Research
A recent piece of research from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) makes for some depressing reading – unless you are extremely optimistic.
The figures relate to 2013, and are not as good as their equivalents of ten years ago, in 2005. Well, not for the most part anyway. Here are some of them:
Can there be any excuse, in this day and age, for poorly-researched material? There are books, the internet and still, even in these straitened times, public libraries with reference sections.
A good starting point for anyone wishing to find information, a picture, a recording or a video that they can reuse without falling foul of copyright law is the Creative Commons search site. As well as a good starting point, it’s a good one-stop shop, given that it covers such a range of media types.
Ask goes back a long time. Originally called Ask Jeeves (and still called Ask Jeeves in the UK), it features a picture of an English Butler. Butlers have a reputation for serious quiet and efficient service; does Ask make the grade?
Is Bing a sort of poor man’s Google? There is always a temptation to compare any search engine with Google, but each has its own strengths and shortcomings.
