JISC Legal Monthly - June

Legal Guidance for ICT Use in Education and Research, at:
http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Newsletter.aspx
choose the pdf option if you don't want to register.

Contents include and has more on:

In the Queen's speech, the Freedom Bill is described as a new piece of legislation to return freedoms to the general public and repeal previous complex and unnecessary laws...These significant recommended changes will be of direct relevance to FE and HE institutions.

A dispute over copyright has arisen between a professor and his former employer, Newcastle University...staff working in HE and FE to check the copyright policy in their institutions and, when negotiating copyright ownership, to ensure the agreed terms are clear and contained in their written contract of employment.

The Digital Economy Act 2010 was given royal assent late on Thursday, 8 April 2010...The latest version sees file-sharers accused of infringing copyright having their internet connections suspended, through ‘blocking injunctions’ without the opportunity to be heard before a court...consequences for internet providers including universities, colleges and libraries...another amendment...relating to ‘orphaned works’, where the copyright owner cannot be legitimately traced, has been dropped completely.

WoK - upgrade with disruption day

Upgrade on Sunday 16 May
commencing 14.00 BST

There may be disruptions to service throughout the day until the upgrade is completed.

Powerpoint slides for information on the upgrades and information on the upgrade to the new prototype WoK version 5.1 and also a preview of future updates at:
http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/support/documentation/presentations/wosecmay2010.ppt

Give the new version a go via the link on the WoK screen (top right). Get there from:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-a-z

CrossFire - short downtime period - 27th & 28th May

In order to allow for essential operating system updates to be applied to the CrossFire server, there will be a brief period of downtime between 08:00 and 08:30 BST (07:00 - 07:30 GMT) on both Thursday 27th and Friday 28th May.

MIMAS anticipate that the CrossFire service will be unavailable for login for around 5-10 minutes during this period.

Pharma-Bio-Med 2010 Conference & Exhibition

8-10 November (with optional workshops on 7th and 11th November).
Seville.

For more general information on Pharma-Bio-Med please visit the conference website, www.pharma-bio-med.com.

Poster outlines before Friday 14th May.

Evidence-informed Quality Improvement Programme (EQUIP)

EQUIP is a new programme from the Higher Education Academy that will help individual higher education institutions to identify, understand and resolve key issues affecting the quality and effectiveness of the student learning experience.

UK HEIs are invited to submit project proposals for EQUIP by Wednesday 30 June 2010.

The full guidance notes and proposal form can be downloaded from:
http://tinyurl.com/EQUIP-details.

Research Excellence Framework – consultation outcomes

The four UK higher education funding bodies have announced the outcomes of the recent consultation on the new Research Excellence Framework:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/HEFCE/2010/ref.htm

New CLA Guidance for HE

http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=243&id=1334

The CLA Higher Education Copyright Licence Operation Working Group has issued a Good Practice Guide for higher education in the creation of course packs. The guidance includes illustrations of good and questionable practice. There is an explanation of the aims of the licence and information on what to do when in doubt.

Full pdf document at: http://www.cla.co.uk/data/pdfs/he/he_good_practice_guide.pdf.