[okfn-help] Draft OKF Newsletter 2

Thu Jul 5 11:42:37 BST 2007

Hello,

Below is a draft of the second OKF newsletter. I've tried to keep it
short. Much of the content has been recycled from the OKF blog. Any
corrections, suggestions or additions would be much appreciated!

Regards,

Jonathan

[okfn-announce] Open Knowledge Foundation Newsletter No. 2

Welcome to the second Open Knowledge Foundation newsletter. Scroll below
for information about:

 * CKAN
 * A draft guide to Open Data Licensing
 * Open Text Book
 * iCommons 2007

CKAN
====

We've decided that the time has come for the first official release of
CKAN.  CKAN is the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network, a registry of
open knowledge packages and projects (and a few closed ones). It is the
place to search for open knowledge resources as well as register your own.
Those familiar with freshmeat or CPAN can think of CKAN as providing an
analogous service for open knowledge.

We've got over 40 items listed already, from a repository of voting
records of MPs to a global population density database. If you come across
any useful open knowledge packages, or you maintain an openly licensed
resource that you would like to share, we hope you consider registering it
on CKAN.

CKAN <http://www.ckan.net/>

OPEN DATA LICENSING
===================

Over the last month we’ve been working to produce a Guide to Open Data
Licensing. As the name should make clear this is a guide to licensing data
aimed particularly at those who want to make their data open.

At present it is roughly divided into two sections. The first section
deals with the practical question of how to license your data. The second
section discusses what kinds of intellectual property-like rights exist in
data in various jurisdictions.

The guide is very much in an ‘alpha’ state and we’d welcome corrections or
contributions. So please, check it out and feel free to make changes!

Open Data Licensing <http://www.okfn.org/wiki/OpenDataLicensing>

OPEN TEXT BOOK
==============

We recently released Open Text Book, a place to list and keep track of
news about textbooks that are open in accordance with the Open Knowledge
Definition — i.e. free to use, reuse, and redistribute.

The domain name was kindly donated to us by Steve Coast of Open Street Map.

Open Text Book <http://www.opentextbook.org/>

iCOMMONS 2007
=============

iCommons 2007 took place last month in Dubrovnik and brought together many
free culture groups and open knowledge advocates from around the world.
Our reflections on the conference can be found on our blog.

OKF blog post
<http://blog.okfn.org/2007/06/19/icommons-2007-retrospective-reflections/>
iCommons <http://icommons.org/>