[ZDP] OpenContent issues

[Rik Hoekstra]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: zdp-admin@zope.org [mailto:zdp-admin@zope.org]On Behalf Of Martijn
> Faassen
> Sent: dinsdag 18 mei 1999 10:34
> Cc: Zope Documentation Project
> Subject: Re: [ZDP] OpenContent issues
>
>
> David Ascher wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 17 May 1999, Michel Pelletier wrote:
> [snip discussion on Zope book]
>
> Woah, let's all calm down for a bit -- the ZDP is writing a lot, but
> we're not anywhere close to a publishable book, and it's even
> questionable that's a goal at all; though of course I'm not excluding
> anything here, which I why I made this maniacal remark about
> bestsellers. Let's refrain from contacting O'Reilly right now, I
> suggest. :)
>
> What I do think we should do is figure out the copyright issues -- we're
> collaboratively working on documentation, and we need to figure out on
> what kind of legal structure we're basing this. Primarily we need a
> legal structure that:
>
> * Allows collaboration on documentation on the Internet without hassles.
> This means I should be able to edit text person B contributes to the
> ZDP, and C then edits more and adds a paragraph, without any of us
> having to go through contortions. We need to be able to focus on the
> job.
>
> * We'd also like collective powers to decide on what happens with this
> documentation. What we want is vaguely this:
>
>    * Everybody on the net can use this documentation for personal use.
>
>    * Anyone should be able to drop in and help with the text.
>
>    * If there _is_ to be a book or something like that, the ZDP people
> would like      to have some say in what happens. It shouldn't be a book
> appears without at       least our knowledge.
>
> Some other points:
>
>    * It may not be too big a deal if someone uses the fruits of our
> labors 'to get      rich' anyway. We're not into this to get rich after
> all, we want good docs.
>
>    * Digicool allows us 'to get rich' by giving away Zope. We might
>      want to follow their example. :)
>
>    * We probably don't have to worry about these issues a lot at the
> moment.
>
>    * What happens with externally contributed texts? It should be clear
> what is
>      and what isn't a ZDP contribution.
>
> Anyway, these are the issues concerning copyright we need _some_, but at
> this point not a _lot_ of discussion about. I'm waiting for someone with
> a good idea and/or more knowledge about these matters of collaborative
> doc writing to step forward. :)
>

I agree completely with your points Martijn. It will be hard enough to get
some degree of consistency into the documents anyway (and someone should
check the English as there are many non-native speakers contributing - not
excepting myself).

About the copyright issue, which is a complicated matter on the Internet,
best solved with simplicity :-) (at least that's what I always do)
Proposal:
- all materials on the ZDP site are free for use by anyone, unless stated
otherwise in the document
- please feel free to make corrections, additions and contributions, but
post everything to the ZDP list first
- if you use substantial parts of the documents of the ZDP site,
  (a) please let us know
  (b) you have to make a link to our site (with online publications),
      or cite as: "parts of this documentation by ZDP <http://zdp.zope.org>"

Wouldn't this cover most of the copyright issues?

Rik

P.S. wouldn't