Permissions and Style: The Vital Force Article Reprints
– Reprinting The Vital Force –
To clarify: Subscribers of The Vital Force are welcome to make copies of articles with permission. (Authors never need permission to make copies of their own articles.) Only one person has been denied permission in the last two years – when he wanted to reprint the entire issue every quarter as a series of blog posts. If that had been allowed, why would any of those readers subscribe to The Vital Force? Why do people need permission to make copies? To maintain copyright protections. Protections from what or whom? Unfortunately, we don’t know that answer until it is too late. So we need to be proactive. The only thing we ask when permission is granted is that you include The Vital Force footer (or cut and paste the masthead) on your reprint – to give credit to and spread the word about The Vital Force.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that The Vital Force articles are laid out so that they don’t spill over onto additional pages. Why? So they are easier to reuse if and when they are copied. Perhaps you’ve noticed that articles of a similar ilk are laid out together (see the New Jersey articles by Bill Moore’s students or the Nebraska ones from Rita Otis’s students, or the teacher/student articles from Donna Aldous). Why? Again, this is done with reprint usage in mind and to help teachers build community.
– Comment on Sandy’s Article: “T’ai Chi Chih Versus TCC” (see page 7) –
I understand and respect the points Sandy is making in her article. But it’s simply a matter of style and every publication develops a style sheet: The Vital Force spells out the first use of “T’ai Chi Chih” in every article and then uses the abbreviation “TCC” to save space and for convenience. (You’ll also note that Justin often uses the abbreviated form, “TCC,” in lieu of spelling out its entire name in every instance.) I would suggest that if you, too, are getting hung up on reading “TCC” aloud, simply substitute “T’ai Chi Chih” when you come across it. It may be second (or first) nature. As for abbreviating with initials in print (after the first full use of the form’s name), it doesn’t seem to have hurt Transcendental Meditation to be referred to as TM sometimes. Certainly, if you are writing about T’ai Chi Chih for a general trade publication, web site, or newspaper, it would be beneficial to write out the whole form each time. Don’t be surprised, though, when the publication utilizes its own style guidelines.
