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There are fewer papers concerning Open Content initiative, although many of them re-examine the problem of
users’ licenses as well as the terms of use. The latter is dealt with in the paper on Open Education by Katarina
Pisutova (2012), who returns to the scheme proposed by D. Weley in 2011, called 4Rs Framework:
• Reuse. The right to reuse the content in its unaltered / verbatim form (e.g., make a backup copy of the content).
• Revise. The right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another
language).
• Remix. The right to combine the original or revised content with other content to create something new (e.g.,
incorporate the content into a mashup).
• Redistribute. The right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g.,
give a copy of the content to a friend).
The contributions to this process of opening up data are innumerable. On the one hand, Hernández Pérez and
García Moreno (2013) especially emphasize the enormous potential of scientific open data and the role that
libraries will play in development of institutional repositories. On the other hand, the paper by Saorín (2012)
concentrates on the impact Linked Open Data may have on libraries or libraries in linked open data. According to
Saorín, libraries must be more concerned with the quality of the data they generate and less with development of
applications based on these, for which innovation provided by information mediation companies would provide a
more feasible development model. In fact, that model is fairly similar to that defended in the European and Spanish
laws on the re-use of public information, in which the information mediation companies (re-users) also play a key
role. Moreover, according to the amendments introduced in the European Directive on the re-use of public sector
information, it seems that Saorín provides a fairly good description of the library situation.
Ferrer-Sapena and Sánchez-Pérez (2013) discuss the advantages and disadvantages linked to Big Data and Open
Data concepts. From a scientific research point of view, the authors state the advantages of Open Data, although
they raise doubts regarding the effective loss of data protection under certain circumstances or the use (and abuse)
of open data in the information markets.
It is important to point out that the use of open data or open content initiatives means a major challenge both in
technical terms and in organizational as well as policy terms.
3. Open data: Public information portals
This international current in favor of open public data on the Internet has brought about creation of government
portals as Open Data initiatives, introduced as of 2009. In a study of ten government portals in the European Union
(Ramos et al, 2012), conclusions are considered to represent the present situation of such portals. In general terms,
portals are quite recent (approximately 2 years) and they are in a phase of organization and start-up, so data
consistency and coverage are very unequal. Other additional conclusions are as follows:
1. Open data portal is a low cost showcase for public transparency and is relatively easy to build. However,
there is scarcely structured data and the information on offer is not very consistent in quality and quantity.
2. There is a big difference between the United Kingdom’s data portal and the rest. This one responds most
consistently to an efficient use of public data.
3. Each portal is designed in a different way; there is no sole model.
4. While search forms have similar features, the way in which results are presented differs according to the
type of data shown. It is concluded that the main cause of this dysfunction lies in the fact that data is
obtained from databases organized with different criteria.
5. The resources inventory is made according to the administrative tradition of each country and its
competence structure, both in territorial as well as functional terms. Therefore, the difficulty of comparing
datasets or information packages at present. Each one has been prepared with its idiosyncrasy and
according to the information needs of each public body.
6. The access conditions and the terms of use established in the licenses are generally aimed at the open
license model, which is based on Creative Commons license. Although the detailed terms of use of the