[TOS] Thoughts on the NC clause for college textbooks?

[MJ Ray]

Mel Chua <mel at redhat.com>
> http://opensource.com/education/10/2/flat-world-knowledge-open-college-textbooks-disrupting-traditional-textbook-publishin
> 
> The part of the discussion I found interesting was not so much the 
> article itself, but Karsten and Richard's comments on the NC clause in 
> FWK's licensing. Does the presence or absence of the NC clause actually 
> make a difference to you, in your classrooms, as you teach?

Yes, it makes a big difference.  Presence of the NC clause stops me
using any more of it than I would a legacy-licensed text.

Now I work for a tech worker co-op and we teach on a commercial basis,
so I'm pretty sure we can't use works with NC clauses.

When I worked in a Further Education College, I was a contract
teacher.  Would that be commercial use?  I'm not sure.  However, most
of the people I was teaching were from commercial organisations on
day-release and it would have been a bit unkind to give them materials
that they weren't supposed to share with their work colleagues.

NC is not a creative commons. It's a creative flowerbed or creative
open private park. It may be possible to act commercially there (graze
cattle or whatever) but it's not part of the general consent and you
have to try to get another agreement to do so. Of course, for some
purposes, a flowerbed or private park is fine, but I wouldn't want
them to be seen as public space.

Hope that explains,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef)  Webmaster and LMS developer at     | software
www.software.coop http://mjr.towers.org.uk        |  .... co
IMO only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html |  .... op