I certainly received this email...strange it's not on the archive though! On 5 May 2017 at 14:32, <leu...@fabiant.eu> wrote:
> Hi all, > > This is the email I sent on Tuesday, which as far as I can see never went > through the list (apologies if it has, but there is no record on the > archive) > > all the best > > Fabian > > aka Leutha > > ---------- Original Message ---------- > From: leu...@fabiant.eu > To: Lucy Crompton-Reid <lucy.crompton-r...@wikimedia.org.uk>, UK > Wikimedia mailing list <wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org> > Cc: John Lubbock <john.lubb...@wikimedia.org.uk> > Date: 02 May 2017 at 20:49 > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] CC licenses for PhD theses > > Hi Lucy, > > Yes, you're right I hadn't read your email until after I had sent my post. > > Of course, I am happy for John to do some work with the universities, but > here are other areas which I feel get neglected. > > I am sorry if my sense of frustration over OTRS comes over a bit strong, > but it arises as much from the inflexibility of the OTRS community as > anything else. This is an area where I would like to see us pushing for > organisational change within our own community. > > I feel Fae made some good point, and perhaps there's a way forward their > in some respects. > > I would appreciate the opportunity to have chat with you on the phone, > when it is convenient for you. > > all the best > > Fabian > > aka leutha > > On 02 May 2017 at 15:00 Lucy Crompton-Reid <lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia. > org.uk> wrote: > > Hi Fabian > > I'm not sure whether you saw my email, responding to your suggestion about > training, and saying I would discuss this with Michael on Thursday (as he > has much more knowledge of Wikimedia Commons and OTRS than I do). Mine and > John's replies were posted at about the same time and clearly weren't > co-ordinated (I'm working from home today) but I don't think they were > mutually exclusive. By which I mean, I think it's a legitimate question for > John to ask how we can influence universities to become more open, and it > doesn't mean that Wikimedia UK can't also facilitate OTRS training if this > seems feasible and valuable. > > From what I can see from your email message you are frustrated that OTRS > training is not something that has been pursued by the charity so far, but > I think alluding to a Wikimedia UK 3.0 seems like rather a nuclear option. > I'm sorry that you and others feel like we have been experiencing mission > drift and I can only say that from inside the charity, it feels like our > work is more focused on our strategy than ever before. Clearly though, if > volunteers don't feel supported then that is a real problem and one that we > want to address. Perhaps I can give you a call to discuss how we can take > this forward? > > Thanks for your great suggestions about creating generic clauses for wills > to easily enable someone to specify that their work should be released > under an open licence after their death; and something similar for people > who own the copyright of works created by someone who has died. Again, I > will discuss this with Michael given his legal background, and discuss with > the team how we could create and then publicise this guidance. However for > these sorts of initiatives to be really effective the general public needs > to understand the value of knowledge being free and open, which is why I > see this sort of advocacy as an essential (but certainly not the only) part > of our work. > > All best > Lucy > > On 2 May 2017 at 14:38, <leu...@fabiant.eu> wrote: > > Hi all > > Thanks to John for his prompt prompt response. > > Actually my answer is no. > > I am afraid John's solution does not deal with the wealth of academic > material, theses etc which have been produced before such universities > start to understand the benefits you mention. As students already have the > option of publishing their material on CC licenses (Students are not > employees), they do not need to universities to provide such an option. > > My point is that Wikimedia UK is in a unique position to actually do > something to benefit how the community works as regards OTRS, of which the > benefit I have mentioned is just an example. > > If Wikimedia UK does not want to do this, then perhaps we could have a > policy decision from the organisation to put us in the picture. > > Then we could explore doing this directly through the Foundation. I doubt > there is much appetite for setting up some sort of Wikimedia UK 3.0 – at > this moment in time. > > I know from one or two discussions I have had that various people feel > that Wikimedia Uk has been experiencing some mission drift towards more > general open knowledge advocacy and away from specific Wikimedia Community > support. I feel this is an opportunity for the organisation to clarify > where it's going. > > Another issue I feel the charity could address is a generic clause for > people to add to their wills releasing their copyrightable output under > Creative Commons licenses. These could be generic, i.e. everything, or > partitioned (for example: "all my photographs"). > > It would also be useful to have some phraseology so that people who own > the copyright of someone who has died can release their material under > a Creative Commons license. I feel this would make a significant impact in > covering the gap between photos in particular taken by people whose > copyright has lapsed and the contemporary period when people have started > releasing their own photos on a CC license. > > all the best > > Fabian > > aka Leutha > > On 02 May 2017 at 14:05 John Lubbock <john.lubb...@wikimedia.org.uk> > wrote: > > Hi Fabian. Do you not think that this time consuming process of asking > authors individually could be substantially reduced by getting universities > to understand the benefits of Open Licenses and having them give their > students the option of publishing on CC licenses. Then the only work we > would have to do is to upload them. > > John > > On 2 May 2017 at 14:02, <leu...@fabiant.eu> wrote: > > Hi all, > > As copyright for a PhD thesis rests with the person who wrote it, it would > seem to be a secondary concern to worry over much about various > institutional arrangements. The Wikimedia movement has already developed > Wikisource <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page>, which is a > suitable repository for PhD theses, and I would say Masters thesis as well. > In fact all we need do is ask the people who own the copyright to upload a > pdf (or better a Dejavu file) to commons. Once they have done this - which > involves releasing reproduction rights as Creative Commons - then whether > they or others take the document through to becoming a completely validated > document. > > The advantage of this is that we can then generate an annotated version > which includes hyperlinks to wikipedia pages which means we can create an > approach to reading which allows the reader to move fluidly between > wikipedia pages and upload PhD theses. > > One of the problems I have encountered during my period as a Wikimedian in > Residence at MayDay Rooms, is in uploading an old MA thesis from Chris > Knight, <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Chris_Knight> currently a > professor of Anthropology. Getting his agreement, getting a pdf of his > thesis was quite easy. The problem was that having uploaded the file to > commons and having sent emails to the Commons OTRS > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS>, nothing happened for > several weeks. Indeed it was only thanks to the help of a Wikimedia at the > London Meet up who had access to the OTRS system, that the Commons > documentation could be updated. > > The hold up is largely down to a shortage of people with OTRS access. When > I volunteered for this I was told I did not have enough experience. I was > not informed how such relevant experience constituted and how it might be > gained. > > I raised this issue at the Education Summit > <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wikimedia-uk-education- > summit-at-middlesex-university-tickets-30324750144> (sorry > for the eventbrite link, but I have been unable to find any on-wiki > documentation), and it would be interesting to know whether Wikimedia UK > would be interested in doing something about this? > > In particular it would be useful if we could have some people already > active on OTRS to deliver a training session, so that we could have a whole > cohort trained up, and if they could thus show a sufficient level of > competence, could then go through the OTRS recruitment process. > > OTRS respondents have a verified identity, but this identity is not made > public. This means that Wikimedia UK with its robust Data Protection > Policy <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Data_Protection_Policy> constitutes > a suitable vehicle for organising such training, as this cannot be > organised by an informal group. > > I would suggest that using staff time for this purpose should be > prioritised over activities which might have less direct impact on the > development of our movement. > > all the best > > Fabian > > aka Leutha > > On 02 May 2017 at 10:59 Richard Nevell <richard.nev...@wikimedia.org.uk> > wrote: > > Open Research Exeter > <http://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/openaccess/databases/ > orepolicies/#d.en.444179> > allows people to publish content under Creative Commons licences. > > Aside from open licences, a lot of institutions are doing some good work > with making theses available online for free. As well as Exeter (where I'm > a PhD student), there's Edinburgh > <http://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/finding- > resources/library-databases/databases-subject-a-z/database-theses> > , Hull <https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/>, Oxford <https://ora.ox.ac.uk/>, and > White > Rose <http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/> which covers Leeds, Sheffield, and > > York. Not everything is freely available - for example because some have > embargo periods - but it represents a large resource of free-to-access > information. > > On 1 May 2017 at 14:34, Deryck Chan <deryckc...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thanks John for the idea. I'm in a good position to participate on a > personal basis if something like this goes live. > > I'm a PhD student at Cambridge University and I'm partially funded by > EPSRC which requires all their research publications to be open access. So > I will have the option to open-copyright my eventual PhD thesis, especially > if there's a movement and a repository for it. > > Deryck > > On 1 May 2017 at 14:22, John Levin <anterote...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Dear list, > > The subject of publishing postgrad / PhD these under open licenses came > up via the W.UK twitter account a few days ago: > > Wouldn't it be amazing if all postgrad/PhD students were given the option > to publish dissertations/theses on Open Licenses? #OpenKnowledge > https://twitter.com/wikimediauk/status/857618743924592640 > > I think there's two issues here: first, if, how and when postgrad theses > are published, then second, under what license. > > For the first, there's been debates recently about embargoing publication > etc. Eg: > http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/publishing-dissert > ation-online/51361 > But that's another subject really. > > For the second, I think there's no reason that prevents any thesis being > published under a free open license, save where there is use of copyrighted > materials. But I haven't found many unis stating this clearly. > Leeds is the only UK university I've found that overtly advocates CC > licenses: > https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/371/copyright_for/294/copyr > ight_for_phds/4 > But this is on the sole basis of a few hours googling. > > I'm a PhD at Sussex ATM, so will be looking more closely into their > arrangements next year. > > John > > -- > John Levin > http://www.anterotesis.com > http://twitter.com/anterotesis > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > -- > Richard Nevell > Project Coordinator > Wikimedia UK - sign up to our newsletter <http://eepurl.com/cnYOw5> > +44 (0) 20 7065 0921 <+44%2020%207065%200921> <+44%2020%207065%200921> > <+44%2020%207065%200921> > > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). > > *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control > over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > -- > > Lucy Crompton-Reid > > Chief Executive > > Wikimedia UK > > +44 (0) 207 065 0991 <+44%2020%207065%200991> > > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. > > Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The > Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate > Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent > non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility > for its contents.* > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 207 065 0991 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
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