Programmers: license for SignWriting symbols (ISWA)

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 27, 2007

Hello SW Listers, and Gerard and David -

Thank you for this post. I just read your blog, Gerard. Thanks for  
this discussion and for all you are doing ;-)

http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/search/label/SignWriting

So here is our question to SignWriting List Members....

We want to find a free License for SignWriting symbols, so that the  
world knows that they are free to use. As you know, I am working on  
the ISWA (the International SignWriting Alphabet) this June, so that  
we can then create the SVG version. To do this work, we need to  
choose a license that gives users information about the symbols.

Gerard has been very helpful, educating me a tiny bit, about  
licenses, and suggested the SIL Open Font License (the OFL) for the  
ISWA. It sounds good to me. You can read about it on the web:

SIL Open Font License
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL

Our question to programmers who use SignWriting...

How do you feel about the OFL License?

If the SignWriting symbols are placed under the OFL License, will you  
feel free to use the symbols for your programming? That is what  
matters to me.

I hope some of you will answer...

Do you know of another license that you would prefer? Are there other  
licenses that are better known by programmers or better suited for  
the ISWA?

Val ;-)

--------------


On May 27, 2007, at 11:25 AM, GerardM wrote:

> Hoi,
> On my blog some questions were asked by David Gerard. David is one  
> of the more influential Wikipedians.
> Who holds the copyright to SignWriting
> Under what license is SignWriting available
> Is there an organisation behind SignWriting
> I have replied by posting on my blog after some discussion with  
> Valerie. What Valerie and I agree on is that it is good to be clear  
> about these issues as they are important on the Internet. What we  
> also agreed on was that we should not rush and adopt a particular  
> license. This is very much something where you, the users of the  
> SignWriting script, have to understand why this is thought to be a  
> relevant question and have to appreciate the arguments for the  
> license that will be chosen.
>
> To be clear, Valerie is categorically clear that the SignWriting  
> symbols need to remain as freely available as they have always  
> been. Practically nothing is to change. It is just that  
> clarification of these things will take away the suspicion that  
> some people have when this issue is not addressed.
>
> Valerie I understand is busy working on the script. She is on a  
> tight time schedule to do the things that need doing. So it is  
> unlikely that anything will happen within the next month(s), This  
> gives everybody who has concerns the time to come up with suggestions.
>
> Thanks,
>     GerardM
>
> http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/search/label/SignWriting