Rorschach Revisited

July 29, 2009 – 5:17 am

The controversy over the publication of the Rorschach test plates on Wikipedia entertained earlier in this post has now spread to the technology section of the New York Times.  The Times’ sensationalist ‘Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet?’ opens for a fairly standard and not so sensationalist pro versus con consideration of the merits for the case to publish or remove the ten Rorschach image plates from Wikipedia.  The essence of the debate as considered by the Times is that on one hand there may still be some value to the research potential of the plates that may be preserved by keeping them protected under the general ethos of the psychologist to prevent amateur and lay exposure to test materials, while on the other hand there is nothing legally protecting the images on the plates which have already spread into the public domain and as evidenced by their appearance on Wikipedia into public circulation.

Rorschach_blot_06[5]

[Plate 6 from the Rorschach test]
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Fair Use Intellectual Property Technology
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29 months later

July 23, 2009 – 12:14 pm

With all of the common warning signage people come across finding a new warning symbol in an unexpected place can be a bit of a surprise. From the fairly benign admonition that coffee is served hot to the more pressing matter of bringing to your attention via a blinking light that your breaks might not be in suitable condition to reliably stop your car. Then there’s the generic caution tape. Well below is the most effective sign I believe I have encountered.


IAEA Screen Capture

[link to announcement]
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Novelty Science
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Public Domain

July 16, 2009 – 12:34 pm

So the images from the original Rorschach test are now available online at Wikipedia, and their inclusion on the page is somewhat controversial. Arguments are made that exposure to these images in the general public may be detrimental to their scientific value as they are used for testing patient’s and study subject’s interpretation of these images. The problem is that the images used in the test have fallen into the public domain outside of copyright protection and they are now entirely free from legal protection for most any use, and they may be distributed readily without restriction and used in derivative works.

Rorschach Plate Number 1

The first of the ten images I recall seeing in more than a few movies, and I think most reasonable people would not think too much of this particular image having its value further compromised through public exposure. A fair number of people in a clinical environment would when asked what they think of this image respond that they are being presented with an inkblot test.
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Fair Use Intellectual Property
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An Immodest Proposal

April 7, 2009 – 9:39 pm

Having spent many a night thinking at the level of sheer stupidity and irresponsibility in actors creating, buying, and selling financial instruments a dramatic action must be undertaken to prevent the creation of the next collateralized debt obligation which will enrich a select few individuals before damning the population at large dependent on a stable economy for goods, services, and employment. The current economic crisis was not unavoidable, and could have been prevented if someone in a position to do something would have listened to the arguments against allowing the creation and trade in some of the horrible bastardized securities that imploded bringing down the rest of the financial markets, including the reduction of Iceland from a global financial powerhouse to competing with developing nations for relief from the International Monetary Fund.

It is my proposal that the SEC ought to create a division staffed by professional epistemologists to investigate novel and potentially bunk financial instruments, and that there should be a position held b a financial epistemologist that reports to the President and Congress on proposed changes to trading regulations. Our current economic crisis is rooted in poor treatment of information.
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Economics Philosophy
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