The free circulation of community information. A position statement.

You.... are a community group, or an individual with something to offer.

You want your information to be 'out there'. We.... are the Headingley Community web site.

It is our job to get your information 'out there'.

We will display your information for free.

Displaying information for free is a community process, and does not fit with commercial practices.

When a company gathers information, to help it sell advertising, it feels it has exclusive use.

A company has even asked us to remove information about HDT, the LitFest and community events, from the web site, for this reason.

If you can get your information out there more effectively with the help of an advertising company, that will suit you fine. [It's no problem to us, either].

We guess that it was not your intention, when you gave your information to us, to find it banned from the community web site.

To keep your information freely available, in community circulation, you need to do one of the following:-

1. If you give your information to anyone, send us a copy as well [use admin@headingley.org ]. If the company question this -
   • Either, make it clear you are giving out a Press Release.
   • Or, make it clear that you are giving your information under the terms of a Community Ethos License = CEL. You can find the wording of this here. These are the terms under which the community web site itself publishes your information.
2. Put your own information on the community web site. The site is designed so you can post and edit your own material. This practice is excellent as a way of encouraging community conversations. These have the long-term effect of strengthening the community.
   
   
3. Join the Locallife eMailing list. An email sent to this list will automatically show as a link on the home page.

NB. We have nothing, in principle, against advertising companies. However, when a company claims exclusive use of community information, we defend this community's established practice, which is of the free circulation of the community's information.

The Headingley Community web site has been providing information resources to residents, since 2001. The web site, itself, is a community project and needs your support.

You can support it by -

• making sure we get your information, by one of the methods described above
• setting your default home page to www.headingley.org so that you always see the latest changes, and the latest list of upcoming events

The aims of the web site can be seen here. A letter, in legalese, to people who generate community news, information, etc, is here. Feedback on this matter, and other suggestions for the web site, can be given here. Thank you.