OpenContent. A Swedish network of webpublishers of OpenContent has emerged. The web-site OppetInnehall (open content in Swedish) collects links to web-sites where owners make their content freely accessible to everyone.
What is OpenContent?. According to Magnus Cedergren – the chief-editor of the OppetInnehall web-site – OpenContent is (1) disinterested or idealistic (as in uncompensated) production of content, (2) freedom for anybody to use the content and (3) freedom for anybody to redistribute the content for instance mechanically.
I generally applaud any initiative to facilitate voluntary (as opposed to mandatory) exchange information based on different on new and different models. We need to create platforms that provide strong competition to the prevalent models of proprietary information. OppetInnehall is definitely interesting in this perspective. The OppetInnehall concept seems a little unclear or undeveloped to me, though. What will be the legal basis of OpenContent? Is it free content or open content, cf. the discussion of the distinction between OpenSoftware and Free Software? Will users of OpenContent have to sign and respect a license (like the GPL) that ensures that OpenContent stays OpenContent?