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User:Erik Möller/Assimilation

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Draft notes

There are SourceForge and Savannah for free software; Wikimedia for free knowledge - but no repository exclusively dedicated to free art.

Content[edit]

  • music, including tracker music, classical compositions etc.
  • sound files (samples)
  • drawings, paintings of any kind
  • web comics (fully remixable!)
  • artistic photography (i.e. no general photo archive - there's Commons for functional photography & Flickr for random pictures of your cat)
  • stories (including fan fiction? note fair use issues here)
  • videos - could include documentaries for now since there is no better space; should exclude random YouTube style home videos
  • game projects (i.e. new game ideas)
  • 3D artwork/models
  • borderline functional/artistic: fonts, clip art ..

Exclusion[edit]

  • criterion of freedom - all works must be free works (including source data etc.)
  • criterion of effort - is it a work worth preserving? (ratings will help here)
  • criterion of function - does the work have artistic merit, or is it a work of knowledge?

On "adult content"[edit]

Follow the law where the server is hosted and basic ethics (incitement to hate, exploitation of minors, ..). Respect privacy rights - require appropriate permission. Resist censorship attempts. Judge erotica on its artistic merits, not on moral grounds.

Funding[edit]

2-3 decent servers should be enough for the first few months. May be a good idea to disable video, but Theora might limit bogus uploads.

Tech requirements[edit]

  • MediaWiki
    • better discussion support - complete LiquidThreads
    • file rating support
    • better metadata (no starting requirement)
    • media players
  • importers (see below)
  • automatic conversion of all uploaded files to free formats (e.g. Theora)
  • generate & package dumps for BitTorrent distribution

Import sources[edit]

For each of these, one could program specialized bots that authenticate as user X with password Y (to prove copyright & build community), then retrieve all the files from the user's profile: