UIPS is a tool for finding country-specific content with public rights (currently Australian or Canadian content). It has multiple modules for searching various sources of public content, and returns results from accross the whole spectrum of public rights. In this initial version, there are three categories of works that can be found. These include: works in the public domain, which UIPS can currently find on Project Gutenberg Australia (Australian materials only), CSIRO's entomology web site (Australian materials only) and Early Canadiana Online (Canadian materials only); AEShareNet instant licences (Australian materials only) from AEShareNet.com.au and by using Yahoo! advanced search for links to licences; and lastly Creative Commons licences using Yahoo! advanced search for links to licences. All of these searches restrict the search space either to country-specific licences, or to country-specific sites. These various searches require making HTTP requests to various search engines and web sites, and for the case of the Creative Commons licences, there are quite a few requests. However, all of these HTTP requests are performed simultaneously by UIPS, so the final result is a reasonably prompt search.

In the current version, there are three settings that determine how many results will be displayed. Each search using Yahoo! or AEShareNet will request a maximum of 20 results. Also, each source (Project Gutenberg search, Yahoo! Creative Commons search, etc.) will return at most 20 results. Lastly, when all results are collated, at most 80 will be displayed.

There is also an inherent priority given to each source and each licence. These priorities basically put works with broader public rights earlier in the list of results.

Enter your search terms in the text field provided. In the current version, this information is passed directly to the various sources, so don't try anything too exotic, as the various sources may not be able to make sense of it.

The current version provides three ways of displaying results:

This is the default method for displaying results. The first result from every source will be displayed, followed by the second, followed by the third, etc.

Results will be grouped into groups of results with the same licence. For more information about the various licences that UIPS can find, see below.

Results will be grouped into groups of results that come from the same source. For more information about the various sources that UIPS uses, see below.

The current version has knowledge of AEShareNet licences and Creative Commons licences, and also of the public domain. In future versions, this list is expected to grow.

• The Public Domain

  Public domain works are essentially "no rights reserved". They can be freely used and copied, without restriction. However, please be careful when using such works, to verify that the works are actually in the public domain.

• AEShareNet Licences

  AEShareNet offer four unmediated, instant licences, all of which are focussed around AEShareNet's core business of facilitating the sharing of education materials. The licences are:

  • AEShareNet-U: Unlocked Content. This licence grants rights with respect to using, copying and modifying materials, and allows licensees to keep their copyright in their modifications.
  • AEShareNet-S: Share and Return. This licence grants rights with respect to using, copying and modifying materials, but the licensor will own the copyright in the modifications.
  • AEShareNet-P: Preserve. This licence grants rights with respect to using and copying, but modifications are not allowed.
  • AEShareNet-FfE: Free for Education. This licence is similar to AEShareNet-P, except it is only allowed to be used for educational purposes.

• Creative Commons Licences

  Creative Commons licences are designed to be general-purpose licences for text, audio, interactive, picture and video content. The licences have been translated into multiple legal jurisdictions, multiple languages, and there are multiple versions. In addition, there are some historical versions, which were abandoned as being unnecessary. The basic elements of the licence are as follows:

  • Attribution (by): All the current licences include the "by" element, meaning that authorship of the works must continue to be correctly attributed.
  • No-Derivs (nd): Works with the "nd" licence element are not allowed to be modified by licensees.
  • Share-Alike (sa): Any modifications made to works with the "sa" licence element must in turn be licensed with the same licence as the original work.
  • Non-Commercial (nc): Works with the "nc" licence element are not permitted to be used for commercial purposes.
  
  These elements are combined into the following six licence types:
  • Attribution (by)
  • Attribution-ShareAlike (by-sa)
  • Attribution-NoDerivs (by-nd)
  • Attribution-NonCommercial (by-nc)
  • Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (by-nc-sa)
  • Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd)

The current version has the following distinct sources of licensing information. All searches through all sources are done concurrently to make the search as fast and efficient as possible.

• The YahooLinkCC Source (all countries)

  This source uses the Yahoo! search engine to search for pages that link to Creative Commons licences from the appropriate jurisdiction. There are many of these, because there are multiple versions, and because the US licences are also searched. These searches are executed concurrently, and the nature of the searches allows UIPS to identify which pages are licensed with which licences, unlike Yahoo's own Creative Commons search.

• The YahooEntoPD Source (Australia only)

  This source uses Yahoo! to search CSIRO's entomology website for pages that indicate that they have public domain pictures.

• The GutenbergAU Source (Australia only)

  This source searches Project Gutenberg Australia's list of public domain Australiana for electronic copies of books that are in the public domain. Please note that there are occasionally works in this collection that are not in the public domain in Australia, even though they are in the public domain in other countries (particularly the US).

• The AesnDB Source (Australia only)

  This source searches AEShareNet's database of learning materials, by using the search interface available at http://www.aesharenet.com.au/members/Search.asp. It restricts the search to only those licences that generally make works available free of charge - AEShareNet-U (Unlocked Content), AEShareNet-S (Share and Return), AEShareNet-P (Preserve Integrity) and AEShareNet-FfE (Free for Education).

• The YahooLinkAesn Source (Australia only)

  This source uses the Yahoo! search engine to search for pages that link to any of the four AEShareNet instant licences. Like all link-based searches, there is no guarantee that the content of the pages is actually being offered under such a licence, as people occasionally link to the licences by way of explanation.

• The Early Canadiana Online Source (Canada only)

  This source searches Canadiana.org for e-books, likely to be in the public domain.