Followup: Re: Releasing the Emacs guided tour into the public domain; also, video

[Jason Spiro]

2007/4/13, Phil Sung <psung at mit.edu>:
> Hi Jason,
>
> On 4/2/07, Jason Spiro <jasonspiro4 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > By the way, an idea: Perhaps it would be better if the material was
> > hosted on a wiki ( perhaps at
> > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Software_documentation )
> > and your page linked to the material on the wiki?  Then it would be
> > easier for people to contribute.
>
> Will do.

Hi Phil,

Cool, it was kind of you to do that.  Unfortunately they don't yet
accept OpenOffice 2.0 presentations so we can't upload the source,
making it harder to edit.[1]  I guess if I make any edits I'll send
them back to you, and I'll vote for the relevant feature request.

> It looks like Wikimedia is certainly the place for the
> slides. For a more easily editable format, I can wikify the HTML
> version, too-- would Wikibooks be a better place for that? e.g.
>
> <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Computer_software_bookshelf>

Sounds like a good idea, but one small niggle:  then anyone can edit.
Will the FSF need copyright assignment for small edits?  For large
edits?  How about the licensing issue:  will the modified material be
only GFDL as opposed to tri-licensed?  Do we delete all edits from
people who haven't put a message on their user page that they
tri-license all their edits to the document?  Would it be a good idea
to put a message inside an HTML comment at the top of the document at
Wikibooks about licensing and/or copyright assignment?  I plan to set
up a wiki (probably using the TWiki software) at my site
www.jspiro.com Real Soon Now :-) -- should I expedite that process?

Or does that not matter too much and is it a good idea to go ahead
despite these legal niggles?  Better to go ahead and create than to
get stuck about legal issues.

Cheers,
Jason

[1] According to
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:File_types#Open_Office_2.0
they haven't yet enabled upload of that file type.  Lower down on the
same page, Duesentrieb wrote "allowing additional formats doesn't just
mean flipping a switch. It needs a software developer to look at it,
as well as approval from server admins. Both can be requested on
bugzilla, but are generally only looked at seriously if there is
popular demand for it on a project. To document such demand, it would
probably be better to ask at [[COM:VP]], since this page here isn't
much watched by "normal users".

-- 
Jason Spiro: computer consulting with a smile.
I provide software development and training services to clients worldwide.
Contact me for a FREE consultation. Satisfaction guaranteed.
+1 (416) 781-5938 / Email: info at jspiro.com / MSN: jasonspiro at hotmail.com