[LTER-im] RFC on licensing the LTER Controlled Vocabulary

[Gastil Gastil-Buhl]

Hi Eda and Wade,

I realize this is just a choice of words, or semantics, but since Vocab is
all about choosing the right words, I will add my response to Eda's
question.

The cc-0 is the explicit absence of a license. It is not a license. By
releasing Vocab under cc-0 we are telling users that there is no license.
We are not licensing it. The implication is that any restriction a license
would have imposed are removed.

And yes, it is wonderful to have you back online Eda!

Gastil

On Thu, Nov 2, 2017 at 7:43 AM, Wade Sheldon <sheldon at uga.edu> wrote:

> Hi Eda,
>
> Glad to hear from you!
>
> I'll let John address your question too, but the primary goal is to
> provide formal guidance to adopters of what rights they have to use the
> vocabulary. In the case of CC0, that communicates that the vocabulary is
> public domain and they are free to use it for whatever purpose without
> restriction and without the requirement to credit the source. Of course
> attribution is always encouraged in an academic setting.
>
> If a more restrictive license were chosen, like CC-BY (see
> https://creativecommons.org/licenses/) then users would be required to
> include formal attribution in any products. However, that would not be
> practical to enforce legally, and John made the point that the words were
> drawn from so many sources and already remixed so much, without formal
> licensing from the sources, that proper attribution would be awkward at
> best and impossible at worst.
>
> So in my opinion the main implication is that by formally attaching a
> license, particularly CC0, we would be encouraging broadest use of the
> vocabulary by providing clarity to end-users.
>
> Wade
>
>
>
>
> On 11/1/2017 8:35 PM, Eda C. Melendez-Colom wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>  To decide if this is a good decision I need to know what are the
>> implications of licencing.
>>
>> EDA
>>
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android <https://overview.mail.yahoo.c
>> om/mobile/?.src=Android>
>>
>>     On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 11:51 AM, Wade Sheldon
>>     <sheldon at uga.edu> wrote:
>>     Hi everyone,
>>
>>     The IMC Controlled Vocabulary working group, led by John Porter, has
>> received a variety of requests from other groups seeking to leverage the
>> LTER vocabulary. Past inquiries have included included EnvThes (
>> http://www.enveurope.eu/news/envthes-environmental-thesaurus), a
>> European thesaurus that imported it wholesale, then added to it, NEON (via
>> Christine Laney) and WHOI (via Janet Fredricks). Most recently, the Content
>> Enrichment team at Wiley (a commercial publisher) has asked for permission
>> to use the vocabulary and brought up the notion of licensing.
>>
>>     John has sought input from IM-Exec on how to license the vocabulary
>> for use outside LTER. He is recommending we formally release the vocabulary
>> under a CC0 (public domain) license. The keywords were drawn from so many
>> sources that attribution would be problematic, and a CC0 license would
>> support broadest use.
>>
>>     As you may recall the vocabulary was initially assembled by mining
>> keywords used in LTER site metadata and then refined and augmented with
>> input from working group members and other interested IMs. Because LTER
>> sites all contributed to this effort, IM-Exec would like to give the IMC an
>> opportunity to comment on this issue. Please reply to this email or contact
>> me directly if you have an opinion you'd like to voice on what licensing is
>> appropriate. I will collect feedback until the Nov 13 IMC VWC and then
>> collate the results.
>>
>>     Thanks.
>>
>>     Wade Sheldon
>>     GCE-LTER
>>
>>     --     ____________________________________
>>
>>       Wade M. Sheldon
>>       GCE-LTER Information Manager
>>       School of Marine Programs
>>       University of Georgia
>>       Athens, GA 30602-3636
>>       Email: sheldon at uga.edu <mailto:sheldon at uga.edu>
>>       WWW: http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/bios/wsheldon
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Long Term Ecological Research Network
>>     im mailing list
>>     im at lternet.edu <mailto:im at lternet.edu>
>>
>>
> --
> ____________________________________
>
>  Wade M. Sheldon
>  GCE-LTER Information Manager
>  School of Marine Programs
>  University of Georgia
>  Athens, GA 30602-3636
>  Email: sheldon at uga.edu
>  WWW: http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/bios/wsheldon
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Long Term Ecological Research Network
> im mailing list
> im at lternet.edu
>
>
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