[@OKau] Tenders data no derivatives?????

Thu May 14 22:52:59 UTC 2015

I strongly support Rosie in clarifying this, in the process raising awareness of what open data means. The extra effort needed to use the data and the uncertainty about what is intended use demonstrate how a no derivatives license as opposed to open data can stifle innovation.

I would suggest (splaining to some on this list) that public domain is more complicated than that - yes you *can* access the data, certainly public interest supports its use, but given they've gone to the effort of licensing it, remixing without explicitly getting permission first could upset people whose trust and goodwill should be factored in given focus on building community and trust.

It may be unfair that the burden is placed on Rosie, a small business owner "having a go" as the current government wants, to argue this case with public servants on stable incomes - an example of why open data is an equity issue. I'd rather see this discussion become a case study of organisational and behavioural change towards openness rather than a debate about fairness and equity. It's also about efficiency, an alternative frame for those who value equity less.
Eg.
"when Richard Stallman says that information should be given out freely, his opinion is not based on a notion of property as theft, which (right or wrong) would be an ethical position. His argument is that keeping information secret is inefficient; it leads to unaesthetic duplication of effort."

In economicspeak, this effort is Rosie investing in research and development. The dynamic learning effect of her as a business in an infant industry benefits not only her own small business but the broader technology industry, with spillover effects in other industries. Rosie is innovating in Australia's technology services industry - I wonder if there was support in the budget for small businesses like this whose business models depend upon creation in the sharing economy, rather than consumption and proprietary display of rivalrous common-pool resources?

________________________________
From: okfn-au [okfn-au-bounces at lists.okfn.org] on behalf of Steven De Costa [steven.decosta at linkdigital.com.au]
Sent: Friday, 15 May 2015 8:10 AM
To: Open Knowledge discussion list for Australia.
Subject: Re: [@OKau] Tenders data no derivatives?????

The material in the public domain should be fine. As per the notice:

  *   You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/au/#>.
  *   There are commercial aggregation services which recontext public tenders for discovery. Perhaps take a look at the way they do it...

Also I suspect you'd be able to get clearance if you contacted the platform admins. I'm happy to help argue your request :)

Cheers,
Steven

On Friday, May 15, 2015, Rosie Williams <budgetaus at hotmail.com<mailto:budgetaus at hotmail.com>> wrote:
Hi all,

I would like to create an open data use case based on the Commonwealth tenders data at tenders.gov.au<http://tenders.gov.au>. This data has the licence CC by 3.0-ND which includes:

  *   NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/au/#> the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/au/

I suspect that the requirements that I am gathering from prospective users  (and will continue to gather) might constitute an adaptation. I was hoping for some clarification of this and also why this limitation has been placed on this data as I am puzzled as to its existence and am inclined to challenge it.

One of the things I was potentially going to do was combine data from tenders, grants and ACNC register data. I am unclear if this constitutes an adaptation and if so why this would be prohibited?

People also want data presented in a way that is meaningful to them ie with context. This can involve mathematical context created by providing statistics (totals, percentages, averages etc) and also combining data with other data eg ABS data. This is what makes data of use to people.

I would like to know if the uses that people actually want the Commonwealth tenders data put to are prohibited under the current licence, if so why and how that can be changed?

It is also worth asking whether the same limitations are going to be applied to grants.gov.au<http://grants.gov.au> when it comes online?

thanks in advance,

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
________________________________________
 NoFibs.com.au<http://nofibs.com.au> - Open Data Reporter | InfoAus.net<http://infoaus.net> - Founder and Developer

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