Addressing the issue of data licensing, in a way that makes data as free from restrictions as possible, is essential to GBIF's mission of promoting free and open access to biodiversity data. In August 2013, the GBIF Secretariat conducted an initial consultation on options for change, proposing a more standardised approach to ensure that data users are aware of the terms under which datasets are published, and any restrictions that data holders may wish to apply to their re-use.
Between April and June 2014, the Secretariat requested feedback on a proposal with the following elements:
- All data publishers through GBIF would be asked to agree to waive rights when publishing their data (through a Creative Commons CCO license or equivalent);
- All data publishers and users would agree to follow 'publishing and usage norms', to be drawn up collaboratively with the GBIF community, for example following standard guidelines for data citation and defining what constitutes commercial use;
- The GBIF data publishing process would be modified to allow data publishers to flag datasets they wish to restrict from commercial use, as defined in the norms.
The consultation invited views on whether respondents felt this was the right way to proceed, whether they foresaw substantial risks, and whether they would like to be involved in drawing up the documentation for this new approach to open data publishing through GBIF.
The NBN Trust put in its response to the consultation following its own consultation on the subject with Network members and participants and the Trust thanks everyone who was able to respond on this.
A report summarising and analysing all the GBIF responses is available here. You can view all responses here.
Following evaluation of the responses, the Secretariat will draw up a background report and proposals for decision at the 21st GBIF Governing Board meeting (GB21) in New Delhi, India in September 2014.