[pdb-discuss] Re: Writing a grant proposal for the public domain works db

Tue May 23 16:13:29 UTC 2006

Tim Cowlishaw wrote:
> I'm definately happy to help with this!
>  
> I'll try and write something up over the next couple of days... are we 
> applying for a grant to develop the software, or the database itself, or 
> both?

In a sense they are not seperate in that building the software will 
involve making a db. However it will not involve putting anything much 
in the DB (other than content for testing purposes). Generally when we 
talk about the db here we mean the all the information in the db (i.e. 
in our case metadata for lots of works along with info about whether 
they are pd or not) not just the db itself (by that i mean the db 
structure, tables, relations etc).

I would suggest that while outlining the project as a whole -- including 
the db -- we should indicate that initially we are looking for funds to 
work on developing a prototype of the system (i.e. the code and db 
structure) and will *not* be building the db itself (ie. entering lots 
of content -- we might just enter a hundred items for testing purposes)

> We should also explain the need for this data, IMO.. in the absence of a 
> national 'copyrighted works registry' (which i think, was originally the 
> function of the stationers office, back when the statute of anne was 
> first implemented) we have no way of telling which works are in the 
> public domain and which are not, so there is a clear need for a system 
> to gather this data. (Is this all correct, btw? I'll obviously fact 
> check and research everything I write, but it'd be good to know if i'm 
> missing the point completely.)

this is an excellent point and also goes to the heart of the orphan 
works problem. This would be perfect for the opening para.

> I'll get something written to you in the next couple of days!

Brilliant.

Regards,

Rufus

PS: we should produce this first version as a plain text (we can convert 
to something glossy pdf/word ... later if necessary)
>  
> On 5/23/06, *Rufus Pollock* <rufus.pollock at okfn.org 
> <mailto:rufus.pollock at okfn.org>> wrote:
> 
>     Dear Tom and Tim,
> 
>     I'm writing to you guys particularly because you both posted on
>     fc-uk-discuss recently about pdb and indicated a willingness to help
>     out.
> 
>     Right now one of our priorities is to write a grant proposal for the pdw
>     db (public domain works database). Just yesterday I spoke again with
>     Vera Franz of OSI about the idea and she seemed very interested and
>     specifically asked me to send her a basic 1-2 page proposal outlining
>     the pdw. I have also talked quite a bit with a law professor at
>     Cambridge who was very interested and suggested writing a proposal to
>     got a public funding body such as the AHRB.
> 
>     Would one or both of you be willing to take on the task of producing a
>     first draft of this?
> 
>     It would be pretty simple to do and would focus on the metadata database
>     (the works db) itself rather than the whole of PDB. I think we would
>     want to outline the idea and ask for funding to develop a software
>     prototype. (I also note that providing a simple overview of pdw db is
>     valuable in itself). We should also point out that the underlying
>     software (and db) could easily be used for other purposes than simply
>     identifying public domain work, for example identification of orphan
>     works (in fact as we have already discussed one would always end up
>     making a db of all works since that a prior condition for identifying pd
>     works -- and it would then be a trivial matter to add an extra field
>     such as is_orphan just as we will add is_public_domain). Finally I think
>     it is important to emphasize that both the data and software that
>     resulted from our work would be /open/.
> 
>     Regards,
> 
>     Rufus
> 
> 