Rights management and JORUM
All of the RepRODUCE projects are required to deposit the learning objects generated as outputs of their projects in JORUM.
This is important as a way of guaranteeing access for UK HE and FE to the outputs of publicly funded projects once those projects have ended and of populating Jorum.
Currently JORUM requires deposition in perpetuity and I have become increasingly aware during the opening weeks of the JISC CASPER project that this can pose problems to those university staff who may be otherwise supportive of including their materials in Jorum.
Why? Well at least two issues have come to my attention:
1. For those that routinely refresh their materials on a regular basis, deposition in perpetuity means that materials created in the past that are now out of date or even wrong may re-surface and be potentially detrimental to the reputation of those involved in their creation. Now this may be an unfounded concern (as was pointed out to me, academics don’t seek to have all the old editions of their books pulped), it is nevertheless a concern that will makes some stop and think before depositing their materials in JORUM.
2. If one wants to include 3rd party materials in ones learning objects then clearing the rights in perpetuity is going to either be much harder work, or maybe impossible for some media format such as film where the granting of perpetual rights is uncommon. This can two potential consequences, either there is a form of self-censorship where all but the easiest content to clear is included in learning materials, or one simply avoids deposition in JORUM.
Could Jorum do more to overcome these issues and encourage engagement and deposition by including some form of rights management/tracking tool that would allow for the routine weeding of the repository for content that is coming up to the end of its pre-agreed lifespan?
If a depositor could review and confirm the ongoing inclusion of their learning materials in JORUM after 3, 5, 10 years - might this encourage them to deposit more materials?
The same is true of 3rd party content, if one could clear rights for limited periods of time, would it make it easier to clear the rights in that content in the first place and as a result include more 3rd party content in learning materials going into JORUM?
If this process could be automated so that an automatic notification went to the original depositor, and they or their institution had responsibility for the clearance it need not dramatically add to the administrative burden on JORUM and could encourage a more sustained engagement with the repository over the long term.