Rob Allen
06-26-2007, 07:15 PM
The following is a message from Jean Bails regarding the Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999 (http://bailsprojects.com) website.
A number of fans have referred to me, the widow of Jerry Bails, as the copyright holder for the Who's Who website. I guess I am that and it brings some privileges and responsibilities. Basically the site has been open for all to use as research but protected against sale of that research in any large amounts without my permission. Credits to the site for small amounts of data used in publication from it being the ethical and legal custom. I would continue in the spirit of Jerry to honor all reasonable requests put before me in use of the Who's Who and yes, I am aware that the data and art has come from many and a percentage of it is already in "the public domain" and may come under "Fair Use" (U.S. terminology that might not be universal).
Recently I have been giving some thought to this site and how it should proceed into the future. There was a server outage last week and very fortunately this time the WW site was preserved intact. Richard, the site creator did have back-up of both data and the considerable behind the scenes software which creates the site (images, layout, search engines and more). Richard has indicated that he would give this information to someone of my choosing, as it is my "inherited" site, to someone closer to home. I am looking for candidates for this "honor" who have knowledge of website programming and can make repairs, upgrades and regular "housekeeping" to refresh the site against deterioration.
At this point I am not requesting someone to come forward to update and add various submissions of art, etc., to the site. The reason is, and I would like your input on this, I am wondering if at this point the site should be "closed against new entries" and remain just as it is or "open to revision"--and if so, what kind of revisions? If the site were frozen in time it would be in some ways protected against attack and/or submission of unreliable data dumps and global changes. A link could be set up for a newly created webpage generated by and for the fan community for all new additions (there have been a number of deaths of fans and pros since Nov. 23, 2006) and "presumed accurate" corrections. Some enterprising soul could even do a separate site expanding the WW concept beyond 1999 on a regular basis perhaps. But for now I am happy to find someone to do this on their own website, open to the public at no cost with just revisions up to 1999 of the WW and link them to Jerry's site. Any volunteers? Or shall we just use Wekopedia (sp?) for that?
A number of fans have generously volunteered to scan copies of artwork from various periods that appeared to be in Jerry's "in" or "to do" box. The purpose or intent of these scans is not yet clear. Those who originally submitted the copies for identification purposes may know, it is not clear. It was not clear how the scans were to be used in the WW but I would argue against putting them within the actual data pages with biographies at this time. Presently these scan, though interesting and perhaps informative where art ID is certain, represent (forgive me for the word) a data dump. I would suggest they go into a separate "room" in the Who's Who called something like "library of various art samples thru the years" or some such category. Alternatively, these could also go into a separate website, linked to but apart from the WW. Art example could then easily be added to this by the website owner and continue on with its own life and identity as a project.
I am asking for feedback on these ideas and proposals from the community the Who's Who serves and also volunteers and candidates for the projects I have mentioned if the consensus of opinion leads us there. My own personal opinion is not expressed here and I am open to suggestions.
I can forward replies to Ms. Bails.
A number of fans have referred to me, the widow of Jerry Bails, as the copyright holder for the Who's Who website. I guess I am that and it brings some privileges and responsibilities. Basically the site has been open for all to use as research but protected against sale of that research in any large amounts without my permission. Credits to the site for small amounts of data used in publication from it being the ethical and legal custom. I would continue in the spirit of Jerry to honor all reasonable requests put before me in use of the Who's Who and yes, I am aware that the data and art has come from many and a percentage of it is already in "the public domain" and may come under "Fair Use" (U.S. terminology that might not be universal).
Recently I have been giving some thought to this site and how it should proceed into the future. There was a server outage last week and very fortunately this time the WW site was preserved intact. Richard, the site creator did have back-up of both data and the considerable behind the scenes software which creates the site (images, layout, search engines and more). Richard has indicated that he would give this information to someone of my choosing, as it is my "inherited" site, to someone closer to home. I am looking for candidates for this "honor" who have knowledge of website programming and can make repairs, upgrades and regular "housekeeping" to refresh the site against deterioration.
At this point I am not requesting someone to come forward to update and add various submissions of art, etc., to the site. The reason is, and I would like your input on this, I am wondering if at this point the site should be "closed against new entries" and remain just as it is or "open to revision"--and if so, what kind of revisions? If the site were frozen in time it would be in some ways protected against attack and/or submission of unreliable data dumps and global changes. A link could be set up for a newly created webpage generated by and for the fan community for all new additions (there have been a number of deaths of fans and pros since Nov. 23, 2006) and "presumed accurate" corrections. Some enterprising soul could even do a separate site expanding the WW concept beyond 1999 on a regular basis perhaps. But for now I am happy to find someone to do this on their own website, open to the public at no cost with just revisions up to 1999 of the WW and link them to Jerry's site. Any volunteers? Or shall we just use Wekopedia (sp?) for that?
A number of fans have generously volunteered to scan copies of artwork from various periods that appeared to be in Jerry's "in" or "to do" box. The purpose or intent of these scans is not yet clear. Those who originally submitted the copies for identification purposes may know, it is not clear. It was not clear how the scans were to be used in the WW but I would argue against putting them within the actual data pages with biographies at this time. Presently these scan, though interesting and perhaps informative where art ID is certain, represent (forgive me for the word) a data dump. I would suggest they go into a separate "room" in the Who's Who called something like "library of various art samples thru the years" or some such category. Alternatively, these could also go into a separate website, linked to but apart from the WW. Art example could then easily be added to this by the website owner and continue on with its own life and identity as a project.
I am asking for feedback on these ideas and proposals from the community the Who's Who serves and also volunteers and candidates for the projects I have mentioned if the consensus of opinion leads us there. My own personal opinion is not expressed here and I am open to suggestions.
I can forward replies to Ms. Bails.