Data Mining in UK Higher Education Institutions: Law and Policy

Queen Mary Intellectual Property Review 4:1 pp. 3-29 (2014)

27 Pages Posted: 6 Jun 2014

See all articles by Andrés Guadamuz

Andrés Guadamuz

University of Sussex

Diane Cabell

University of Oxford - Oxford e-Research Centre

Date Written: March 5, 2014

Abstract

This article explores some of the issues surrounding data mining in the UK's higher education institutions (HEIs). Data mining is understood as the computational analysis of data contained in a text or data set in order to extract new knowledge from it. There are two main ways in which HEIs are involved with data mining: in the process of conducting research, and as producers of data. As consumers, HEIs may have restrictions on the manner in which they can conduct research given the fact that it is likely that content will be protected by intellectual property rights. As producers, HEIs are faced with increasing pressure to make publicly-funded research available to the public through institutional repositories and other similar open access schemes, but some of these do not set out reuse policies for data. The article concludes that if more research was made available with adequate licensing strategies, then the question of whether data mining research is legal would be moot.

Keywords: data mining, copyright, database, database right, open access, creative commons

JEL Classification: O34, K00

Suggested Citation

Guadamuz, Andres and Cabell, Diane, Data Mining in UK Higher Education Institutions: Law and Policy (March 5, 2014). Queen Mary Intellectual Property Review 4:1 pp. 3-29 (2014), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2446447

Andres Guadamuz (Contact Author)

University of Sussex ( email )

Falmer
Brighton, BN1 9QN
United Kingdom

Diane Cabell

University of Oxford - Oxford e-Research Centre ( email )

7 Keble Road
Oxford, OX1 3QG
United Kingdom

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