Kennisland Open Policy

Kennisland researches and designs social progress. We strive towards a knowledge society, and believe the world will be a better place if people share knowledge and expertise, and collaborate more.

Why we work openly

If we work openly:

we can learn from each other’s mistakes and successes, and build on each other’s work
we avoid reinventing the wheel
we create space for others to contribute to the discussion
society as a whole can benefit from our approaches and solutionsIf we work openly, society as a whole can benefit from our approaches and solutions.
we can actively contribute to a movement that strives for openness
we promote transparency
we do what we also expect of others

How we demonstrate openness in practice

Our open ideas are explicitly stated in our mission.
We adopt a respectful and inquisitive attitude in our projects.
We share not just end products, but also intermediate steps and methods.
We don’t write reports to be filed away and forgotten; we write as accessible as possible for a broad publicWe don’t write reports to be filed away and forgotten; we write as accessible as possible for a broad public..
We have a communication team who share our knowledge, experiences and products in the best way possible.
We invest in the attractiveness of our content, so more people from a variety of backgrounds can and want to learn from it.
We share lessons and thoughts with (international) networks and others who request them.
We always name our sources of inspiration, and ask those who share our work to do the same.
We encourage others, in particular our partner organisations, to adopt our open policy.

Open Publication Policy

Kennisland creates and uses a great deal of content, from photos, articles, opinion pieces, posters and websites to templates for working methods. Kennisland is co-founder of Creative Commons in the Netherlands, and supports the open approach to sharing copyrighted material++Kennisland and copyrightKL has spent more than a decade working on the modernisation of copyright law. Read more here..Kennisland is co-founder of Creative Commons in the Netherlands, and supports the open approach to sharing copyrighted material. As such, Kennisland employs an “Open, unless” policy:

For content we create ourselves
Everything that Kennisland produces with the intention of sharing – whether or not funded with public money – is shared openly. We prefer to do so with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence or its successors. This applies to presentations, publications++PublicationsWe have openly shared more than a hundred publications (most of which are written in the Dutch language), because we encourage reuse. Read them here., tools, photos and more.

When we collaborate with external partners, we explicitly communicate our open publication policy, we make agreements about this and we include this condition in our project contracts.

Kennisland takes account of the protection of privacy and personal data when developing our content. For more information, see the KL Privacy Policy.Kennisland takes account of the protection of privacy and personal data when developing our content. For more information, see the KL Privacy Policy.

For content created on our behalf
When we commission others to create content, for example when hiring a photographer, we give the maker two options, with option 1 being our preferred option:

Kennisland agrees with the maker that he/she will share the work under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence or its successors. In this case, the copyright remains with the maker in question. Kennisland compensates the maker for making the works.
Kennisland acquires the copyright from the maker, and compensates him/her for this. Kennisland then shares the work under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence or its successors. Kennisland is then named as the maker/rights holder.

For existing content from third parties that we use
Kennisland regularly uses works created by third parties. Needless to say, we respect the copyright of the makers when doing so. Kennisland prefers to make use of works that have been openly shared by the makers with a Creative Commons licence, or that are in the Public Domain. Preferred licences and dedications (or successors to these):

In exceptional cases, we may make use of content that is not openly licenced. If this occurs, we confirm permission to use this content in writing, and the associated compensation, if relevant. Using closed content (all rights reserved) restricts the ability to share our work, which reduces our impact.Using closed content (all rights reserved) restricts the ability to share our work, which reduces our impact.

How we ensure that we adhere to our open principles

We believe in a knowledge society, and this cannot come about without knowledge sharing. This is why openness is an integral part of how we work. To achieve social progress, it is important that we keep doing this. Using the following methods, we monitor whether we are adhering to our own principles:

We only work on things that contribute to Kennisland’s (open) mission.
We actively share our open policy, both within and outside Kennisland.
We actively communicate internally about our open principles, which helps to preserve the level of knowledge within our organisation.
We have standard formulations in contracts that support our open publication policy.
We have a standard formulation in quotations, which explains to partners how we work and share openly, and what this requires.
We carry out a check on our quotations to verify that our open principles are reflected in the project design.

Do you have any questions about Kennisland’s open policy? Please contact us via info@kl.nl or 020-5756720.