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+--- Thread: Choosing a dissertation topic (/showthread.php?tid=1043)
Choosing a dissertation topic - RedEarth - 10th August 2008
Quote:quote:...there is a major problem with access to Thames Water's reservoir evaluation data. This project was undertaken in the 1990's, but the reports have still, nearly a decade later, not been released to the public domain. I would imagine that this is because Thames Water are facing so much hostility with regard to the proposed reservoir that they don't want to release the data and give protesters another stick to beat them with. Unfortunately they seem to be acting within their rights, so there is little that can be done about it.
I could be wrong, but I would expect the copyright of the reports to remain with the company that produced it (was it Wessex in this case?), unless they did something crazy like sign it over to the client. That should mean that Thames Water have no right to stop them passing a copy on to a third party (such as someone doing research in the area) even if it has not been sumitted as part of a planning application and therefore not made it into the local HER.
I would never consider doing work for someone who told me what I could or could not do with the reports afterwards, that is riduculous.
I'm fairly sure that OASIS specifically says on its website that it is not for backlog reports. Personally, I would have anything available on there, it's great.
As for universities and their publication record, don't get me started. Two simple examples; a project carried out on an important multi-period site rural, still not published after 25 years! An undergraduate not able to get hold of a thesis in his own unversity!
Hello kettle, I'm pot. My your looking awfully black!
Choosing a dissertation topic - beamo - 11th August 2008
'I could be wrong, but I would expect the copyright of the reports to remain with the company that produced it (was it Wessex in this case?), unless they did something crazy like sign it over to the client. That should mean that Thames Water have no right to stop them passing a copy on to a third party (such as someone doing research in the area) even if it has not been sumitted as part of a planning application and therefore not made it into the local HER.
I would never consider doing work for someone who told me what I could or could not do with the reports afterwards, that is riduculous.'
RedEarth - this is known as client confidentiality. It has nothing to do with copyright - any client may request that reports are regarded as confidential in order to safeguard their (perceived) interests. Once deemed confidential, such reports cannot be passed to any third party without permission of the client.
Beamo
Choosing a dissertation topic - RedEarth - 11th August 2008
[quote
RedEarth - this is known as client confidentiality. It has nothing to do with copyright - any client may request that reports are regarded as confidential in order to safeguard their (perceived) interests. Once deemed confidential, such reports cannot be passed to any third party without permission of the client.
Beamo
[/quote]
I can understand that this might be the situation with pre-planning work, hence the problem with the Wessex report mentioned in the BA article, but once a brief has been issued this surely cannot be the case.
In matters of 'client confidentiality' if you made an agreement saying you will not pass on copies of the report to third parties then fair enough, but I wouldn't personally automatically assume that it was forbidden. Any client may 'request' that reports are considered confidential but unless they do so they are not. It is entirely a matter of copyright otherwise. You might want to be careful who you give copies to however. Speaking from my own experience, I don't think I have ever worked on a project where it was deemed so sensitive that giving a third party a copy of the report would have been a major problem. Perhaps I am fortunate in that sense.