intellectual property

[Paula Foster <foster -dot- 242 -at- OSU -dot- EDU>]

Dear Technical Writers,

Greetings from the English department at Ohio State University.  We are Jeff
Loew and Paula Foster, two graduate students pursuing our PhDs--one of whom
is interested in technical writing and has just subscribed to this list--and
strange as it may seem, we need your help.

We are conducting a study in the ways in which different kinds of writers
(including technical writers) perceive intellectual property issues on the
Net.  We have developed a survey which consists of sixteen
questions--simple, quick, and easy to answer.  Would you mind taking a few
minutes to fill it out?

All you have to do is forward this message back to us at

loew -dot- 6 -at- osu -dot- edu

and write in your responses after each question in the brackets provided.
We would appreciate receiving your response by Tuesday May 27.

We realize that your email address will automatically be included at the top
of your response, and we wish to assure you that you will NOT be contacted
further for any reason, and your replies will be kept strictly confidential.
We don't care exactly who we're hearing from; all we're trying to do is get
a sense of how intellectual property issues are perceived by this general
population.  And we are sending the survey to several other listservs as well.

Remember, if you decide to respond, please do so by Tuesday May 27.  The
survey is below.

Thanks for your help,

Jeff Loew and Paula Foster
Ohio State University
English Department
164 West 17th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210


**************************** SURVEY *****************************

Please answer these questions in the brackets provided, based upon the
following scale:

1 = Never
2 = Rarely/in rare cases
3 = Sometimes/in some cases
4 = Usually/in most cases
5 = Always

After you indicate your numerical response to each question, you may add
comments if you wish.

1.  Is it legal for the designer of a website to use someone else's text if
the original writer is credited?

[   ]

2.  Do you feel it would be ethical to do so?

[   ]

3.  Is it legal for the designer of a website to use someone else's text
without crediting the original writer?

[   ]

4.  Do you feel it would be ethical to do so?

[   ]

5.  Is it legal for the designer of a website to use someone else's graphic
if the original creator is credited?

[   ]

6.  Do you feel it would be ethical to do so?

[   ]

7.  Is it legal for the designer of a website to use someone else's graphic
without crediting the original creator?

[   ]

8.  Do you feel it would be ethical to do so?

[   ]

9.  Is it legal for the designer of a website to use a public domain image
if the source is credited?

[   ]

10. Do you feel it would be ethical to do so?

[   ]

11. Is it legal for the designer of a web page to use a public domain image
without crediting the source?

[   ]

12. Do you feel it would be ethical to do so?

[   ]

13. Do you worry about the consequences of possible copyright violations?

[   ]

14. Would you resent the unauthorized use on a website of material you created?

[   ]

15. Would you resent unauthorized use of the material if you were given
credit for it?

[   ]

16. Do you feel in any way hemmed in by current intellectual property laws?
(If so, please explain how.)

[   ]

End of survey.  Thank you very much for your time.  Please send your
responses to foster -dot- 242 -at- osu -dot- edu by Tuesday May 27th.


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