R³ Recycling: Licensing Policy Notes

All datasets hosted by the repository will be associated with licensing information. Supplying clear indicators of the availability of datasets for reuse and any relevant conditions attached to reuse will eliminate user uncertainty and improve the interoperability of R³ datasets, (W3C, 2015), furthering the repository’s mission to enhance access to and promote research using recycling-related data.

R³’s goal of encouraging the reuse and recombination of recycling-related data is best supported by public domain dedications or open licenses. Although public domain dedications minimize barriers to reuse and avoid the potential complications of ‘attribution stacking’, (Science Commons, n.d.; Shaw, 2014), an initial inventory of publicly available datasets relevant to R³ suggests that some flexibility in the licensing terms on which datasets are offered will be beneficial. As the repository’s value lies in centralizing access to data that can be difficult to identify and locate, accommodating contributors who prefer open licenses with attribution and/or sharealike restrictions as a matter of course will ensure that datasets of interest to R³ users are included in the repository.

Although examination of publicly available datasets relevant to R³ indicates that the majority of contributors will embrace open licenses, assessing requests for more restrictive licenses on a case-by-case basis will allow R³ to ensure that the scope of the repository is not compromised. A corresponding commitment to highlight any restrictions beyond those associated with standard open licenses on public-facing landing pages will aim to minimize any resulting user confusion as to how each dataset may be utilized.

The diversity of licensing and permissions attached to datasets identified for inclusion in the repository made determining an appropriate licensing policy particularly challenging. Licensing information was rarely supplied alongside datasets identified outside of data portals, which made it difficult to find relevant policies and, if they existed, to know with certainty that they govern usage of the data in question. Even open data portals did not consistently provide straightforward licensing information to indicate under what conditions data could be redistributed - the metadata provided alongside certain datasets identified from the Seattle and Tacoma data portals state that “[t]he license for this dataset is unspecified,” or simply do not provide values in license and attribution fields (City of Seattle, 2013; City of Tacoma, 2017).