Creative Commons and Talis launch new data licence for the community
For the benefits of the interconnected world to be realised people, and the systems that support them, need access to data. There is plenty of data out there, but it is often trapped in silos or hidden behind logins, subscriptions, or just plain difficult to get hold of. There again you can also find some data ‘just out-there’ - can I use it, who’s is it, will it stay there, will I be sued for using it, if I start depending on it will I suddenly have to start paying - all questions that come to mind.
This problem has been addressed in the field of software with various Open Source software licenses, and for creative works such as music, literature, images, etc. by Creative Commons. Several attempts have been made to bend both of these towards the licensing of data but none of them have really been satisfactory.
In parallel with Creative Commons, we at Talis have been working on this issue for several years, initially with the Talis Community License and more recently by funding drafting work for the Internationally applicable Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence. To quote the press release from today:
Working with our partners at Creative Commons and elsewhere we now have a clear framework upon which to build, and in our Public Domain Dedication and Licence we have the very first licence to conform to that new Science Commons Open Access Data Protocol. With this announcement we provide a tool to those who already understand the value of unlocking their data.
John Wilbanks, Creative Commons’ Vice President responsible for the Science Commons project, commented:
“For a commercial organisation such as Talis, with a heritage in the business of creating and managing data, to recognise the importance of the ‘freedom to integrate’ says much about changing attitudes to the ownership and use of data. That they went beyond this recognition and did something about it with their licensing and advocacy work says much about them and the team with which they collaborated. The Open Data Commons License is the fruit of that collaboration.”
The license is the first to implement the Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data. This was also launched today in conjunction with the Creative Commons 5th Birthday celebration - Science Commons blog post announced this.
Want to find out more about the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence - the place to go is http://www.opendatacommons.org.
The Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence is available for use from today. We are working with the Cambridge-based Open Knowledge Foundation in the expectation that they can take on the support and development of this and related licenses in the future, ensuring true community ownership of this licensing cornerstone upon which so much data will come to rely.
Although Creative Commons and Talis are the organisations behind this announcement, mention must be made of Jordan Hatcher and Dr. Charlotte Waelde who approached the not insubstantial task, of building upon the principles of the earlier Talis Community Licence to draft an Open Data Commons License fit for international purpose aligned more closely to the phrasing of Creative Commons’ overarching protocol, with skill and enthusiasm.
The build-up to this has been close to our hearts and principles here at Talis. This announcement, and the move of the licence to a home at the Open Knowledge Foundation, should stimulate the opening up of data in the same way that the original Creative Commons licenses opened up the use of creative works.
Data is the driving force behind the emerging Semantic Web - this license and those that will build on, and follow, it will be the lubricant for that engine of innovation.
