I'm a Systems Reliability and DevOps engineer for Netdata Inc. When not working, I enjoy studying linguistics and history, playing video games, and cooking all kinds of international cuisine.
That depends, who manages the dictionary, and what format is it in?
If it's a private organization like Merriam-Webster, then yeah, I see no reason for them to make access free (though Merriam-Webster does make online access free, at least for interactive usage).
However, in the case of a government backed organization like the Svenska Akademien or the Real Academia Española where the whole point is to maintain the national language, then they're making their job more difficult if they are not providing free interactive access online. Charging for API access and printed dictionaries makes sense though, as the first is an easy avenue for abuse and the second is far from free for them to produce.
If it's a private organization like Merriam-Webster, then yeah, I see no reason for them to make access free (though Merriam-Webster does make online access free, at least for interactive usage).
Yup, I also don't see why they would, it's their business. I was talking more about government-backed or institution-backed.
However, in the case of a government backed organization like the Svenska Akademien or the Real Academia Española where the whole point is to maintain the national language, then they're making their job more difficult if they are not providing free interactive access online. Charging for API access and printed dictionaries makes sense though, as the first is an easy avenue for abuse and the second is far from free for them to produce.
I think government-backed organizations should give some type of access to their data, in virtual form at least. We can't expect them to give free paper dictionaries, but at least make the API accessible or offer some kind of a dump. Charging a moderate amount for the API would be acceptable as well, as they are not free to run. Maybe even add rates and quotas.
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That depends, who manages the dictionary, and what format is it in?
If it's a private organization like Merriam-Webster, then yeah, I see no reason for them to make access free (though Merriam-Webster does make online access free, at least for interactive usage).
However, in the case of a government backed organization like the Svenska Akademien or the Real Academia Española where the whole point is to maintain the national language, then they're making their job more difficult if they are not providing free interactive access online. Charging for API access and printed dictionaries makes sense though, as the first is an easy avenue for abuse and the second is far from free for them to produce.
Yup, I also don't see why they would, it's their business. I was talking more about government-backed or institution-backed.
I think government-backed organizations should give some type of access to their data, in virtual form at least. We can't expect them to give free paper dictionaries, but at least make the API accessible or offer some kind of a dump. Charging a moderate amount for the API would be acceptable as well, as they are not free to run. Maybe even add rates and quotas.