I just discovered that my diagram illustrating the PDCA cycle, which I created in Illustrator and uploaded to share on Wikipedia was trans...
I just discovered that my diagram illustrating the PDCA cycle, which I created in Illustrator and uploaded to share on Wikipedia was translated into French and uploaded by a fellow user to the French Wiki.I originally created the diagram to teach the Deming Quality system, which includes the whole PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act). The cycle helps to improve quality in the long run as it encourages people to learn from their mistakes and develop better ways of doing things.
Needless to say, I was rather flattered by this turn of events. There is this small sense of pride that someone saw your work useful enough to translate so others would be able to use it too.
It shows the power of collaborative efforts. Had I decided to go down the usual route and maintain full copyright to the diagram, then Michel would have needed to contact me asking for formal permission to create the derivative work. For most people, this step would be enough to discourage them in doing anything. As a result, the number of people who can benefit does not increase.
Instead, by using a Creative Common’s license, I gave explicit permission and encouraged anyone to create a derivative work without having to ask for permission. The results are clear: now the French have a PDCA cycle they can use in universities or companies. It provided efficiency, speed and encouragement to create works, and to share them so even more people will be able to benefit in the long run. After all, knowledge should be shared to benefit as many people as possible.
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