Is it a violation of trust to post digital recordings of SBL sessions online? I’m just wondering. Occasionally, some blogger will post mp3 files of some interesting session(s) on their blog for all to listen. I love having that access and have used it in the past myself. The thought occurred to me because I was thinking of how many sessions I would love to go to, but I can’t be in ten places at once. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had audio recordings of every session at SBL?” I thought to myself. But then, wait. What if I make some terribly embarrassing boo boo while giving a presentation or answering questions? Do I really want that immortalized on the all-knowing internets? Am I giving up any claim to privacy by giving a public presentation?
I think it may be the latter, but what do you think? Should there be some sort of ettiquette here? You must ask someone for a copy of their paper if it is in writing, so should you also ask a person if they mind if you publish their presentation in audio format online?
If I didn’t have this conundrum, I’d say, “SBL! You should go for this!! Record all sessions! Damn the costs.”
Update: Read Chris Heard’s excellent reply regarding intellectual property and copyright on this issue. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of that in the first place. Probably a good thing to keep in mind! Especially for what will certainly be the extensive coverage of my own presentation.
It’s not a privacy issue, but one of intellectual property. When you give a public lecture, you have a de facto copyright claim to the content thereof. Unless a conference speaker either assigns the copyright to another party, releases the content into the public domain, or licenses the content to a third party, the speaker retains control over the content. Therefore, posting audio of another person’s SBL talk without that person’s permission could essentially constitute theft of intellectual property—copyright violation. I would definitely recommend not doing it unless you have explicit permission from the speaker.
I think scholars should support the recording and posting of audio from the sessions. What better way to get more attention to these scholars and their work and to get the public more interested. I think it only hurts them if they fight that.
Bryan L
I’m with Chris. A similar issue emerges in my class; I am fine with folk recording the audio of my lectures, but with the stipulations that it is used responsibly and respectfully, and that it is not remixed or posted anywhere. At bottom, use it for study review, nothing else. But, permission is key. I would not be pleased if someone taped me without my permission . . .
I recorded and posted sessions two years ago and got everyone’s permission. http://www.andyrowell.net/andy_rowell/2007/11/audio-from-a-fe.html
But Chris and John are of course right that one should be very cautious as there are very different views on these sort of issues.
There are on the one hand people who are completely unfamiliar with blogs and podcasts and are completely unaware of anything besides published journals and monographs. They will of course be appalled by privacy issues. They will say what we all said 5 years ago as the internet was bursting with information: Why would I have a blog? Why would I have a picture of myself online for everyone to see? Why would I post my email address online? Why would I post information and content for free?
Then there are others–perhaps like all of us blog commenters–who are completely used to seeing content online. There are millions of podcasts, interviews, sermons, book reviews, and articles online. Mark Goodacre’s New Testament blog and now podcast are good examples. The NT Wright page is another.
Again, I just think people are on very different pages on this kind of thing.
People who speak publicly all the time are used to it. I may record some this year. I haven’t decided yet.
Andy
I have asked permission to record three sessions. We’ll see what the professors say. Here’s my sample email:
Dear Professors __, __, __, __, __,
I am a Duke doctoral student and looking forward to your session at SBL and was thinking about recording it and posting it on my blog. (Or we could post it somewhere else on one of your websites). I taped 9 papers two years ago at SBL/AAR and people loved it. I don’t make any money on it. I’m just doing it because I know a lot of people would love to hear it and it is easy to do. I just have to press play and stop on a little recorder and then upload it on to the internet. It won’t be professional but your fans will still be grateful.
If you could email me back with the ok, that would be great.
If you would rather wait to see how it turns out, that is fine too. I think there will be a lot of people who will come up to you and be sad they missed the session and you can tell them that it will be posted. Then you can give them my website or they can just google your name and paper title and it will come up. I would not be surprised if the room is packed. I will also link to one of your books by each of your names. Don’t stress too much about this. If you would rather not, I just will not post yours.
All the best,
Andy
Sorry to dominate the comment thread. Just wanted to let you know I did get permission from everyone to record and post the following session.
Andy
23-233
Pauline Soteriology
11/23/2009
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Grand Ballroom C – SH
Theme: Book Review: Douglas Campbell, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Eerdmans, 2009)
Ann Jervis, Wycliffe College, Presiding
Michael J. Gorman, Saint Mary’s Seminary and University, Panelist (20 min)
Alan Torrance, University of St. Andrews-Scotland, Panelist (20 min)
Douglas Moo, Wheaton College, Panelist (20 min)
Douglas Campbell, Duke University, Respondent (20 min)
Break (10 min)
Discussion (60 min)
Here is an excellent response from a professor who can remain nameless which gives a good argument for not recording sessions. I’m trying to sincerely show both sides of the argument. The professor writes:
Thank you for your inquiry, and for requesting permission to record our forthcoming SBL session. I greatly appreciate the courtesy of being asked first!
Unfortunately, past experience leads me to decline virtually all such requests, especially if they involve the possibility of recording (1) unpublished research or (2) unscripted scenarios like Q&A periods. Unhappy experiences with the former make it seem inherently problematic, while in the case of the latter I prefer the freedom to speak frankly or perhaps unguardedly without having my comments (e.g. about viewpoints of which I might be critical) immediately plastered all over the internet. (I occasionally take a somewhat freer view of requests pertaining to other scripted material like popular talks, sermons, or material based on published work.)
I trust you understand, and thank you for your interest.
I would answer your request with the same, though less polished, type of response. As one who has not published my work yet I am quite guarded with it and only present my work to receive feedback. I certainly would not want my prelimary findings attached to me for eternity. However, once my work is published and I find a tenure track job my answer will change.
I posted SBL Deliverance of God session with Campbell, Gorman, Moo and Torrance
http://www.andyrowell.net/andy_rowell/2009/11/audio-from-sbl-deliverance-of-god-session-with-campbell-gorman-moo-and-torrance.html
Well said, Chris!
Outstanding!! I imagine that will be a sought after download!
Thanks for providing your method of request, Andy!
Amen, Andy. I was thinking of that post as one of the most helpful for me. In fact, I recently downloaded the session on Paul and Empire for a paper I am working on. I had to miss it at the time, unfortunately. I’m now listening to it as part of my commute to UCLA!
That’s a great response. I think I agree with Kevin (below) in that I wouldn’t want my research put up online at this point in my career, even though I appreciate hearing the presentations of other scholars so much.
My presentation next Tuesday represents my first steps towards a dissertation. That’s not something I really want to expose to the whole world as of yet (we all know the whole world would want to download the thoughts of Pat McCullough).