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Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU

Researching Free Knowledge

Wikimedia's Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU is pleased to announce two research scholarships aimed at academics. We want to better understand and explain the economic and commercial value of free knowledge and are therefore looking for people with the necessary interests and skills to research this aspect.

Academic Article on Non-Commercial Restrictions

Background

Free knowledge projects like Wikipedia are built in the tradition of the free software movement and in line with the idea of the Open Definition, meaning that everyone can re-use the content for any purpose, including commercially, without asking for permission. Yet, when it comes to copyright legislation, establishing exceptions & limitations that are limited to non-commercial uses only seems to be a political reflex triggered whenever decision-makers need to look for compromises. Such exceptions mean that many free knowledge resources cannot benefit from said exceptions.

What we are looking for

We have compiled a list of arguments trying to explain the unintended consequences of non-commercial limitations in licenses. Now we are looking for someone who is willing to look at exceptions and limitations in EU countries that have been transposed in ways that allow commercial re-use in some countries and allow only non-commercial use in others. We would like a (comparative) analysis of these exceptions and ideally an outline of the benefits and drawbacks of each implementation.

Timeline

Deadline for submitting proposals: 14 July 2017
Notification of selection: 28 July 2017
Deadline for article: To be agreed upon with selected academic

Budget

We will award a grant of € 3.000.

How to submit proposals

Please send an email to dimitar.dimitrovwikimedia.bg with:

A brief explanation of your hypothesis and how you plan to conduct your research.
Your scientific CV and/or list of publications.

Selection

A three-person team (Jenny from WMCH, Dimi from FKAGEU, Tomasz from WMPL) will evaluate the proposals and notify you as soon as possible, but not later than 28 July 2017.
Proposals with a clear research goal and timeline will be preferred.
Understanding of or prior participation in free knowledge projects will is a plus, but not a must.
The chosen person/organisation must agree to the final work being published under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share-Alike license.

Mapping of "Made With Wikimedia" Business Models

Background

Wikimedia projects are used hundreds of millions of times daily by individuals, in education and by organisations. As Wikimedia projects, similarly to free software, are also commercially re-usable Wikipedia's content, Wikidata's data and Wikimedia Commons' images are also used by businesses. We however feel that we do not know enough about such uses, be it start-ups, individual entrepreneurs or established companies.

What we are looking for

Ideally we would like to have a map of for-profit uses of freely licensed content from Wikimedia projects. We are focusing primarily on businesses from the European Union, EFTA and Switzerland. A description and categorisation of the mapped items would be expected. An analysis of how they contribute to the larger economy would be a plus.

Timeline

Deadline for submitting proposals: 14 July 2017
Notification of selection: 28 July 2017
Deadline for article: To be agreed upon with selected academic

Budget

We will award a grant of € 3.000.

How to submit proposals

Please send an email to dimitar.dimitrovwikimedia.bg with:

A brief explanation of your research idea and research plan, including methodology and timeline.
Your scientific CV and/or list of publications.

Selection

A three-person team (Jenny from WMCH, Dimi from FKAGEU, Tomasz from WMPL) will evaluate the proposals and notify you as soon as possible, but not later than 28 July 2017.
Proposals with a clear research goal and realistic timeline will be preferred.
Understanding of or prior participation in free knowledge projects is a plus, but not a must.
The chosen person/organisation must agree to the final work being published under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share-Alike license.