We Need Your Help

Did we get it right? Makers of documentaries have to ask the question. Tovarisch, I'm Not Dead covers incidents that happened 60 years ago. Many of those who could serve as technical consultants on this film have passed on, and those still with us are advanced in age.

But they may have talked to you. They might have given you a journal, diary or reconstruction written after the fact. You might have been there as a child, and you might retain vivid memories of the subject matter of this film.

If you have been to Yahoo! recently, you may have noticed that they now have a feature that allows you to ask questions on any topic, or provide answers. This feature is exploiting a phenomenon that was recently explored in a book called The Wisdom of Crowds. With more than 1 billion people using the Internet, it is almost certain that somebody, somewhere knows the answer to almost any question.

Crowd-sourcing is simply asking a group of people for help. We want to make sure that Tovarisch, I'm Not Dead is as accurate and realistic as is possible. Here on this website we will post footage, writing, interviews, audio and music that may be incorporated into the documentary. Quite simply, we want you to help us get it right. Use the Comments feature if you like. Email us if you want.

In the rest of this post (below), we'll talk about some of the issues regarding media--some of you might have photos or film footage that you think might make the film more effective. We'll talk about that.

It might be tempting to send us some photographs or offer to give us film footage from the period covered by our documentary Tovarisch, I'm Not Dead. We're equally tempted to ask you for it.

The problem is, who owns the copyright to the pictures and film that you want to submit? If you own it, it is yours to distribute as you will. But if someone gave it to you, or you found it in a basement somewhere... the problems begin to arise.

We cannot pay for additional pictures or film, which may dampen your enthusiasm somewhat. And, if we do include your material in the film, it may be used somewhere else--if excerpts of the film are shown on the telly or in a short version, it might include the material you sent us. That might dampen your enthusiasm further.

If, after all this cautionary language, you still think you have material that you think would help the film, we'd like you to contact us. If we agree that the material would help make Tovarisch, I'm Not Dead a better documentary, we will try to reach an agreement with you on how to use it and protect your rights to further usage of the material. We will probably try to use a version of the Creative Commons licensing scheme that will give us limited permission to use your material and leave you with the rights to use it thereafter. It's worth a try.