[Commons-l] Writing Public Domain Guidelines

[Maarten Zeinstra]

Hi list(s),

As per request I am crossposting a summary to both the WIkimedia Cultural Partners Coordination list and the Commons list.

During GLAMCamp NYC[1] a discussion started to adopt Europeana's Public Domain Usage Guidelines[2] or Europeana Public Domain Charter[3] for Wikimedia Commons. The usage guidelines are pleases that state how Europeana would like to see Public Domain Works being re-used. It has been suggested that it is a good idea if Commons would also adopt these or similar guidelines.

Patrick Peiffer of Europeana Licensing (on the Cultural Partners list) says:
"the guidelines have been (for Europeana) a key trust building element to get GLAMs to follow the Europeana Public Domain Charter and apply the PD Mark (CC PD Mark). It did take a couple of years to get this trio of measures going, but it really was the Guidelines that tipped the scale.

My guess is that the guidelines alone or in combination with the Charter and the CC PD Mark, could help Wikimedia to overcome resistance of curators as well. Europeana has worked hard to be a trusted partner in that community which mostly was spend on listening to fears and wishes of curators while educating them about the value of releasing Public Domain works as proper Public Domain, without additional contractual restrictions. In that sense it is a big success, showing commitment of both sides to find a solution (but of course, I would never claim this is the only solution)

[...]

I do not believe that the Guidelines can be construed to restrict the uses anyone can make of a Public Domain work, they are explicitly non-binding and thus neither interfere with the Public Domain status nor any copyright limitations and exceptions.

They should be seen as what they are: a key element to build trust with institutions that are far away from an "everything is permitted" mind-set. They establish sensible community norms for the GLAM sector while not restricting re-use of Public Domain works with contractual restrictions. The fact that they are also seamlessly integrated into the CC PD mark is noteworthy as Europeana shares with CC the conviction that the easier it is to comply (in this case pointing to the guidelines), they more they will be respected, thus building trust with curators and users."   

User:Jean-Frédéric created this page http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Public_domain_works_guidelines to draft and discuss this idea. I am looking forward to wider discussion on this topic.

A discussion started about whether users should be pointed to the pleases as Europeana defines them, however Europeana notices that this an important tool to create trust for GLAMs. 

Best,

Maarten Zeinstra 
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Martsniez


Kennisland | Knowledgeland

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[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAMcamp_NYC
[2] http://www.europeana.eu/portal/pd-usage-guide.html
[3] http://www.europeana-libraries.eu/web/europeana-project/publications/
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