As the name suggests, the Open Source Design Pattern Library (OSDPL) embraces open sharing of knowledge. In keeping with this spirit, the following guidelines are to help contributors to the OSDPL maintain the high level of openness we love.

<h2>Use Open Source sources for written and visual works.</h2>
The OSDPL strongly encourages the use of works that openly allow reuse and adaptation. This helps ensure flexibility and usefulness of content on the OSDPL.

When using sources, be sure to observe the conditions stated in the source's license. If such agreement is not obvious then a request should be sent to the copyright holder.

<h2>Avoid contributing material where re-use or adaptation is not explicit.</h2>

If it is not clear if a source allows re-use or adaptation, then extra care should be taken to ensure that the rights of the copyright holder are respected.

The following tips may help:

<ul>
<li> Is the work necessary to convey the message? If not, then consider not contributing it.</li>

<li> Ask permission from the copyright holder to use their works in the OSDPL. If permission is granted, attribution and expression of copyright should be explicit.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Fair Use and Fair Dealings as Last Resort</h2>

In the instances where a work does not have a re-use or adaptation allowance, you may use that work by following Fair Use or Fair Dealing doctrines. The spirit of these two approaches is to allow usage of third party works while respecting the third party's copyright.

On the OSDPL, Fair Use and Fair Dealings should be considered as a final option since it is not clearly open, sharable, and re-usable.

 If the work is an image, consider this practice:
<ul>
<li> Reducing the scale of the image by 20%</li>
<li> Depicting an extract from the image</li>
<li> Link to the source instead</li>
<li> Note: when uploading an image to the OSDPL, it is resized if larger than 640x480 pixels.</li>
</ul>

If the work is in written form, consider this practice:
<ul>
<li> Quoting only what you need and not the entire work.</li>
<li> Annotate / reference sources as needed.</li>
<li> Link to the source instead.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Reference often. Oh, and when in doubt, reference!</h2>

It's proper and nice to give reference and credit to the source material. This process is also called <em>attribution</em>. According to Wikipedia:

 “…<em>attribution</em> is the requirement to acknowledge or credit the author of a work which is used or appears in another work.”

See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_(copyright)">Wikipedia’s explanation of attribution</a> and how to apply it to your contributions.</li>
 
Example 1: 
If an image was used under a Creative Commons attribution license, the attribution may look like this: "John Smith, Creative Commons"

Example 2:
If an image was used under Fair Dealing or Fair Use, the attribution may look like this: "ABC Corp / John Smith, all rights reserved."

<h2>Summary</h2>

The spirit of these guidelines is to foster support for free sources (like Creative Commons and Open Source) and respect the commercial opportunities of the owners of copyrighted materials by reproducing only a fragment or a lower quality rendition.