After more than a year of drafting and consultation with interested communities, especially Open Street Map, the current (beta) draft of the Open Database License (ODbL) was released for public comments today. We’re delighted to have reached this stage and welcome comments and suggestions from interested parties.
Comments on the license should be submitted through co-ment: http://www.co-ment.net/text/844/ (or, less preferably, on the wiki or the mailing list — see below).
Comments are due by 23:59 GMT on 20 March 2009, with an expected launch of the completed ODbL on 28 March 2009. There is also:
Comment. The ODbL is, as Rufus Pollock describes it, the "Attribution, Share-Alike" data license. Compare the ODC's Public Domain Dedication and Licence, its "no rights reserved" license.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
