[okfn-coord] OKF/LSE application for COMMUNIA workshop, March 2009

Thu Aug 21 16:52:14 UTC 2008

Thanks for the response Jonathan :)

Please see my comments as follows:
>
> I was under the impression that the October workshop was about copyrighted 
> works that had passed into the public domain. Certainly the language is 
> mostly about 'works' and 'authors' - and seem to be sessions on Google 
> books, representation from the library sector, etc. There is mention of 
> CC0, but I got the impression that this was mostly in relation to waiving 
> rights in works whose copyright status might not be clear (e.g. 
> photos/scans of PD works).
>
You are right in terms of the content of the published schedule. However, I 
am under the impression from the discussions with Paul in the COMMUNIA 
conference and the iSummit that there will be an effort to focus on CC0 and 
CC+, and that's one of the reasons why I would like us to have a slightly 
broader focus.

Another thing I should check now is what the plans for the following 
COMMUNIA workshops are. Spain and Poland are probably going to try for the 
following COMMUNIA  workshops and there is an implicit understanding that we 
should informally discuss what we plan to do vis-a-vis the events they are 
planning to host. I am almost certain that there is no overlap with their 
proposals, if we opt for data/ public sector theme, but will re-check and 
get back to you.

> I think we could emphasise both: open data as an important part of 
> building a common information environment (for the public sector)?
>
> Rights in data are really important in both science and the cultural 
> sector - especially regarding things like bibliographic data, of which we 
> have very little that is open. This is arguably crucial for building an 
> information environment in the cultural sector that is linked together and 
> is well plumbed. There is lots of talk in the organisations you mention of 
> open standards for metadata, but not so much of making the material itself 
> available for others to build on. Arguably a 'permission culture' from 
> protecting potential revenue streams in copyrightable digital objects 
> (texts, images, media) extends to the sharing of data that describes these 
> objects.

I agree. What about a title along the lines of Data, information (or 
knowledge) in the broader Public Sector and PD?

Also, from my meetings with BBC, JISC, BL, MLA etc they are still at the 
stage of making their material simply available for ND uses, but there is 
increasing pressure to move to the next stage, which is making content 
available for reuse.

>
> Perhaps it would be best to present rights in data as one aspect of 
> building a common information environment. If we went down this route, 
> what other things could I mention?

Some examples of cases from a UK perspective with examples from different 
organizations:
- User generated content in the broader British Public Sector/ cultural 
organizations (particularly Museums)/ Historical Geographic Information 
Systems (e.g. Portsmouth project).
- Use of non-CC ND-type of licences in the UK MLA sector (e.g. British 
Museum or Victoria and Albert EULAs and infrastructure)
- efforts for a common meta-data infrastructure in the MLA sector (e.g. 
adatabase)
- the National Education Network project (sharing of educational resources 
for educational purposes)
- problems with the current fair dealing legislation in relation to the 
reuse and archiving of material in the cultural sector
- the proposal for an orphan works regulatory framework by the BL
- Sharing scientific practices/ procedures (the MyExperiment project from 
the eScience centres)
- Sharing of clinical data (which technically is not just "data", e.g. in 
the NHS library) by medical practitioners
- Tagging and Linking issues (a framework for open services?) - [BBC's 
MemoryShare example]

As you may see in all examples data play a key role, but are not the sole 
focus.

The UK is one of the most forward thinking jurisdictions right now in terms 
of managing content/ data in the broader public sector -at least in the 
level of the individual organizations- and I think we should use the 
COMMUNIA as an opportunity to physically bring some of these people 
together.

>
> I agree it would be great to get folks from BL, BBC, MLA, JISC in a room 
> together - under the auspices of a network for the digital public domain!

I am confident this could be fixed :)

> I'm currently in Berlin - and will be until at least mid-September. 
> Perhaps we could arrange a meeting on IRC sometime next week? If people 
> are keen when is a good date?

Any day next week after 17:00 would suit me.

Many thanks
pRo 

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