[odc-discuss] Questions about ODC licenses and web site

Wed Jul 6 17:01:15 UTC 2011

On 6 July 2011 11:04, Peter B. Hirtle <pbh6 at cornell.edu> wrote:
> This is very helpful.  I realize now that I have been equating data with content; you seem to equate data with databases.  My questions properly concern content, not databases.  (For what it is worth, it is much more likely that other researchers will want to reuse content in new ways rather than replicate or build on existing databases.)

I think the exact opposite :-) I think reuse of data(bases) will
likely be much greater than of "content" thought obviously it depends
on the data(base) and content!

> In this case, the content is factual and hence has no copyright.  The scientist who has collected it, however, wishes to receive attribution when people use the content.  I don't agree with this decision, but since he physically owns the content, he can set the terms on how it is released.  A CC-BY license won't work for the content since there is no copyright in the content, and most CC licenses are predicated on copyright.  An ODC-BY license won't work, since it does not cover the content of a database, but only the database itself.  The DbCL does not have a provision for attribution.  That is why I wanted to know if it was the only content license that ODC has created, or if there are others that are similarly hidden on the web site that might serve the trick.

Can you describe (more) precisely what material exactly is at issue.
We have to be a bit careful here in the use of the terms "content",
"data" and "database". From your description I'm not yet clear why an
ODC license would not work. If you reuse "data" from a database that
implies reuse of the database and hence the application of the
license.

> It is sounding more and more like ODC does not meet the needs of our scientists (many who have the same feeling that they are willing to share content as long as they receive attribution for generating it), and that we will have to create our own agreement.

You may do but from your description of the issue I don't really know
how you'll do better than the ODC licenses given the material you are
dealing with ...

Rufus