[R-pkg-devel] package CatDataAnalysis

[Hugh Parsonage]

If you’re not the author of the data, you can’t submit it as such. The
website has a copyright message on it which, while not definitive, doesn’t
suggest the use you’re proposing would be allowed.

Bear in mind that you may expose CRAN not just yourself to liability if you
try to conceal true authorship.

I’d recommend asking the author of that website for permission. Either he
says that’s fine in which case you have permission, or he doesn’t and you
dodge a bullet.


On Mon, 29 Jun 2020 at 2:45 am, Charles Geyer <charlie using stat.umn.edu> wrote:

> Actually the wooldridge package does not seem to satisfy any of the
> specific requests CRAN asked me for.  I have checked several other CRAN
> packages for textbooks and they don't seem to satisfy those requirements
> either.  So this seems to be a new idea from CRAN.
>
> On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 11:32 AM Neal Fultz <nfultz using gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm not sure exactly what cran is asking for, but the wooldridge
> > package is a good example of a text book data set package, so maybe
> > you can use the same format they did.
> >
> > https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/wooldridge/index.html
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Neal
> >
> > On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 9:08 AM Charles Geyer <charlie using stat.umn.edu>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I have a package that has the datasets for Categorical Data Analysis by
> > > Agresti that do not appear in the book.  The whole package is a github
> > repo
> > > https://github.com/cjgeyer/CatDataAnalysis.  All of the data were
> > > translated mechanically using the R script foo.R included in the repo
> > (but
> > > not in the package) from Agresti's web site
> > > http://www.stat.ufl.edu/~aa/cda/data.html.
> > >
> > > This package seems to be a useful service to students and teachers.
> The
> > > data
> > > are much simpler to use with this package than trying to get the data
> > from
> > > Agresti's web page (foo.R has 277 lines of code).
> > >
> > > When I submitted the package to CRAN, I got the following response.
> > >
> > > > The Description field of the DESCRIPTION file is intended to be a
> (one
> > > > paragraph) description of what the package does and why it may be
> > > > useful. Please elaborate. Tell the users what the datasets are about
> > and
> > > > what they contain so they can use them even when they haven't read
> your
> > > > book.
> > >
> > > > Please fix and resubmit, and document what was changed in the
> > submission
> > > > comments.
> > >
> > > In an alternate universe without copyright law this seems a reasonable
> > > request.  In this universe it seems to be asking for trouble.  I know
> > about
> > > fair use, but I am not a lawyer and do not want to walk the borderline
> > > between fair use and copyright violation.
> > >
> > > The package as it is seems OK because it comes from the author's public
> > web
> > > site and these data were never in the book.
> > >
> > > Please note that I made Alan Agresti (with his acquiescence) the author
> > of
> > > the package because it is his book and his data, but I (or rather
> foo.R)
> > > did all the work.
> > >
> > > I replied to cran.r-project.org, but that was apparently sent to
> > /dev/null.
> > >
> > > This book is IMHO the authoritative textbook on the subject.  Amazon
> > sales
> > > rank agrees.  The book is used for many courses.  So this package would
> > be
> > > very helpful as is to many students and teachers.
> > >
> > > So what to do?  Is there any way to get this package on CRAN?
> > >
> > > --
> > > Charles Geyer
> > > Professor, School of Statistics
> > > Resident Fellow, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science
> > > University of Minnesota
> > > charlie using stat.umn.edu
> > >
> > >         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> > >
> > > ______________________________________________
> > > R-package-devel using r-project.org mailing list
> > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
> >
>
>
> --
> Charles Geyer
> Professor, School of Statistics
> Resident Fellow, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science
> University of Minnesota
> charlie using stat.umn.edu
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-package-devel using r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
>

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