[Foundation-l] Wikis and blogs in science in Nature

Wed Dec 7 10:26:19 UTC 2005

Jakob wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> In the current issue of Nature there are some editorials on the free 
> flow of data where wikis and weblogs are mentioned. Things are moving in 
> the scientific community but I'm afraid they'll choose a non-commercial 
> license
> 
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7068/full/438531a.html
> http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7068/full/438548a.html

Interesting fact: The Human Genome Project considered using an 
open-source style licence for the gene sequences, but ultimately 
rejected it in favour of public domain.

Sir John Sulston, former head of the Sanger Centre which was one of the 
major locations where the sequencing took place, talks about this in his 
autobiography "The Common Thread" and contains a good argument why it's 
better (for everyone) for scientific data to be in the public domain 
rather than copyrighted in any way.

Chris