Aims of porting

When we port pages, we have these aims:

  1. Provide clear attribution to the original author or copyright owner including details of the conditions under which the content can be reused.
  2. Present the original, "as the author intended" uneditable version. Once a port is complete and has been reviewed for noticeable hiccups, we create a specially named version of the file (beginning in Original:), and protecting that version from edits (except by admins). Note that "as the author intended" may have subtle differences:
    • WWW links need to begin with http:// or https:// in order to function correctly, and they should be edited if necessary
    • References to images within the article may need adjusting since image placement may not be the same as in the original. E.g. "the picture at right" may become "picture #1", and captioning may also need related changes.
    • The original may be too large for a single article, and may be partitioned. See Category:Beyond dams.
  3. We will create links to other pages as appropriate to extend the usefulness of the content.
  4. Incorporate the content into our Wiki pages, combining it with content from other sources and updating or expanding it as neccessary in any other way consistent with the license for this content.

Fixed vs evolving content

Different types of ported content call for different policies.

Ported Project pages represent descriptions of past activities. As such, the ported content is not an appropriate target for modification, and so an editable version of this content is not useful. Nevertheless, the page containing the content may legitimately be modified through changing or adding templates, links and categorization, either before or after the original content. An editable page that includes locked content, provided in a protected template, provides this capability. The template will include the original content plus appropriate attribution of the original content. There is no value in having a separate editable pages.

On the other hand, for material that lends itself to collaborative evolution, a single copy of the original content cannot be both frozen and editable. Two pages will be established. First, a page containing frozen content will be created using the same protected template approach as for ported Project content. In addition, a second page will be created which includes all the content without protection. Attribution is required, as well as a link to the protected original content page.

Some content may contain a mix of historical (and therefore essentially fixed) content, plus content that lends itself to collaboration. Mixed content will be treated as collaborative content, as long as there is at least a substantial amount of collaborative content.

Identify the material to port and confirm it is available under a suitable license

The first phase of the process is to get copyleft permission and move the content cleanly into Appropedia. This portion of the process does not require administrator priveleges. Here are the steps:

  • Identify the material to be ported.
  • In some cases this may already be done. E.g. see Practical Action/Pages to port
    • If you have identified a set of content to port, and want to see which files have already been ported, you can either search for the source name (e.g. search for Practical Action), or if there is a specific template used on material from that source, go to that template page click "What links here" in the left menu bar. (The link can be written out, e.g. Special:Whatlinkshere/Template:PATBpage.) Also, you should always search for the title before doing a specific document, in case someone did it but didn't include the template or source name.
  • Get permission from the copyright owner.
  • If you got permission in a personal conversation then send an email to the donor, confirming what you believe was agreed. See the next item for details.
  • If you got permission via an email then check that it confirms
  1. what materials are covered
  2. that they sender of the email has the right to grant us permission on behalf of the copyright owner
  3. that we can publish the material under the CC-BY-SA (or CC-BY) license.
  • If it doesn't have all three of the elements above then email them back. Your email should describe the content covered and ask them to confirm items 2 and 3 above. Include a link to our CC-BY-SA page.

Create an Organisation page for the copyright owner

Attribution is not just a legal obligation. We are grateful to all the organisations contributing material to Appropedia and we want to make the attribution information as complete and up to date as possible.

  • Create an page for the copyright owner.
  • Include a link to their webpage
  • Include a brief mission statement copied from their webpage.
  • Include details of the permission granted to us by them to copy their content. This is so that, if there is a dispute later, it is clear why we think we have permission. Complete information will mean disputes get resolved much more quickly.
  • If the permission is on a web page then copy the wording of the license from that web page, include the url of that web page and note the date that you accessed that page. If the permission only applies to material on that page then note what is on that page.
  • If the permission is via email then add a note to the organisation page with the date of the email, who sent the email, who it was addressed to (use names not email addresses - we don't want to give email addresses to spammers) and quote the exact words of the email.
  • If the permissions get complicated (e.g. different conditions applying to different documents) then the licensing information may be moved to a separate sub-page named Organization Name/Licensing
  • Include a Category link on the organisation page to a Category for content from that organisation. This will create a new Category page. Add a note to the category page linking back to the organisation page.

Create a page for each document to be ported

  • Create the new wiki page in the "Original" namespace (that simply means the page name begins with "Original:" followed by the document title used for the original document.)
  • Copy/paste the following at the very top of the article on a line by itself:
{{Original header}}
  • If the porting process might take more than an hour, notify others that "porting is in process" by copy/pasting the following at the very top of the article on a line by itself
{{Being ported}}
  • Post the content to the wiki page in the original "as the author intended" version, without changes.
  • Exceptions to the "without changes" rule (these exceptions should not change author's intent):
  • Changes to references to images within the document, and to the image captions, may be needed to retain the original meaning. For example, "picture at right" may be ambiguous because it can be difficult to exactly match layout, and so reference may be altered to "picture #xyz".
  • WWW URLs are required to begin with "http://" or "https://". URLs without those prefixes should be altered to include the prefix in order for the links to work correctly.
  • Categorization and notice templates may be added at the very beginning and very end of the article. This should include the Category for the organisation who owns the copyright of the content.
  • Use the appropriate template to give credit to the author(s) and link to the source document, if possible.
  • If you are not comfortable with templates, then put some information on the talk page and an admin will help.
  • When porting of the content is complete, remove the "being ported" template (if any) and copy/paste the following on a line by itself at the top of the article to notify an admin that the article is ready for protection:
{{Checkoriginal|~~~}}

Lock the original to prevent further changes

This next phase of porting must be done by an Appropedia admin. The details of the admin responsibilities are described at Category:Checkoriginal

Templates

Attribution templates

Other related templates

See also

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