A presentation give at #AoIR2016 by Pat Aufderheide and Aram Sinnreich sharing survey data reflecting the copyright and fair use practices of people in the visual arts professions

1. NORMS-SHIFTING FOR
DIGITAL AND ONLINE ARTS
PRACTICE
PATRICIA AUFDERHEIDE, ARAM SINNREICH AND LOUISA IMPERIALE
OCTOBER,2016
ASSOCIATION OFINTERNETRESEARCHERS

2. SURVEY
• A year after creating Code of Best Practices in Fair Use
for the Visual Arts
• C. 1900 U.S. respondents
• Via College Art Association
• Academics, museum professionals, editors, artists
• Early career, mid, veteran
• Compare with 2013 survey

3. QUESTIONS
• How high was awareness?
• Did awareness bring trust?
• Did awareness change behavior?

4. MAJORITY USE
COPYRIGHTED WORK
10.96
35.11
19.84
13.84
15.74
4.41Always
Frequently
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Not sure

5. ONE-THIRD OF RESPONDENTS AVOID,
ABANDON, AND DELAY PROJECTS DUE TO
COPYRIGHT
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Avoided or abandoned Delayed
Always Frequently Sometimes

6. FAIR USE IS UNDERUSED
More than four-fifths of CAA members use copyrighted work, but only one-fifth employ fair use
whenever they do.
Alwa…
Frequent
ly
19%
Sometime
s…
Rar…
Never
11%
Unsur
e…
Used copyrighted
works
Always
41%
Frequently
19%
Sometimes
15%
Rarely, 12%
Never
11%
Sought permission
Always
38%
Frequently
27%
Sometimes
16%
Rarely
6%
Never
4% Unsure
9%
Relied on fair use
Didn’t always
seek permission
Yes (80%)
(59%)

7. 0%
500%
1000%
1500%
2000%
2500%
3000%
3500%
Absolutely
necessary for
creators
very useful somewhat useful Not sure Somewhat
damaging
Very damaging Totally unfair for
creators
29% 29%
12%
23%
5% 1% 1%
FAIR USE VALUED BUT...
“How useful or damaging do you think fair use rights are for
creative expression?”

8. MANY SEEK OTHER UNLICENSED
OPTIONS
Always
3%
Frequently,
11%
Sometimes
, 16%
Rarely
9%Never
47%
Unsure,
14%
Used Open
License to Share
Own Work
Always
3%
Frequently
19%
Sometimes
26%
Rarely
13%
Never
26%
Unsure,
14%
Used Others’
Openly Licensed
Work
Always
6%
Frequently
36%
Sometimes,
32%
Rarely
10%
Never
10%
Unsure,
5%
Used Others’
Public Domain
Work

9. RESPONDENTS VALUE CREATIVE
COPYING
91%
90%
82%
89%
82%
68%
95%
93%
87%
95%
92%
76%
Creative
appropriation can be
“original”
Creative appropriation
shouldn’t necessarily
require permission
CAA
Members
Documentary
Filmmakers
General
Population
U.S.
Non-U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
U.S.
Non-U.S.
Non-U.S.
Non-U.S.
Non-U.S.
Non-U.S.

10. RESPONDENTS: UNCERTAINTY
LIMITS MY CREATIVITY
Yes
43%
No
57%
What would change:
• More appropriative art
• Publish more
• Share work online
• Improve educational
techniques
• Fewer
meetings/calls/emails

11. 2013/2016
•Strongly similar overall patterns
•Licensing is still the norm, despite
difficulties
•Visual arts professionals have
reasons to find alternatives

12. CHANGE
S SINCE
THE
CODE
WAS
ISSUED,
FEB.
2015

13. AWARENESS AND TRUST
64.1%
35.9%
2/3 HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE CODE
67.2%
32.8%
1/3 HAVE TOLD SOMEONE
ABOUT IT

14. WHO THEY TOLD ABOUT THE
CODE
87%
35% 31%
21%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Colleagues Students Administrators Conference
Atendees

15. ASSOCIATIONS ARE
POSITIVE
“What words would you associate with fair use?”

16. CODE USE LEADS TO CHANGE
Yes
63%
No
37%
Aware of Code
Yes
51%
No
49%
Used Code
No
No
No
38%
Pre-
Code
14%Post-
Code
3%
Pre &
Post
21%
N/A
24%
No
41%
Pre-
Code
16%
Post-
Code
1%
Pre &
Post
22%
N/A
20%
No
29%
Pre-
Code
15%
Post-
Code
8%
Pre &
Post
36%
N/A
12%
Employed
Fair Use
Yes

17. CONCLUSIONS
• Education matters; behavior changes with
knowledge, confidence
• Peer support matters; it validates new
knowledge
• Institutional action, well publicized, matters
• The newest are most likely to change quickly,
but the most veteran are in the best position
to teach
• Teachers need to build into curriculum

18. CMSIMPACT.ORG/FAIR-USE
CMSIMPACT.ORG/VISUALARTS
paufder@american.edu
aram@american.edu