[OLPC library] on books and class materials

[Samuel Klein]

A few general tasks came up a number of times this week.  Each could
perhaps use an entity devoted to it -- something to get a partner org
to commit to.  Some may /have/ groups devoted to them.

1. copyright hounding.  annenberg has some materials -- who stays in
touch with them, tracks copyright status, asks for a freer license,
and updates status for all when it's changed?   an author has printed
something nice with no explicit license; or a work seems orphaned --
who tracks down the pulisher and author and ohters with an interest in
the rights and makes formal requests / tries to negotiate?  an author
has stated sth should be free for academic use -- who stores that info
in an accessible form for people who weren't physically there, and
knows how to get written confirmation?

2. Updating existing accessible works :  who improves OCR, makes new
formats, updates dated information, pushes updates to major
repositories?  who correlates various works with the same or similar
names in databases such as the Open Library's?  who figures out how to

3. Organizing new works to spec : someone has a specific need for a
type of book, manual, or text.  Tracking the progress of that project,
through booksprint, wiki barnraising, scanning or other collaboration.
 helping refine the spec over time, independent of any particular
implementation.