Computational research techniques such as text and data mining (TDM) hold tremendous opportunities for researchers across the disciplines, ranging from mining scientific articles to creating better systematic reviews to building a corpus of films to understand how concepts of gender, race, and identity are shared over time. Unfortunately, legal uncertainty associated with text and data mining can stifle this research. Recent copyright lawsuits, such as the high-profile cases brought against Microsoft, Github, and StabiltyAI underscore the legal complications.

This workshop will survey existing law and policy, and highlight pathways forward for researchers, including fair use and TDM-specific exemptions to copyright, particularly for users of materials covered by digital rights management (DRM) and similar technologies. We will also discuss limitations of the law and explore ways in which it might be improved.

This interactive, hybrid workshop will take place from 1pm-2pm, followed by an Q&A session from 2pm-2:30pm. A choice of boxed lunch will be served to in-person participants.

The workshop will be led by Rachel Brooke, Senior Staff Attorney for the Authors Alliance.  Authors Alliance is a nonprofit that exists to support authors who research and write for the public benefit. Brooke is a copyright expert who has worked extensively on legal barriers to research, and is a co-PI for the Authors Alliance Text and Data Mining: Demonstrating Fair Use Project, which is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. The program is also supported by the University Libraries, CRDDS, the Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic (TLPC), and the Center for Teaching & Learning.