Saw this on Machine Learning (Theory) as reported by Lihong Li.
The data sets sound really great, but then I read:
Eligibility:
Yahoo! is pleased to make these datasets available to researchers who are advancing the state of knowledge and understanding in web sciences. The datasets are only available for academic use by faculty and university researchers who agree to the Data Sharing Agreement.
To be eligible to receive Webscope data you must:
- Be a faculty member, research employee or student from an accredited university
- Send the data request from an accredited university .edu or domain name (for international universities) email address
- Ensure that your request has been acknowledged by your Department Chair
We are not able to share data with:
- Commercial entities
- Employees of commercial entities with university appointment
- Research institutions not affiliated with a research university
Note: You must have a Yahoo! account to apply for Webscope datasets.
I think I can pass everything except “employees of commercial entities with university appointment” since I am an adjunct faculty member and to work outside the university as my primary means of support.
This reads like someone who doesn’t want to share data trying to thing of foot-faults to build into the sharing process. Such as “acknowledged by your Department Chair.” Acknowledged to who? By what means? Is once enough?
I can understand reasonable restrictions, say non-commercial use, attribution on publication, contribution of improvements back to the community, etc., but the user community deserves better rules than these.