[Foundation-l] Remarks on Wikimedia's fundraiser

[Juergen Fenn]

Am 08.03.11 21:19, schrieb phoebe ayers:

>> As far as Wikipedia is concerned, the German chapter of Wikimedia has
>> just negotiated the first settlement for a premium database provider in
>> chemistry, see
>> <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Kurier#Chemie_eLitstip_per_Codc.21>.
>> There are plans to expand this programme.
>>
> Cool!!!! I look forward to hearing more about this.
> 
> (And I'm certainly not saying it's impossible for the WMF, just saying
> it's not only a question of money)

That's what I think, too. However, the main problem seems to be that
database providers (i.e., scientific publishers) are somewhat reluctant
to negotiate with Wikimedia representatives. On the one hand, they are
interested in having their literature cited in Wikipedia, on the other
hand they have a hunch that "liberating" knowledge under free licenses
could make commercial publishers obsolete someday. So, we have to make
clear that the latter is clearly not the case because Wikipedia depends
on scientific sources, but is not a scientific source itself.

Regards,
Jürgen.