Brianna Laugher:
OK. Saying "Well, we might want to sell a DVD one
day" sounds a bit
weak.
Why's that? The Germans are already doing it:
I know that, but that hardly changes the core goal of WP from being to
build an online encyclopedia. EN.wp is hugely successful without doing
that. I doubt it is in most editors' minds as the point of the
exercise. They just want to improve a fish article with a drawing of
that fish (etc). Ensuring maximum reuse rights for everyone else is
not at the top of their priority list.
But it is at the top of the Wikimedia Foundation's priority list:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home
"Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to
the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."
en.wp is "hugely successful" in countries with broadly available, cheap,
fast Internet access. When I was in South Africa, a DVD and regular DVD
updates of the English WP was the main thing people there asked for to
use Wikipedia content in schools. Partnerships with commercial entities
are one good way to make that happen.
The licensing framework of Wikipedia and its sister projects is chosen
in such a way to maximize distribution and derivative works. However, I
do agree that a Wikimedia FAQ or position paper on these issues,
including examples and anecdotes, might be a good way to educate editors
about the goals of the Foundation.
Erik