GCD Board Votes - 2009

January 2009

Reservations

MOTION: Indexers who hold reservations are required to index the reserved books within four months of placing the reservation, or four months of the release of the book, whichever is longer. Indexers may appeal to the reservations coordinator for a longer initial deadline if there are mitigating circumstances, such as an unusually complicated or lengthy book; the reservations coordinator may approve or deny such requests as he or she sees fit. The reservations coordinator shall also make every effort to notify reservation holders who are within a month of their reservation expiring that their reservation is about to expire.

If the book in question is not indexed within the given time frame, the indexer may request a single extension of two months. This extension will not be automatic; it must be requested by the reservation holder. If the book is not indexed within that additional time frame, the book will be opened up for reservation by other indexers. The indexer who held the original reservation may not re-reserve the book for at least two months after it has been opened to other indexers, in order to insure other interested indexers have had ample opportunity to reserve the title themselves.

Motion by Lionel, recognized by Mike, seconded by Henry.

Votes due by January 10, 2009. Vote passed with 7 members voting in favor and 2 abstaining.

March 2009

Data License and proper credit in derived works

Motion: The GCD should adopt a Creative Commons Attribution (a.k.a. cc-by) license, specifically version 3.0 Unported as documented at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the "Unported" is a rather inelegant way of saying that it's not specific to any national jurisdiction- the other alternatives, are having various national licenses, or rooting our overall license in one particular jurisdiction).

For our purposes, "Attribution" requires:

• Naming the Grand Comic-Book Database (spelled out) with a link to the main site and the license at least once on each page containing our data. Example:

Data courtesy of the Grand Comic-Book Database under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

where "Grand Comic-Book Database" and "Creative Commons Attribution license" are links. Guidelines and boilerplate for marking usage of cc-by licensed data are available at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Marking

• When individual records are listed, a link to the relevant GCD page should be included.
• The Board may waive either or both of the above requirements at its discretion, on a case-by-case basis.

Motion put forward by Henry Andrews, seconded by Will Allred.

Voted on in April. Vote results not announced?

Ownership of and right to contributions

MOTION: Ownership of and right to contributions

The Grand Comic-Book Database is a collaborative effort built on contributions from indexers and editors (collectively referred to as "contributors"). All contributed research is jointly owned by the GCD and the contributor, with the following rights and restrictions:

• Contributors retain the right to use their contriburtions without having to credit the GCD.
• The GCD must credit contributors to the best of its ability, subject only to the constraints of available technology and data. Credits should be as clear and specific as possible.
• When the GCD licenses the data as a whole, it need only require credit to the GCD and a link back to the GCD, which will credit the individual contributors
• Contributors using GCD data contributed by others should follow the same rules for crediting the GCD as third parties.

Motion put forward by Henry Andrews, seconded by Lou Mazzella. There was discussion on the crediting of individual indexers and the wording of the third point was changed via a motion to amend by Lionel.

Voted on in April. Vote results not announced?

June 2009

Definition of a comic for indexing purposes

Motion: I move that we define items that are allowed for indexing in the GCD to be those in which a plurality of the pages are comics and editorial material (letters pages, editorials, etc). The comic pages can consist of single panel comics.

Series that are eligible for inclusion will, from time to time, include issues that do not fit the definition. These issues are to be included.

The following is a non-exclusive list of items that are NOT eligible for indexing:

• Big Little Books (separation of illustration and text)
• handbooks (profile page publications)
• indexes

Indexes for materials that are not eligible for indexing will be removed from the database. The data will be stored for possible future use. Editors will refrain from approving such material in the future.

Motion put forward by Tony Rose, seconded by Ralf Haring.

July 2009

Membership on the ICS Board

Motion: I move that the GCD accept the invitation from the ICS to have one of the GCD board members serve on the ICS advisory board.

I further move that said member keep the GCD Board up to date on their activities with the ICS, so that the GCD remains aware of any opportunities to advance its own interests as a result of said association, and aware of any opportunities the GCD may take part in to advance the cause of the ICS and comics in general.

I further move that since the ICS board will convene an annual meeting at the Comic-Con International: San Diego, and that since GCD board member Lionel English currently resides in San Diego, that he is at present the most logical candidate for said position.

Moved by Lionel English, seconded by Will Allred.

Motion passed with all members in favour.