Web2Rights is a JISC project, funded from 1st November 2007 – 31st March 2009, whose purpose was initially to develop practical, pragmatic and relevant Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and other legal issues toolkits to support the projects funded within the JISC Users and Innovation Programme (U&I) in their engagement with next generation technologies. The Web2Rights team, comprised of lawyers, consultants, learning technologists and pedagogic experts focussed upon the need to address cultural and practical obstacles in engaging with Web2.0, IPR and other legal issues. Working in close collaboration with JISC Legal and focussing upon the specific issues raised by the U&I community of users, they have created a number of resources to address a variety of legal issues which might arise.
Web2Rights – the issues
A wide range of new and developing services, software and other technologies are being deployed, developed and adapted to engage and communicate with staff, students and new audiences across Higher and Further Education. The software and technologies are diverse and are reshaping user engagement, the concept of “community” and experiences within the context of teaching, learning, research and administration. However, Web 2.0 technologies, present interesting challenges relating to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and other legal issues. Profound issues and questions that arise include:
- Do rights exist in a virtual world and, if so, who owns them?
- Who owns the rights in works that are a result of collective collaboration?
- What happens if you can’t find the rights holders?
- What are the legal risks associated with Web 2.0 engagement?
- How can risks associated with content reuse be sensibly managed?
Web2Rights – the resources
The Web2Rights team have taken an innovative approach in creating a set of web based interactive resources and tools to provide a number of pathways to access the resources and address the emerging issues. These tools include flow charts, diagnostic tools and animations, supported by fact sheets, template forms & licences, FAQs, use cases and check lists. Issues covered by these resources include:
- IPR
- Data Protection
- Obscenity, Libel and Slander
- Accessibility
- Liability issues
- Contract and employment law
- E-security
- Freedom of Information
- Other rights of privacy
- Legal issues and international jurisdictions
The scope of the project outputs has been such, that the Web2Rights resources can also be used more broadly by other JISC funded projects, organisations across HE and FE, the cultural heritage sector as well as for use by other sectors involved in Web2.0 engagement. Web2Rights resources can be accessed at http://www.web2rights.org.uk