Newsletters/7

[okfn-announce] Open Knowledge Foundation Newsletter No. 7 Wed Aug 20 15:08:44 BST 2008

Welcome to the seventh Open Knowledge Foundation newsletter!

Contents:

* Open Software Service Definition (OSSD) launched * New release of CKAN - and over 240 packages registered! * Mapping the public domain * Science Commons interview with Rufus Pollock * OKF on Identi.ca and LinkedIn * Other news in brief * Thanks to our volunteers! * Support the Open Knowledge Foundation * Further information

OPEN SOFTWARE SERVICE DEFINITION (OSSD) LAUNCHED

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For more than a year we've been working with a variety of groups and individuals to fashion a clear definition of 'openness' in relation to online, software-based, 'services' (think: search engines, webmail, online spreadsheets, etc).

The Open Software Service Definition was officially launched in mid-July, to correspond with the Franklin Street Declaration - to which we are party, and which explicitly encourages those producing network software services to take an open approach.

In the past few months we have witnessed the launch of several services which are OSSD compliant, including ur1.ca - a URL shrinking service, and Identi.ca - a microblogging service.

Open Software Service Definition http://www.opendefinition.org/ossd/

'Open Software Service Definition Launched' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/07/14/open-software-service-definition-launched/

'Identi.ca and ur1.ca - two new open services!' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/07/03/identica-and-ur1ca-two-new-open-services/

NEW RELEASE OF CKAN - AND OVER 240 PACKAGES REGISTERED!

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We were pleased announce the release of version 0.6 of the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) software in July. As many of you will know, CKAN is a registry of open knowledge packages - 'from sonnets to statistics, genes to geodata'.

Major developments include the autocompletion and suggestion of tags when adding a package, and a RESTful machine API for package access, update, listing and creation.

There are now over 240 packages registered - with more than 100 of these added this year. We are currently planning several workshops which will take a closer look at CKAN's support for and coverage of resources in different domains.

CKAN http://ckan.net/

'Over 200 Packages on CKAN!' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/06/17/over-200-packages-on-ckan/

'CKAN 0.6 Released' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/07/08/ckan-06-released/

'CKAN and Finding Open Data in the Life Sciences' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/07/29/ckan-and-finding-open-data-in-the-life-sciences/

MAPPING THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

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In June we solicited for assistance in building a series of public domain calculators - to start to trace the contours of the public domain in different jurisdictions. The calculators will help determine whether or not a given work is in the public domain in a given country - and whether it is free to be re-distributed, integrated into other resources, and so on.

There are now a handful of groups around the world starting to work on this. If you or someone you know might be interested in contributing - please let us know!

'Mapping the Public Domain - Call for Assistance!' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/06/05/mapping-the-public-domain-call-for-assistance/

Public Domain Calculators - Wiki Page http://okfn.org/wiki/PublicDomainCalculators

SCIENCE COMMONS INTERVIEW WITH RUFUS POLLOCK

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Donna Wentworth of Science Commons interviewed Rufus Pollock of the Open Knowledge Foundation as part of their series on "Voices from the Future of Science". He talks about what we can learn from the open source movement, the current status and future plans for CKAN, and why we shouldn't rely on Google to 'take care of everything'.

'Interview with Science Commons for their Voices from the Future of Science' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/08/19/interview-with-science-commons-for-their-voices-from-the-future-of-science/

OKF ON IDENTI.CA AND LINKEDIN

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The OKF is now on Identi.ca - a new micro-blogging service, and we've started an OKF group on LinkedIn. If you use either of these, we'd love to hear from you!

'OKF on Identi.ca and LinkedIn!' http://blog.okfn.org/2008/08/15/okf-on-identica-and-linkedin/

OKF on Identi.ca http://identi.ca/okfn

OKF Group on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=159750

OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF

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- Versioned Domain Model v0.2 released http://blog.okfn.org/2008/05/30/versioned-domain-model-v02-with-support-for-sqlalchemy-released/

- Italian Translation of the Open Knowledge Definition (OKD) http://blog.okfn.org/2008/06/03/italian-translation-of-the-open-knowledge-definition-okd/

- Second Open Visualisation Workshop http://blog.okfn.org/2008/06/13/second-open-visualisation-workshop-saturday-21st-june-2008-trampoline-systems/

- Talks at Open Tech http://blog.okfn.org/2008/06/26/open-tech-2008/

- Moving forward with open science in Europe: Science Commons ESOF Satellite Event http://blog.okfn.org/2008/07/24/moving-forward-with-open-science-in-europe/

- Mike Linksvayer of Creative Commons joins Open Definition Advisory Board http://blog.okfn.org/2008/08/04/mike-linksvayer-of-creative-commons-joins-open-definition-advisory-council/

THANKS TO OKF VOLUNTEERS!

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As usual, a big thank you to our volunteers and to our extended virtual community for their help with our projects and activities!

SUPPORT THE OPEN KNOWLEDGE FOUNDATION

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A donation to the Open Knowledge Foundation would greatly help us with our overhead costs, including hosting (currently around £1000/year) and project development. To find out more about supporting our work, please visit:

http://www.okfn.org/support

FURTHER INFORMATION

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If you would like to know more about what we are up to, please take a look at our active projects page.

http://www.okfn.org/projects/

If you are interested in participating in any of the OKF's projects, please see our participate page, or join the OKF discuss list.

http://www.okfn.org/participate/ http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss

For further news and comments, see our blog:

http://blog.okfn.org

The Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit organization. It is incorporated in the United Kingdom as a company limited by guarantee with company number 5133759. The registered office is 37 Panton Street, Cambridge, CB2 1HL, UK.