25th April 2011, 11:21 AM
Hi Gilraen
The issue is actually very straightforward - it's only Unitof1's involvement that muddles the waters.
In terms of copyright, when working on a site, filling in context forms, drawing plans, sections etc:
If you are an employee - you do not acquire copyright over the material you produce. Copyright belongs to your employer.
It is however the accepted norm to acknowledge the work and the input of everyone involved in the production of the report - including both the field and post-ex teams (finds, illustrators etc)
If you are a freelance archaeologist contracted by a unit to carryout the work, copyright of the records you produce is open to negotiation.
However, I seriously doubt any commercial unit will give you a contract to carry out the work if you start trying to quibble about copyright.
To be honest - do you really want to start cluttering up your house with piles of paper? Despite the impression Unitof1 is trying to give - there isn't very much, if any money, to be made from licensing copyrighted material within archaeology. As an illustrator - I rarely retain the original drawings I produce and neither do most of the fellow freelance illustrators I know. We take the view that having another dozen pages of yet another batch of re-touched waste flakes, thumb nail size pot sherds or badly corroded iron 'things' is just going to end up as another pile of clutter needing a drawer to hide in! We keep a note of the job/contract details and copyright, of course, but I've only been asked twice to have material reproduced elsewhere and on both occasions I waved the fee. It might be different for illustrators who specialise in reconstructions and traditional painting techniques.
The issue is actually very straightforward - it's only Unitof1's involvement that muddles the waters.
In terms of copyright, when working on a site, filling in context forms, drawing plans, sections etc:
If you are an employee - you do not acquire copyright over the material you produce. Copyright belongs to your employer.
It is however the accepted norm to acknowledge the work and the input of everyone involved in the production of the report - including both the field and post-ex teams (finds, illustrators etc)
If you are a freelance archaeologist contracted by a unit to carryout the work, copyright of the records you produce is open to negotiation.
However, I seriously doubt any commercial unit will give you a contract to carry out the work if you start trying to quibble about copyright.
To be honest - do you really want to start cluttering up your house with piles of paper? Despite the impression Unitof1 is trying to give - there isn't very much, if any money, to be made from licensing copyrighted material within archaeology. As an illustrator - I rarely retain the original drawings I produce and neither do most of the fellow freelance illustrators I know. We take the view that having another dozen pages of yet another batch of re-touched waste flakes, thumb nail size pot sherds or badly corroded iron 'things' is just going to end up as another pile of clutter needing a drawer to hide in! We keep a note of the job/contract details and copyright, of course, but I've only been asked twice to have material reproduced elsewhere and on both occasions I waved the fee. It might be different for illustrators who specialise in reconstructions and traditional painting techniques.
ShadowJack