[Foundation-l] Publishing

Tue Jul 4 23:32:58 UTC 2006

I do not think it is necessary to comment on whether
the editor had a good idea or not to make the
wikijunior on big cats available for print. It seems
pretty natural to think he made it in good faith. I
did not have the opportunity to see the version, since
it was removed from Lulu site.
Also, unless I am wrong in what defines an "author", I
see not why the Foundation would be listed as a
co-author of the books, or of any wikibooks in the
future.

There is an issue on which I'd like to react though.

Anthony wrote "Distributing content (including in
print form) *is* the
purpose of Wikimedia."

Well.... not exactly.

The bylaws do mention a distribution free of charge,
but it makes no reference on whether it should be
online, on paper, on dvd etc...

The bylaws do not mention a distribution non-free of
charge.

The main page mentions "encouraging the growth,
development and distribution of free, multilingual
content". Note the "encouraging". It means "support",
"help", "initiate"... but not necessarily "do".

It is still unclear to me (and probably to most)
whether *online*, we are hosting or publishing. I
think jurisdiction is messy anyway, so we should
probably claim "hosting" but legally plan to be
qualified "publishing".

However, as soon as we make a DVD or a paper version,
we'll definitly be "publisher". So, with no doubt
enter a certain category, with a certain amount of
legal risks. And a certain amount of benefits. Which
might make the risk worth.

Among benefits, a financial one. It is unclear as of
today whether we are looking for *this* specific
benefit though. *I* am not looking for that benefit
for the Foundation. I do not know if other board
members would.

Another benefit would be to help distribution, for
example in providing all pressed dvd to ship in
certain countries. We could press the DVD and get as
an income exactly what the DVD costs us. This is a
different benefit. And one which might possibly induce
lesser costs in case of a problem.

There is also a certain benefit in terms of image. 

*If* we become publishers, we should know why we are
becoming publishers. To make cash ? To improve image ?
To satisfy a sponsor ? To provide kids in schools ? 

But in any cases, it is not among goals of the
Foundation to become publishers to make *profit*.
Distributing content in print form *is* not the
purpose of Wikimedia. We may do it. It is not our
declared goal.

Anthere

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