[TOS] Scribd

Jeff Osier-Mixon jefro at jefro.net
Thu Jun 24 23:45:16 UTC 2010


I did some digging on Scribd.  The format they developed is called iPaper -
it is Flash based, similar to PDF in function, and has an open API.  You can
attach any license to a document, including Creative Commons.  Think of it
as Google Docs meets PDF, but the main goal is social-media-style sharing.
 The tools don't favor open source, nor do they appear to restrict it in any
way.

One point of interest is that a company I worked with seriously considered
publishing all of their documentation via scribd, using scribd as their
distribution method online and Lulu for print versions.  I don't think they
ever ended up doing it, but this was not a small startup.  One major
detractor was that Scribd embeds advertising in the viewer, which is
presumably how they monetize the setup - not a problem for self-publishing
the star trek novel you have been working on since high school, but not
appropriate for commercial enterprises.

I don't see anything compelling enough about it to recommend using it for
TOS materials, and I think the ads would be problematic.  It is a compelling
site, though.


2010/6/24 Karsten Wade <kwade at redhat.com>

> On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 08:13:19AM -0700,
> tosmaillist.neophyte_rep at ordinaryamerican.net wrote:
> > I'm not sure how Scribd ( https://www.scribd.com/ ) is perceived by
> > commercial publishers.  Is it considered sufficiently respectful of
> > Intellectual property rights to be used as a source for Teaching Open
> > Source?
>
> How are you thinking of using Scribd as a source?
>
> Keep in mind that, ideally, we are teaching using materials that are
> 100% free and open, on platforms that are 100% free and open.  I
> haven't ever researched Scribd and just spent less than five minutes
> on their site, but I can't find any sign that their tools or policies
> favor free and open source software and content.
>
> If there are particular books on that platform, we could use them if
> the associated license was sufficiently freed.  However, if the
> sources are tied up in a proprietary Scribd format/platform, that
> could be a problem.
>
> - Karsten
> --
> name:  Karsten 'quaid' Wade, Sr. Community Gardener
> team:                Red Hat Community Architecture
> uri:               http://TheOpenSourceWay.org/wiki
> gpg:                                       AD0E0C41
>
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