[ID Discuss] Government work does not mean that the work is public.

[Elizabeth Buie]

Juhan's point is right on target.  And it brings me back to the original 
question, and to the other questions that the thread raised.

The question of who owns the spec was originally raised in the context of 
a discussion of whether you have the right to show it to a potential 
employer or client as part of your portfolio.  As I recall, the topic of 
publishing it was a side point that I brought up just as an example of 
what can be done with some (some!) US Government documents because they 
are not copyrighted. 

I see five questions here:

1. Who owns the spec?
2. Can you show it to an individual?  (say, a potential employer/client)
3. Can you make it public?
4. Should you show it to an individual? 
5. Should you make it public?


It seems to me that some of the disagreements we've been having in this 
thread arise from treating these all as the same question. 


1. Several people stated that the company that developed the spec owns it. 
 My original post on this topic pointed out that this is not necessarily 
so.  If the spec has been developed as a deliverable product under a 
contract, it (probably) belongs to the client rather than to the company 
that wrote it. 


The answers to the rest assume that you are not the owner.  If you are the 
owner, the answers are "yes".  :-)

2. Requires the permission of the owner. 

3. Requires the permission of the owner.  My original comment about 
government documents related to the lack of copyright, and to the fact 
that in those cases copyright alone does not prevent you from making them 
public. 


The answers to 4 & 5 assume that you have the required permission. 

4. I'd think it depends on the sensitivity of the content.  It strikes me 
that showing documents to individuals is much less problematic than 
posting them on the Web, especially if you take them with you when you 
leave the interview. 

5. My take is:  Only if it serves the needs of the document's owner. 

Elizabeth

P.S.  In the project I mentioned where documents were posted -- yes, it 
was with the agency's knowledge and agreement, hosted on the agency's 
server.  (A usability test plan is still there, in fact... ten years 
later. :-)

--
Elizabeth Buie
Computer Sciences Corporation
Rockville, Maryland
301.921.3326


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Juhan Sonin <juhansonin
@yahoo.com>
Sent by: discuss-interactiondesigners.com-bounces
04/17/04 16:36
 
        To:     
discuss-interactiondesigners.com at lists.interactiondesigners.com
        cc: 
        Subject:        [ID Discuss] Government work does not mean that 
the work is public.


Government work does not mean that work is public. Regardless of data
sensitivity, the project belongs to the government agency.. and the IP
and client should be respected. Only with specific permission from the
agency should the results be published or housed on publically
available web space.

Yours,
Juhan