Copyrights

The Graduate Student Association Wiki uses a Creative Commons Attribution-By 3.0 license for all text, most images (some exceptions), and other content on the Web site. The UC Davis logo is copyright Regents of the University of California, and is not subject to release under the Creative Commons license (See University Communications for details.

Some content is derived from Davis Wiki or Wiki Spot.

The Creative Commons Attribution-By license means that every editor who puts work onto the GSA Wiki, whether it be text or images, gives anyone the right to do whatever he or she would like with the material. The only restriction being that if you distribute the content you must give attribution to the creators of the content or the collective "Graduate Student Association Wiki"/"GSA Wiki"/"ucdgsa.org." This means you don't need to ask permission first — you've already got permission!

Please note that in some cases we allow material (usually images) on the GSA Wiki that is not licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-By license, and in these cases there is an indication of strict copyright by the material, such as a note saying "Copyright The California Aggie." Usually, this occurs with images, and you must obtain permission from the individual in these cases — it was placed on Davis Wiki but not necessarily allowed elsewhere.

There is NO WARRANTY on any of the material you may find in GSA Wiki. We try to ensure our material is accurate and of the highest quality, but we are not responsible for any discomfort or potential injury that may befall you as a result of the content.

The Creative Commons Attribution-By 3.0 license means that every single friend, weirdo, researcher, book publisher, nerd, newspaper editor, etc. can use any content you, the editor, put on to GSA Wiki for whatever purposes they want. It can be ruthlessly modified, edited, and redistributed without your permission or direct control. Your material can be used for good and it can be used for bad — anyone can use it for any purpose allowable under law provided they give credit to you or the GSA Wiki in their use of the content!

For usage details, just read the overview. It's simple. Just remember that 'original author' can mean the author or the collective "GSA Wiki." An easy way to think about this is to pretend that every time someone asked us, "Hey, can I use X from GSA Wiki?" We answer "Yes, just say who created it or note it was from GSA Wiki."

Because most of our content falls under this license, you are legally responsible not to put other people's copyrighted work into the GSA Wiki without permission.

For images, if you wish to allow your image on the GSA Wiki but not fall under this umbrella of Creative Commons, just note explicit copyright. e.g. "Copyright Me, 2008." Under or near the image. This will let people know you allow it on the GSA Wiki, but want others to get your permission before using it elsewhere. If you just want to give yourself credit for the image, just say "Image by Me" somewhere near the image. You still retain copyright on images where you do not note "Copyright..." — it is just assumed that you are also placing said image under the Creative Commons license.

Note that you cannot copy material verbatim from Wikipedia and place it on the Wiki. They use the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which has quite a few restrictions on what you can and cannot do with their information. GSA Wiki does not have those restrictions, and as a result, you cannot copy other people's text that they have written for Wikipedia and use it here. As an example: a newspaper, campus flier, brochure or any other publication that runs over 100 copies has fairly substantial requirements and responsibilities in order to use material from Wikipedia. Any information from Wikipedia has very strict title and ending requirements, while there is no requirement other than attribution to use material from the GSA Wiki.

You can take just about anything from Davis Wiki or another Wiki Spot project, so long as it's under the CC-By license.

We want to foster an environment where information and ideas can be shared and used as easily as possible by the most people for the longest period of time, and we feel this is the best way to achieve this.