Hi Brian,
> I think you're missing something. Owners of intellectual property are
>entitled to due reward for their work - and copyright legislation provides
>protection for this.
I had missed that Brian; though is it relevant (hence missed)?
Traffic wins. Traffic means dollars. Traffic, on-line, is the reward.
Perhaps they haven't thought this through - links to one page can, when
crafted, lead to traffic passing through to other areas. The destination of
the link justifies the link's existence, right?!
> As the costs of providing web services increase, service providers are
>increasingly looking for ways of covering their costs. In the case of
>London Transport I think it is reasonable for them to receive advertising
>revenue to cover their costs. The simplest way of maximising hits on
>advertising is to request institutions link to the main entry point.
> I don't see anythink wrong with this.
If the aim is to maximise revenue, then acceptance that a sub-part of the
site becomes popular as a 'linked to destination' would inevitably lead the
dollar-conscious to beef-up use and flip-rates of banner ads in such areas.
Linking to the main page is a dis-incentive to any link at all - it
inhibits the flow of traffic. Look at NME, Guardian, NEWS.COM, etc. - you
can link to individual pages (even mail a current URL to a friend) but you
always hit one or more banner ads as a result...
...I think LU are thinking BRAND rather than REVENUE - and expecting us to
promote their BRAND. Linking to the main entry point serves no purpose but
to promote LU in the hope that users will find the real resource that took
them their in the first place. Explicit promotion of commercial entities on
an academic site without reciprocal benefit??!!
I think we need better rules of engagement (just to be topical at a tangent).
> I also don't agree with David Newman's assertion that this is an
>infringement on academic freedom.
Well, LU are asking an academic institution not to do something...
Stephen...
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