Hi James (just back from holiday - catching up),
The strong preference for using third-party non-free content (images, text)
is always to request a free copy, ie by asking the copyright holder to
relicence the content (not simply ask for permission for use on a single
project, as this is not free enough). Fair use is a cop-out, and used (only
by some projects) as a pragmatic (some would argue "defeatist") response to
virulent copyright protection in place. I would encourage you to contact the
copyright holder(s) and request for a free copy of content - there is a
similar sample letter at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Permission_Letter_Samples - though I would
stress that the response needs to be sent to the following address: <
permissions(a)wikimedia.org>gt;. In fact, it is a good idea to have someone
watching the permissions queue for this - I have access, so I could send
this and similar types of requests myself. We could also set up a page on
Wikiversity where people could add requests, and which would be monitored by
a group of people with OTRS access (OTRS is the mailing system that
Wikimedia volunteers use). How about [[Wikiversity:OTRS requests]]?
Cheers,
Cormac
PS: Regarding odg formats, we can always allow for more file types to be
uploaded to Wikiversity - I don't know why Commons doesn't accept this
format.
On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 1:09 PM, James Neill <lists(a)wilderdom.com> wrote:
I've found some good reading on this:
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Fair_use (needs improving)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Non-free_content
with a meaty discussion at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Avoid_copyright_paranoia
there are 10 policy requirements for fair use:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Non-free_content#Policy_2
In my example below, the two images in question may qualify for fair use.
I know of no free alternatives to the two images in question. I am making
enquiries, but currently don't have the technology/know-how to create
alternative free images (this is somewhat debatable - I could, and
eventually intend to, create open format, free alternatives). Since they are
diagrams, the text is disadvantaged without them. There does not appear to
be any commercial disadvantage caused by fair-use of the images since they
are available on public URLs.
So, perhaps I could use these images under fair use.
Alternatively, I could approach the authors and request permission. Then
usage could be possibly become far more free, which is more desirable. So,
I'm wondering, is there a proforma letter which can be adapted for
approaching copyright owners for giving permission for free usage of their
work?
James Neill wrote:
Here's a specific example, which is prototypical of my situation/needs:
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Exploratory_factor_analysis/Lecture_notes#Co…
In this section, I would to be able to show three images. At this stage,
however, I link to the first two images (because they are from non-free
sources) . For the third image I uploaded it to Wiki Commons with CC
Attribution (because I created it). However, I have only uploaded a .png and
I would like to also upload a .odg version so that others can remix.
Appreciate any advice.
James Neill wrote:
what's the procedure to use if i have an images from unknown sources which
i wish to use in wikiversity?
is it simply no go?
or are there particular conditions under which it may be appropriate - i
seem to sometimes see images on wikipedia which are tagged to indicate that
there is no other option except to use that particular image - how does this
work?
feel free to point me to reading - i just want to get clear guidelines in
my head
i don't have any specific images in mind - each year i rework teaching
materials, i remove a few more proprietary images and add a few more free
images, but it is a gradual process to eventually get everything fully free
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