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1 – 10 of over 3000Christina Goulding and Maud Derbaix
This paper aims to examine how and why an “old” technology and mode of consumption – vinyl records, which should have become obsolete – has managed not only to survive but also…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how and why an “old” technology and mode of consumption – vinyl records, which should have become obsolete – has managed not only to survive but also revive in the face of supposedly cheaper and superior digital formats.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used constructivist grounded theory (CGT), a methodology rooted in pragmatism. The authors acknowledge the primacy of relational, conversational and social practices as the source of individual and social life, and that all knowledge is local and the product of negotiation between people within a given context and time frame. In terms of data, the authors draw on the extensive use of memos and participatory observation at the oldest vinyl record store in the UK. The authors also draw on interviews with the store owner and workers and in-depth interviews with vinyl enthusiasts.
Findings
The authors argue that authenticity is not a fixed and static concept but has fluid and porous boundaries that can be experienced by individuals in different situations. The findings center around three experiences of authenticity – staged authenticity, interpersonal authenticity and intrapersonal/existential authenticity.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to a specific market, typical of old or second-hand vinyl consumption. Future research would benefit from broadening the sample to include new consumers and female enthusiasts of both old and new vinyl.
Practical implications
The paper has implications for consumer service and personal selling relationships.
Originality/value
Originality lies in theoretically positioning the phenomenon within a conceptual framework of authenticity. In particular, the authors shed light on the role that authenticity plays in the experiences of vinyl music consumption amongst buyers and sellers in a store that has a long established heritage. The authors find that vinyl in the age of digital reproduction retains and maintains a number of qualities that are missing from allegedly superior forms of musical reproduction. The authors further maintain that as it has aged, original vinyl has taken on greater power and meaning, and now that it is out of the realm of mass production/consumption, it has opened up a deeper more authentic interaction between human beings and technology. This deeper interaction goes beyond the immediate experience with the object itself and extends to the sensorial, the social and the personal.
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This paper aims to introduce new criteria for evaluating authenticity in digital preservation, particularly in cases related to unreleased software projects and preservation work…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce new criteria for evaluating authenticity in digital preservation, particularly in cases related to unreleased software projects and preservation work that occurs in non-institutional settings.
Design/methodology/approach
Interpretive visual and formal analysis of image files is performed on three overlapping preservation efforts to understand the ways that self-appointed preservationists reframe content in varied settings. The unreleased mid-1990s console game Sonic X-Treme is used as a case study because assets from the development process have been widely preserved among former developers and enthusiasts alike.
Findings
The findings indicate that non-professional preservationists transcode original production files into a variety of formats, ranging from lossy compressed images to contemporary three-dimensional (3D) modeling files. Materials are presented in settings that range from colorful webpages mimicking the appearance of commercial software to browsable file systems. These results show that non-institutional preservation practices embody notions of authenticity that diverge significantly from those of professional archivists.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited by its focus on a single case study, but helps to facilitate ongoing research concerning preservation of unreleased projects insofar as it surveys the current status of existing projects.
Originality/value
Existing studies within preservation literature have established the need for increased attention paid to unfinished digital works. This study introduces new data and interpretative findings that outline such preservation efforts as they already occur in non-institutional settings.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot and a comparative analysis of copyright exceptions available for libraries. It frames the differences and similarities, leading…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot and a comparative analysis of copyright exceptions available for libraries. It frames the differences and similarities, leading to discussion as to what extent copyright exceptions help libraries cater the changing technology.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces the role of copyright exceptions in balancing owners and users interests. It explains evolving libraries activities due to technological development and how copyright exceptions significantly applies. Several factors in Canadian and Malaysian statutes are compared, namely, the rights granted, purposes allowed, beneficiaries affected, works involved, and conditions attached. This signifies to what extent the library exceptions cater to the changing needs and circumstances. It emphasizes the importance of awareness and understanding in order for libraries to serve its role effectively.
Findings
Both countries consider the use of new technologies in its library exceptions. Malaysian statute adopts a general approach which can either be flexibly or rigidly interpreted. Comparatively, Canada adopts a more specific and detail approach that might restrict beneficial activities. This paper calls for extra effort for policy makers to allow more control of digital works that may serve libraries activities.
Originality/value
There has not been any comparative study in the library literature on copyright exceptions for libraries in Malaysia and Canada. This study aims to provoke such discussion and how each country may learn from each others practices. It should be useful to the whole library community, particularly to both countries.
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Johan Jarlbrink and Pelle Snickars
The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the digitized newspaper collection at the National Library of Sweden, focusing on cultural heritage as digital noise. In what…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the digitized newspaper collection at the National Library of Sweden, focusing on cultural heritage as digital noise. In what specific ways are newspapers transformed in the digitization process? If the digitized document is not the same as the source document – is it still a historical record, or is it transformed into something else?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have analyzed the XML files from Aftonbladet 1830 to 1862. The most frequent newspaper words not matching a high-quality references corpus were selected to zoom in on the noisiest part of the paper. The variety of the interpretations generated by optical character recognition (OCR) was examined, as well as texts generated by auto-segmentation. The authors have made a limited ethnographic study of the digitization process.
Findings
The research shows that the digital collection of Aftonbladet contains extreme amounts of noise: millions of misinterpreted words generated by OCR, and millions of texts re-edited by the auto-segmentation tool. How the tools work is mostly unknown to the staff involved in the digitization process? Sticking to any idea of a provenance chain is hence impossible, since many steps have been outsourced to unknown factors affecting the source document.
Originality/value
The detail examination of digitally transformed newspapers is valuable to scholars depending on newspaper databases in their research. The paper also highlights the fact that libraries outsourcing digitization processes run the risk of losing control over the quality of their collections.
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This paper seeks to describe the current copyright environment from an international perspective, particularly as it relates to the supply of document surrogates.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to describe the current copyright environment from an international perspective, particularly as it relates to the supply of document surrogates.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes the current situation in Canada, Australia, the UK and in particular the current saga of Subito and publishers in Germany. It addresses licences and copyright law generally and the impact of open access. Two specific court cases in Canada and Germany are described and their implications considered.
Findings
International copyright is complex and publishers are establishing new restrictions on “fair use” provision through the imposition of licences. National and international laws lag behind in clearly addressing “fair use” in the electronic environment.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the very few that addresses the issue of national and international copyright specifically in relation to document supply.
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Mitch Daschuk and James Popham
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to relate to the reader how overlapping advancements in technology and the diffusion of popular music into the habitus…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to relate to the reader how overlapping advancements in technology and the diffusion of popular music into the habitus of listeners have provided the framework for an instrumental rationalization of litigious approaches to copyright protection by their owners. Namely, the personalization of music, which has evolved with the aid of technological advancements, has privatized music consumption, thus establishing socio-legal parameters that limit consumption to an individual action.
Design/methodology/approach – We discuss the concepts of habitus and taste, communality in music ownership, communicative action, and technology-driven consumption as they relate to the instrumental rationalization of industry-led governance structures defining music ownership rights. These arguments are supported in part by a consideration of historic examples of tension and responding legal actions.
Findings – The primary outcome from this chapter is to illustrate the extent to which the recording industry has traditionally held a role in guiding copyright policy. The chapter concludes by illustrating the current legitimation crises encountered by the recording industry and policy makers as consumers abandon traditional ownership paradigms en masse.
Originality/value of chapter – The technologies associated with the Internet and music consumption continue to evolve. This chapter highlights the differing interests in controlling music interests, and casts light on how agency has influenced structural developments central to copyright.
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– The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the current state of debates surrounding Open Access (OA) in non-STEM disciplines.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the current state of debates surrounding Open Access (OA) in non-STEM disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a selective literature review and discussion methodology to give a representative summary of the state of the art.
Findings
Non-STEM disciplines persistently lag behind scientific disciplines in their approach to OA, if the teleology towards open dissemination is accepted. This can be attributed to a variety of economic and cultural factors that centre on the problem of resource allocation with respect to quality.
Originality/value
This paper will be of value to policymakers, funders, academics and publishers. The original aspect of the paper pertains to the identification of an anxiety of irrelevance in the humanities disciplines and a focus on “quality” in Open-Access publishing debates.
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Joel Hietanen and Joonas Rokka
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing marketing literature that investigates markets as “configurations”, i.e. networks of market actors engaged in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing marketing literature that investigates markets as “configurations”, i.e. networks of market actors engaged in market-shaping practices and performances. As this pioneering work has been largely focused on established mainstream markets and industries driven by large multi-national companies, the present article extends practice-based market theorizing to countercultural market emergence and also to unconventional market practices shaping it.
Design/methodology/approach
Insights are drawn from a four-year multi-sited ethnographic study of a rapidly expanding electronic music scene that serves as an illustrative example of emergent countercultural market.
Findings
In contrast to mainstream consumer or industrial markets, the authors identify a distinctive dynamic underlying market emergence. Countercultural markets as well as their appeal and longevity largely depend on an inherent authenticity paradox that focal market actors need to sustain and negotiate through ongoing market-shaping and market-restricting practices.
Practical implications
From a practitioner perspective, the authors discuss the implications for market actors wishing to build on countercultural authenticity. They highlight the fragility of countercultural markets and point out practices sustaining them, and also possibilities and challenges in tapping into them.
Originality/value
The study contributes by theorizing the tensions that energize and drive countercultural market emergence. In particular, the authors address the important role of market-restricting practices in facilitating countercultural appeal that has not received explicit attention in prior marketing literature.
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Martina Glogar and Sanja Ercegovic Razic
In the field of research on the application of digital printing to textile materials, there are still many research issues that arise from the very demanding interaction of digital…
Abstract
Purpose
In the field of research on the application of digital printing to textile materials, there are still many research issues that arise from the very demanding interaction of digital printing technology and the complex, heterogeneous surface system of textile materials. This is precisely why the area of pre-treatment of textile materials is in need of research, and the purpose of this research was to establish the level of influence of physical and chemical activation of the textile surface with plasma and the possibility of improving the quality of the print and colour reproduction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper deals with the possibility of applying argon and oxygen cold low-pressure plasma in the processing of cellulose knitted fabrics, with the aim of improving the quality of the print and colour reproduction in digital pigment inkjet printing. The selected raw material samples were 100% raw cotton and lyocell. After plasma treatment, the samples were printed by digital ink jet printing with water-based pigment printing ink. An analysis of the micromorphological structure of untreated and plasma-treated samples before and after printing was carried out, and a comparative analysis of the colour of the printed elements was carried out depending on the pre-treatment.
Findings
The conducted research showed a positive influence of plasma pre-treatment on the coverage of the fibre surface with pigments, the uniformity of pigment distribution along the fibre surface and the uniformity of the distribution of the polymeric binder layer. This has a positive effect on colour reproduction. Also, certain improvements in colourfastness to washing were obtained.
Research limitations/implications
Considering the complexity of the topic, although exhaustive, this research is not sufficient in itself, but opens up new questions and gives ideas for further research that must be carried out in this area.
Practical implications
Also, this kind of research contributes to the possibility of adopting the idea of industrial plasma transformation, as an ecologically sustainable functionalisation of textiles, which has not yet been established.
Originality/value
This research is certainly a contribution to the establishment of acceptable textile pre-treatment methods in the field of digital printing, as one of the key quality factors in digital textile printing (DTP). Considering the still large number of obstacles and unanswered questions encountered in the field of digital printing on textiles, this kind of research is a strong contribution to the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of the complex interaction between printing ink and textile.
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