[ckan-dev] mandatory user registration?

[Aaron McGlinchy]

RE: " I would push back on this requirement. "Public" but not unless you log in doesn't really make sense for open data. But maybe I'm missing something.
What's this for?"

A couple of reasons for thinking about this, not to try and make the data less open.

- some of the data we have could if it was used inappropriately e.g. applied at a spatial scale smaller or larger than it was collected for/at, or if the level of precision in the data is over interpreted... then it could have significant (financial) consequences for a user.  This sort of thing makes our managers nervous so of course we would have disclaimers/terms of use stating such things as we are not responsible for any loss they may suffer through misuse/misinterpretation of data...  By enforcing a registration we could explicitly require users to acknowledge they have seen and agree to those terms, vs casual browsers missing the Terms statement and just going straight to a dataset.
- Also, we have to report on the 'impact' of our research to our funding masters.  Having a little more information about who is visiting/using our data would be helpful.  Of course google analytics may tell us a lot of the story(?) but possibly having a name and email address could be more informative.

So really just wondering as to the possibility.

Cheers
Aaron

________________________________

Please consider the environment before printing this email
Warning: This electronic message together with any attachments is confidential. If you receive it in error: (i) you must not read, use, disclose, copy or retain it; (ii) please contact the sender immediately by reply email and then delete the emails.
The views expressed in this email may not be those of Landcare Research New Zealand Limited. http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz