Jane,
Not an answer to your main question, which is probably for others to address, but a
comment on the licensing model.
The licensing model you describe sounds very similar to the Attribution Non-
commercial-Sharealike license under the Creative Commons framework (see
http://www.creativecommons.org/license/ for further information).
Essentially, what this licence says is that people can make use of your data subject
to the following restrictions:
1. That they acknowledge 24HM as the source (which helps to maintain the
contextual authority of your data)
2. That they can create derivative works from it, but that these must inherit the same
licensing provisions as the core dataset
3. That they cannot commercialise these derivative works
Creative Commons is most commonly applied to music and images, but I believe it is
equally applicable to a dataset as a piece of Intellectual Property.
The great thing about the CC licenses is that they facilitate and promote the sharing
of information in the way Paul describes, but with a greater degree of control than
simply releasing the data into the Public Domain. 24HM would also retain the right to
assign a commercial license with selected partners if this became important to your
business.
Finally, CC has released versions of the licenses that are tailored to the UK (England
and Wales) and UK (Scotland) jurisdictions. Although I know of very little case law
that shows them in action, there is a sense in which they are just another way of
looking at licensing terms & conditions, for which there is plenty of supporting
evidence.
Well, you did ask....
Nick
Nick Poole
Director
MDA
On 24 May 2005 at 11:04, Jane Finnis wrote:
> Dear MCG,
>
> It seems that what Paul is suggesting might be the 24HM licensing its
> data to other users, thus making the dissemination of all the
> information that individual museums put into our system via DDE, much
> more widely available to other data sources?
>
> This is an interesting idea and one that we have been exploring. In
> fact, we have recently been approached by Ordnance Survey to do just
> this. If we say yes to OS, then all our data will be imported into the
> OS 'points of interest' dataset and would as a result mean that all
> our 3,400 institutions would then appear on all the OS printed maps
> and in all their associated offline and online products that use the
> 'points of interest' data. Sounds pretty good and I might be a good
> way to incentivise DDE. My concerns are about the terms of such a
> licence.
>
> What do list members think? Should the 24HM be supplying data to OS in
> this fashion? Of course they want it for free but is it good business
> to give it to them? Does anyone have examples of data sharing licences
> that they could share with us or of similar dealing with OS?
>
> Also, if we give it to OS what about others? Should it be freely
> available to all sector partners? Where do you draw a line?
>
> I see our data as one of our key assets as a business, in a way rather
> like one of our collections so I am mindful about safeguarding its
> value and don' want to see it exploited for commercial gain but at the
> same time I share the belief that making this data as widely available
> as possible is one of the principle strategies for securing a better
> profile for our sector to online audiences.
>
> Thought please?
>
> Jane
>
>
>
> Jane Finnis
> Director
> 24 Hour Museum
>
> Main Number: 01273 820044
> Direct Number: 01273 820470
> Mobile: 078 66 77 0818
Nick Poole
Director
MDA
The Spectrum Building
The Michael Young Centre
Purbeck Road
Cambridge
CB2 2PD
Telephone: 01223 415 760
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.mda.org.uk
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