[FM Discuss] back from wikimania

[David Sasaki]

Hi All:

I've only just subscribed to this list so I apologize for butting  
into the conversation without having all of the context, but more  
than anything I just wanted to say how impressed I am with what an  
incredible resource you have all put together at http:// 
flossmanuals.net.

I am heading a new citizen media outreach initiative at Global Voices  
[http://globalvoicesonline.org] and flossmanuals.net is exactly the  
resource we have needed to provide our project leaders with  
documentation for software like Audacity so that they can learn to  
create podcasts, etc.

A certain portion of our budget is reserved for translating both  
software and documentation into languages where it currently isn't  
available. Part of that money will probably be used to translate  
WordPress into languages like Aymara, Quechua, and Krio, but we'd  
also like to consider sponsoring what has been referred to in this  
email thread as "franchises" of FlossManuals in other languages.

I think that stipulating that those subdomain sites must license  
their comment either with a CC or GPL license makes sense. As far as  
hosting fees go, Dreamhost (http://dreamhost.com) offers free hosting  
to US-based non-profits. So if FlossManuals (or any of the subdomain  
sites in other languages) become so popular that hosting fees are  
something to think about, it might make sense to register a sister US  
non-profit to take advantage of the free hosting.

Best,

David



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Sasaki | outreach at globalvoicesonline.org
Director of Outreach, Global Voices
http://globalvoicesonline.org
gtalk: osopecoso | skype: elosopecoso
+1.510.717.8377 | http://el-oso.net/blog
--------------------------------------------------

On Aug 13, 2007, at 4:17 AM, Julian Oliver wrote:
..on or around Mon, Aug 13, 2007 at 12:57:09PM +0200, adam hyde said:

i guess i'm not clear on the scope of what you mean by 'franchise'.

is this another way of saying a language fork? would they then also be
able to sell on the printed material and give the project a different  
name?


anyone can sell on the printed material, its all gpl so they can so as
they like. so the issue is really not about the content as such but
about spreading the fm meme (the higher the recognition of the logo etc
the more people that will access the manuals, consequently the more
people that can then use free software).

what i am suggesting is that languages are managed like a franchise. we
enter in an agreement with whoever wants to drive a lang site. then they
can use the logo, we help them set up a site based on the current fm
site (we would have to get a  nice way to make the interface translation
a bit smoother) etc, but they have to cover their own costs (server
hosting etc) and if they get off track we can pull the use of the
logo...i posted a longer version in an earlier email but thas the gist
of it

it means we can keep an eye on the idealogy and quality but allow a
language to pretty much go in their own direction - make manual
appropriate to their language etc...if they stray from our agreement by
compromising the quality - eg. they really make useless manuals - or the
idealogy - eg. they reliencse material with a standard copyright 'all
rights reserved' - then we kill their franchise which really means they
can no longer use the logo

well that all sounds fine to me. this would mean of course franchising
couldn't support manuals released on FM under a CC-non-commerical or  
similarly
restrictive license.

chars,

julian

-- 
http://julianoliver.com
http://selectparks.net
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