgment
calls: not every researcher gets the total access they want or think
they deserve. Ever go to a library and try to find something only to
be told it's missing and assumed "stolen"?
After that, we have competing proposals and a lot of bad feelings.
And then there's the matter of how such an archive can be funded.
Archives gain some of their income from licensing fees, which are
often seen as pretty outrageous to researchers and are impossible for
the average member of this list. Here's hoping there's some
beneficent billionaire or a group of "disinterested" parties-both
contradictions in terms-waiting to fund it. I'm not holding my breath.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.