We've thought long and hard about data sharing, ethics, and copyright and read a whole bundle of documents where people we respect highly discuss the ifs, whys, and wherefores of how best to share data. As a result, the Field Museum has decided to follow the lead of GBIF, Europeana Foundation, Canadensys, VertNet, and Open Data Commons together with the many institutions that are involved in those efforts and lots of other clever people. These organizations believe that adopting a CC0 waiver for collections data and a CC-BY-NC license for images strikes an appropriate balance between sharing collections and data with the world and protecting institutions’ collections and intellectual property rights. We agree.
The text below describes the Field Museum’s norms and considerations for data publication and use. This is not a legal document and norms are not a contract or license, but, by abiding by the norms below, you are joining a global effort to increase the discoverability of our data, unlock their potential, and help to make the biodiversity data world a little bit easier, and whole lot more fair, to work in.