The website Time Magazine Corpus was compiled to allow readers to find Time Magazine articles and covers from the years after 1923. I began my search with the 1970’s and “JFK” and was automatically linked to over 80 articles mentioning him.

I honestly looked at this website for a good hour because I was so intrigued with how it worked and all of the information that was available for consumption. Mark Davies of Brigham Young University designed the site and to gain full access to the content, you must register and state whether you are a student, teacher or researcher.

The corpus allows someone to search people and words that have been part of Time in some way as well as demonstrating how the words have changed over time.

The debate of how the site gained access for Time’s archives is congruent with our discussion on Monday. The tricky thing about websites such as this is that at one end I do believe that the information should be public for historical reasons and research, though, the question of whether it is legal or right is a debate that will continue as long as there is an Internet.

Time Magazine, is a publication that people pay for. Like any other magazine or newspaper, it has the right to its stories, photographs, op-eds, advertisements, etc. I’m not a lawyer, no do I work for time, and so my stance on this issue is not overly examined. Though, if I was a journalist or photographer and my work was up for grabs on the Internet without my permission, I would not be very happy.

The ethics is that again; there may be no way to control the flow of information on the Internet. Whether it is an article, a song or a historical archive, each source will have its own laws that coincide with how much of their product is up for public domain.  Historically, I do it is important we can reference images, videos, maps, and stories from the past but there are lines to be drawn on each side.  I think we often forget that even though the Internet is public, we have to know where the real source comes from.