Low-tech approaches to research resources and information sharing – distribution on CD-ROM

(new 17 May 2006)

Distribution of research resources on CD

I am considering the possible strategy of distributing maritime research datasets and manuscripts on CD-ROM. I might have enough at a suitable stage for release towards the end of 2006 or early 2007.

On the face of it, the idea has much going for it. The cost of a blank CD, container, packaging and postage anywhere in the world is extremely cheap. Most computers these days can read CD’s. Many can write to them. They must be the nearest we have to a universal medium if you don’t count paper itself! and of course a CD can carry infinitely more information than paper of the same weight.

I wouldn’t intend to sell such a CD for more than what is necessary to recover the production and distribution cost as I judge that will best serve my maritime history development objectives. However, I don’t have any problem in principle with you taking advantage of the opportunity to promote awareness of your project or a product you sell if that serves the public service and maritime history development objectives in the process and does not overshadow or otherwise compromise those objectives. There are classic examples on the internet of giving away something useful free in order to develop a market for the product you sell - Adobe Acrobat Reader and virus protection software to name but two. Even if you aren’t actually selling the output of your project but just want to make people more aware of it, the practical connections and psychology are the same. It may serve you to let me incorporate some information fields from something of yours into one of my indexes because of the heightened awareness of your project or product and the “highly targeted boutique marketing” provided thereby. With more useful information in my indexes they could get wider circulation and use and thereby more effectively promote your project. In theory, there’s scope for “Win-Win” outcomes along these lines.

I envisage putting my basic indexes in the public domain (ultimately if not sooner) but there is no reason in principle why copyright products could not be included on the same CD. I may well reserve copyright over some or all of my datasets for practical reasons or to honour undertakings given to collaborators. It would probably be impractical or confusing to include commercial and non-commercial product on the same CD but possible to distribute a “free” CD as a bonus “extra” with a commercially distributed product to mutual advantage. I’m also happy, in principle, to include other free stuff from other people who may like to take advantage of the opportunity to piggy-back their stuff on my CD, giving them even easier still distribution and me more “critical mass”. There’s already one other local research resource I hope to be able to add in this way.

I am genuinely motivated by a spirit of public service which some may perceive as quaintly old-fashioned but also see what I contemplate as simply enlightened self-interest. It will require only a handful of people to pick up on some of my cues to have results that can only advance what I am trying to achieve even if they do not actually share their work with me directly. However, I have had several experiences that the more I give, the more I get. Substantial resources I would never have even known existed have come my way through offering what I have to share. I regularly become aware of further experiences of the same principle working among the “genealogical mafia”.

I’m open to simply donating my proposed master copies to selected institutions (or even booksellers) with retail staff and charging facilities who will copy and distribute my CD/s at a price they set to cover the direct cost to them and their overheads so that I don’t have to bother with the packaging, postage and accountancy at all. It’s “fiscally neutral” for me if I only intend to cover direct costs anyway. I’d sooner spend $100 to give stuff away than spend several hours on accountancy and tax returns (especially if you give me some free photocopying and help in return).

I won’t give exclusive rights to any single institution because there could never be a guarantee that the institution would be equally well resourced to manage the service even months hence or even still exist, the modern management operating context being what it is, no matter the genuine sincerity of the good intentions. I’d also be relying on “competition” between distributors to keep their assessment of their overheads reasonable. Similarly, with any single individual or group – everybody is mortal and your family and other obligations constitute competing priorities, just as do mine.

contact j_lowe@ihug.co.nz

Books on CD-ROM

Local enquiries indicate that a CD-ROM can be a book for legal and copyright purposes with a genuine ISBN number without necessarily ever being printed on paper. There are already 30 or so in the NZ National Library.

Books don’t have to consist mainly of words in order to qualify as a book. Many of the printed books commonly used by maritime historians contain more numbers than words.

Flash drives

Flash (USB) drives are superior to CD-ROM’s in that they can function as an additional hard drive and do not require your computer to have a CD drive or CD-writing software but they are much more expensive than blank CD’s. I have no idea how they may travel through the post. They may well be a superior way to exchange information within your own city or when visiting another especially for people who do not have a CD writer.

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