I ran into some copyright conundrums in the course of preparing for NTI, particularly regarding distribution of (out-of-print) materials. The problem is that copyright law is complex, and while individuals, libraries, and academic institutions are protected by “fair use,” it is not always clear what situations it covers (and the most efficient way to find out is to get yourself sued).
A group of researchers and educators have published this proposal on how institutions can properly use copyrighted material for educational purposes. It’s long, and often controversial, but may be worth it to those thinking through these issues.
Ars Technica has a nice summary:
In general, the document advises that faculty has broad abilities to use copyrighted material in educational materials, “including books, workbooks, podcasts, DVD compilations, videos, Web sites, and other materials designed for learning.” But it goes beyond what might be expected, as it argues that curriculum materials that incorporate copyrighted works can be sold, provided that accomplishes an educational purpose. Students are given broad leeway for the use of copyrighted works in assignments but, provided their work is sufficiently transformative, the guidelines argue that they should also be able to perform or distribute their assignments in any context, including online.
Here is the first in a series of 5 posts by Constantine Campbell, author of the new Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek. The posts will outline the impetus behind his book and should be interesting reading. This book will hopefully fill a much needed gap in current curriculum, since verbal aspect is an incredibly important topic but lacks beginner/intermediate resources.
As long as we’re on the topic of Greek, I should also mention this little number, which many of my students say is helpful and catchy.
Did you know that you can add user created versions to Bibleworks? I made this discovery recently while searching for some OT Pseudepigrapha.
Follow this guide to get things set up.
There is also a list of available versions. Included among them are the OT Pseudepigrapha, the Gospel of Thomas, several Targums, and a number of Classical Greek authors (Herodotus, for example).
For a limited time (this weekend), Logos Software is offering their Sermon File Addin for free. If you use Logos products, this might be a good addition for you.
The Sermon File Addin allows you to turn years of old sermon manuscripts into a powerful, organized, searchable Libronix book file. You can create a second book of all of your illustrations as well. Not only can you search and interact with your new books like the other books in your Libronix library, but you’ll even see your own sermons and illustrations show up in the Passage Guide.
Check out their blog for more information and a download link.
I upgraded to Zotero’s latest Sync Preview some time ago, and was blessed today with automatic update. To my delight, this update includes, among other things, a full text editor for note taking. It works a lot like a basic/primitive word processor or WYSIWYG HTML editor. I’m pleased as punch; now I feel better about using Zotero as full-time note taking software (for books at least).
You can download the Preview Release at the Zotero site. Be warned, this is beta software. In my experience it is stable and problem free, but there are no guarantees, so please backup your data (using Dropbox, for example), or stick with Zotero 1.0 until the final release.
Google Books currently allows you to search and browse a massive number of copyrighted material online. Google has been digitalizing books for some time, and the number of available books is growing quickly. Since Google generates ad revenue from this feature, it is no surprise that they were sued by book publishers in 2005. That lawsuit has come to a close, and the result seems to be good for users, for publishers, and for Google. As ReadWriteWeb reports:
Under the terms of the settlement, Google has agreed to pay the authors and publishers $125 million. It will also be responsible for selling access to copyrighted works in its repository. Most of the revenues from such access would go to the authors and publishers.
Currently, users of Google Book Search are able to view snippets of books online. The settlement agreement allows Google to make whole pages of copyright works available to online searchers. Users will be able to preview up to 20 percent of a book and purchase the book if they choose to, said David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer for Google.
All public libraries in the United States will be offered a free online portal to Google’s digitized collection, said Aiken, and patrons will be able to print an unlimited number of pages for a per page fee. Google will also be offering institutional subscriptions to colleges and universities. Google Book Search services available outside the United States will remain the same, Drummond said.
This is an interesting development in Google’s continue battle with copyright laws and privacy issues, and appears to be a good compromise. Dan Cohen has a more skeptical take. Your thoughts?
There are a variety of method of diagramming available to the student of the Bible, but very few tools to actually assist in creating such diagrams. Well BibleArc does just thought, providing scholars and preachers alike with an easy way to begin constructing their own diagrams. You can view my hastily created diagram to the left to get a taste.
The website includes instructions, a brief description of what all the symbols mean, and a plethora of videos and tutorials. You can diagram in a variety of English translations, or in Greek (complete with parsings). Improvements to the user interface (which is still a little cumbersome), as well as a repository of user-created diagrams, are apparently on the way. You can save diagrams to their site (with a user name and password), or export them as PDF documents.
Read more here
If you’re interest in the theory behind thought-flow diagrams, or with other types of diagrams (each with their own advantages and disadvantages), Cotterell’s Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation is an excellent starter resource.
In the course of preparing material for New Testament Introduction I needed to track down a quote from Papias (I am making a concerted effort to check all primary sources in so far as I am able). The result: I am increasingly impressed by the Internet Archive. Not only did they actually have Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History availabled for download, they also had it in multiple formats. And the PDF scans are searchable, which means that I could search for, highlight, and copy/paste the required text straight into my slides. As a cherry on top: the search results are tagged with faux post-it-notes, just like in real life! Powerful stuff.
The Westminster Book Store has decreased their flat-rate shipping prices (to $3), making their Amazon-beating prices and super fast service and excellent Reformed resources even more wonderful. Check out the details here.
Good translations require a good understanding of how languages work. This requires more than just knowing a list of words and grammatical structures; it requires an understanding of why an author chooses this structure instead of that one. It requires an understanding of linguistic context, of the rules of discourse, of conventions of speech and genre. The tools and techniques by which exegetes can study these factors is called Discourse Analysis.
For a great introduction to Discourse Analysis, as well as other topics in linguistics and their impact on biblical studies, check out 
Cotterell’s Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation. Young’s Intermediate New Testament Greek also includes a wonderful introduction to Discourse Analysis, and includes several different methods for diagramming.
But the purpose of this post is to point out some software by Logos. First, there is a semantic/discourse diagramming feature bundled into Scholar’s Library (which looks very nice; Bibleworks includes grammatical diagramming, but not discourse diagrams). Check that out here. Additionally, they are now offering a complete discourse analysis of the New Testament. Check out the announcement, complete with screenshots and a video, here.
