[open-government] [euopendata] [psi-workers] Rules + website for Open Data Challenge

Thu Mar 24 14:06:02 UTC 2011

Am 24.03.2011 13:36, schrieb Thomas Roessler:
> On 24 Mar 2011, at 13:32, Jonathan Gray wrote:

>> Re: open source + open data in apps, what about 'we strongly encourage
>> entrants to use open licenses for code, content and data'?
>
> I don't think we should require open source licenses for the apps (or make this part of the evaluation) -- in fact, if somebody came up with something that's productized and sold later on, we should welcome that.

I beg to differ. We should think very hard whether we want to actively 
prevent reuse of the results (=useful software code) of an OKF competition.

Maybe I am mistaken as I joined OKF only recently, but for 
myunderstanding OKF would shoot itself and its mission in the foot if we 
do not -require- reusability of the competition results through open 
source licensing. If OKF wants that a lot of data will become open and 
actively (re)used, why should we ever selfimpose a limit on the creation 
and availability of tools to do exactly that? From that POV, I even 
think it is of strategic importance to OKF's mission.

Somebody may object and say that we hinder companies to participate 
because we kill the for-profit motivation. Well, no, we do not. :-) This 
is the general argument brought forward, but the very existence of heaps 
of open source software, wikipedia and many other collaboratively 
created digital resources prove the opposite: digital stuff gets created 
if enough people have an interest in it. And I am very confident that 
there are people out there with an interest to (re)use open data..

Finally, from a legal perspective every participant is the copyright 
holder of the software submitted. They are completely free in licensing 
the same piece of software in another way and sell it (so called 
'dual-licensing'). Yet, plenty of companies do exist today that live 
from offering full services aruond FOSS web tools (e.g., typo3, joomla etc.)

This, however, is a competition run by OKF to further the mission of 
OKF. Therefore we need to require open licensing for all submissions.

IMO, at least. :-)

> At the same time I do think we need to say something about the data used:  For example, I don't think we're looking for an app that required 1M EUR upfront investment to acquire the data.
>
>> J.
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 1:26 PM, Federico Morando
>> <federico.morando at polito.it>  wrote:
>>> On 03/24/2011 01:08 PM, Jonathan Gray wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Some key ideas for rules:
>>>>
>>>> * Pan-European angle is strongly encouraged
>>>
>>> I surely agree. We may even say that you should use data from at least 2
>>> member states and/or that your app shoul make sense in at least two member
>>> states (e.g. in London and Paris).
>>>>
>>>> * Entries for apps must come from team which contains groups/individuals
>>>> from at least 2 EU member states
>>>
>>> I don't think that this is necessary: let's put constraints on the apps/data
>>> (as you did above and below) and not on the institution/organization/group
>>> that proposes them... It's a call for apps, not a EU project ;-)
>>>>
>>>> * Repurposed apps are allowed (i.e. an app that exists for London can be
>>>> expanded to work for Paris + Torino and entered)
>>>
>>> OK, sure!
>>>>
>>>> * Apps must be open source
>>>> * Core data must be freely reusable and derived data must be openly
>>>> licensed
>>>
>>> I'm not entirely sure: we may say that this is a plus in the evaluation, but
>>> is it a requirement? What needs to the open are the public data (in input),
>>> not necessarily the code/data of the re-users ("derived data")...
>>> [Personally, I'm sympathetic with this rule - in particular the part about
>>> open source code: it's just that I think it deserves an explicit and open
>>> discussion.]
>>>
>>> Thanks and best regards,
>>>
>>> Federico
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Gray
>>
>> Community Coordinator
>> The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> http://blog.okfn.org
>>
>> http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> http://identi.ca/jwyg
>>
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>
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