Roundup: On Accessible & Inclusive Conferences & Meetings

Accessible? Twist handle, then pull

I just returned from the annual meeting for the Medical Library Association, where multiple discussions arose around what would it look like to expand what is done to make the conference both accessible and inclusive. [Yes, the image at the head of this post is an actual photo from the actual meeting.] Just a couple weeks before that I was privileged to attend “Cripping” the Comic Con 2019 which was, by FAR, a truly exemplary model for how to create an inclusive event. (I’m hoping to write a second post about what blew my mind so much about CripCon!) Pretty much the same topic also arose in one of my Facebook groups, Teaching Disability Studies, where several of the resources mentioned here where shared.

Since my organization (UofM) has done some work in creating resources around this, and since I was on the original committee that created our resource, I volunteered to share that resource with MLA and put together a collection of selected resources related to this topic. The resources collected here are organized alphabetically within section (resources, readings) by either the author or providing organization. Organizations represented in the post include:
– ABA (American Bar Association)
– ACM SIGACCESS
– ADA National Network
– ASAN (Autism Self Advocacy Network)
– New York State
– Ohio State University
– Syracuse University
– University of Arizona
– University of British Columbia
– University of Michigan
– Vera Institute of Justice

RESOURCES

ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. Planning Accessible Meetings and Events, a Toolkit https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/mental_physical_disability/Accessible_Meetings_Toolkit.authcheckdam.pdf

You want to know what the lawyers think about what you should do? Well, start here. This 22 page PDF provides a number of thoughtful strategies to promote accessibility and inclusion in events, from working with attendees and presenters in an interactive way to plan the best possible event to post-event surveys designed to elicit information on accessibility improvements needed for future events. I’ve been working in disability spaces and communities most of my life, and they had suggestions that were new to me. I have some more work to do. This one is a must read.

ACM SIGACCESS. Accessible Conference Guide. https://www.sigaccess.org/welcome-to-sigaccess/resources/accessible-conference-guide/

It’s a bit amazing to me how each of these guides has something wonderful and necessary that I missed seeing or which wasn’t included in the other guides. This one includes discussions around making events safe for people with migraines, having drinking straws available, and where can a service dog relieve themselves with causing problems for the event. They point out that simply asking for a sign language translator doesn’t tell you which version of sign language the viewer needs, since there are regional and country variations which can be quite significant. They include example draft language for eliciting accommodation requests from attendees, registration, formatting your promotion material PDFs accessibly, and having a triage plan in case problems arise. This document is updated regularly, and this newest version was just updated a few weeks ago (April 2019). Note that they also have an Accessible Writing Guide and an Accessible Presentation Guide. Must read.

ADA National Network. A Planning Guide for Making Temporary Events Accessible to People With Disabilities. https://adata.org/publication/temporary-events-guide

Okay, this thing has chapters. I mean, CHAPTERS. That tells you something. In some ways, it’s almost too detailed. However, it also focuses almost exclusively on physical factors (venue, parking, toilets) and has very little on the interaction or experience. While this is highly detailed, the intended audience seems to be focused on government or community event planners, and not for professional events or conferences. This is more of a basic introduction to what is involved, and is intended for broad audiences. Also available as a 61 page PDF and a 119 page large print PDF.

ASAN: Planning Accessible and Inclusive Organizing Trainings: Strategies for Decreasing Barriers to Participation for People with I/DD https://autisticadvocacy.org/resources/accessibility/ PDF: https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/White-Paper-Planning-Accessible-and-Inclusive-Organizing-Trainings.pdf

While several of the other resources listed here focus primarily on physical barriers to inclusion, this document is absolutely essential for those with sensory integration concerns or learning disabilities. It explains and describes the impacts of such factors as loud or unpredictable noise, motion, and other stimuli; unpredictable events; abstract or overly-complex language; speaking spontaneously (or putting people in situations where they are expected to improvise their reactions); body language; touch; and much more. It includes information on scheduling that describes the need for breaks, use of plain language content, color communication badges, and the risks to the audience of some popular presentation engagement strategies. This is the only of the resources listed here to richly describe the role of support persons in events. I doubt it would be possible to plan an inclusive event sensitive to any of these issues without, at a minimum, reading a document like this one, or being close to someone who shares these issues and concerns. A must read.

New York State, Department of Health: People First: How To Plan Events Everyone Can Attend https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/0956/

This is a lovely document which includes both high level thinking around accessible events as well as fairly detailed specifics. This is one of few of these types of resources that spends time on the importance of developing a formal policy with specifications for events, and has suggestions for approaching the development of a policy if your organization lacks one. It includes nitty-gritty suggestions, such as “Plan for 30% more meeting space when 10% or more of the participants will use mobility aids,” having ramps to the stages, and how to look for tripping hazards. Absolutely a must read. Also available as a 13-page PDF.

Ohio State University: Composing Access, An invitation to creating accessible events https://u.osu.edu/composingaccess/

Includes information on making accessible presentations, including live-streaming and handouts (when, why, and how), as well as the expected accessibility thoughts and practices for conference organizers. Includes resources; ways to encourage attendees to act as advocates for accessibility and inclusion; descriptions and videos for creative practices like interaction badges, quiet rooms, “crip time,” and more.

Syracuse University: A Guide to Planning Inclusive Events, Seminars, and Activities at Syracuse University http://sudcc.syr.edu/resources/event-guide.html

Available only as a 27 page accessible PDF. This exceptionally detailed resource is far too rich a resource to do justice to in a brief description. Syracuse is the home of Cripping the Comic Con, and it is clear that they have really put considerable time and thought into not only conceptualizing accessible events, but putting this into practice, seeking feedback, and learning from experience. It has four appendices, of which the most essential, to my mind, is Diane Wiener’s example introduction in Appendix B. In addition to the usual content (planning, venue, promotion, and presentation) this guide includes prudent practices for inclusive use of language, use of images and media, the role of environment (fragrance, sound/noise, lights, color), and much more. This is my own preferred go-to guide for starting with this. I guess that means I should mark it a must read, too.

University of Arizona: A Guide to Planning Accessible and Inclusive Events https://drc.arizona.edu/planning-events/guide-planning-accessible-and-inclusive-events

A short example of how to write a resource like this for a campus community. Includes a brief but helpful section on how to train event support staff.

University of British Columbia: Checklist for Accessible Event Planning https://equity.ok.ubc.ca/resources/checklist-for-accessible-event-planning/

Exactly what it says — a collection of terse reminders of what should be remembered. Includes roughly 60 entries in 7 categories (planning, marketing, transportation, space, programming, catering, final). Available as a 9 page PDF download.

University of Michigan: Ten Tips for Inclusive Meetings https://hr.umich.edu/working-u-m/workplace-improvement/office-institutional-equity/americans-disabilities-act-information/ten-tips-inclusive-meetings

This information in this resource is presented in a layered fashion for ease of access, action, and remembering, similar to the UBC checklist. The ten tips are very short, focusing on major areas to consider, but include links to richer information for those willing to explore more deeply. The design stresses retention and adoption of the concepts by making them easy to access and simple to remember. Main areas included are scheduling, accessible presentations, promotion, restrooms, food and drink, personal assistance, offsite participation, representation, transportation and navigation, and options for help for event planning and management.

Vera Institute for Justice: Designing Accessible Events for People with Disabilities and Deaf Individuals https://www.vera.org/publications/designing-accessible-events-for-people-with-disabilities-and-deaf-individuals

This isn’t a guide or a checklist. This is a toolkit, and boy, does it have a lot of different tools. They have several different tip sheets focusing on special aspects of meetings and events, from registration to budgeting, and including venues and how the meeting itself is handled. They even have a tip sheet for working with Sign Language Interpreters, and how to develop successful contracts with hotel management (which sounds worth its weight in gold). These aren’t one page tip sheets, though. The tip sheet for designing accessible registration is 7 page long. That’s a lot of tips. These are so well done that countless other disability organizations host copies on their own websites and recommend them for their own audiences and clients. These are another must read.

Additional resources & examples

ACS-ALA, Accessibility and Libraries, October 4, 2017. Rough edited CART copy (Webinar transcript). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JIVc5-QcvBb74AitQXrnFfHReYk6nnKez3gR33llHvU/edit

ALA Annual: Accessibility https://2019.alaannual.org/general-information/accessibility

Inclusion BC: How-to Make Your Event More Inclusive https://inclusionbc.org/our-resources/how-to-make-your-event-more-inclusive-2/ PDF: https://inclusionbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Makeyoureventinclusive.pdf

NCCSD Clearinghouse and Resource Library: Inclusive Event Planning https://www.nccsdclearinghouse.org/inclusive-event-planning.html

WorldCon 76: https://www.worldcon76.org/member-services/accessibility

TO READ

This is a twitter thread from a few weeks back that “won Twitter,” as in it went viral, with 144 replies, 294 Retweets, and 1,562 Likes. It began with Alex Haagaard’s mention of their own accommodation requests at conferences, and resulted in a highly educational thread of accommodations people need or wish they could request at conferences. I recommend reading this thread for any conference planners or organizers.

Some accommodations I've recently started asking for from conferences / workshops:

– Lids & straws for coffee & cold beverage cups
– Food trays
– Accessibility maps with info about flooring type
– Full ingredients list for all foods

— Alex Haagaard (@alexhaagaard) April 19, 2019

MORE

“If part of what we train our students to do is enter into scholarly conversations, how we go about that conversation in our own professional settings matters.”
Accessibility at ASECS and Beyond: A Guest Post by Dr. Jason Farr and Dr. Travis Chi Wing Lau https://asecsgradcaucus.wordpress.com/2019/02/21/accessibility-at-asecs-and-beyond-a-guest-post-by-dr-jason-farr-and-dr-travis-chi-wing-lau/
Includes: “Toward a More Accessible Conference Presentation” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xzGyfVlMRUwZMjuZ6mef87OXCIfN3uiW/view

“Use the microphone: this gets repeated dozens of times on Twitter every conference for at least the last five years. I guess I’ll just say: yes, abled people, using a microphone indicates that you are considerate of D/deaf and hard-of-hearing folks, and suggesting that others do is beneficial to the audience.”
S. Bryce Kozla. Accessibility and Conference Presentations https://brycekozlablog.blogspot.com/2018/01/accessibility-and-conference.html

“But I believe that losing my hearing was one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received. You see, I get to experience the world in a unique way. And I believe that these unique experiences that people with disabilities have is what’s going to help us make and design a better world for everyone — both for people with and without disabilities. … I stumbled upon a solution that I believe may be an even more powerful tool to solve some of the world’s greatest problems, disability or not. And that tool is called design thinking.”
When we design for disability, we all benefit | Elise Roy https://www.ted.com/talks/elise_roy_when_we_design_for_disability_we_all_benefit?language=en

Bots, Part One: Of bots, and bleeps, and other things

First published at the UMIT Newsletter as “Bots, Part One: Of bots, and bleeps, and other things.”

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E.L.I.Z.A. Talking (www.masswerk.at/eliza/)

Last December, I was turned on to the importance of bots while attending the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network (MCSMN) Annual Meeting in Arizona. Since then, I’ve been digging into the topic, trying to learn more, and hoping to get a bot implemented on our departmental website, but there is just so much to talk about! We decided to break this into a few parts, beginning with defining terms and a snippet of history — what’s a bot?

Bots, as in…robots? Not exactly

My first question was, “What do they mean by ‘bots’?” No, not robots (even though we have several wonderful robotics initiatives going here on campus), NPCs in games, spiders, spambots, malware bots, botnets, zombie computers, or any other geeky gore. The folk at MCSMN were focusing solely on chatbots, also known as chatterbots, website chatbots, AI bots, intelligent agents, intelligent bots, talkbots, Twitterbots, or messenger bots on Facebook, or even just broadly as social bots. According to Chatbots.org, there are over 160 terms describing the idea of a chatbot!

I am old enough to think of these generally as AI conversation bots, like the original ELIZA, which I marveled at the first time I encountered it. We’ve come a long, LONG way since then…in some ways. Eliza is available in a javascript clone of the old terminal interface, and has a new version that will talk to you, but…in other ways, we still have a long way to go.

Bots then and now

Bots have a fascinating back story, with mind-blowing applications going on right now. They are on web sites and Facebook pages, in apps, and are used for everything from marketing and jobs to social justice and health interventions. New examples appear almost every day. Sometimes a bot is fairly simple, more of a script to automate tasks, while others edge into the areas related to artificial intelligence.

About the background of AI bots, there is some justification for saying they go back to Ancient Greece, which was a surprise to me. More recently, they took off again in the 1960s with bots like Eliza, and the 1970s with MYCIN, finally reaching the general public in the 1990s in games, and now we all know about Siri and Google Assistant, right? Futurism has an infographic on bots history, and it’s a topic that has really been growing.

In recent months, chatbots have been profiled in a variety of major media outlets, include Ad Week, CIO, CNBC, Forbes, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and Wired. Believe it or not, there are even a few magazines devoted to chatbots, including Chatbots Magazine, Chatbot News Daily, Chatbots Journal, and probably others I haven’t found. The short message is that if you haven’t been paying attention to bots for your websites or apps, now may be the time to change that.

Here at the University of Michigan, there are a lot of people studying bots and using bots to make interesting things, but you’ll hear more about that next time, in “Things to Do With Bots.”

Social Media For Exclusion

First posted (with a few small editorial changes) at the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media Blog: http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/discussion/social-media-for-exclusion/

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We praise the power of social media to bring people together, to engage people around topics and events of shared interest, to include. Too often we don’t stop to think that every new tool with new ways to include people is probably excluding someone else in a new way.

The accessibility of social media is rarely discussed outside of communities of persons with disabilities. When it is discussed, the people who most need to hear it (us?) may not be in the audience. When we aren’t, the work we do to try to include and engage may actually serve to accomplish the opposite.

VIDEO

The obvious example, one you probably already know about, is when you share video or use streaming tools, but lack captions. It isn’t always possible to pay for live captioning, as much as we might want to, but there are tips and tricks to get around that with low-cost options. In Second Life, the Virtual Ability community has, as a standard of practice, a roster of volunteers who offer to type into live chat a synopsis of what the speaker is saying, and who describe images on the slides for the blind. Because some conversations there are held in typed chat, they also have someone sighted volunteer to read aloud the typed chat, identifying the speakers. Why couldn’t we working in healthcare media implement something like this for streamed events?

TWITTER

Did you know about Easy Chirp? It’s a Twitter browser designed for people who are blind or visually impaired, but it can be useful for others as well. Just as with curb cuts, tools to make social media more accessible for marginalized and excluded audiences can make life easier for people who are nominally able-bodied. Accessible browsers can require less bandwidth and be more robust when you are in that crowded meeting room with a hundred people sharing wireless, just as an example.

Do you tweet using one of those marvelous fancy tools for the pros that allow you to track multiple channels at the same time? Often those will place the relevant hashtag for the channel at the beginning of each tweet. I wager you weren’t aware that this makes life harder for those with visual or cognitive challenges, because it makes it harder for them to sort out the important part of the message. Recommended practice is to place hashtags at the END of your tweets.

Also, for those hashtags which smoosh together parts of different words? Screenreaders struggle to figure out how to read those when they are all lower case or all upper case. I have a bad habit of not mixing the capitalization because it is faster when I am typing, but for screenreader, there is a world of difference between #mayoclinic and #MayoClinic. Now that I know, I am trying to be better about it, because I was excluding people when I meant to include them.

MORE

These are just a few examples, low-hanging fruit. There is a lot more to know. Luckily, there is an upcoming free webinar on social media accessibility from the ADA National Network, if you are interested in learning more. If you are here on campus, we are meeting in the Hatcher Gallery Lab to watch this together.

October 20, 2015
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Social Media and Accessibility

#WHDemoDay and #ADAinitiative — Oh, the Irony

Welcome to Demo Day at the White House! (Megan Smith, the First US Chief Technology Officer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxGrDsuwCFk

“It’s a tradition in the tech community to show off amazing things that people have built. … All Americans do this. All American are capable of this. And it’s a big part of our future, and it’s always been a big part of our past.”

Yesterday was a landmark day in diversity and inclusion.

Yesterday saw the first ever White House Demo Day (#WHDemoDay), for women and minority entrepreneurs and innovators to ‘pitch’ their ideas to President Obama.

Yesterday saw the end of the ADA Initiative, “a feminist organization. We strive to serve the interests and needs of women in open technology and culture who are at the intersection of multiple forms of oppression, including disabled women, women of color, LBTQ women, and women from around the world.” (Ada Initiative, About Us)

How enormously ironic to see the closing of the one with the opening of the other, and both with such closely related missions. I can only hope that this first White House Demo Day proves to be one of many, and that the effort continues to embrace and support diversity as essential to American creativity and innovation.

White House Demo Day

The White House Demo Day had demonstrations to illustrate the diversity of people contributing to the innovation that helps strengthen the American economy. Most of the companies presenting had at least one woman founder or co-founder. Almost as many of the companies presenting had a founder that is a person of color or who shows ethnic or cultural diversity. The two companies represented by white men were (1) military, and (2) a winner of the XPRIZE. There were a few wonderful presenters from Michigan, including Ann-Marie Sastry of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor talking about her innovations in batteries and power storage. Products presented included new search engines based on cognitive models, medical innovations in cancer / HIV / aging / asthma, parenting tools, strategies for empowering patients, creative ways to repay student loans, several on converting ‘waste’ to profit, and much more. There was even Zoobean, who partner with libraries to recommend books and apps based on children’s preferences.

Part of what made this so wonderful (and why I wish I’d heard about it sooner) was the move to encourage parallel events across the country. I wish we’d done this here! Here are some tweets about the high points.

At first #WHDemoDay, President Obama stresses diversity in #tech: http://t.co/PETq10gl6D via @WIRED pic.twitter.com/Jq2InC2QpE

— Philips NorthAmerica (@PhilipsNA) August 5, 2015

Diversity in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Spotlight at White House Today http://t.co/au2ro0ADF4

— Pierre Thyssen (@pjthyssen) August 5, 2015

ASEE members – more than 100 engineering deans – signed on to a diversity pledge as part of #WHDemoDay pic.twitter.com/eHB1JUyKzU

— ASEE (@ASEE_DC) August 4, 2015

Proud of the Michigan innovators from @Sakti3 & @DetroitDirt who showed their great ideas to @POTUS for #WHDemoDay: http://t.co/XFnOYyRaM1

— Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) August 5, 2015

We love what @FragoMEM is doing & they are making a huge difference for veterans. http://t.co/B91vaKs4yZ #WHDemoDay pic.twitter.com/RhZ8ZwpDGu

— ListHunt (@ListHunt) August 5, 2015

Gamify your way to learning a new language with @duolingo! See more in Best of #WHDemoDay: http://t.co/tnpXnTVgym pic.twitter.com/Z1CtB2bwLi

— Ryan McCready (@RyanMcCready1) August 5, 2015

S/O to #ICorps entrepreneurs @CocoonCam, @Doug_Hutchings & #NSFfunded #Sakti3's Ann Marie Sastry on great exhibits at #WHDemoDay yesterday!

— National Science Fdn (@NSF) August 5, 2015

RT @SteveCase: "Genius is evenly distributed…access and opportunity are not" @mkapor Loading http://t.co/VgH5ZEvLqE #WHDemoDay #RiseOfRest

— Case Foundation (@CaseFoundation) August 4, 2015

Congrats @ZoobeanForKids #ArlingtonVA startup, the @ABCSharkTank winner was only DC area company at #WHDemoDay http://t.co/P3udtVcJ92

— Arlington Econ Dev (@AEDBizInvest) August 5, 2015

See our favorites from #WHDemoDay including @duolingo, @BidrAuctions & more #startups here: http://t.co/HrtKguKLeh

— ListHunt (@ListHunt) August 5, 2015

276 #WHDemoDay photos via @masschallenge @kmin @alex44 @galvanize @nsf_eng @mikesnider @pauljudge @6gems @nvca https://t.co/p0x7EleS7p

— CrowdAlbum (@CrowdAlbum) August 5, 2015

Read about the presenters here. Listen to the pitches here.

President Obama Hosts the First-Ever White House Demo Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKsxHS5vptM

White House Demo Day: https://www.whitehouse.gov/demo-day

Ada Initiative

“When the Ada Initiative was founded in 2011, the environment for women in open technology and culture was extremely hostile. Conference anti-harassment policies were rare outside of certain areas in fandom, and viewed as extremist attempts to muzzle free speech. Pornography in slides was a regular feature at many conferences in these areas, as were physical and sexual assault. Most open tech/culture communities didn’t have an understanding of basic feminist concepts like consent, tone policing, and intersectional oppression.” https://adainitiative.org/2015/08/announcing-the-shutdown-of-the-ada-initiative/

The Ada Initiative began by trying to change the world for women in STEM and tech. They stopped, but not without having made change, and not without leaving a permanent legacy. You’ll see tributes and comments below to testify to this, but you’ll also see links to some of the content they made open source and Creative Commons in order to help perpetuate their work, as well as work from some of their partners who carry on the good message and work. By the way, their open source toolkits are absolutely incredible and well worth downloading.

Struggling to reconcile free speech with stopping harassment of women online? @sarahjeong's new book is a must read http://t.co/E65BV1uAPk

— The Ada Initiative (@adainitiative) July 17, 2015

B/c of @adainitiative, I learned about my women colleagues' struggles in tech; "impostor syndrome" is real; & that code is never neutral.

— Lindsey Weeramuni (@LBWicket) August 4, 2015

“The reason you have imposter syndrome is that you’ve been treated like an imposter…” http://t.co/QoYtrdWMKL

— The Ada Initiative (@adainitiative) July 27, 2015

"By open-sourcing & getting rid of the overhead of a nonprofit, the ideas behind the org live on." @adainitiative http://t.co/yCh28Bel8U

— Sue Gardner (@SuePGardner) August 4, 2015

Thanks to @selenalarson for letting us talk about the difficulties of running a diversity in tech non-profit http://t.co/pKFAc5gIoV

— The Ada Initiative (@adainitiative) August 4, 2015

@selenalarson It’s very sad, but they did everything right to the extent I’ve never seen in any other non-profit that their ideas persist.

— Glenn Fleishman (@GlennF) August 4, 2015

Thanks to @rikkiends for giving us a chance to talk about the Ada Initiative's legacy https://t.co/EESTGdvPCn

— The Ada Initiative (@adainitiative) August 4, 2015

. @adainitiative thank you for making anti-harassment policy normal, AdaCamp and enriching my life with women. https://t.co/rOSa3IWt5N

— selena (@selenamarie) August 4, 2015

HOWTO design a code of conduct for your community https://adainitiative.org/2014/02/howto-design-a-code-of-conduct-for-your-community/
Code of conduct evaluations http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Code_of_conduct_evaluations

Announcing the ADA Camp Toolkit: https://adainitiative.org/2015/07/add-a-little-bit-of-adacamp-to-your-event-announcing-the-adacamp-toolkit/

ADACamp Toolkit: https://adacamp.org/
– Inclusive event catering: https://adacamp.org/adacamp-toolkit/inclusive-event-catering/
– Providing conference childcare: https://adacamp.org/adacamp-toolkit/childcare/
– Quiet room: https://adacamp.org/adacamp-toolkit/quiet-room/
– Supporting d/Deaf and hard of hearing people at an unconference: https://adacamp.org/adacamp-toolkit/supporting-deaf-people/

Eszter Hargittai on Essential Tech Skills (#mlanet15)

Part 5 of a series of blogposts I wrote for the recent Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association.

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Is the Internet good or bad? Safe or dangerous? The answer from Eszter Hargittai at the MLAnet15 Closing Plenary was, “It depends.” Even if I was tracking tech events at the conference, even if this topic wasn’t my own bread-&-butter, even though Natalie has already done an completely excellent blogpost about this session, I would (and do!) still want to blog on this.

“It depends,” is the correct answer to most debates about anything to do with the Internet. Eszter Hargittai has hard data, and strong methodologies behind it, to show that most of our stereotypes about Internet use, audiences, abilities, etc. are considerably more subtle, nuanced, granular, and shaded than commonly believed.

In her research, there were a surprising or worrying number of students who were unable to distinguish phishing URLs from real URLs, to define fundamental Internet jargon terms, to determine accurate versus biased news, to leverage social sharing appropriately for employment, to find accurate and useful health information for common search topics, and more. She described impacts of lower socioeconomic status, gender differences that carry over to online environment, and importantly reframed the “digital divide” as “digital inequalities.” The example which most impressed me related to emergency contraception use. I suspect I’m not the only medical librarian who’s been approached by friends or neighbors with questions related to this topic. In Dr. Hargittai’s sample, a full third were unable to discover that it was possible to buy this over the counter at your neighborhood drug store. And that doesn’t even touch on the question of the other two thirds who do know how to find and purchase it, but do they know how to use it appropriately and safely in the context of their own health history?

The Internet can empower as much as it can endanger. What makes the difference? Hargittai says skills.

And the skills that are needed are ones that can largely be taught and learned. Librarians are people who generally (“It depends”, remember?) have both the needed skills and know how to teach them. This was a talk that the librarians who attended are still talking about, and I suspect that will continue in months to come.

.@eszter thanks for your lecture at #mlanet15 it rang true for me and the type of outreach work I've done for years. Hopeful to do more

— Emily J. Hurst (@hurstej) May 20, 2015

This makes me think of yesterday's talk at #mlanet15 by @eszter which was thought provoking! https://t.co/o0S8hnkA6C

— sola whitehead (@openpeonie) May 21, 2015

A cartoon by Kaamran Hafeez. See more from this week's issue: http://t.co/M03vQkG6Xm pic.twitter.com/f6HNTZz00p

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) May 21, 2015

You can explore the Storify, and its over 300 tweets to see what else people had to say about the talk.

@pfanderson @hurstej You've been quoted in my #Storify story "Eszter Hargittai on Internet Skills Impacts on Health " http://t.co/NplvM3IlKP

— P. F. Anderson (@pfanderson) May 22, 2015

GPII Gives me GOOSEBUMPS!

We all use technology every day. Well, people reading this blog, anyway. We use it, and everywhere we go, we either carry our own devices or spend time fiddling and fussing to make it work right. Or both. So, … have you heard about GPII?

Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII): http://www.gpii.net/

It gives me goosebumps, it really does. I’ve been hearing about this via Jane Vincent, author of “Making the Library Accessible to All” and a colleague here at the University of Michigan. Jane has been working on this project for a long time, before she came here. We are so very lucky to have her here and be informed literally at the ground level as this evolves. So what is it? What does “Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure” actually MEAN? It is the ultimate (for now) in portable technology personalization. Basically, how do you prefer to set up your computer? Now, code that into a little snippet, kind of like a credit card, and you take that with you wherever you go. Want to use a computer? Wave your magic card, and voilà! It’s set up just the way you like it.

I am, of course, oversimplifying, so here is a video introduction, and a video demo. Watch them both, and see if they don’t give you goosebumps, too!

Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) w/captions and description:

Human Rights Museum Demo Instructions:

A big part of what I like about it is the community behind the idea and the process. Here’s a grateful nod to the following engaged and supporting organizations.

Cloud 4 All
FLOE Project
FLUID Project (which is worth an entire blogpost on their own!)
Prosperity 4 All
Raising the Floor
TRACE Center, University of Wisconsin

Personalized Medicine, Biosensors, Mobile Medical Apps, and More

At the Quantified Self Meetup, someone was praising the Rock Health slides. Of course, I had to go explore and see what was so great. These are my favorites.

About FDA’s Guidance for Mobile Medical Apps

FDA 101: A guide to the FDA for digital health entrepreneurs by @Rock_Health: http://www.slideshare.net/RockHealth/fda-101-a-guide-to-the-fda-for-digital-health-entrepreneurs

I especially took note of slide 10, where they describe things I would think of as an app, but which do not qualify as such for FDA regulation. This is an important distinction I hadn’t previously considered. Slide 12 takes it further by describing the categories of regulation as based on risk to patients, with good clear examples. Slie 21 on “pro tips” would have really benefitted companies like 23andMe (even though that isn’t actually a mobile medical app, the pro tips still apply, and in spades).

Biosensing Wearable Tech

The Future of Biosensing Wearables by @Rock_Health http://www.slideshare.net/RockHealth/the-future-of-biosensing-wearables-by-rockhealth

This one definitely gets into topics relevant to the quantified self movement and self-tracking. Slide six emphasizes the shift from the low hanging fruit (fitness, pulse, sleep) to the long tail — more targeted solutions for specific challenges (hydration, glucose, salinity, skin conductance, posture, oxygenation, heart rhythm, respiration, eyetracking, brain activity, etc.). That’s really quite interesting, and it gives examples of companies working in each space.

Slides 19-24 get into several of the areas our own local meetup defined as challenges to success for companies working in this space and for the future success of the entire area — it has to work, easily, and dependably. Slides 27-30 extrapolate these challenges into the transition into healthcare environments.

Personalized Medicine

The Future of Personalized Health Care: Predictive Analytics by @Rock_Health http://www.slideshare.net/RockHealth/the-future-of-personalized-health-care-predictive-analytics-press Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJak41hIDWc

SLIDES

VIDEO

It’s probably safe to say that most individuals working in the quantified self / self-tracking space eventually end up struggling with the issue of how to use their data to anticipate avoidable problems. This idea can be translated into the jargon phrase of “predictive analytics.” Slide 11 does a nice job of lining this up with how traditional healthcare is practiced, which is very useful. Slide 12 places this in the context of big data resources, databases, and tools, listing several of the main players. This context is essential for making personal data relevant beyond the drawn out process of n=1 studies. Slide 14 identifies the BIG problem of how companies working in this space largely focus on hospitals and health care providers, and seem to have entirely missed the idea that patients are deeply and actively engaged in this space. And, frankly, there are more of us than them (even if our pockets aren’t as deep). I love the phrase on slide 18, “Symptom calculators are the “recommendation engines” of health care.” Most of the rest of the deck identifies challenges and opportunities, which I hope any entrepreneurial types would examine closely. Do notice that there is a video with this one. You can hear the entire webinar as well as reviewing the slides.

Big Beautiful Questions (A HOTW post from #hcldr)

The other blog for which I was writing the “Hashtag of the Week (HOTW)” posts has changed focus, so I am no longer doing them weekly, but I am still doing them when available time and something amazing both intersect. The something amazing part happens ALL THE TIME, and if that was the only factor, I could do these daily! But this time, the conversation was so relevant and useful that I would feel like I wasn’t doing my job if I didn’t share it.

Yesterday evening, the Healthcare Leadership group had a conversation about the role of questions and questioning in healthcare. The conversation was lead by Bernadette Keefe, MD, and was triggered by Warren Berger’s work in the area of “beautiful questions.” He wrote a book, but you can find a short intro to the core ideas in his New Year’s article, “Forget Resolutions.” To help people ask better questions, more answerable questions, questions that have a higher potential for leading to positive change in their life, Bernadette pointed out the tips from the “Right Question Institute“, and I pointed out the “Question Prompts List” strategy.

The real value of the #hcldr conversation, however, came from the questions. The questions posed for the group, and the questions posted as answers. My favorite of the questions posed was, “What are we not asking?” Keep that in mind as you read the following selections from the questions given as answers to the prompts.

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T1 In our sizable efforts to make healthcare more efficient, accurate and safe,as well as less costly, what are the questions weʼre not asking?

T1 Do you feel safe/comfortable? Why not? How can we change that? #hcldr

— Laurel Ann Whitlock (@twirlandswirl) February 4, 2015

T1: what don't we know and who haven't we heard #hcldr

— Rahul Nayak MD, MBA (@TeamMDrs) February 4, 2015

T1 "How can we make your next visit even more convenient/smoother?" – Hotels & restaurants ask, why not healthcare? #hcldr

— Colin Hung (@Colin_Hung) February 4, 2015

T1 what will happen if I do nothing? #hcldr

— Dominick Frosch (@dlfrosch) February 4, 2015

T1 And even more important, "Do YOU have any questions?" The number of times I've had to chase down a HCP for important questions…. #hcldr

— Laurel Ann Whitlock (@twirlandswirl) February 4, 2015

T1 Big question for patients; do I really need to see a doctor? Or will this get better on it's own? #hcldr

— Liam Farrell (@drlfarrell) February 4, 2015

T1 "What can we do to make you more self-sufficient at home?" HT @seastarbatita for the idea. Not many Q's asked abt staying at home #hcldr

— Colin Hung (@Colin_Hung) February 4, 2015

T1 Before determining what questions HCPs SHOULD ask, some of them need to learn to listen to the answers they're already getting. #hcldr

— Laurel Ann Whitlock (@twirlandswirl) February 4, 2015

Asking questions with tact & respect goes both ways as well. T1 As my mother said, "It's not what you said, it's the WAY you said it" #hcldr

— Stacey Tinianov (@coffeemommy) February 4, 2015

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T2 As you experience healthcare delivery today – is questioning valued?

@hcldr #hcldr T2 You got to be kidding! The answer is NO! we don't value questions!

— Yinka Vidal (@YinkaVidal) February 4, 2015

T2 How about every #hcldr we post 1 Q on blog – real Q from real patient – that HCPs think was great one?

— Sally James (@jamesian) February 4, 2015

T2 #hcldr Best docs like Qs. Others tell patients to shut up. Like a bell on a cat, Q intolerance warns that doc is insecure/unhelpful

— FrancieGrace (@FrancieGrace) February 4, 2015

Shut up>2nd opinion MT @FrancieGrace T2 #hcldr Best docs like Qs. Others tell patients to shut up. Like bell on a cat,Q intolerance warns…

— Bernadette Keefe (@nxtstop1) February 4, 2015

T2: When patients are in the "heat of the moment" how do we empower them to go back and re-ask questions? #hcldr

— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) February 4, 2015

Bingo! RT @RasuShrestha T2: Questioning is fundamental to shared decision making. #HCLDR @hcldr

— Isabel Jordan (@seastarbatita) February 4, 2015

T2 Sometimes patients read the temperature in the room and know not to ask. Non verbal cues play a part #hcldr

— Annette McKinnon (@anetto) February 4, 2015

T2 When I don't talk well, many HCP don't bother to listen. They just assume I don't know what I want. #hcldr

— Stroke Tattler (@Stroketattler) February 4, 2015

T2: from a mom of a disabled kiddo…I think some providers feel like questioning=threatening #hcldr

— D'Anna Holmes (@PoPculture_px) February 4, 2015

T2 Asked a surgeons how many ___ procedures he did in a year. He said I was not ready for the op. Not a desired question #hcldr

— Annette McKinnon (@anetto) February 4, 2015

#hcldr T2 When employees speak or question the system, they get fired. So everybody start walking on eggshells.

— Yinka Vidal (@YinkaVidal) February 4, 2015

T2 Some HCPs do not want to be questioned. Most admins don't want to be questioned. & you don't know who until you start asking #hcldr

— Isabel Jordan (@seastarbatita) February 4, 2015

T2: Time is the biggest price for everyone in healthcare…yet when we forsake time to ask questions, it costs everyone #hcldr

— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) February 4, 2015

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T3 What are questions you, personally, would like to ask of your healthcare provider, medical insurance company, or hospital?

T3: What tests do I really need, and which are defensive medicine? #hcldr

— Jenn Webster (@jenwebs) February 4, 2015

@pfanderson @jenwebs Add to that what are my other options. T3 #hcldr

— Stroke Tattler (@Stroketattler) February 4, 2015

T3: If the best care decision for me is defined as an "outlier" in your guidelines, are you going to empower me + MD to do so? #hcldr

— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) February 4, 2015

@CancerGeek Andy, they will stare at you. Then shake their head. This is the crux, how to we enable ALL types of decisions to flow? #hcldr

— Joseph Babaian (@JoeBabaian) February 4, 2015

T3 – What OTHER options do I have? Often only presented w/what HCP feels approp, what they can provide; dont want 2 give alternatives #hcldr

— Patti Koblewski (@ChronicPainGPS) February 4, 2015

T3: what's your definition of health? – so I can compare that to my own. #hcldr

— Dr. Les Kertay (@DrLesKertay) February 4, 2015

@hcldr How can you support me to best live the life of my choosing? To treat me without alienating me from my home and community? #hcldr

— Katy Hanlon (@khanlon) February 4, 2015

T3: "What if" visualizations are always so powerful to affect behavior change. I'd ask for more of these! #HCLDR @hcldr

— Rasu Shrestha MD MBA (@RasuShrestha) February 4, 2015

Question I'd like to ask HCP: "How can I help YOU meet MY needs?" I'll come prepared, I'll ask the questions, what else? #hcldr T3

— Stacey Tinianov (@coffeemommy) February 4, 2015

T3 I'd like all my son's docs to sit in a room w/ me once in a while to discuss his case, together. #hcldr

— Isabel Jordan (@seastarbatita) February 4, 2015

T3: Another important one that many don't think about: how are you using my data? Is shared? Used for Research? Sold? #hcldr

— Jenn Webster (@jenwebs) February 4, 2015

RT+1000 @LAlupusLady: T3 as a patient w/ multiple chronic conditions, when will you see me as a woman/person with a life? #hcldr

— Joseph Babaian (@JoeBabaian) February 4, 2015

T3 #hcldr Whenever possible, I ask docs, nurses, techs how/why they got into this career & listen to their motives, satisfactions, Qs, goals

— FrancieGrace (@FrancieGrace) February 4, 2015

T3 why do you cause so much anxiety on scan day. Waiting for hours in a sterile white room for results that can be delivered by phone.#hcldr

— Corrie Painter, PhD (@corrie_painter) February 4, 2015

T3 Always the question no one asks. Will this affect my sex life? #hcldr

— Annette McKinnon (@anetto) February 4, 2015

T3: If you do not meet my definitions of value in care, do I get a refund? #hcldr

— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) February 4, 2015

@CancerGeek …husband tried to argue if we didn't find anything out and didn't leave feeling any better, we shouldn't have to pay. #hcldr

— Laurel Ann Whitlock (@twirlandswirl) February 4, 2015

T3 what additional covered services should i be taking advantage of that I'm currently not? #hcldr

— Primaris Healthcare (@primaris_health) February 4, 2015

@DrLesKertay @pfanderson Yes! There's a difference between surviving and thriving. Where on the spectrum do you expect me to fall? #hcldr

— Laurel Ann Whitlock (@twirlandswirl) February 4, 2015

Now you're talking @MandiBPro 's language RT @anetto: T3 Can I have a look at that record? I see an error on page 1 – Can you fix it? #hcldr

— Colin Hung (@Colin_Hung) February 4, 2015

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T4 How could the value of questioning be incorporated into healthcare delivery in an efficient and effective way? Programs etc?

@twirlandswirl @CancerGeek I'm guessing Pain Management? maybe not, but there's lot of strife in healthcare right now. Sorry- #hcldr

— Rann Patterson (@RannPatterson) February 4, 2015

@RannPatterson @CancerGeek "Most patients never find out what causes their pain." As if that were an answer. Say HCP for MAYBE 3 mins #hcldr

— Laurel Ann Whitlock (@twirlandswirl) February 4, 2015

My asthma doc sends me home with an action plan–great resource for consulting between visits #hcldr

— Bonnie C. Sheeren (@bonniesheeren) February 4, 2015

T4: Allow to question why this test vs that test; Can you provide decision tree to show me how we made this decision collectively? #hcldr

— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) February 4, 2015

@jenwebs As I said last week, EMR=Epic Medical Regression. Agree it needs to be redesigned by first defining problem to solve. #hcldr

— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) February 4, 2015

T4: Important also that PCPs question themselves sometimes. "What’s Your Bias?" http://t.co/rUAdJGwUeP via @anayanyle #HCLDR

— Wing Of Zock (@wingofzock) February 4, 2015

@DrLesKertay We can do this best by working as a team. peers, social workers, librarians – MD does not have to take all the questions #hcldr

— Katy Hanlon (@khanlon) February 4, 2015

T4: How about journalling the patient’s questions over time and bundling them into the Review of Sys at time of visit? #hcldr

— André Thénot (@athenot) February 4, 2015

T4 this is the approach we’re testing to create a more open environment, make questioning more efficient http://t.co/EmXvlvqeDa #hcldr

— Dominick Frosch (@dlfrosch) February 4, 2015

T4 – Teach patients how to ask questions, to write down top 3 concerns prior to appt on paper and bring. Respect, never minimize #hcldr

— Camea (Kamiya) (@Kamiyamay) February 4, 2015

T4: Use tech to gather data pre-visit, the provider is prepared to ask data driven questions at the visit (ie. loose the "binder") #hcldr

— Max Stroud (@MMaxwellStroud) February 4, 2015

T4 @MMaxwellStroud I really like this utopian view. Docs have the time & willingness to look at pt data AHEAD of visit #hcldr

— Colin Hung (@Colin_Hung) February 4, 2015

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Closing Thoughts

CT: This conversation about patient engagement needs to start in medical school. Day one. #meded #hcldr

— Jennifer Chevinsky (@jchevinsky) January 28, 2015

@Colin_Hung a patient's dream is a HCPs nightmare? When will reality meet in the middle? #hcldr

— Amanda (@LAlupusLady) February 4, 2015

CT: Empowerment via Education. Education via Q&A. Questions MUST be encouraged & executed by pts & docs for effective HC. #hcldr

— Stacey Tinianov (@coffeemommy) February 4, 2015

ICUMI~Last eve's #HCLDR Transcript: A Beautiful Question: Questioning in Healthcare http://t.co/DsnUkLAsYA via @symplur ~thanks to everyone!

— Bernadette Keefe (@nxtstop1) February 4, 2015

Fair Use & Figures: When Is It OK? (Part Two: Fair Use)

Point 2: Is it fair use?

In part one of this post on using research tables and figures in social media, the focus was on, “Let’s find something that isn’t copyrighted, and just use that, because we know that will be safe” (sort of). But sometimes what you want is new, not old, and from a copyrighted publication, not something open access. When that happens, what do you do? Can you still use it?

It started with Andrew’s question, but he sure isn’t the only person asking!

Is sharing/embedding a figure from a paywalled scientific journal on Twitter really OK? #copyright #scicomm http://t.co/4acmnNfdxp

— Paige Brown Jarreau (@FromTheLabBench) January 15, 2015

#lazyweb, copyright ? for presentation- do I need to clear use of an figure in an article w/owner (author or journal)? Unsure…

— Becky Yoose (@yo_bj) January 22, 2015

@WxDeFlitch its a violation of copyright law and twitter terms of service to publish images you dont have license to. we require permission

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) December 23, 2014

Have learnt new term, ‘freebooting’ – seems to be an acceptable way to saying ‘that breaks copyright’ http://t.co/R1DPyVhuq2

— ContentFormula Staff (@ContentFormula) January 22, 2015

The answer is (again) it depends. And, to be honest about it, the “it depends” is a whole lot messier. The idea of “fair use” makes the idea of “copyright” look like child’s play. As usual, I am not a lawyer (IANAL), so take the information here at your own peril, and don’t go quoting me to your own lawyers. That said, I’ll be giving references to a lot of information that IS from lawyers, so refer people to the original sources whenever possible!

This is a question that comes up a lot. Even more often, I suspect, it doesn’t come up at all when it ought to, because someone assumed it was alright and didn’t think about it more deeply. I may have even done that myself (and I’m afraid to go back and look too closely at my blogposts).

WHY ARE FIGURES DIFFERENT?

The shortest version I’ve found explaining why “fair use” for research figures from articles are DIFFERENT from other images is this snippet from Scholarly Publishing @ MIT Libraries:

“Note: an image or figure would commonly be considered a work in and of itself, weighing against fair use; or could summarize the key point of an article, also weighing against fair use.” Reuse of figures, images, and other content in theses http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/copyright-publishing-guide-for-students/reuse-of-figures-images-and-other-content-in-theses/

That’s the gist of it. Applying “fair use” to reusing content from a larger work depends on four factors:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
US Copyright Office: Copyright: Fair Use: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

The point from MIT regards the 3rd factor, “amount and substantiality.” If the image is considered a work independent of the article, then copying it is copying a complete work instead of a percentage, and that is not OK. If the figure is considered a fair distillation of the complete article, then that could be considered equivalent to copying the whole article. To be allowed to use something under “Fair Use” claims, it is recommended to meet all FOUR of the four factors: no money, factual or data-focused content, a tiny bit of it (insignificant amount), and little to no impact on sales of the original. If any of those are iffy, you’ve got a problem.

In a recently published article in the research journal CIRCULATION, the editors of the journal attempted a randomized controlled trial to test the success or failure of social media in promoting readership of articles. How did they do this? Well, they posted randomly selected articles to Facebook and Twitter, but a bit part of how they posted included (you guessed it!) FIGURES. For exactly the same reasons we are NOT supposed to use them, technically speaking.

“However, our social media postings were comprehensive in that they focused on the main message of the article and included a key figure from the article. Thus, it is possible that social media users did not find it necessary to access the full article and therefore experienced increased awareness of the article but not online access of the primary source. This raises the possible concern that social media could reduce the potential reach of original published research as demonstrated by altmetrics.” Fox CS, Bonaca MA, Ryan JJ, Massaro JM, Barry K, Loscalzo J. A Randomized Trial of Social Media From Circulation. Circulation 2015; 131: 28-33. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/131/1/28.full

In that test, it was the editors of the journal posting the figures, and even then, they questioned the utility and benefit. A big part of the question, which they highlight in that snippet, was whether it is better to have awareness of the article and its findings, or actual readers. This assumes that people who click through to the article actually read it, which is itself questionable.

So, that’s the short view. Just to round it out, here are a few more pieces relating to this topic.

WHAT IF I DRAW MY OWN FIGURE?

A common recommendation is to redraw the figure. Annoying, time-consuming, but supposedly legal, most of the time, as long as the content is primarily data (since data can’t be copyrighted). Indeed, this is recommended by many experts as THE solution to this problem.

Q: I want to use a figure from another thesis or dissertation from my group. Do I need to ask permission?
A: “Usually. The student who wrote the thesis or dissertation owns the copyright and must be asked for permission. Figures are generally considered works in and of themselves and do not usually constitute a small portion of the work. See “How to Use Copyrighted Materials” for more information. If, however, the figure is a simple representation of data, you may not need permission. Data cannot be copyrighted, so non-creative ways of representing the data are generally considered fair use.” Copyright Frequently Asked Questions | Michigan Tech Graduate School http://www.mtu.edu/gradschool/administration/academics/thesis-dissertation/copyright/faq/

It depends on who you ask, though. I don’t know the court law on this, but I’ve found recommendations on both sides. Overwhelmingly, what I’ve found it people recommending to redraw the figure. And then I found this, from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

“Redrawing a figure does not change the Fair Use analysis; the figure cannot be used without permission just because it is redrawn.” ACM Guidance for Authors on Fair Use http://www.acm.org/publications/guidance-for-authors-on-fair-use

WHAT IF I JUST GO AHEAD AND USE IT? NO ONE WILL CARE, RIGHT?

Another common approach (probably the one I am most guilty of myself) is to assume that you aren’t important enough to bother with, or that no one will notice you did it, or that if they do notice all that will happen is they ask you to take it out. I haven’t even attempted to figure out how often this happens. The gist of the idea is that, while it may not be strictly legal, it IS fairly common practice, and can be a win-win for each side (as long as you are saying nice things, anyway).

The “Win-Win” Argument:

“Most authors will probably be happy that their results are disseminated, and reuse is likely to lead to more people reading the full paper and citing the work.”
Martin Fenner. Why can’t I reuse these tables and figures? Gobbledygook (PLoS Blogs) 2010.
http://blogs.plos.org/mfenner/2010/09/30/why-cant-i-reuse-these-tables-and-figures/

The “Standard Practice” Argument:

“Posting figures from papers “was something we all did, all the science blogs, and I had been doing it since I started the blog. I always thought I was doing a public service, I wasn’t plagiarizing or claiming it was my own data.”” Andrea Gawrylewski. For blogger: A threat, then an apology. The Scientist May 2, 2007. http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/25066/title/For-blogger–A-threat–then-an-apology/

So, it’s fine, right? Uh, not so much. If you are doing this on a work related blog or for your organization, it is awfully risky, since they can be held liable, which is a real can of worms. If you are only doing this on your personal blog, and it is made clear that these are your words and actions and not to reflect on your employer, … it’s your decision.

WHAT IF THEY PULL OUT THE BIG GUNS?

There are publishers who have (or will) pull out the big guns. Yes, usually, even if they notice, they’ll just ask you to take it down, to “cease and desist,” but there is no guarantee. The best known case in science blogging of use of a figure gone wrong actually centered around a PhD student here at the University of Michigan, Shelley Batts, back in 2007.

“When Shelley Batts wrote up a report on an article about antioxidants in fruits, she never expected to get contacted by the copyright police, but that’s exactly what happened.” Munger, Dave. Is reprinting a figure fair use? http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/04/26/is-reprinting-a-figure-fair-us/

In Shelley’s words:

“In short, I was threatened with legal action if I didn’t take it down immediately. I used a panel a figure, and a chart, from over 10+ figures in the paper. I cited and reported everything straight forwardly. I would think they’d be happy to get the press. But alas, no.” Batts, Shelley. When Fair Use Isn’t Fair. http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2007/04/25/when-fair-use-isnt-fair-1/

The blogosphere went WILD. Some of the issues brought up included that this was government funded research paid for by taxes; the “amount used” argument (since it was such a small fraction, not even a complete image); the stifling impact on science discourse; the chilling of public awareness and policy discussions; and heavily, the critical distinction between “fair use” and being granted permission.

“First, the blogger Batts did not go through the usual process to request permissions to use published material in advance. It is not clear that had this been done that she would have been refused and indeed permission may eventually be extended. … Of course, once the appropriately senior person at Wiley was involved, the situation was resolved. This is not a “win”. This is a “loss” …” DrugMonkey. “This figure is reproduced with permission of the publisher.” https://drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/this-figure-is-reproduced-with-permission-of-the-publisher/

It is easy to find posts about this, but the one that seems to have really tipped the balance was when BoingBoing stepped in.

“This is, of course, bullshit. Reproducing part of a figure in a critical, scholarly essay is so obviously fair use that it hardly bears discussion. Wiley’s lawyers know this. You and I know it too.” Doctorow, Cory. Wiley threatens scientists with copyright law – UPDATED. http://boingboing.net/2007/04/26/wiley-threatens-scie.html

Eventually, it all calmed down, when Shelley was “granted permission” to use the image by the publisher. Many expressed concern that this ended up muddying the waters, that this was and should have been respected as fair use, that the publisher should have acknowledged this was fair use, and that granting permission implies that permission was theirs to grant (permission that is irrelevant in the case of fair use). Shelley was happy – she wasn’t getting sued, and her original blogpost was able to stay (although I can’t find it now, and I don’t know why).

“I was so surprised that anyone would think I was doing science a disservice. Science blogs bring pedantic ‘ivory tower’ knowledge to a completely new audience that would probably never hear about it otherwise. But in the end, I’m glad it happened — and that the entire blogosphere howled.”
Moments in Medicine at Michigan, Summer 2007. http://medicineatmichigan.org/magazine/2007/summer/moments

But the University of Michigan lawyers stated that she had done nothing wrong to begin with. So. Clear as mud, eh?

“Maybe if we weren’t so worried about copyright, we’d be able to report on more research.” Dave Munger, op cit.

Fair Use & Figures: When Is It OK? (Part One: Copyright)

When is it OK to post a figure from a paper in a blog post? Always thought this contravened copyright if no permission given. OK though?

— Andrew Maynard (@2020science) January 4, 2015

Last week I spent some time in conversations that began with Andrew Maynard’s posting a question to Twitter: “When is it OK to post a figure from a paper in a blog post?”

There were a lot of interesting thoughts and responses (before the conversation detoured off into mac’n’cheese and samurai swords). Things along the lines of, “What!? You mean research figures are different from pictures?” and “Isn’t it OK if you give a citation?” and “Well, my journal won’t allow it, but maybe some others do.” And what did the answer turn out to be? “It depends.” Isn’t that the truth – intellectual property issues always seems to depend on a variety of factors and situations. But answers to the various responses and questions were also sometimes not what was expected.

Does giving a citation to the source make it ok to share? Turns out it is irrelevant, in the sense of what is required legally, although it is expected as part of being active in scholarly culture as a matter of courtesy.

@pfanderson @2020science attribution is legally irrelevant to fair use, tho of course academic standards (& common courtesy) require it.

— Nancy Sims (@CopyrightLibn) January 4, 2015

Now, more about posting research figures in blogs. I found quite a lot of information online to help explain part of how this works (or doesn’t). I’ll include small quotations that I found particularly helpful in understanding this better. Please not, IANAL (“I Am Not A Lawyer”!), so hopefully someone with more legal experience will contribute thoughts in the comments or will reply in another post.

“REUSE OF FIGURES, IMAGES, AND OTHER CONTENT”

The absolutely most helpful piece I found was from MIT Libraries.

MIT Libraries, Scholarly Publishing: Reuse of figures, images, and other content in theses http://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/copyright-publishing-guide-for-students/reuse-of-figures-images-and-other-content-in-theses/

Please note, this is describing rights to re-use content in THESES, not blogposts, so it might be a little different. The MIT resource emphasized two main points (copyright, and fair use), with a pointed twist (oops, figures ARE different!).

Point 1: Is it copyrighted?

You see, if it isn’t copyrighted, if an image is in the public domain, you don’t have a problem — it is content you can use. That is more likely to apply to items that are quite old, or created by government employees in the performance of their job. But copyright gets complicated. What if the journal is from Australia instead of the United States? Whether or not a piece is copyrighted may change based on the country in which it was created.

Even if it is copyrighted, if it is licensed for open use, you are fine. Probably. OK, I’m going to show an image here that ought to be OK, and hope it really is. This stuff is tricky. If someone complains, I’ll blur out whatever part they are concerned about.

PubMed screenshot of:
Benjamin Pulli and John W Chen. Imaging Neuroinflammation – from Bench to Bedside. J Clin Cell Immunol. Author manuscript; available in PMC Dec 16, 2014. Published in final edited form as: J Clin Cell Immunol. 2014; 5: 226. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25525560

This is a screenshot from PubMed. PubMed is an open database developed and created by the US government. I had talked with our lawyers about using screenshots from databases in teaching and blogging about database interfaces. I was told (off the record) that it was probably OK to use the screenshots without asking for permissions as part of fair use. The idea was that even if the database legally has copyright protection for their user interface design (as they most assuredly do), that I am teaching and blogging about it is unlikely to impact on their sales negatively, which is one of the markers of “Fair Use” assessment. Chances are, if anything, my teaching and blogging about their database would serve as free advertising, increasing awareness and profits rather than reducing them. That assumes, of course, that I am saying good things about them. So, maybe it would be a different matter and not fair use if I was criticizing the database?

PubMed does this nifty thing where you can find images of research figures in the citations, if the original source is an article in PubMed Central, an extension of PubMed’s database that includes open access articles deposited by the publishers. (More info here about how they are different.) For the images displayed as thumbnails in PubMed, if you mouse over them, they get big and beautiful. This is what I’m showing in this screenshot.

This screenshot is of a citation record for an article that is open access and published in PubMed Central. Does the copyright permissions for screenshots in PubMed extend to the content? That this article is open access would mean that the article is copyrighted, but open for people who want to read it, and also available to re-use under specific guidelines. The guidelines given for the article are, “This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.” By the rules, I need to include a full citation with the image. I have done so, both in Flickr, where I put the screenshot, and here in the blogpost. BUT.

BUT. But what? But this figure from the open access research article says that a portion of the image was modified from another source, WITH PERMISSION. Does that permission extend to me, since it was in an open access journal? I’m not sure. I’m not sure if I need to get two sets of permission to use this image, or none. Do I need to go back to the original authors of that portion and request permission myself? Do I need to blur out that portion of the image? Or did the process of these authors getting permission to use in an open access journal publication cover subsequent re-use? Do I need to check the policies for the journal where the source image was published? It’s … complicated.

For me, today, I’m electing to go ahead and use the image, trusting and hoping that the permissions cover this use. If someone complains, I will go back and blur out that portion of the image, and then replace it.

Many publishers have processes by which they establish policies that guide whether or not they give permission easily or if you have to jump through hoops or purchase permission. If you want to find out what the policies are for a journal with a figure you’d like to use, the place to check is SHERPA. If you want to know if a journal is open access, the you may want to check the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals).

SHERPA/RoMEO – Publisher copyright policies & self-archiving http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/

DOAJ: http://doaj.org/

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Part Two will look more deeply at the idea of Fair Use in using research figures. That’s where it gets really interesting, so stay tuned! For now, I hope you have a better sense of the two-pronged sword of copyright in using research figures:

– Yes, it’s OK to use research figures that are copyright-free, public domain, or open access;
– BUT, sometimes those categories are less than straightforward.