Don, Not sure where the disagreement is about, you write:
"Using the term “cracks” to describe the PDF reading programs is inappropriate as it implies a security violation."
This is what I mean with ethical considerations.
I have to disagree!. PDF format is designed to allow the author to control the formatting and layout of a document – not control its use. The PDF documents are intended for dissemination.
PDF does not give the author control over the interpretation of the content and is not some technical way of forcing the document to treated as a whole.
We all know the risk that quotes can be taken out of context, and there are plenty of approaches known to academics to address this matter. Readers should be allowed any way that they can find to access published documents – and if that involves using some disassembly program to automate the task of reading PDF’s then that is fine.
Using the term “cracks” to describe the PDF reading programs is inappropriate as it implies a security violation.
We should encourage all and any method of appreciating the published word!
Dr Donald Fraser
-----Original
Message-----
From:
qual-software [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of gonzalo.bacigalupe
Sent: Saturday, 18 March 2006 9:01
AM
To: Don
Subject: PDFs and Ethical
Concerns
One thing to remember is that PDF files are created by authors with the purpose of not being disassembled. "Cracking" them for the purpose of research should lead the researcher to all kind of ethical questions about how we are managing data. When, for instance, carry on secondary data analysis of data available, getting into the data requires thinking and often signing into some sort of obligations about how we handle the data. When I create PDF files, I often think of it as a way of keeping the core of the work without change rather than sharing it in pieces.
Gonzalo Bacigalupe, Ed.D.
MPH Cand. (HSPH)
Associate Professor
Director Family Therapy Program
University of Massachusetts Boston
Graduate College of Education
Department of Counseling Psychology
100 Morrissey Bvld.
Boston MA 02125-3393
http://www.faculty.umb.edu/gonzalo_bacigalupe/
From:
qual-software [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Mellody
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 3:45
PM
To:
[log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: PDFs
On 3/17/06, Elliot Richmond <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
At 11:03 AM 3/17/2006, you
wrote:
> No, my statement is not always true. There are edit protected
files
> that will not allow copy-and-paste. I have never encountered such
a
> file in academic research but it is certainly
conceivable.
Cracking programs are certainly an answer where the file can be cracked and where it's not necessary to deal with large amounts of information quickly - presumably this is the case in the academic circles to which you refer.
My program was written to deal with many documents (over 3000 to date) although only a relatively small amount of information is required from each document. Many databases used in historical research, for example, contain scanned page images rather than OCR'd text. Some universities - including the one I'm studying at - presents all copies of papers for students in this way. Obviously a screen-scraper can be used with "text" from any program - images, .pdfs, .lits etc; it can, obviously, also be used with one of the camera/computer microform readers.
I must be honest with you though: even the thought of going through a process of cracking a file, cutting & pasting (or dragging-and-dropping) text into Word gives me the cold shivers. As for printing, scanning and OCR'ing - the less said the better! My secretary has just blenched at the thought of the editing involved.
Mike Mellody
Ecclesia Knowledge Management
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