Creative Commons
From LIS 460 Summer 2007
Contents |
Creative Commons
"Enabling the legal sharing and reuse of cultural, educational and scientific works." www.creativecommons.org
Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization offering free, flexible licensure of creative works that allows "authors, artists and educators" to decide how their video, image, text or lesson plan can or cannot be used by others. There are several styles of CC licenses that can be used in combination with one another to guide individuals or organizations who wish to use the work. These licenses offer more flexibility than traditional copyright (all rights reserved) law allows.
To clarify, Creative Commons licenses are based on traditional copyright law, and do not claim to replace copyright in any way. Creative Commons personalizes the copyright process by allowing authors to decide & communicate directly how they would allow others to use what they've created. The advantage of using something that's got a Creative Commons license is that you can be sure you're using the material correctly, and if you don't need to go beyond those limits, it saves you the time of trying to contact the creator to ask permission for use.
In addition to being a place to license a work, Creative Commons is an ever-evolving interactive hub for creators, remixers, and website developers. Users can join subscribe and contribute to online discussions, visit the commons in Second Life, or participate in creating remixed material & mashups (see "Mixter" for more on this).
You can do two major things from the Creative Commons Homepage.
Search Creative Commons
for CC-licensed works in multiple formats, from a variety of sources (Google, Flickr & BlipTV to name a few)Watch the video, Wanna Work Together? for a great overview of CC and why it exists. This is something I could imagine showing to teens or preteens you might be doing a project with; either using CC-licensed work, or when licensing student work.
Searching is easy; just enter a query and limit your search by toggling how you'd like to use what you find (commercially or non-commercially being the big distinction.)
Publish your work
The process of licensing your work using Creative Commons is simple; you answer questions about how you'd like other to use the work you're publishing, and have the option of including more information about your work, such as a title and description.
Using Creative Commons within a school community
Teachers & Administrators could use Creative Commons licenses to publish lesson plans and projects they feel to be exemplary and share them with the broader world of educators.
Students could learn more about copyright and why it matters by learning about Creative Commons. The personal take on licensing work in CC would likely make an impact on students, and help them to understand created works as proprietary, putting individual faces to the work licensed on CC. If students were engaged in using other technologies for school projects (podcasts, videos, etc.), you could lead a publishing workshop in order to take their work to the next level; validating and giving students ownership of their work.
Library Teachers can end up being at the center of the school (to use Linda's phrase) because we know how all of this crazy copyright business works (or if we don't, we know how to find out!). We can be leaders in the school community by encouraging the creation, publication and proper protection of works by teachers, administrators and students. If librarians can continue chipping away at the negative perceptions many families, teachers & administrators seem to have about the Internet with its many mysteries & dangers by offering ways for people to engage safely with online resources. Librarians can help all parties become informed, connected, productive participants in the growing online community.
Public Domain
A phrase thrown around a lot on Creative Commons... Read on for public domain, as defined by the US Copyright Office:
Where is the public domain?
The public domain is not a place. A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner. From copyright.gov FAQ
See additional information about the public domain at The Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Questions I still had
...after poking around on CC, and found answers to on the CC FAQ page!
My question: Will CC license infringements be persecuted under law?
FAQ version: "Are Creative Commons licenses enforceable in a court of law? The Creative Commons Legal Code has been drafted with the intention that it will be enforceable in court. That said, we can not account for every last nuance in the world's various copyright laws and/or the circumstances within which our licenses are applied and Creative Commons-licensed content is used. Please note, however, that our licenses contain "severability" clauses -- meaning that, if a certain provision is found to be unenforeceable in a certain place, that provision and only that provision drops out of the license, leaving the rest of the agreement intact."
My question: Who's keeping track of the use of CC licenses and whether or not people are using them appropriately?
FAQ version & then some:
Will Creative Commons help me enforce my license? Unfortunately, Creative Commons is not permitted to provide legal advice or legal services to assist you with enforcing the licenses. We cannot afford to provide any ancillary services particular to your situation and, in any case, our mission does not include providing such services. We are not a law firm. We're much like a legal self-help press that offers form documentation -- at no cost -- for you to use however you see fit. However, if you are based in the US, you may be able to find a suitably qualified volunteer lawyer in your area from this site. If you are based in Australia, the Arts Law Centre of Australia may be able to put you in touch with a volunteer lawyer.
What happens if someone misuses my Creative Commons-licensed work? A Creative Commons license terminates automatically if someone uses your work contrary to the license terms. This means that, if a person uses your work under a Creative Commons license and they, for example, fail to attribute your work in the manner you specified, then they no longer have the right to continue to use your work. This only applies in relation to the person in breach of the license; it does not apply generally to the other people who use your work under a Creative Commons license and comply with its terms.
Related Links
US copyright office See the FAQ page for a "tip of the month"
Article about Copyright in Wikipedia
Article about Creative Commons in Wikipedia
PC Mag.com: Opinion article about Creative Commons Creative Commons Humbug
