To BB Scholar or NOT BB Scholar
January 31st, 2008 by Naomi KornI’ve been looking recently at the terms of use Blackboard Scholar to see whether it really is a good thing or not. Its all a bit worrying really because its all a bit restrictive and to put it mildly, the use of BB Scholar means that projects are restricted in:
1) Their ability to change, adapt or alter the software in any way. This is because the source code is closed and access is by a proprietary licence rather than an open source licence. This is not surprising in light of BB’s recent attempts to patent its software
2) Projects are contractually obliged to get pretty comprehensive permissions for uploading content containing third party rights on to BB Scholar. This is because the BB Scholar’s terms of use includes the statement relating to uploaded content: “ you automatically grant and/or warrant that the owner has granted Blackboard, the perpetual royalty-free, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, distribute, perform, display, and transmit the User Content to Scholar. You also permit any other user of Blackboard with access to that Services, subject to your restrictions, to access, view, store, and reproduce the User Content to the same extent permitted herein. http://www.scholar.com/termsofuse.html
3) If by chance projects were to upload any content for which they had not got all the permissions, then crucially, you would “… agree to indemnify and hold Blackboard, and its affiliates, officers, agents, partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney’s fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of User Content you submit, post to, email, or otherwise transmit through the Services, your use of the Services, your connection to the Services, or your breach of the TOU.”
The question is whether BB would enforce any of this? At any rate, these terms of use underpin the Service provided by BB and should not be taken lightly….so to “BB Scholar or not BB Scholar”, maybe but with eyes open about the ramifications of NOT complying with the terms of use…
January 31st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
[…] For April the team intend to launch an interactive resource which will help users navigate through the advice in a flow diagram. In addition keep an eye on the project blog for interesting developments, one of the editors informs me that they are looking at some terms and conditions of specific commercial products and whether they suit academic practices. The team have now published a great article about whether or not to use Blackboard Scholar- well worth a look. […]