CONTEXTS

Applied TheoryMcKee and PorterA Copyright Model for Researchers:Questions to Consider1. Identification of the material• Copying activity: What materials will be copiedfor this research project?• Authorship: Who is the author? Or, if thework was created collaboratively, who are theauthors?• Ownership: Who is the copyright owner orowners?• Laws and regulations: What legal jurisdictionapplies to this material?• Explicit licensing: What usage license, if any, isoperative? In other words, what are the explicitdirectives and wishes of the author(s) andcopyright owner(s)?• Implicit expectations: What are the impliedexpectations for copying and redistribution ofthis material—for the author, the copyrightowner, the community at large? Culturalattitudes, customs, mores.2. Use of the material• Purposes and venues: Why are you (the researcher)copying this material? For what particularuse(s)? Are you copying for your own personaluse as a researcher (e.g., to read an article)?Are you planning to distribute portions of thismaterial in publications or presentations?• Commercial implications: To what extent is youruse a nonprofit educational use versus acommercial use? To what extent might youruse impinge on the future marketability of thismaterial?• Substantiality: How much of this material areyou copying?3. Potential infringements and harms of usingmaterial• Infringement of IP rights: What are the potentialharms to research subjects, authors, contentcreators, individuals, or communities of the useof this material?• Liability to researchers: What are the potentialharms to the researcher working as anindividual or on a team? What are the potentialharms to the research community and to thepotential for future research?4. Overall ethical and legal decision• Justification: Given the answers to the questionsabove, is your copying of the materialjustified—for the research process, forpresentation, for publication?• Permission: Should you request permission tocopy this material?• Attribution: How should you credit authorshipand/or ownership of this material?What we have done in this heuristic is transformthe fundamentals of many countries’ copyright laws andseveral international treaties into a set of exploratoryprompts leading to a key legal and ethical decision:Should a researcher copy certain material and, if so,how?An important aspect of this heuristic is gatheringinformation and perspectives. In this endeavor,technical communicators would be wise to talk throughthese issues with colleagues (especially legal advisors,if the company employs a legal team); with fellowtechnical communicators (in national and internationalvenues); and with the persons/corporations whosecommunications are being studied.Conclusion: Strategies for ConductingGlobal Internet ResearchWe have described some of the complexities technicalcommunication researchers face in navigating laws,regulations, and government practices. Abiding bylegal and regulatory mandates while at the same timeproceeding ethically with research can be difficult,especially with the myriad regulations and lawsresearchers face as a result of the increasingly globalnature of their work. Conducting ethical researchusually, but not always, involves abiding by a specificcountry’s laws, but legal and regulatory considerationsare only one part of being ethical. As we hope isclear in our discussion, “the law” is a messy, movingtarget, constantly in a state of flux, open to variousinterpretations in different jurisdictions, and typicallyVolume 57, Number 3, August 2010 l Technical Communication 295