Thread by @bc_butler

Hi all! Thrilled to give a Twitter-ized version of the overview talk I sometimes give about the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Software Preservation. Thanks to @fletcherdurant for inviting me. Read the full Code here: arl.org/focus-areas/co…. 1/15

Software preservation is a really important part of digital preservation, and its value is only going to increase. Almost everything we make, now, is written in a language only computers running the right software can read. #prestc19 2/15

So without the right software, digital stuff (images, text, *everything*) is gibberish. Or (sometimes worse) it can be rendered, but only partially, imperfectly, not the way the author intended. Software is a tool, without which digital culture is lost. #prestc19 3/15

Software is also culture. Scholars in a variety of disciplines are studying software, as they might study a novel, or a fossil, or a Model T Ford. Software tells us about its makers, its users, and the society from which it emerged. It's part of our history. #prestc19 4/15

But #copyright law treats software as a "literary work," so copying, distributing, adapting, displaying, and 'performing' software are all legally regulated acts. Software publishers use the law to power their businesses. But they rarely plan for preservation. #prestc19 5/15

Two years ago, we found a "permissions culture" in the software preservation community—permission was seen as the only safe way to avoid © infringement. This is bad, b/c ©-holders can be v. hard to find, and wary of permission. #prestc19 6/15 arl.org/publications-r…

Luckily, #fairuse is an open-ended right that protects many socially beneficial practices, making permission unnecessary in many cases. Key to #fairuse is non-substitution/transformativeness: are you using the work for a new purpose, not intruding on the market? #prestc19 7/15

With financial support from the @SloanFoundation, via a grant to @arlnews, and, crucially, with community input via @softpresnetwork, our team (me, @paufder, @arlpolicy, and Peter Jaszi) started work developing fair use best practices. #prestc19 8/15

Best Practices Codes express community consensus, a sensible middle-ground where practitioners say they are confident their practice is legitimate—serves a new purpose and does not intrude on the trad’l market for the work. Learn more: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book… #prestc19 9/15

The Software Preservation Code addresses 5 situations where #copyright questions routinely arise, covering steps that trace a preservation workflow. The first principle covers accessioning, stabilizing, evaluating, and describing digital objects. This gets you… #prestc19 10/15

from a box of fragile, undifferentiated old media, to a processed, stable collection. The second principle covers documenting software in operation and making that documentation available. It enables walk-thrus, screenshots, and other crucial practices. #prestc19 11/15

Principle 3: providing access to preserved software to researchers. I don't need to tell this crowd, but I will: preservation and access are hard/impossible to separate. Access is part of preservation, and its ultimate purpose! So the Code addresses access. #prestc19 12/15

Finally (almost), Principle 4 addresses networks that share software in support of research. Sharing library materials is a time-honored practice, and crucial whenever collections are unevenly distributed. GLAMs can and should collaborate re software, too. #prestc19 13/15

And finally (really), Principle 5 addresses source code, which raises many of the same concerns as unpublished manuscripts. They're not categorically off-limits, by any means, but special care is appropriate given the secrecy that can surround source code. #prestc19 14/15

Those are the BPs! The Code gives some guidance on two more issues: licensing and the DMCA. Licensing isn't as important as you think, and @cyberlawclinic and @kendraserra have made the DMCA, in particular, both better and easier to understand. #prestc19 15/15

Postscript: if you want to dive much more deeply into this stuff, and here great stories from real-life practitioners, check out the recordings from @SoftPresNetwork + @arlnews co-sponsored webinar series: softwarepreservationnetwork.org/events/. And join me in 45 minutes

for an ASERL webinar with me and Wendy Hagenmeier from Ga Tech walking through the code and how Tech has used it in its latest software preservation project. register.gotowebinar.com/register/70952…

For DMCA help, see the Preservationist's Guide: softwarepreservationnetwork.org/1201-exemption…