[Noisebridge-discuss] Licensing of individual contributions to our Wiki & mailing lists / Open Hardware

[John Magolske]

I'd like to understand better how the licensing of contributions to
the Noisebridge Wiki & mailing lists works. I see listed on the pages
of our Wiki "Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported" [1].

Is content provided by an individual still "owned" by that individual?
For example, if I were to post some project plans on a Noisebridge
Wiki page, would I still be the copyright holder? And if so, could I
release these plans on my own web-site at a later date under a less
restrictive license (ie, the "by-sa" [2] or "by" [3])?

Because it's a collaborative Wiki, others could modify, add to and
improve whatever I post. I could definitely see not being able to use
these additional contributions for commercial uses. But what about the
initial material I posted? Here's a use-case I'm thinking of:

I'd like to write, typeset & fabricate small, pocket how-to/reference
booklets on various subjects, mostly around how to build things. For
example, a booklet that describes how to make a book-press + other
tools required for making booklets, as well as how to typeset and
physically make the booklet itself. A self-replicating book of sorts.

Or booklets describing how to create detailed mechanical drawings, how
to select various materials, alloys, polymers & composites for given
uses, fabrication techniques, etc (this ties in with the shop class).

In the interest of sharing as widely as possible the knowledge of
how to make things, I'd rather not restrict these publications to
non-commercial use. So that anyone with just a laser-printer, stapler
&/or a few other modest hand tools could produce and sell them as
they saw fit. For example:

* A school on a limited budget could make their own study materials,
  incorporate them into various curriculums, and sell the booklets
  at bake sales.

* Kids in after-school programs could use the materials, modify them
  for their own uses, add specific projects, and sell the booklets
  door-to-door instead of (or along-side) candy bars.

* Someone in Africa could grab PDF's off the web, print & fabricate
  the booklets, and sell them at their local market to raise money
  for purchasing machinery.

* I could make the booklets myself & sell them to support the
  ongoing endeavor.

I'm guessing that for these sorts of purposes I should probably just
post the materials on my own Wiki & link to them from the Noisebridge
Wiki.

The above is one particular use case, but this touches on the murky,
undefined areas of collaboratively developed open-hardware, which I
think would be interesting to start having some discussions around.

Any thoughts, suggestions or clarifications much appreciated!

John


[1] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
[2] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
[3] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


-- 
John Magolske
http://B79.net/contact