[Insight-developers] OPEN DATA LICENSES !

[Luis Ibanez]

From:

            *http://www.kitware.com/blog/home/post/72



The short version of the story*

You can *now* license your data to be shared openly by using the new Open
Data Licenses <http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/>


   - Public Domain Dedication and License
(PDDL)<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/>— “Public Domain
for data/databases”
   - Attribution License
(ODC-By)<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/>— “Attribution
for data/databases”
   - Open Database License
(ODC-ODbL)<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/>—
“Attribution Share-Alike for data/databases”



Designed by the Scientific
Commons<http://sciencecommons.org/projects/publishing/>
.

At the http://www.opendatacommons.org/


------------------------------


*The full version of the story*

The Scientific Commons <http://sciencecommons.org/> through its Scholar
Copyrights Project <http://sciencecommons.org/projects/publishing/> has been
working on a Protocol for implementing Open Access
Data<http://www.sciencecommons.org/projects/publishing/open-access-data-protocol>,
based on:


   - The Open Knowledge Definition <http://www.opendefinition.org/>
   - The Budapest Open Access Initiative <http://www.soros.org/openaccess>


The Protocol<http://www.sciencecommons.org/projects/publishing/open-access-data-protocol/>is
designed to satisfy the following requirements:


   - Promote *legal predictability* and certainty
   - *Easy* to use and understand
   - Impose the *lowest* possible *transaction cost* on users


This effort has born fruit very recently in the form of the first
licenses<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/>specifically
designed for openly
sharing scientific data <http://www.opendatacommons.org/guide/>.

As strong supporters of Open
Science<http://www.kitware.com/blog/home/post/3>and its three pillars,


   - Open Source <http://www.opensource.org/>
   - Open Access <http://www.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/fos/overview.htm>
   - Open Data <http://www.opendatacommons.org/>


we at Kitware have been anxiously looking for such licenses for several
years, particularly to use them in the MIDAS
<http://www.kitware.com/products/midas.html>database server, and the
Insight
Journal <http://www.insight-journal.org/>. Today we are very happy to have
found the answer to this quest.

*
Why do we need specific licenses for Data?*

Why not simply use one of the many Open Source
Licenses<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/index.html>,
or any of the Creative Commons
Licenses<http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses>?

The reason is that

   - Open Source Licenses
<http://www.opensource.org/licenses/index.html>are crafted to address
the particularities of
   *Software*
   - Creative Commons Licenses
<http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses>are crafted to address
   *Works of Art* such as novels, poems, music, video, and sculpture



*Why does Data need a license?
*
Data itself, particularly scientific data, *is not covered by copyright*,
because, being "facts", it lacks the element of creative expression that
copyright is intended to "protect".

That is, the expression


   - *"The electron has a mass of 9.10938188 x 10 ^ -31 kilograms"
   *


is a *fact* that *should not* be controlled *exclusively* by any single
individual or institution.

However, the expression


   - *"It was a drizzling morning when Thompson glimpsed in awe through the
   visor of his fantasmagoric catodic tube, to face the reality that the mass
   of the electron was close to 1x10^-31 kilograms. Such magnificent
   nothingness !"*


is a small piece of *literary art* and deserves indeed the state-granted
monopoly that the US government generously awards me for the duration of my
*lifetime* plus *seventy* years (Thank You Very Much!).

However, a number of legal liabilities create uncertainty for data users
that prevents them from freely using and distributing data.

In particular, in certain jurisdictions, databases are covered by copyright,
and therefore the partial use of their data goes into the gray zone in which
you must make sure that you know a good lawyer.


*The Open Data Licenses*

The new Open Data Licenses <http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/> are:


   - Public Domain Dedication and License
(PDDL)<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/>— “Public Domain
for data/databases”
   - Attribution License
(ODC-By)<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/>— “Attribution
for data/databases”
   - Open Database License
(ODC-ODbL)<http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/>—
“Attribution Share-Alike for data/databases”


In order to apply the license to your data, you simply need to append the
following notice:


This *Monkey-Brain-MRI-Database* is made available under the Open Data
Commons Attribution License,
http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1.0


More details on how to manage these licenses are available at:


   - http://www.opendatacommons.org/faq/ (Open Data FAQ)
   <http://www.opendatacommons.org/faq/>
   - http://www.opendatacommons.org/guide/ (How to Make Your Data Open)
   <http://www.opendatacommons.org/guide/>


------------------------------

Our sincere thanks to the Science Commons
<http://sciencecommons.org/about/>for making another quantum leap
towards the Open Sharing of information that
will trigger real Progress of Science and
Technology<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause>
.
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