BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University's 2007 Outstanding Young Scholar Award has been given to Dr. Victoria Ekstrand, an associate professor of journalism. She received the honor at the BGSU Research Conference, hosted recently (Nov. 1) by Sponsored Programs and Research.

Ekstrand, who joined the University in 2002, studies the cultural, historical and legal foundations of the ownership of communication and analyzes the implications of a system that is increasingly privatizing forms of and forums for communication. As the award recipient, she received $3,000, $1,000 of which will directly fund her research.

“At the heart of Dr. Ekstrand's research is this fundamental question: How do we create new creative content and what is owed to those who influence or contribute in some way to that new communication?” Dr. Terry Rentner, chair of the journalism department, said at the research conference. “The answer to this question has enormous significance for a democratic system and the protection of the public domain.”

Ekstrand's work has been published in journals such as Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly and Communication Law and Policy . In addition, “News Piracy and the Hot News Doctrine: Origins in Law and Implications for the Digital Age ,” her 2005 book , was adopted by Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Duke Law School and the University of California-Berkeley Law School's libraries.

She addressed federal laws that try to persuade Internet Service Providers to reveal the identities of their users in her article “Unmasking Jane and John Doe: Online Anonymity and the First Amendment.”

In “The Music Industry and the Legislative Development of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Online Service Provider Provision,” Ekstrand and a colleague examined the legislative history of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act provision that immunizes ISPs from liability in copyright infringement cases.

The articles were both published in Communication Law and Policy , which has an acceptance rate of just 22 percent.

According to Rentner, “Ekstrand is a valued researcher, teacher and colleague in the Department of Journalism. Her reputation as a scholar is gaining national prominence, and I think she will be one of the top, if not the top, scholar in media law in the very near future.

“Her research not only has scholarly value but practical value as well. Her work clearly lies within the parameters of what is considered scholarship of engagement. I expect to see her research impact legal findings in the areas of intellectual property and Internet piracy. Her work is cutting edge and, with the explosion of the Internet, the importance and the need for her expertise in communication law will only continue to grow.”

Last summer, Ekstrand undertook two research projects. She served as contributing editor to “A Legal Handbook for Ohio Journalists,” published by the Ohio State Bar Association, and completed several entries for an “Encyclopedia of Journalism,” a project spearheaded by journalism scholars at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

# # #

(Posted November 07, 2007)