Steffen, Thanks for bringing this resource up - it looks very useful.
You may have already been through this, but to license something means you have rights you'd like to give to others. It's a tricky area, but the data in your collection may not even be covered by copyright laws. No original copyright means no license necessary. Let's sidestep that issue for the moment, though, and just assume that massbank's data are subject to copyright. I agree with Peter and Craig about choosing one license. Here would be my best guess as to how to proceed: 1) to pick an open license that will work for the entire site. CC0 would be my preference: http://depth-first.com/articles/2009/11/10/chempedia-data-downloads-free-as-in-free/ 2) Update your terms and conditions to reflect the new policy that any newly-deposited data will be governed by your single data license. 3) Ensure that the first deposition by a user after the policy change triggers a message displaying the new terms (or a link to them) and requiring consent before continuing. 4) Internally and externally flag those records openly licensed, and only allow bulk download of openly licensed records. It may also be helpful to display a prominent message to a user viewing a record they uploaded before the policy change that their data are not openly available. Give them an easy way to license their data under your site's open license, if they want. Hope this helps. Cheers, Rich ___________________________________ Richard L. Apodaca http://depth-first.com Blog http://metamolecular.com Company --- On Thu, 2/24/11, Steffen Neumann <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Steffen Neumann <[email protected]> > Subject: [BlueObelisk-discuss] Database Licensing question > To: "BlueObelisk-Discuss" <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 7:32 AM > Hi, > > I am looking for suggestions for licenses for MassBank. > > www.massbank.jp (and msbi.ipb-halle.de/MassBank) is a > federated database > of mass spectra from various contributors. We don't require > > any contributor agreements, and simply collect what we're > given. > > Currently, neither the database as a whole nor individual > records > have a license statement, which I'd like to remedy asap. > > Each contributor might have some opinion about licenses > for his/her own records, so I'd like to not impose > anything, > rather suggest one (or few) plausible options. > > I read enough on the web to pull my initial idea to go > with something like CC-*, and now intend to suggest > one of four listed on http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/#Data > > My questions: > > 1) Currently I aim to have a license field added to > each individual record, or would it be > necessary/desirable > to have a license for the database as a > whole ? > > 2) If we license each record, is it feasible to have > records > under (say) four different licenses in a > single database ? > We could e.g. provide batch downloads for > all records > with the same license. > > Comments ? > > Yours, > Steffen > > > > > > > > -- > IPB Halle > AG Massenspektrometrie & > Bioinformatik > Dr. Steffen Neumann http://www.IPB-Halle.DE > Weinberg 3 > http://msbi.bic-gh.de > 06120 Halle > Tel. +49 (0) 345 5582 - 1470 > > > +49 (0) 345 5582 - 0 > sneumann(at)IPB-Halle.DE Fax. +49 > (0) 345 5582 - 1409 > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Free Software Download: Index, Search & Analyze Logs > and other IT data in > Real-Time with Splunk. Collect, index and harness all the > fast moving IT data > generated by your applications, servers and devices whether > physical, virtual > or in the cloud. Deliver compliance at lower cost and gain > new business > insights. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > Blueobelisk-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/blueobelisk-discuss > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Free Software Download: Index, Search & Analyze Logs and other IT data in Real-Time with Splunk. Collect, index and harness all the fast moving IT data generated by your applications, servers and devices whether physical, virtual or in the cloud. Deliver compliance at lower cost and gain new business insights. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Blueobelisk-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/blueobelisk-discuss
