What do the Google Settlement (see earlier post) and corporate sponsorship have to do with each other?  They're connecting in my mind. 

Turns out that May 5, 2009 is the day that authors and publishers have to choose whether to "opt out" of the Google Settlement.  It's not a simple problem, but it has a pretty simple answer.  Higher education institutions like UC are not going to start proceedings against Google in the courts, so why reserve the right to do so?

Does this mean we don't care?  Absolutely not.  An ANR publication represents more than just information, it's an icon of who we are.  The same is true for a web site. 

Along with some others in ANR, I've been thinking about how we maintain our "brand" identity in this new environment.  If you've been to Google Books, you'll see that our publications appear, often in close proxmity to other brands and certainly under the Google banner.

What about in our web space?  Does the logo of a corporate sponsor undermine our values? What about a  live link?

It's making my head spin, but in a good way.  It's good because we're protecting something that is real.  We continue to ask "Is this true?"  Not only do we ask, we act to find out.