Here are a couple of other things to keep in mind as well.
First, the list of 40 self supporting web comics only lists English language web comics. I wouldn't be surprised if there were an equal, or even larger, number of non-English web comics that are self supporting.
Second, historically the vast majority of "comic" type artists never made a living off of a single title. For example most comic book artists, including writers, pencilers, letterers and inkers worked on multiple books. Only the hottest creators worked on only a single title, and that wasn't at all common until the 90's.
Web comics are still in their infancy and have yet to become anywhere near as "mainstream", and thus as profitable, as the newspaper comics strip industry which has been around for 80+ years. Give it another 10-15 years and I am sure we will see hundreds if not thousands of artists making a living off of online "comic" properties.
Oh yeah, did anyone mention that historically the majority of newspaper comic strips were done as works for hire and were never owned by the people that drew them?
In many ways this sounds like a return to what the paperback publishing business was like prior to the mid-late 70's. Back then the vast majority of books were less then 200 pages long. Mostly due to printing and binding costs. From the 20's to the 60's was the height of "pulp" publishing where authors would write a new book every month or two.
As for the shorter time frames reducing the quality and popularity, and thus effecting their profitability, history shows that these really have little to do with each other when it comes to books sales. Isaac Asimov is a good example. He started writing in 1937 and passed away in 1992. In those 55 years he wrote over 500 books in a very wide range of subjects. According to his Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov) in 9 out of the 10 Dewey Decimal categories. So that's something like a new book every 5 weeks or so. Sure much of it wasn't Pulitzer prize material, but then how many very popular high selling books really are?
I'm not from Australia, but even I know there was an obvious reference to Kookaburra in this song. As far as I know it was fairly common knowledge among anyone that knew the two songs. At about 50 seconds into the video the flutist is sitting in a bloody tree while playing the short Kookaburra part. Talk about an obvious reference.
Now is it a copyright violation. I'm not so sure. Seeing how short it is then using the phrases like "I Love You" or "Ladies and Gentlemen" in a song, book, script, etc. would also have to be considered copyright infringement of whomever copyrighted it first.
Having worked in IT for 13+ years now I would have to agree with what the NYT has done. They requested that people not use a piece of software that is causing them major headaches. People can still use it, but they are going to have to live with the problems it causes and IT won't support it.
As others have mentioned it is not a simple or cheap task to add RAM to hundreds or possibly even thousands of PC's. Depending on the specific hardware and it's age it may well not even be possible to upgrade the RAM. My main PC at home is less then 3 years old and can not take more the 2GB of RAM. So if I wanted to upgrade to 4GB I would have to get a whole new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. I wouldn't be surprised if the NYT is in a similar situation with thier PCs.
If they want a cut of the resale price then fine. But they should also have to give a portion of that to the producers of what the materials they used, i.e. the company that made the canvas, brushes, paint, paper, stone, clay, metal, etc. Those people and companies should get their fair share as well and shouldn't be getting ripped off by the artists.
I've used PACER off and on for a few years now to follow the happenings a couple smaller cases. The 8 cents per page can add up to a lot if you are just a private citizen that has an interest in a case. Even 'small' cases can generate a lot of pages.
The thing that I have found most annoying about PACER is that many documents seem to either not ever get posted or take a very long time to show up. Each federal court seems to do things a little differently. Plus PACER only handles federal courts.
I don't have a real problem with them charging per page to cover the actual bandwidth and a little overhead. What I would like is more consistency when it comes to when and what documents are made available.
Now at the state and local level the situation varies a lot. Mostly for the worse it seems.
What someone needs to do is put together a nice spam email about this in the same form as all the ones about dangerous product recalls from 10 years ago, new laws that were defeated 10 years ago, etc. and get folks to send them out. Once in the good old 'forward to everyone or the world will end' email loop everyone will eventually hear about this and some people may actually speak up to their elected representatives.
As mentioned much of the material was not originally created by the federal government. Thus by default under current US copyright law it is copyrighted by default. Applying a CC license to the material simply means that there can be no argument about anyone being able to use the materials. No arguments about what is or isn't fair use, etc.
What this really all means, as mentioned by others, is that there is someone in or working for the new administration that "gets it" when it comes to the modern internet world and economy.
I've looked at Twitter and for me it is not useful for a couple reasons. The same goes for instant messaging.
First, my job is one that requires a lot of concentration for extended periods of time. Thus, trying to pay attention to things like Twitter or IRC or instant messaging, makes my work even more difficult.
Second, except for my immediate family, I don't really care about what is going on in other peoples lives from minute to minute. If it is something really important to me I will read it in a blog or on a news site, or someone will call or email me. This is especially true for things that I can't do any about immediately anyway.
I have found that email is no different then any other form of communication. Most people do not say what they actually mean. Also because of this they assume that others are not saying what they actually mean. I have found this to be very consistent in my communication with others.
If financial gain is what makes you a journalist, what about all those folks that work on school newspapers and get no financial gain? They wouldn't be considered journalists, unless the fact that it looks good on a resume is considered a financial gain. ;-)
On the post: Could Doonesbury Learn Anything From XKCD?
First, the list of 40 self supporting web comics only lists English language web comics. I wouldn't be surprised if there were an equal, or even larger, number of non-English web comics that are self supporting.
Second, historically the vast majority of "comic" type artists never made a living off of a single title. For example most comic book artists, including writers, pencilers, letterers and inkers worked on multiple books. Only the hottest creators worked on only a single title, and that wasn't at all common until the 90's.
Web comics are still in their infancy and have yet to become anywhere near as "mainstream", and thus as profitable, as the newspaper comics strip industry which has been around for 80+ years. Give it another 10-15 years and I am sure we will see hundreds if not thousands of artists making a living off of online "comic" properties.
Oh yeah, did anyone mention that historically the majority of newspaper comic strips were done as works for hire and were never owned by the people that drew them?
On the post: Maybe Failing Faster Is Really The Way To Go
A return to the past
As for the shorter time frames reducing the quality and popularity, and thus effecting their profitability, history shows that these really have little to do with each other when it comes to books sales. Isaac Asimov is a good example. He started writing in 1937 and passed away in 1992. In those 55 years he wrote over 500 books in a very wide range of subjects. According to his Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov) in 9 out of the 10 Dewey Decimal categories. So that's something like a new book every 5 weeks or so. Sure much of it wasn't Pulitzer prize material, but then how many very popular high selling books really are?
On the post: Music Publisher Suddenly Claims 80s Australian Pop Hit Infringed On 1930s Kids Tune
Now is it a copyright violation. I'm not so sure. Seeing how short it is then using the phrases like "I Love You" or "Ladies and Gentlemen" in a song, book, script, etc. would also have to be considered copyright infringement of whomever copyrighted it first.
On the post: NY Times Says No To Useful App Rather Than Improving Memory
Hardware Costs
As others have mentioned it is not a simple or cheap task to add RAM to hundreds or possibly even thousands of PC's. Depending on the specific hardware and it's age it may well not even be possible to upgrade the RAM. My main PC at home is less then 3 years old and can not take more the 2GB of RAM. So if I wanted to upgrade to 4GB I would have to get a whole new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. I wouldn't be surprised if the NYT is in a similar situation with thier PCs.
On the post: New Zealand Scraps Plan To Get Artists Paid Multiple Times For A Single Piece Of Work
Everyone should get a cut
On the post: Didn't Expect This: Lieberman Asks Why US Court Documents Aren't Free To The Public
Missing Documents
The thing that I have found most annoying about PACER is that many documents seem to either not ever get posted or take a very long time to show up. Each federal court seems to do things a little differently. Plus PACER only handles federal courts.
I don't have a real problem with them charging per page to cover the actual bandwidth and a little overhead. What I would like is more consistency when it comes to when and what documents are made available.
Now at the state and local level the situation varies a lot. Mostly for the worse it seems.
On the post: ACTA Proposal Would Criminalize Substantial Non-Commercial Infringement
A Good Use For Spam
On the post: Is Putting Change.gov Under Creative Commons Really A Big Deal?
Copyrighted by Default
What this really all means, as mentioned by others, is that there is someone in or working for the new administration that "gets it" when it comes to the modern internet world and economy.
On the post: The Power Of Ambient Awareness
Too Much Noise
First, my job is one that requires a lot of concentration for extended periods of time. Thus, trying to pay attention to things like Twitter or IRC or instant messaging, makes my work even more difficult.
Second, except for my immediate family, I don't really care about what is going on in other peoples lives from minute to minute. If it is something really important to me I will read it in a blog or on a news site, or someone will call or email me. This is especially true for things that I can't do any about immediately anyway.
On the post: Email Communication Continues To Be Misunderstood
People Don't Say What They Mean
On the post: Bloggers Could Get The Same Protections As Journalists, As Long As They're In It For The Money
What about journalists that don't get paid
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