I tried to follow PeterM's suggestion to start by reworking PeterS' text, but handling a document of this size is not convenient in an Etherpad.
As an alternative option, I created http://wiki.okfn.org/OpenETD and filled in some of the basic information. I do not find MoinMoin very convenient either, but at least it has a table of content to facilitate navigation. My personal preference for developing the text would be a Wikiversity page. Any other opinions on where to start typing? Daniel On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 7:40 AM, Peter Murray-Rust <[email protected]> wrote: > Graham, > Extremely useful. > > On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 4:43 AM, Graham Higgins <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >> Hash: SHA1 >> >> On 12 Jul 2010, at 02:28, Peter Murray-Rust wrote: >> >>> So, apart from the name clash (which is unfortunate and we may need to >>> think about) there isn't much in common unless you know diferently >> >> >> Probably a wise move to consider a name change, "Openthesis" seems to have >> picked up some negative associations already. >> >> Openthesis.org is discussed in the latter half of this blog post from >> February: >> >> http://scienceblogs.com/bookoftrogool/2010/02/academic_samizdat.php >> >> The post references a "dustup" on EDT-L list about an apparent harvesting >> of thesis metadata and associated content, > > This is by Dorothea Salo - worth reading > > She argues that OpenThesis.org has violated copyright by downloading against > restrictions from the institutions (which apparently have special > dispensations). I'm not clear that OT has actually downloaded theses in mass > (I may just not have read far enough).(I think there is too much > conservatism about legal issues in this.) But anyway that's not what I > suggest OKF does > > My analysis is that OKFThesis (let's start with that) downlloads the > metadata from the repositories. If THAT's illegal then I am happy to be the > first in line for the jail. It then decides whether the object pointed to is > Open. This might be done by licence - more likely by crowdsourcing. It then > adds this metadata to the OKFT Toc. > >> >> the referenced discussion carries a pointer to this abstract of James >> Ryley's summary of the Openthesis rationale: >> >> http://conferences.library.pitt.edu/ocs/viewabstract.php?id=759&cf=7 >> >> And this from searching for "Patents Online, LCC James Ryley": >> >> "This site was started by a former patent searcher, James Ryley, who was >> not happy with the service or prices available from other patent data >> providers. James happened to have a background in web programming and web >> design, so he decided to solve the problem himself by building a better >> patent searching site. So, this site started out as a labor of love, and >> something James felt would be valuable to the community. Initially the site >> was completely built and financed by James. But, as the site has grown >> numerous people have become involved in various aspects of the site, and we >> are currently investigating business models that will allow the site (or at >> least the vast majority of the site) to remain free while defraying our >> development, hosting, and hardware expenses." >> >> >> http://www.freepatentsonline.com/help/topic/Who-runs-this-site-and-why.html > > Patents are actually the easiest place to start with. The info is by > definition Open. We have a program which downloads all the EPO patents for > chemistry and indexes them. We think it's miles ahead of any other > technology. It's not 100%. So we can create an open patents database. (No, > I'm not proposing TWO OKF projects in the same day - I believe that if you > propose something you have to be part of the heavy lifting and I'll do that > for theses) > . > So I currently suggest OKFTheses or OKTheses to avoid the name clash, but > that's just a start. > > P. > > > -- > Peter Murray-Rust > Reader in Molecular Informatics > Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry > University of Cambridge > CB2 1EW, UK > +44-1223-763069 > > _______________________________________________ > okfn-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss > > -- http://www.google.com/profiles/daniel.mietchen _______________________________________________ okfn-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
