TextGrid Acquires the Online-Library Zeno.org / Vote on Licensing Conditions
The TextGrid research group has acquired the contents of the zeno.org online full-text library for use in the TextGrid Virtual Research Environment. Zeno.org hosts the largest collection available online of German-language primary texts from antiquity to the beginning of the twentieth century. Consisting of both works originally written in German and translations, the writings of over 700 authors, 27 dictionaries, and numerous works from philosophy, history, the natural sciences, and many other disciplines are included in this collection.
With this acquisition, TextGrid will be able to make these texts available for research according to scientific standards (e.g. permanent citable and annotated in TEI/XML). Using this collection, researchers will be able to work with texts in a variety of ways, such as statistically evaluating them, comparing variations, and compiling textual corpora in order to integrate them into research projects. In this way, computer-assisted textual analysis and the preparation of critical editions will be considerably simplified.
TextGrid has obtained this digital library under a Creative Commons (CC) License 3.0, which prevents the data from being used for commercial purposes. Under this license, TextGrid can make the digital library available under one of two access options: CC 3.0 by, nc (Attribution-Noncommercial) or CC 3.0 by, nc, sa (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike). The main difference between these two types of licenses, the Share Alike condition, becomes important when users wish to distribute or publish a new work using data from the digital library.
For example, if users have created a critical edition based on texts in the digital library, under CC 3.0 by, nc (Attribution-Noncommercial) they are required to attribute their data source and cannot use their critical edition for commercial purposes, but they themselves can determine the licensing conditions under which their own work is to be made available.
Under CC 3.0 by, nc, sa (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike), users must make their work available under the same conditions as the original data. On the one hand, this license model would support a research environment in which the digital library could serve as a foundation for a variety of freely available textual data and research material available to every user. On the other hand, under this model, users who are opposed to the freely available transmission of their data might be less interested in incorporating the data available in the digital library into their own work, thus potentially restricting the research possibilities of this collection.
In order to represent the interests of the German-speaking scientific community, TextGrid invites researchers to take part in a vote on the licensing conditions of the acquired texts for future usage. From 1 December 2009 until 31 January 2010, users can determine which type of Creative Commons License 3.0 will be used: CC 3.0 by, nc (Attribution-Noncommercial) or CC 3.0 by, nc, sa (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike).
Vote on Licensing Conditions (in German)
Press release from the University of Göttingen (in German)
Your TextGrid Team