I'm going to assume sending this to the list eight times was a mistake? ;) Joe
On 27 Jul 2012, at 15:04, John Vandenberg wrote: > Dear Cr Mallard, > > On behalf of Wikimedia Australia, I write to express our concern about > the imminent closure of the Dictionary of Sydney due to the City of > Sydney's delays in releasing sponsorship funds. > > Wikimedia Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, > officially recognised as a national Chapter of the Wikimedia movement > - the volunteer community behind Wikipedia and other online > educational resources. We would like to express our support for the > Dictionary of Sydney project not only for the quality content that it > has produced but also for the globally pioneering role it has played > in its use of free-licensing. The Dictionary of Sydney provides the > vast majority of its content with a "Creative Commons" copyright > license that ensures the material can be used by third parties under > very open terms. This is considered world's best practice and is > consistent with the principles espoused by the "Open Educational > Resources" and "Open Source Software" communities globally. It should > be noted that the official State history project of Minnesota in the > USA, entitled "MNOpedia" http://www.mnopedia.org/ has used the > Dictionary of Sydney as the inspiration for their comparable copyright > policy. > > The strong stance of the Dictionary of Sydney on open access and > collaboration with historians both locally and further afield has > ensured that the content it has created is both legally and > practically compatible with Wikipedia, the world's fifth most visited > website. As a result, many of the Dictionary's articles about > important people, places and events have been integrated into > Wikipedia, including but not limited to: > > "Florence Violet McKenzie" > (Australia's first female electrical engineer: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Violet_McKenzie ) > > "Glebe Island" > (a crucial part of Sydney's economy for centuries: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glebe_Island_%28New_South_Wales%29 ) > > "Sydney Artists' Camps" > (one of the most significant art movements in Australia's history: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_artists%27_camps ) > > We draw your attention to the comprehensive acknowledgement of the > Dictionary of Sydney at the bottom of each Wikipedia article that uses > Dictionary material as the source of its content. Without the > Dictionary of Sydney, and without its pioneering efforts in open > access, this content simply would not have been available to the > online encyclopaedia and its wider audience. It would be a great shame > to see this outstanding collaborative digital history project fold. > > Wikimedia Australia urges the City of Sydney to ensure the continued > funding and support for this project, without which the global > appreciation of Sydney's history would be very much poorer. > > If you would like to contact Wikimedia Australia or one of our Sydney > based members for further information on this or related matters we > would welcome your enquiry. > > Sincerely, > John Vandenberg > President, > Wikimedia Australia > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaau-l mailing list > Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
