Final Report Summary - IME (Informal Media Economies)
Results and conclusions
The aim of this proposal was to study the conflicts between different stakeholders about the future of intellectual property regulation. This project mapped some of the informal networks in which the production and exchange of various intellectual properties take place in order to understand the role such informal networks play in various cultural ecosystems.
The project focused on two distinct domains.
First, we conducted in depth research on the underground networks of scholarly communication: illegal websites, piratical libraries that collect and distribute copyrighted works of scientific monographs, textbooks, journal articles, etc. Within this context we followed two different paths to understand the role of informal scholarly communication networks in the scholarly communication ecosystem.
Using an extensive set of qualitative methods, such as participant observation, historical research and interviews, we reconstructed the development of piratical scholarly libraries, and the unique economic, social and political circumstances that contribute to their prolonged existence in a hostile legal and political environment. (Bodó, forthcoming b) Many of the piratical library services operate in the Russian part of the internet, and the volunteer community that maintains them seems to be predominantly from the same, Russian-speaking region. Our research established that this is by no means a historic accident: the post-Soviet political, economic, social and legal conditions were ideal for the emergence of a bottom-up digital librarian / book collector scene, which was quick to gain international relevance as soon as similar piratical digital library scenes in the West fell to copyright enforcement efforts.
We have added a quantitative component to our research on pirate libraries. Having a unique and exclusive access to the usage data of some of these piratical services, we were able to build statistical models to explain the piratical availability and use of scholarly resources. (Bodó, forthcoming a)
We have used legal availability and price information of the titles available through piratical sources to uncover the factors that drive demand through these underground venues. We found that piratical scholarly libraries contain the most relevant and up-to-date Western academic mainstream. Most of the titles in these libraries are available in print, both as a new copy and on the second hand market. While print accessibility may be satisfactory (within the reach of Amazon, at least), the price of print copies is a major driver for illegal demand.
We also found that the electronic accessibility of scholarly publications in book form is seriously lacking. The two major modes of electronic accessibility: e-libraries and individual e-book sales suffer from different but equally devastating shortcomings. The model suggests that e-libraries offer straightforward access to relevant collections, but access to such text repositories is severely limited to those with privileged institutional affiliations.
Individual demand is served through the sales of scholarly e-books. We found evidence that in certain cases e-book availability does lower the chance of downloading, meaning that appropriately priced e-books may compete with shadow library demand. On the other hand, we also found evidence to a serious mismatch between demand and e-book supply. We found that many of the most relevant books are not available in this format, and that points to a failure in legal supply, fueling the use of piratical alternatives.
We analyzed the geographical distribution of users, and found that the most intensive users (in term of per capita downloads) are Central and Eastern European countries.
(figure 1 here)
These small, relatively poor countries at the edges of the European Union share some common characteristics. They have highly-educated populations and dense cultural, political and economic ties with the West. They also suffer from an underdeveloped educational infrastructure compared to the core European countries. Under such circumstances shadow libraries fulfill certain core roles of resource deprived academic libraries. (Bodó, 2015a) Our research established that electronic text repositories offering a relevant catalogue may be the most effective competitors to shadow libraries, as all-you-can-eat flat rate services are best positioned to successfully cannibalize piratical demand. But the current business models of e-repositories which offer access only to a privileged few in academia prevent the development of the full potential of this alternative.
To further explore the potential of all-you-can-eat, flat rate, digital services we conducted a large scale online survey, on a representative sample of Dutch citizens. In that survey we asked respondents to rank different configurations of an Alternative Compensation System, which, for a small monthly fee would legalize currently copyright infringing online practices, such as the downloading of music, films and books from illegal sources and the unauthorized sharing and modification of copyrighted content.
We established that there is a strong consumer support for such levy based approach, and this support is especially strong among those who are the most avid users of legal and illegal access alternatives: digital consumers and pirates. (Handke, Bodó, & Vallbé, 2015b; Vallbé, Bodó, Handke & Quintais, under review)
Conclusion
The main conclusion of the Informal Media Economies project is that the existence and the intensive use of piratical access alternatives are strong indicators of various market failures at the legal marketplaces. By analyzing the exact nature of supply and demand through various illegal or informal access channels we are able to identify those failures. We identified the role of piratical scholarly libraries in the scholarly communication ecosystem, and pointed out their function of closing the development gap within the European Union. The identification of the exact reasons of market failures also allowed us to propose remedies. One such very promising remedy is the all-you-can-eat, levy based compensation system, which seems to enjoy considerable social support among key demographics, and is apparently able to generate substantial amounts of revenues to compensate rights holders for any potential loss of revenues from more traditional distribution channels. Our findings are relevant for all stakeholders in the scholarly publishing domain, such as researchers, authors, faculty, publishers and the librarian community. Our research also informed the policymakers about the relative merits of the status quo and its alternatives.
References
Bodó, B. (2015a). Libraries in the Post-Scarcity Era. In H. Porsdam (Ed.), Copyrighting Creativity (pp. 75–92). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Handke, C., Bodó, B., & Vallbé, J. J. (2015 b). The Value Of Online Licenses For Recorded Music. Journal of Cultural Economics.
Bodó, B. (forthcoming a). In the shadow of Gigapedia. In J. Karaganis (Ed.), Shadow Libraries. New York: American Assembly.
Bodó, B. (forthcoming b). Online shadow libraries: a historical analysis. In J. Karaganis (Ed.), Shadow Libraries. New York: American Assembly.
Vallbé, J. J., Bodó, B., Handke, C., Quintais, J.P. (under review). Knocking on Heaven’s Door- User preferences on digital cultural distribution. New Media and Society.
The aim of this proposal was to study the conflicts between different stakeholders about the future of intellectual property regulation. This project mapped some of the informal networks in which the production and exchange of various intellectual properties take place in order to understand the role such informal networks play in various cultural ecosystems.
The project focused on two distinct domains.
First, we conducted in depth research on the underground networks of scholarly communication: illegal websites, piratical libraries that collect and distribute copyrighted works of scientific monographs, textbooks, journal articles, etc. Within this context we followed two different paths to understand the role of informal scholarly communication networks in the scholarly communication ecosystem.
Using an extensive set of qualitative methods, such as participant observation, historical research and interviews, we reconstructed the development of piratical scholarly libraries, and the unique economic, social and political circumstances that contribute to their prolonged existence in a hostile legal and political environment. (Bodó, forthcoming b) Many of the piratical library services operate in the Russian part of the internet, and the volunteer community that maintains them seems to be predominantly from the same, Russian-speaking region. Our research established that this is by no means a historic accident: the post-Soviet political, economic, social and legal conditions were ideal for the emergence of a bottom-up digital librarian / book collector scene, which was quick to gain international relevance as soon as similar piratical digital library scenes in the West fell to copyright enforcement efforts.
We have added a quantitative component to our research on pirate libraries. Having a unique and exclusive access to the usage data of some of these piratical services, we were able to build statistical models to explain the piratical availability and use of scholarly resources. (Bodó, forthcoming a)
We have used legal availability and price information of the titles available through piratical sources to uncover the factors that drive demand through these underground venues. We found that piratical scholarly libraries contain the most relevant and up-to-date Western academic mainstream. Most of the titles in these libraries are available in print, both as a new copy and on the second hand market. While print accessibility may be satisfactory (within the reach of Amazon, at least), the price of print copies is a major driver for illegal demand.
We also found that the electronic accessibility of scholarly publications in book form is seriously lacking. The two major modes of electronic accessibility: e-libraries and individual e-book sales suffer from different but equally devastating shortcomings. The model suggests that e-libraries offer straightforward access to relevant collections, but access to such text repositories is severely limited to those with privileged institutional affiliations.
Individual demand is served through the sales of scholarly e-books. We found evidence that in certain cases e-book availability does lower the chance of downloading, meaning that appropriately priced e-books may compete with shadow library demand. On the other hand, we also found evidence to a serious mismatch between demand and e-book supply. We found that many of the most relevant books are not available in this format, and that points to a failure in legal supply, fueling the use of piratical alternatives.
We analyzed the geographical distribution of users, and found that the most intensive users (in term of per capita downloads) are Central and Eastern European countries.
(figure 1 here)
These small, relatively poor countries at the edges of the European Union share some common characteristics. They have highly-educated populations and dense cultural, political and economic ties with the West. They also suffer from an underdeveloped educational infrastructure compared to the core European countries. Under such circumstances shadow libraries fulfill certain core roles of resource deprived academic libraries. (Bodó, 2015a) Our research established that electronic text repositories offering a relevant catalogue may be the most effective competitors to shadow libraries, as all-you-can-eat flat rate services are best positioned to successfully cannibalize piratical demand. But the current business models of e-repositories which offer access only to a privileged few in academia prevent the development of the full potential of this alternative.
To further explore the potential of all-you-can-eat, flat rate, digital services we conducted a large scale online survey, on a representative sample of Dutch citizens. In that survey we asked respondents to rank different configurations of an Alternative Compensation System, which, for a small monthly fee would legalize currently copyright infringing online practices, such as the downloading of music, films and books from illegal sources and the unauthorized sharing and modification of copyrighted content.
We established that there is a strong consumer support for such levy based approach, and this support is especially strong among those who are the most avid users of legal and illegal access alternatives: digital consumers and pirates. (Handke, Bodó, & Vallbé, 2015b; Vallbé, Bodó, Handke & Quintais, under review)
Conclusion
The main conclusion of the Informal Media Economies project is that the existence and the intensive use of piratical access alternatives are strong indicators of various market failures at the legal marketplaces. By analyzing the exact nature of supply and demand through various illegal or informal access channels we are able to identify those failures. We identified the role of piratical scholarly libraries in the scholarly communication ecosystem, and pointed out their function of closing the development gap within the European Union. The identification of the exact reasons of market failures also allowed us to propose remedies. One such very promising remedy is the all-you-can-eat, levy based compensation system, which seems to enjoy considerable social support among key demographics, and is apparently able to generate substantial amounts of revenues to compensate rights holders for any potential loss of revenues from more traditional distribution channels. Our findings are relevant for all stakeholders in the scholarly publishing domain, such as researchers, authors, faculty, publishers and the librarian community. Our research also informed the policymakers about the relative merits of the status quo and its alternatives.
References
Bodó, B. (2015a). Libraries in the Post-Scarcity Era. In H. Porsdam (Ed.), Copyrighting Creativity (pp. 75–92). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Handke, C., Bodó, B., & Vallbé, J. J. (2015 b). The Value Of Online Licenses For Recorded Music. Journal of Cultural Economics.
Bodó, B. (forthcoming a). In the shadow of Gigapedia. In J. Karaganis (Ed.), Shadow Libraries. New York: American Assembly.
Bodó, B. (forthcoming b). Online shadow libraries: a historical analysis. In J. Karaganis (Ed.), Shadow Libraries. New York: American Assembly.
Vallbé, J. J., Bodó, B., Handke, C., Quintais, J.P. (under review). Knocking on Heaven’s Door- User preferences on digital cultural distribution. New Media and Society.