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Ownership, structure and di ethical framework wey di project dey hold imself to. Where something never dey ground, dis page talk am instead of implying otherwise.
We talk am precise, because na vagueness for dis area dey turn heritage project to extraction.
Dis project no own am, and e never claim am
Di tradition itself. Di òrìṣà, di Odù, di proverbs, di Ifá corpus, di oríkì, di historical facts, di place names, di dates. None of dem belong to anybody wey dey work on dis site. Copyright no dey cover facts, and traditional knowledge no be our own.
We no own am, but we dey use am lawfully and with attribution
Di published scholarship wey dis corpus dey draw from. Person fit take facts and ideas freely from another work; expression, e no fit take. Di corpus dey restate for im own prose and dey cite di source, and e no dey reproduce another author selection, arrangement or wording. Third-party translations remain di property of di translators, we always attribute dem, and we treat dem as material wey need licence, no be free stock.
Wetin di project own
Di selection and arrangement of di corpus, wey get protection as compilation; di original prose; our own translations and glosses; di structured data schemas and di extraction work; di verification methodology and di findings wey e document; di concept graph; di software; and di design system.
We dey charge for di work wey we do. We no dey charge for access to di heritage.
Two entities, so dat di heritage material and di commercial software no go spoil each other.
Nonprofit entity go hold di corpus, collect grant funding, run di free public resource, and employ di pipo wey dey work on am. Because e be nonprofit, no owner dey pull profit comot from heritage material, and dat one answer di extraction question by structure instead of by promise.
Separate for-profit entity go own di platform software and license am, including to other language and heritage communities wey want di same apparatus for dia own material.
Na dis shape Wikimedia dey use, with di Foundation holding di projects and Wikimedia Enterprise as subsidiary handling commercial licensing, and na di same shape Mozilla dey use. E get plenty precedent and e fit stand scrutiny from either side.
Two things for dis page na commitment, no be fact wey don land ground. We mark dem so, because reviewer wey catch one overstatement go discount di whole page.
Dem still dey formalise am. Neither entity never register. Di project dey run for now as unincorporated work by di contributors, and dis line go change to registration number and jurisdiction when one dey exist, no be before.
Dem still dey assemble am. No member don accept appointment, so we no name anybody. Board page wey list members, affiliations and roles go go up when members dey to list.
Di forms wey dey under consideration na federal not-for-profit corporation under di Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act for di entity wey go hold di corpus, and either Community Contribution Company or Benefit Company under di British Columbia Business Corporations Act for di software side. Di first one no allow distributing profit to members or directors; di other two carry statutory asset lock or public-benefit purpose wey dey inside di articles. Wetin we pick go determine wetin dis page fit promise, so we never make any promise here.
Di shape wey we intend lean towards scholars wey dey Nigeria, with òrìṣà custodians and practitioners for dia side, no be say we go consult dem after di fact, and di board role na to review methodology, settle contested material, and hold di project to di commitments for dis pages. We go publish di roster, di affiliations and di role of each member, wey na di disclosure practice wey comparable heritage projects dey follow.
Global Indigenous Data Alliance publish CARE for 2019, and na di framework wey focus on pipo and purpose, wey dey stand beside di FAIR principles wey focus on data. Dis project hold imself to am, so na wetin each letter demand be dis.
Collective benefit, meaning benefit for di community
Di material remain free to di community wey e comot from. Di corpus no be dataset wey dem extract from Yorùbá pipo for another person benefit, and na di free-forever commitment dey make dat one structural instead of just talk.
Authority to control, meaning di community get di say
Custodians and lineages hold authority over dia own material. Where lineage never gree make dem publish something, di material no dey go up, and where person raise dat kain claim about material wey don already publish, e go come down while dem dey settle di claim.
Responsibility, meaning we owe di community
Di obligation dey run to di community, no be only to di reader. Wetin dat mean na to cite generously and send readers go di original authors and dia books, to mark gaps instead of filling dem, and to accept correction from Yorùbá scholars and practitioners as standing obligation, no be as courtesy.
Ethics, meaning wetin no suppose sell no dey sell
Nothing wey be devotional, initiatory or ritual dey for sale. Knowledge wey initiate pipo hold, we name am as dia own and we leave am. Ifá verse content no dey licensed for generative AI training, because di downstream harm wey person fit already see pass any money wey e go bring, and di decision no even close.
Digital archives wey dey apply CARE usually dey do am at record level, with Traditional Knowledge labels and provenance notices attached to individual items instead of to di whole collection. Dis corpus dey do di equivalent through im confidence ratings and im clear refusal lists, and record-level rights labelling na di direction wey we dey travel, no be something wey we don already implement.
Di project align imself with di UNESCO Ethical Principles for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (2015), wey hold say economic activity around living heritage no suppose weaken di viability of di heritage, e must respect di moral and material interests of di communities wey concern, and e must benefit dem.
For practice, wetin dat mean na say di material remain free to di community wey e comot from, we cite di scholarship and we actively drive readers go di original authors, nothing devotional or ritual dey for sale, and correction na standing obligation.
Reference work only fit be citable if e go still dey. Two answers, one don settle and di other one never settle.
Di corpus text carry share-alike licence, so anybody fit fork am and host am somewhere else, permanently, no matter wetin happen to dis organisation. Dat one na di durable half of di answer and e no depend on anybody goodwill.
E never dey ground. No deposit arrangement with any institutional repository dey yet. Dis na one of di first things wey library procurement process or grant reviewer dey ask about, so we name am as absent instead of describing am as planned.