Hi all,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be very useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
Hi,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be very
useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
Sounds interesting indeed!
Commons host quite some freely-licensed works from government agencies, so this might be a useful starting point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_governments
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the
government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Hi,
I'm a little confused :) The page is called 'Freedom of information' and this is also what the logo emphasizes. This is a well known concept, which is all about disclosing information.
Now this specific question seems however to be focused on the license under which certain organizations publish stuff (?) although it is unclear in which capacity, etc.
It feels like two questions/areas are being mixed here, and I'm not sure if that is helpful :)
Best, Lodewijk
2016-09-12 12:18 GMT+02:00 Jean-Frédéric jeanfrederic.wiki@gmail.com:
Hi,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be very
useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
Sounds interesting indeed!
Commons host quite some freely-licensed works from government agencies, so this might be a useful starting point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_governments
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the
government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
-- Jean-Frédéric
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Absolutely fair point, Lodewijk. Short answer: the idea went through a metamorphosis and was constantly pushed back in time. Anyhow, the name of the site, the image and the link are now changed: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/GovernmentLicenses
2016-09-12 16:00 GMT+02:00 L.Gelauff lgelauff@gmail.com:
Hi,
I'm a little confused :) The page is called 'Freedom of information' and this is also what the logo emphasizes. This is a well known concept, which is all about disclosing information.
Now this specific question seems however to be focused on the license under which certain organizations publish stuff (?) although it is unclear in which capacity, etc.
It feels like two questions/areas are being mixed here, and I'm not sure if that is helpful :)
Best, Lodewijk
2016-09-12 12:18 GMT+02:00 Jean-Frédéric jeanfrederic.wiki@gmail.com:
Hi,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be
very useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
Sounds interesting indeed!
Commons host quite some freely-licensed works from government agencies, so this might be a useful starting point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_governments
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the
government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
-- Jean-Frédéric
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Thanks for the clarification :) Makes a lot more sense now to me.
Still a little concerned about the superwide scope (an archive typically has multiple functions, I think - where they often only have the licensing authority for some) but that is probably unavoidable.
Good work! Looking forward to seeing the outcomes :)
Lodewijk
2016-09-12 18:08 GMT+02:00 Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov < dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov@gmail.com>:
Absolutely fair point, Lodewijk. Short answer: the idea went through a metamorphosis and was constantly pushed back in time. Anyhow, the name of the site, the image and the link are now changed: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/GovernmentLicenses
2016-09-12 16:00 GMT+02:00 L.Gelauff lgelauff@gmail.com:
Hi,
I'm a little confused :) The page is called 'Freedom of information' and this is also what the logo emphasizes. This is a well known concept, which is all about disclosing information.
Now this specific question seems however to be focused on the license under which certain organizations publish stuff (?) although it is unclear in which capacity, etc.
It feels like two questions/areas are being mixed here, and I'm not sure if that is helpful :)
Best, Lodewijk
2016-09-12 12:18 GMT+02:00 Jean-Frédéric jeanfrederic.wiki@gmail.com:
Hi,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be
very useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
Sounds interesting indeed!
Commons host quite some freely-licensed works from government agencies, so this might be a useful starting point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_governments
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the
government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
-- Jean-Frédéric
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Hi Lodewijk
Thanks a lot for pushing back. It was indeed a little confusing and we should have explained it better. We will work to improve the information about the project to make it clearer.
We are, of course, aware of the concept of Freedom of Information (FoI). And in the context of this initiative we see copyright as a potential barrier to FoI. At the same time, FOIA requests can be used to get information about how agencies use copyright to keep information "locked in". We want to find out how much revenue Government agencies generate from licensing fees in order to refute the argument that these fees are needed to produce information/reports/etc.
Best, Jan
On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 9:10 AM, L.Gelauff lgelauff@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the clarification :) Makes a lot more sense now to me.
Still a little concerned about the superwide scope (an archive typically has multiple functions, I think - where they often only have the licensing authority for some) but that is probably unavoidable.
Good work! Looking forward to seeing the outcomes :)
Lodewijk
2016-09-12 18:08 GMT+02:00 Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov < dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov@gmail.com>:
Absolutely fair point, Lodewijk. Short answer: the idea went through a metamorphosis and was constantly pushed back in time. Anyhow, the name of the site, the image and the link are now changed: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/GovernmentLicenses
2016-09-12 16:00 GMT+02:00 L.Gelauff lgelauff@gmail.com:
Hi,
I'm a little confused :) The page is called 'Freedom of information' and this is also what the logo emphasizes. This is a well known concept, which is all about disclosing information.
Now this specific question seems however to be focused on the license under which certain organizations publish stuff (?) although it is unclear in which capacity, etc.
It feels like two questions/areas are being mixed here, and I'm not sure if that is helpful :)
Best, Lodewijk
2016-09-12 12:18 GMT+02:00 Jean-Frédéric jeanfrederic.wiki@gmail.com:
Hi,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be
very useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
Sounds interesting indeed!
Commons host quite some freely-licensed works from government agencies, so this might be a useful starting point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_governments
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the
government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
-- Jean-Frédéric
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Hi Jan,
I totally see how free licenses can be helpful for transparency. And glad you're on it! I can also imagine how in such discussions you get to wording that is confusing to outsiders - thanks for fixing that so rapidly.
At the same time however, I can also see how forcing free licensing could be prohibitive towards transparency - if every answer has to be freely licensed, governments might be swayed to not release that document that was produced under unclear terms. I'm assuming this is why at least in Dutch copyright law there is a specific exception for FOIA-like provided documents compared to other documents published by the government.
Lodewijk
2016-09-12 19:57 GMT+02:00 Jan Gerlach jgerlach@wikimedia.org:
Hi Lodewijk
Thanks a lot for pushing back. It was indeed a little confusing and we should have explained it better. We will work to improve the information about the project to make it clearer.
We are, of course, aware of the concept of Freedom of Information (FoI). And in the context of this initiative we see copyright as a potential barrier to FoI. At the same time, FOIA requests can be used to get information about how agencies use copyright to keep information "locked in". We want to find out how much revenue Government agencies generate from licensing fees in order to refute the argument that these fees are needed to produce information/reports/etc.
Best, Jan
On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 9:10 AM, L.Gelauff lgelauff@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks for the clarification :) Makes a lot more sense now to me.
Still a little concerned about the superwide scope (an archive typically has multiple functions, I think - where they often only have the licensing authority for some) but that is probably unavoidable.
Good work! Looking forward to seeing the outcomes :)
Lodewijk
2016-09-12 18:08 GMT+02:00 Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov < dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov@gmail.com>:
Absolutely fair point, Lodewijk. Short answer: the idea went through a metamorphosis and was constantly pushed back in time. Anyhow, the name of the site, the image and the link are now changed: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/GovernmentLicenses
2016-09-12 16:00 GMT+02:00 L.Gelauff lgelauff@gmail.com:
Hi,
I'm a little confused :) The page is called 'Freedom of information' and this is also what the logo emphasizes. This is a well known concept, which is all about disclosing information.
Now this specific question seems however to be focused on the license under which certain organizations publish stuff (?) although it is unclear in which capacity, etc.
It feels like two questions/areas are being mixed here, and I'm not sure if that is helpful :)
Best, Lodewijk
2016-09-12 12:18 GMT+02:00 Jean-Frédéric jeanfrederic.wiki@gmail.com:
Hi,
Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be
very useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies.
Sounds interesting indeed!
Commons host quite some freely-licensed works from government agencies, so this might be a useful starting point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_governments
As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all
the government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help.
The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld.
If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
-- Jean-Frédéric
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
Publicpolicy mailing list Publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy
publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org