I'm working on the page at:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reuse
- which is how to reuse content from Wikimedia sites, including text and images.
We want the *simplest possible* page on how to easily reuse material and comply with licence obligations. My audience is the people who phone me doing clearances, when I explain to them they don't need case-by-case clearance if they follow the licence terms. (I'm a UK press contact for Wikimedia.)
The simplest possible wording is absolutely necessary - the very concept of free content, where you don't need to ask first, explodes their heads. (Though they like the idea when they do get it. Usually after five to fifteen minutes' repetition.)
1. Could you please check what is written there about the GFDL, the GPL and the LGPL? (There are some images on Commons that are GPL/LGPL, e.g. screen shots and icons from programs.)
2. "When using a GFDL photo as part of a larger work, the larger work must be GFDLed. (someone please fill in this bit with precisely how this works both per the FSF and in actual case law - whole book? chapter? section?)" - the question here is how much counts to make the larger work a derivative of the GFDL image, and how much of the work is a derivative and how much is an aggregation. I realise this is vexed enough in the case of GPL software ... Do you have any simple guidance to give people interested in reusing GFDL images? (I've seen http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/2007-05-08-fdl-scope .) Has there been any case law at all on the GFDL?
Any guidance you can provide would be most welcomed!
- thanks, David.
(cc'd to Wikimedia Commons mailing list)
I sent this to licensing@fsf.org, the FSF licensing queries address.
- d.
On 14/07/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
I'm working on the page at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reuse
[...]
On 7/14/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
- Could you please check what is written there about the GFDL, the
GPL and the LGPL? (There are some images on Commons that are GPL/LGPL, e.g. screen shots and icons from programs.)
For simple redistribution, include the version you were given access to and its complete history with attribution, and include the GFDL (linked on the same website or reprinted in print).
Fails to mention that you need to preserve "the copyright notices" (AKA invariant sections for sneaky people).
You derivatives section fails to mention "Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document" (we never did find out if this included watermarks on images). Dito "Preserve the section Entitled "History" (all 33,566 entries of it in the case of [[en:George W. Bush]]) Technicaly there is also the "Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers." but by then I think we are being mean.
Do you have any simple guidance to give people interested in reusing GFDL images?
Contact the author and get them released under more reasonable conditions. The GFDL is not reasonably compatible with dead tree technology. In the case of electronic stuff I would certianly suggest considering other options first.
On 7/14/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
I'm working on the page at:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reuse
- which is how to reuse content from Wikimedia sites, including text and
images.
We want the *simplest possible* page on how to easily reuse material and comply with licence obligations. My audience is the people who phone me doing clearances, when I explain to them they don't need case-by-case clearance if they follow the licence terms. (I'm a UK press contact for Wikimedia.)
The simplest possible wording is absolutely necessary - the very concept of free content, where you don't need to ask first, explodes their heads. (Though they like the idea when they do get it. Usually after five to fifteen minutes' repetition.)
- Could you please check what is written there about the GFDL, the
GPL and the LGPL? (There are some images on Commons that are GPL/LGPL, e.g. screen shots and icons from programs.)
- "When using a GFDL photo as part of a larger work, the larger work
must be GFDLed. (someone please fill in this bit with precisely how this works both per the FSF and in actual case law - whole book? chapter? section?)" - the question here is how much counts to make the larger work a derivative of the GFDL image, and how much of the work is a derivative and how much is an aggregation. I realise this is vexed enough in the case of GPL software ... Do you have any simple guidance to give people interested in reusing GFDL images? (I've seen http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/2007-05-08-fdl-scope .) Has there been any case law at all on the GFDL?
Any guidance you can provide would be most welcomed!
- thanks, David.
(cc'd to Wikimedia Commons mailing list)
Commons-l mailing list Commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/commons-l
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:First_steps/Reuse
Not sure if you were aware of that yet or not, but some info from there might be helpful and I'm sure some of the information you are adding could be added to that page as well :)