[od-discuss] definition clarification wrt password access

Fri Dec 20 12:56:31 UTC 2013

> From: od-discuss [mailto:od-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of
> Markus Fiebig
> Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 4:09 AM
> To: od-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> Subject: [od-discuss] definition clarification wrt password access
> 
> Dear open-definition list members,
> 
> being responsible for the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch World Data Centre
for
> Aerosol, I recently came across an interesting question concerning
interpreting
> the definition of open access. Suppose data was be available free of
charge from
> a website, but to get the data, you would need to apply for a username /
> password account and log into the website to access the data - would
> that qualify as open access?

It's worth noting that any data under an open license can be reproduced on a
third 
party site where registration is not required, so frankly, registration is
often 
pointless. I do understand there are sometimes technical reasons such as a
data 
warehouse where data is not delivered immediately where it's important to
have a 
registration so you can contact the person when their data is ready, but
otherwise 
a registration is probably not productive.

I guess this brings up the question, when is data under an open license not
open data?

If the data is under an open license does not change despite any
registration 
process or fees placed on it, but I wouldn't want to call access only after 
an excessive fee or onerous registration requirements "open access".