I’ve been reflecting more recently on the work I did on the Open Data Commons project at the beginning of my career (back in 2007) and the impact it’s had.
A first…
We were the first or one of the first to create a major public open license for data, including:
- Introduced the first comprehensive legal tools specifically designed for databases
- Addressed the unique challenges of database rights, particularly in the EU where databases have separate legal protection
- Filled a critical gap that Creative Commons licenses didn’t fully address at the time
Some background on the why is here, from that time.
Standardisation and Legal Framework
We provided a standardised approach to open data licensing by applying open source and open content licensing principles to data and databases. We did this by creating a suite of licenses to cover the three main pathways of open licensing:
- Open Database License (ODbL) (copyleft or reciprocal)
- Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL) (does what it says on the tin)
- Attribution License (ODC-By) (only attribution without copyleft)
Thes helped establish common terminology and practices for open data sharing and to move the conversations on open data licensing forward with regulators and with major public license providers like Creative Commons.
Impact
So what’s been the impact?
There’s definitely quite a few users of these licenses out there, and the biggest (and most amazing project IMO) is OpenStreetMap.
- OpenStreetMap adopted the ODbL in 2012
I’m considering a way to collect the other datasets that use Open Data Commons licenses. My personal favourite is the use by the city and county of San Francisco, including fun data sets like film locations under the PDDL.
Besides actual projects using the licenses for their data, the project:
- Influenced people to think about how they license their data, particularly those in public institutions or funded by public institutions.
- Created precedents for how large-scale open data projects could be licensed (like OSM)
- Hopefully in some small way contributed to the broader open data movement’s legal framework and helped shape a better understanding of database rights and data licensing
- Established patterns that influenced later open data licensing approaches, including influencing the approach for Creative Commons on database licensing with the CC suite of licenses.