Sunday, October 05, 2008

User-generated meaning



Fans of urban dictionary, which is based on user-generated content, may be surprised (or even horrified) that the owners have decided to cash in by producing a print version. As the online front page says, Urban Dictionary is the slang dictionary YOU WROTE. But the small print tells you that: When you post Content on the Website, you agree to grant the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, fully sublicenseable, non-exclusive license to copy, distribute, sell, publicly display, publicly perform and make derivative works etc etc. All this doesn’t really bother me, but it is just another example of how, in our enthusiasm to participate, it is so easy to overlook who owns our content. And on that note, I wonder if Blogger owns the words in this post?

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