[Oer-community] Freedom perspective (on NC, SA and mapping)

[Kim Tucker]

Hi all,

Well done with all these rich discussions.

A few thoughts on NC and SA which reiterate/challenge what others have
said already in different ways with implications for all OER
initiatives including mapping (the freedom perspective):

A libre licence[2] (e.g. cc-by or cc-by-sa - and not -nc or -nd
licences) permits society to make a plan to make the knowledge
resources available _gratis_ . i.e. anyone may participate in doing
this without having to ask for permission from a potentially large
forest of contributors.

Costs may involve localisation, recontextualisation, learning design,
adaptation for particular learner communities and distribution (e.g.
on alternative media, paper, CDs, performances, etc.).

A share-alike libre licence (such as cc-by-sa) requires that such
derived works with all their modifications and improvements be shared
back with the community who created the original resources when
published. This ensures that commercial uses (i.e. means of making a
living) converge on providing these services (from localisation to
distribution as above, course delivery, etc.) - and not just by
selling multiple copies (as soon as one person buys a copy, s/he may
share or release copies at no cost).

So, use of NC licences for OER places severe bottlenecks[3] on the
collaborative development process of adapting, mixing and sharing.
Libre licenses (such as cc-by and cc-by-sa) remove these bottlenecks,
and use of libre share-alike licences (e.g. cc-by-sa) ensures that
adaptations and enhancements are circulated in the libre knowledge
resource user/developer community (including the OER community which
uses libre licences - Wikipedia, Wikiversity, WikiEducator, OERu,
OERF, Connexions, ...).

The links below expand on this freedom perspective which focuses on
learners and their freedom to learn, while making it possible for
_anyone_ to participate in liberating knowledge for collective
benefit.

For a mapping initiative, freedom to participate at any level may be
enabled with libre licences for the data, the mapping software and
analytical services built on or accessing this platform.

Thanks

Kim

1. Rationale in education and beyond: http://wikieducator.org/Say_Libre
2. Libre licence: http://wikieducator.org/Libre_License
3. Bottlenecks: permission forests and confusion about the meaning of NC
4. Libre knowledge: http://wikieducator.org/Libre_knowledge
5. Libre Declaration: http://wikieducator.org/Declaration_on_libre_knowledge
6. Recommended license for mapping software and associated web
services: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html