attribution
Ben Judson
ben at eatworms.org
Sat May 31 16:15:30 EDT 2003
I'm new to this list, and have only briefly skimmed the archives, so
I apologize if I'm rehashing old stuff here....
Attribution is a big issue here, and finding an elegant way to deal
with it is going to be essential for many would-be Creative
Commons/Open Content authors. I notice that the Open Publication
License (OPL) deals with this in a more direct manner than the
Creative Commons licenses. The OPL (http://opencontent.org/openpub/)
lays out the following requirements:
1. The modified version must be labeled as such.
2. The person making the modifications must be identified and the
modifications dated.
3. Acknowledgement of the original author and publisher if applicable
must be retained according to normal academic citation practices.
4. The location of the original unmodified document must be identified.
5. The original author's (or authors') name(s) may not be used to
assert or imply endorsement of the resulting document without the
original author's (or authors') permission.
This (esp. requirement 2) is pretty extensive compared to the CC
licenses. So my question is: is there an elegant way to provide this
kind of information regarding the 'version history' of a work? If
the work is to be kept in the digital realm, some slight modification
of the 'wiki' system would do the job nicely (allowing and tracking
modifications by, potentially, anyone). Some word processors also
collect and save data about modifications. The OPL provides for
restricting the work to a specific medium -- you can designate that a
work remain only in print form, for instance, or restrict others from
putting it in print form (thus you could keep it in a system which
'guarantees' the authenticity of the credited authors).
But in print form this kind of rigorous attribution system seems
doomed to be awkward. With the advent of DRM, PDF, Wiki, etc. etc.
the concept of limiting the media on which a work may appear seems to
be closely intertwined with the concept of attribution.
I love what you're doing at Creative Commons. The project is much
more extensive and ambitious than anything of its type that I've seen
so far.
Thanks,
Ben.
--
eatworms.org ++ burn the lines of the city ++
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