Developer discussion for Creative Commons technology and tools

["Cassio Melo" <cassio.ufpe AT gmail.com>]

Hi there,

Here is a draft of my application. I'm asking for suggestions and questions from you.

Thanks!
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An application for Google Summer of Code 2007, Creative Commons project

OpenOffice.org
 Writer add-in for publishing CC licensed documents
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Cassio Melo <cassio.ufpe AT gmail.com>

Summary
~~~~~~~

IP issues are becoming critical in all areas. Adobe has recognized that by developing XMP platform. Creative Commons is an important way of adding IP licensing information to a document's metadata. Although there are some open issues in 
OpenOffice.org development (http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=66656 and 
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=29404) few was done. We can't wait anymore.
The goal of this project is to provide a tool for supporting the process of licensing documents. Microsoft Office has a Creative Commons plug-in to put IP metadata in its documents. I propose a similar Creative Commons add-in for 
OpenOffice.org that would allow license information to be embedded in OpenOffice.org documents. Having a simple way to add Creative Commons licenses will help to spread those licenses much more broadly.


Benefits
~~~~~~~~

My vision is to encourage the use of CC licenses in documents. Authors can express their intentions regarding how their works may be used by others. Implemented suitable interface will make easy the licensing process. This feature is very important for 
OO.o end-users. Moreover, implementation of such add-in will increase CC licensed documents proportion that machines could process and work from. Of course, this metadata inserted only provides a first approximation of the license. Users are encouraged to read the full license to make sure it meets their expectations.


Plan
~~~~

I will not start this project from scratch, some works were done and I intend to work on them.

Development will consist of 3 main parts:

1. Accessing web services information
I will use webservices to retrieve licensing information from CC licensing engine (through REST interface) and mount the interface. It can be encapsulated as an UNO service, allowing better reuse.

2. Storing license information in file
Creative Commons provides RDF descriptions of its licenses. The OO.o file format could be manipulated as a zip file and it includes an XML file for metadata (meta.xml), which I can use for embedding the license information. For this, the OASIS Open Office XML format specification proposed by Nathan Yergler could be used as reference.

3. Implementing specific features, and testing
I have to investigate how to handle licensing information appropriately in some cases.  Issues to be considered:

- Exporting to another file format;
- Printing to PDF;
- Persisting data through OO.o older versions.

Possible additional contributions (time permitting):

- A wizard that assists people in selecting appropriate license types for their desires;
- Make license text available as Auto Text.
- Display license information when opening CC licensed documents;
- Store license information in .doc files as well?


Once plugged, the license-selection software will appear as a menu option in the OpenOffice application. It will generate a Creative Commons logo, a short summary of the license chosen, and a hyperlink to the Creative Commons Web site.

I haven't previously contributed to CC projects, so this planning could change during development, but I'm pretty sure that I can accomplish it.

The project goals, desirability for the add-in, its plan have been discussed on the CC-devel mailing list and ccWiki, where they received support from CC maintainers. 

Most likely implementing all the features will be possible after the end of Summer of Code and I'm committing to perform it then.


Qualification
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I believe that I'm a suitable person to carry out this project.  As a long-time 
OO.o user I'm well too aware of the fact that OO.o needs support to CC licences.

I did work for a summer in my undergratuade course with the R.i.S.E (Reuse in Software Engineering- 
http://www.rise.com.br) team at Federal University of Pernambuco, which is an Open Source project though felt more like a University project! :-) (https://simple.dev.java.net/
) They do have very good practices for source control, reviews, mailing list, etc. I also understand the importance of good coding and documentation for projects. 

This (academic) year I have been developing a OO.o
 plugin that replaces the currently OO.o notes and it will go public soon.

Additionaly I have a year of industrial experience, having worked as a software engineer on C.E.S.A.R (Recife Center for Studies and Advanced System - 
http://www.cesar.org.br) in a ant/CVS indexer project.

Although I hadn't had much contact with CC until few weeks ago, I was aware of its importance for developing countries, especially Brazil. I've been on the CC mailing lists, #cc on IRC and editing project's Wiki, for some time now due to my interest in this project.  I know what the developers have been working on and who to approach for assistance. My student group at Computer Sciente course has several Open Source projects contributors that can help me with doubts. I am eager to improve my abilities, value community service, earnestly desire to enter and participate in this CC Project.


Personal details
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm undergraduate student in Computer Science at Federal University of Pernambuco (7th/9 semester). I live in Recife, Brazil. My native language is portuguese, but I have no problem working with english.

I have experience working with people ('supervisors' or other developers) on other parts of the world (mostly europe, 3-6 timezones away). I have no problem adjusting to a different timezone.

Philosophically, I align myself with the FSF (though I don't consider myself a zealot), and support free software becuase I hope it can kickstart the economies of the developing world, among other reasons. Thanks for your consideration.

You can visite my page to know more about me: www.cin.ufpe.br/~cam2/info


References Used
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/dc-rights/
http://yergler.net/projects/cc-oasis/ccoasis.html
http://creativecommons.org/
http://creativecommons.org/technology/metadata/implement