NAN-H-58
Intellectual-property
By Olanrewaju Akojede
Lagos, Nov. 27, 2017 (NAN) The first President of Reproduction Rights Society of Nigeria (Repronig.), Prof Olalere Oladitan, says in spite of digital appeal, hard copies of intellectual property still have an edge over digital copies.
Oladitan of the Department of Foreign Languages, Obafemi Awolowo University,ile-ife (OAU), disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the National Conference on Quality Education in Lagos on Monday.
NAN reports that the theme of the conference is “Access to Published Works and Rights Management for Sustainable Tertiary Publishing and Global Competitiveness’’.
The Repronig. conference is being organised in collaboration with the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria Universities.
On the value of having hardcopy publication in the face of rising acceptability of ICT in intellectual development, Oladitan said both ICT and hardcopies have their own merits.
“People are enthusiastic about new things, but when they start to recover from their earlier zeal and enthusiasm, they will come to the realisation of the fundamentals of hard copies.
“Hardcopies are still relevant to any intellectual development and also the best form to read.
“It is true that we have the soft copies on our phones and when we finished reading, we close it.
“But later, we may not be able to recover them again due to many factors like the power failure.
“Others, includes corrupted memory or loss of the electronics and digital materials.
“There and then, we will have to go back to the hard copies,’’ he said.
Oladitan noted that hardcopy allows for referencing and markings and could be easily shelved.
“Hardcopies allows for the query, referencing and shelving.
“ICT has its own glamour and attraction also, but it has too many distractions for a good academic reference.
“Reading electronic copies can solve the immediate needs and have immediate appeal but the future still lies with the hard copies.
“In a macro situation, the individual has to find a pathway of patronising the hard copies.
“We need to resuscitate the right attitude to reading by making hard copies available.
“We may make comments on Facebook and social media, but no serious educational thought can be achieved only through social media,’’ he said.
Oladitan said that electronic copies should not be seen as a threat to publishing but a complimentary alternative.
He added that the essence of hardcopies could not be overemphasised.
“Although ICT seems to have actually taken the shine off the deliberate reading, hardcopies provide references.
“Although we may have to reduce the number of copies to be bought.
“The truth is that we cannot totally abandon hardcopies because intellectual development needs meditation, jottings, and references.
“This can only be provided, effectively, when you are in possession of intellectual piece in hard copies.
“The repronig which I helped to mid-wife, is making a lot of efforts in the face of economic downturn,” the don said. (NAN)
KOJE/AIB/MEMO
==============
Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde/Mike Mbonye