Community: A New Name for "Open Source" Collections

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Internet Archive has changed the names of the Open Source Audio, Open Source Books, and Open Source Movies collections.  We have chosen to replace the term “Open Source” with “Community,” because we feel it better reflects the purpose of these collections and the people who donated the content.

Open Source typically refers to free access to source code and open distribution. Wikipedia has a detailed definition of the term at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Source_Definition.

Please be assured that none of the URLs for collections or items have changed – if you have links to our site for any content, those links will continue to work.

We hope you agree that this change better reflects their purpose.  Please visit our newly renamed collections:
– Community Audio
– Community Texts
– Community Video

-Jeff Kaplan

42 thoughts on “Community: A New Name for "Open Source" Collections”

  1. Pingback: Some Name Changes at The Internet Archive « ResourceShelf

  2. Pamela

    The audio clip, on the search for Sly Stone, cuts off during the song Sex Machine. Can you please address this problem. I would love to be able to hear the rest of the inteview with Mr. Wilem…somebody. Thank you

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  5. openuniverse

    so using open licenses like cc no longer matters, or is that going to be somehow associated with “community” through a series of promotions?

    “open source” is a debatably problematic term because it can be vague in practice, but choosing an even more vague term is not a step forwards for the “community” that wants to share and collaborate on works.

    1. G-Zillion

      Indeed, “community media” is vague and has a social-political connotation, whatever it may be. “Open source” and “community” are not interchangeable without further specification. Maybe for some time it may inspire patrons to be more “social” when sharing something with “a”/”the” “community”, to work more on their “virtual image”, but I doubt that the content will improve; it will just worsen and be 99% hollow and kindergarten-style like Facebook and Myspace.

      I think that an intermediate term between “open source media” (“the bio-seed”) and “community media” (“the bio-land”) would be better. A term that supports slightly the holistic approach without speaking out in words the implicit social.

      1. Christopher Harris

        I like the comment about virtural image. That is something I addressed to nieces and nephews over facebook under Christopher Clairtele.

  6. jon

    how to you down load the new vbrmu3 adio file?

    also how do i convert them to mp 3s in my new imac in itunes??????? help i need my soundboars please answer A.S.A.P !!!!!!!
    PLEASE
    THANK YOU, jon

  7. jon

    how to you down load the new vbrmu3 adio file?

    also how do i convert them to mp 3s in my new imac in itunes??????? help i need my soundboards please answer A.S.A.P !!!!!!!
    PLEASE
    THANK YOU, jon

  10. Leana Bosley

    How does one find the file of books on hand and access the book that interests them? There is to much visual distraction that I find it impossible to go to the part of the library that interest me. This is not a sensible way to run a library, because it is not user friendly.
    Thank you, Leana

  17. Sybille

    Hello,

    Please, I need your help.
    In this url:
    http://www.archive.org/details/Mixes

    you have an audio called Trance Emotions Episode 1

    How do I know, if I can download it and used for a video and upload it to Youtube, Veoh, etc. without infringing copyright.

    The artist/composer is Sylverman, but it says also that this audio is part of the collection Community Audio.

    How can I obtain a written permission from the author or Community Audio, so I could use legally.

    Thank you so much in advance!

  20. kevin

    Good move.
    I’ve always thought that, unless you’re talking about software, open source was a misnomer.
    Take “Open Source Audio” for instance. In theory, an “open source song” would mean that you have access to every separately recorded channels that constitute the final track (and in a lossless format). I can’t imagine many artists would be willing to spend hours uploading all that.

    unrelated note: Why does the internet sometime feels like a bunch of people in a pitch black room, repeatedly bumping against walls? Some of the comments on this post are about fixing soundcards and converting mp3s!

  21. Stephen

    If no CC license is indicated on the download page is there a default usage level? Permission from the author, unlimited usage, etc…?

    Thank you.

    1. internetarchive Post author

      Hi Stephen,

      If there’s no CC license on an item on archive.org, you should assume that it’s for personal use only.

      Thanks!

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  29. Tom

    I too think that Community Audio is too vague. But I do see the problem with “open source” for non-software data posed by Kevin in a previous comment.

    A lot of people come to the Internet Music Archive looking for music that is freely available for use in soundtracks for podcasts and videos etc. Why not have sub-categories within Community Audio for the various Creative Commons license types, public domain and unlicensed (personal use only). This would enable people to quickly find a list of music files that are suitable for their project according to their budget.

    People working with no budget or on a shoe string budget could quickly find freely available public domain material while those with a substantial budget can find material with a given CC license.

  31. charles duckworth

    being able to find music from the 20s before i was born to the 30s is great. I can listen to all the great old music up to the good new music.

  32. Ardis McLeod

    I haven’t been able to copy and paste an article from the Bucks County, PA regarding an ancestor. Thank you for any help.

  34. Pingback: Community: A New Name for “Open Source” Collections | Internet Archive Blogs | gonzalosangil

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