research-article

The challenges of intellectual property for users of social networking sites: a case study of Ravelry

Author:

Sal HumphreysAuthors Info & Claims

MindTrek '08: Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Entertainment and media in the ubiquitous era

Pages 125 - 130

https://doi.org/10.1145/1457199.1457227

Published: 07 October 2008 Publication History

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Abstract

This paper examines how the complexity of motivations and practices found in a specialist social networking site intersect with the institution of intellectual property (IP). IP is a set of conventions and legal practices which evolved in a very different environment of production and distribution. In a co-creative social networking site we find a concatenation of amateurs, semiprofessionals and professionals, occupying multiple roles in gifting economies, reputation economies, monetised charitable economies and full commercial economies. People use, buy, sell, give away, and consume in this mixed economy that can be characterised as a 'social network market' [8]. The users of online social networking sites (SNS) find themselves having to come to grips with the complexity of IP law in order to participate fully. This paper uses Ravelry, a specialist SNS for knitters and spinners, to analyse the negotiations that take place around IP in a social network market, in particular the way the discourse of copyright is mobilised to negotiate the territory between amateurs and professionals.

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Cited By

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Meese JHagedorn J(2019)Mundane Content on Social Media: Creation, Circulation, and the Copyright ProblemSocial Media + Society10.1177/20563051198391905:2Online publication date: 4-Apr-2019
https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119839190
Fiesler CBruckman A(2019)Creativity, Copyright, and Close-Knit CommunitiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33611223:GROUP(1-24)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3361122
Carden S(2019)The Place of Shetland KnittingTEXTILE10.1080/14759756.2019.1639416(1-11)Online publication date: 13-Aug-2019
https://doi.org/10.1080/14759756.2019.1639416
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

The challenges of intellectual property for users of social networking sites: a case study of Ravelry
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Computing / technology policy
    1. Government technology policy
      1. Governmental regulations
    2. Intellectual property

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Published In

MindTrek '08: Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Entertainment and media in the ubiquitous era

October 2008

221 pages

ISBN:9781605581972

DOI:10.1145/1457199

Conference Chairs:
Frans Mäyrä
University of Tampere, Finland
,
Katri Lietsala
University of Tampere, Finland
,
Heljä Franssila
University of Tampere, Finland
,
Editors:
Artur Lugmayr,
Frans Mäyrä,
Heljä Franssila,
Katri Lietsala,
General Chair:
Artur Lugmayr
Tampere University of Technology, Finland

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 07 October 2008

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MindTrek08

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MindTrek08: MindTrek08

October 7 - 9, 2008

Tampere, Finland

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Overall Acceptance Rate 110 of 207 submissions, 53%

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Cited By

View all

Meese JHagedorn J(2019)Mundane Content on Social Media: Creation, Circulation, and the Copyright ProblemSocial Media + Society10.1177/20563051198391905:2Online publication date: 4-Apr-2019
https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119839190
Fiesler CBruckman A(2019)Creativity, Copyright, and Close-Knit CommunitiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33611223:GROUP(1-24)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3361122
Carden S(2019)The Place of Shetland KnittingTEXTILE10.1080/14759756.2019.1639416(1-11)Online publication date: 13-Aug-2019
https://doi.org/10.1080/14759756.2019.1639416
Zabban V(2019)Commodifying Leisure and Improving Its Social Value: Knitters’ Conspicuous Production on Ravelry.comThe Social Meaning of Extra Money10.1007/978-3-030-18297-7_2(33-59)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18297-7_2
Zabban V(2015)Tricoter sur Internet : le recadrage social et technique d’un loisir ordinaireKnitting on the Internet: the social and technical framing of an ordinary leisureTracés10.4000/traces.6156(25-44)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2015
https://doi.org/10.4000/traces.6156
Fiesler CFeuston JBruckman ACosley DForte ACiolfi LMcDonald D(2015)Understanding Copyright Law in Online Creative CommunitiesProceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing10.1145/2675133.2675234(116-129)Online publication date: 28-Feb-2015
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Fiesler CFeuston JBruckman AGoggins SJahnke IMcDonald DBjørn P(2014)"I Am Not a Lawyer"Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work10.1145/2660398.2663774(291-294)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2014
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Fiesler CFussell SLutters WMorris MReddy M(2014)Copyright and social norms in communities of content creationProceedings of the companion publication of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing10.1145/2556420.2556821(49-52)Online publication date: 15-Feb-2014
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Fiesler CBruckman AFussell SLutters WMorris MReddy M(2014)Remixers' understandings of fair use onlineProceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing10.1145/2531602.2531695(1023-1032)Online publication date: 15-Feb-2014
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Schwartz DBayliss J(2011)The Ethics of Reverse Engineering for Game TechnologyDesigning Games for Ethics10.4018/978-1-60960-120-1.ch008(110-127)Online publication date: 2011
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60960-120-1.ch008

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