Pre-managing readers?

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jpujolar
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Post by jpujolar »

Hello,

I have a procedural question in relation to projects with multiple participants. We have been campaigning for people to volunteer in Catalonia and we are seeing a number of collaborative teams being created. So I caught a discussion with this comment by one of the admins:

"we do need to give proper credit to the readers, so each one of them will need to have their own LibriVox reader page, which means they'll need to open a LibriVox account associated with their own email address. Everyone can use their real name or a nickname in the catalog, as they prefer."

The question here has to do with the principle behind this rule. While there is no question in relation to the need to give credit, some teams of volunteers have created specific roles that are meant to make things more practical. Some volunteers may only read, Others edit the material and check the specs, make sure that chapter entries are adequate (e.g. that all readers are credited, precisely), and so on. Thus, uploading the recordings may also be done by a project coordinator.

I was just liaising with a cultural center in Barcelona that is setting up a huge team to produce the medieval epic novel "Tirant lo Blanc". It is very long indeed. Thirty or forty readers can easily be involved in this. Readers come from amateur theater groups and chorus groups. They are discussing the possibility to set up a recording room with a sound technician, a team to edit the files (aside from a philologist who will organize the text and provide criteria for pronounciation and so on).

As it happens in dramatized readings, it will be one of the participants who will upload each recording, which could credit readers as well as technical assistants.

I guess that this is an acceptable modus operandi in LibriVox (though not the usual one)?

PS: prooflistening is less of an issue. A small number of prooflisteners may well sign up and do the job in the usual manner.

Thanks,

Joan Pujolar
Joan Pujolar
jpujolar@mastodont.cat

Projectes en català
Availle
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Post by Availle »

There's a lot to unpack here, let me try. :wink:

1) Readers and our catalogue
In principle, we prefer individual readers to sign up individually. Makes it easier to credit them in the catalog, and easier to find them for listeners if they want more of a particular reader.
However, we have some recordings done by groups like school clubs etc. so this is entirely possible. This can be set up for your Barcelona team as well (choose a forum name that indicates that you're a group), but for practical reasons this should be closed projects only your team members participate in. These projects work best when there is one dedicated person for us to talk to about PLing/editing, summary, cataloging issues etc. and that person already knows how LibriVox works.

If one of your members later decides to record a solo and/or participate in other projects, then a) that person should sign up individually and b) everything they have read as member of the "Barcelona team" will not be attributed to them.

As for who's doing the editing and other management stuff, we don't mind if that's not done by the readers. There is currently no way of crediting editors directly, but you can add this to the project summary if you wish.

2) Text
Your whole team must read from one and the same text that has to be public domain in the US, meaning published before 1925. As you know, we cannot have a modern edition or an annotated edition or anything else that your philologist might come up with. It would be best if the text is online, but it's not absolutely necessary. We would have to check the text before you start recording, to make sure it's PD and everything. You need to get this done before you start recording so you don't waste your time (although you can still upload your finished recording elsewhere).

I hope this answers your questions (for now :wink:). Just let me know if anything is unclear.
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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Kazbek
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Post by Kazbek »

Thanks for clarifying, Ava. The bolded quote was from me. I wasn't aware we allowed contributions from group accounts... that probably happened before my time. :)

Michael
annise
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Post by annise »

Just adding ...
Please make sure all readers understand that their recordings will be released into the public domain, which does mean that anyone can use them for any purpose.

Anne
jpujolar
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Post by jpujolar »

Hello,

Many thanks to everyone and for taking the trouble to spell out everything.

I have been working with this group to make them understand the issue with the editions. In our campaign (@donantsdeveu = voice donors), in fact, we have a lot of material recorded that cannot be used here because it is not public domain. So we are uploading these in other places. But I do try to steer them to LibriVox whenever this is possible. The heirs of the writers are often happy to give permission. In smaller language communities this is not so much of an issue, and sometimes we have to take time to make them understand why their own work cannot be uploaded in LV with their own permission. Somewhat predictably, the public domain issue has gender implications too, because women writers became common later.

Another issue is that public domain in Spain (most Catalan publications are from Spain) goes up to 1940 presently. At one point, I think that it would be good for LV to work out how to take advantage of the fact that most countries in the world have shorter protection periods (the international recommended timespan is 50 years; Spain is now 80). For what is worth, I have a colleague, a university professor, who is a specialist in international intellectual property regulation associated to the web. I could try to cajole her into contributing to the development of a policy if needed,

Congratulations for this awesome resource.

Joan
Joan Pujolar
jpujolar@mastodont.cat

Projectes en català
Availle
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Post by Availle »

Great - it seems you have the public domain issue perfectly under control! :thumbs:

Just in case you didn't know, there is also https://legamus.eu/, a sister project of LibriVox. Legamus essentially works like LibriVox, except that they are based in ... France I believe, so it's all about EU copyright there (70 years). They also let you choose creative commons licences, so you are not required to place your recordings into the public domain.

If you have recordings that are suitable for legamus, I am sure they will be happy to have them there. :D
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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AvailleAudio.com
jpujolar
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Joined: May 4th, 2019, 7:14 am
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Post by jpujolar »

Hey! I didn't know about Legamus! There are very few books; but the explanations seem to imply that it only includes all those that cannot (yet) be included in LibriVox. We will study it. Many thanks.

Joan
Joan Pujolar
jpujolar@mastodont.cat

Projectes en català
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