Open Letter to Lutheran Bloggers and "New Media" producers.

Dear Lutheran "New Media" producers.

The Internet and World Wide Web are a great tool.  What excites me most is the way that these technologies can facilitate the mutual work of the Church between pastors and congregations in ways not possible or at least not as easy before.  Unfortunately, the laws and legal machinations of the society we live in can hamper what may otherwise take place.  Therefore, I am writing with a request to all bloggers and new media producers.  Since it is clear from the work that you do that most of you intend that your resources be distributed widely, please make it easy to legally do so.

As a "New Media Producer," I've been struggling for some time with the problems that modern copyright law creates in a community like the Church where there is a deep desire to BE THE CHURCH where those who believe are of one heart and soul; and not one claims that anything belonging to him is his own but all things are common property. (Acts 4:32), yet keep a certain integrity to the material I produce so that some Methedobapticostal doesn't take it and pervert it.

There is a lot of material that gets produced by pastors and congregations in the regular course of their work that others might benefit from or could build upon.  But there are currently few, if any,
structures in place to permit doing that in a 'responsible manner", even
though sharing of material has been made easier by modern technology.

I think that most pastors and congregations understand that their work is for the sake of the Church at large, and do not intend it to be provincial or necessarily have their work-products restricted to the local congregation in which the material was produced.  However, under current copyright law, for another congregation to republish blog posts, cartoons, or other resources legally, they must obtain express permission from the copyright owner.  I have had little problem in obtaining such permission when I have thought a resource would be beneficial for my congregation, however, it has sometimes been difficult to expend the time necessary to obtain such permission and so some good material simply goes unseen by some who may benefit from it.

In light of all of this, I would ask that all "New Media Producers" consider adopting a permissive license for their works.  The license chosen will depend on the work itself and its intent, and so it will take some research to determine the correct license for your project.  I am NOT a lawyer, however, I have worked to understand permissive licensing which comes from the realm of "Open Source Software Development."  And the list below provides some starting points to consider.

There are two main license types I would recommend familiarizing yourself with:

1) "Creative Commons" (http://creativecommons.org) - This licensing model allows you to select the ways in which your work may be distributed by others.  The main options are: commercial/non-commercial restrictions, whether or not to allow "derivative works" (i.e., to allow others to alter your work) , and, if alterations are allowed, must the resultant work be licensed under the same (or substantially similar) license or not.  More information on "Creative Commons" licenses can be found here: http://creativecommons.org

2) Gnu Free Documentation License - (Free as in freedom, not necessarily free as in beer) - (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html) - This licensing model is a bit more open and would be more useful for curriculm material, VBS programs, etc.  It allows you to restrict some

3) SOMETHING ELSE - It would be great if we could find a couple of Intellectual Property lawyers who would develop a "Free Theological License" that would allow freedoms similar to the Gnu Free Documentation License, but provide restrictions on modifications based on the theology embodied in those modifications.  For example, my congregation developed an "in house" VBS program last year (that we're considering building upon in future years).  We'd love to involve other congregations in the "building" of the material in a decentralized manner.  However, we would NOT want it to be used to teach contrary to the historic faith.  Granted, the enforcement of such provisions may be difficult, but licenses aren't always about enforcement as much as making the wishes of the producers known,  That is to say, we wouldn't necessarily prosecute if someone breached the license, but it would be an option.

Using a "permissive license" on your work would help protect the work from misuse, but it would also assist others by allowing them to legally use your material without the administrative burdens currently involved, or burdening their conscience with breaking the law.

In any event, here are a couple of recommendations on how this might work:

BLOG POSTINGS, SERMONS, other "Complete works" -

"Complete works" are works which the producer, would prefer to be kept in tact and not "reworked".  Examples of uses producers may want to encourage, but are currently outlawed by Copyright Law might include - inclusion of written blog postings or sermons in newsletters or local congregational web sites or the burning of CD's or DVD's of audio or audio/visual works for distribution to shut-ins or for the congregational library.  Such works might be best licensed under the "Creative Commons" framework. (http://creativecommons.org)  This framework allows putting various restrictions, including "No Derivatives" but still allowing the material to be reused and distributed legally.

CURRICULUM MATERIALS, "Collective Works" -

There is another type of work that I have not seen much done with, but which I see could be a major way that congregations and pastors could work together to produce materials on a collective basis, yet allow them to be tailored to the local context.  For example, imagine a number of congregations joining together to develop a VBS or Sunday School curriculum.  They could jointly develop the framework, share artwork, music, even opening/closing videos and skits, then each congregation could selectively use portions to build their own program locally.  While there are limitations to it, this type of thing could be accomplished using a "GNU Free Documentation License" framework (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html)

ANY OTHER IDEAS?

What other ways can we balance the desires of the producers to maintain the integrity of their work, the theological integrity of their confession, the laws concerning copyright, and the desire to get some of these great resources into the hands of a greater number of people without burdening consciences or at least reducing administrative hassle.  As a "New Media Producer" myself, I've been struggling with this for some time... Any and all ideas welcome!

Sincerely,

Rev. Matthew T. Dent