[open-science] Norms and flexible understandings question

Tue Feb 10 21:21:18 UTC 2009

The idea of norms rather than licenses does have some appeal.

Question:  can a normative approach accomodate things like flexible  
understandings of what is permitted, and allow for evolution of such  
understandings?

Flexible understandings = stuff like friendly licenses.  To go back  
to Dorothea's example, if one researcher shares data freely while a  
second researcher cannot share for privacy reasons, there are  
probably a few understandings that the first researcher would think  
of as friendly to sharealike.  For example, if the second researcher  
shares her data privately with the first researcher, and publishes  
her results OA immediately on acceptance for publication, the first  
researcher may well be satisfied that this is Sharealike.

Or, if a company take data from a third world researcher who uses  
"noncommercial-sharealike" and uses it to develop a new drug, makes a  
huge profit in the developed world, and uses some of this profit to  
a) distribute the drug for free in the researcher's home country and  
b) provides the researcher with some grant money to conduct further  
research, then it seems possible that this researcher would consider  
this completely friendly, even if the company has a patent and does  
not release the results of their own research.

One reason I think we need flexible understandings is that our world- 
view in this type of matter need to evolve in a globalized online  
world, for two reasons:  1.  there are many different ways of  
understanding concepts like ownership in the world, never mind  
intellectual property.  In some cultures, this is a silly concept;  
there are those in the western world who share this view and 2.  it  
will take some time to think through what this new online world can  
be, and hence, what makes the most sense for sharing.  In the  
interim, we need to experiment, with a variety of things with  
Creative Commons, GNU licensing, and just plain free sharing being  
the very best of the experiments we have, for the moment.

Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, and  
does not represent the opinion or policy of BC Electronic Library  
Network or Simon Fraser University Library.

Heather Morrison, MLIS
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com