Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jonathan Robie <jwrobie AT mindspring.com>]

Bob Pritchett asked me to forward this to b-greek.

Jonathan

Bob Pritchett wrote:

> I'd like to announce Logos Bible Software's $100,000 Data Creation Fund.
>
> Logos wants to encourage the development of new databases to facilitate
> Bible study, particularly in Greek and Hebrew, and has set aside these
> resources to help initiate or accelerate projects in this field.
>
> Possible projects include:
>
>   Morphological or syntactic analysis of ancient texts. 
>   Revision of classic reference works. 
>   Linguistic analysis of texts. 
>   Electronic transcription of previously unavailable texts. 
>   New interlinear translations of ancient texts. 
>   Genre or topic indexing of primary texts. 
>   Alignments of ancient texts and modern translations. 
>   New indices, collations, or bibliographies of specialized data.
>
> Details on the fund are posted at http://www.logos.com/datafund. 
>
> The funds are not set aside for pure research grants, but specifically
> to acquire publishing rights to academic projects. The financial
> arrangements will be negotiated on a project-by-project basis, but the
> structure will be similar to that of publishing a book with a print
> publisher. 
>
> The difference is that Logos is looking specifically for databases and
> other projects which may be better suited to electronic delivery than
> print, is willing to build specialized tools for creation and delivery
> of the data, and is considering projects which may support only
> long-term cost recovery.
>
> Logos is a commercial entity, and the list owners brought up some great
> questions before consenting to this post. I'd like to address some of
> those points directly.
>
> We support the work of the scholarly community and its open nature. We
> believe that commercial publication of scholarly work leads to wider
> distribution (to scholars, pastors, and even casual Bible students) and
> helps fund more scholarship.
>
> As a rule, Logos does not request exclusive licenses to content. Books
> that are only available for Logos Bible Software are that way either
> because the publisher chose to only license them to Logos, or (much more
> often the case) because only Logos invested the resources in
> typing/processing the text.
>
> In a few cases Logos actually owns the copyright to work, and it's
> possible that some Data Fund projects will follow this structure. Again,
> this is similar to the print publishing world where authors typically
> sign over specific rights in exchange for an advance and/or royalties.
>
> In the partnerships with scholars already underway (some not yet
> announced), Logos has been using a number of models:
>
>  - Work-for-hire, where Logos pays all the costs and owns all the
> rights.
>
>  - Limited time exclusive, where Logos pays for the work but has
> exclusive commercial rights for a limited time in order to recover
> costs, after which the creators can give it away or even license it to
> Logos' competitors.
>
>  - Commercial rights only, where the work will be free online, but Logos
> can sell it for use with Logos Bible Software.
>
> I know that the introduction of commercial interests into the scholarly
> world is often viewed with apprehension, but I believe that there are
> great benefits to scholars and the wider community in partnership.
> Beyond the obvious financial benefit (even scholars need to eat!) there
> is the wider distribution that commercial publishing enables. The need
> for this distribution is even more acute in databases and electronic
> resources than in monographs.
>
> It's easy to get a book into the hands of people who can read it. A
> complicated database locked away on a university server or a
> half-completed text analysis produced for a thesis are less accessible
> to Bible students who might be able to make use of them. 
>
> We're hoping to get things out of "halls of academia" and into the hands
> of Bible students -- students who will pay for the resources and
> convenience. Then we can get some of those payments back to the "halls"
> and help fund more research -- all the while encouraging more Bible
> study.
>
> I appreciate being allowed to post our annoncement on the list, and I
> apologize if this is more discussion than you'd like.
>
> -- Bob Pritchett (bob AT logos.com)
>    Logos Bible Software
>    www.logos.com