Example
- This is an example which was used for contacting an academic. However, it needs to be modified to explicitly describe the GFDL and request agreement for their content to be released under GFDL.
Hi,
I just discovered your very high quality resource here, and wondered if you would be prepared to release it under the GFDL open license, so that it can be published on Appropedia.org (the wiki for international development, sustainability and appropriate technology) and reused, with acknowledgement, by anyone who wishes to.
If so, we'll need to receive authorization (an email will do) from someone in a position to grant this authorization.
You could also create an organization page on Appropedia, and we'd be thrilled if your students/researchers placed project writeups on the site. The new "Suggested projects" page may also be of interest - the idea is to link those with a need for information, with those who need ideas for project/thesis/research topics.
Let us know if there's any other way that Appropedia can serve you.
Regards,
See also
Here is the important part: Text in Appropedia articles must be licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. When asking for permission, you should explain that this means that
1. The text or image may be freely redistributed and used. 2. It may be freely modified, and modified versions may also be freely redistributed and used. 3. Any redistribution must include the full text of the GFDL itself. 4. In all cases, the GFDL requires proper attribution of the author(s). 5. The GFDL allows commercial re-uses provided such re-use is also under the GFDL.
You may also choose to explain that the author does not give up any of his or her rights to use the text: he or she is still free to publish the text elsewhere or to license the same text to other parties under any other license. You may also want to mention that the requirement to include the full text of the GFDL with any redistribution makes stand-alone commercial reuse of the item unlikely in practice.
Interwiki links
Of less direct relevance, but possibly of interest: