Creative Commons: Some Rights Reserved

Creative Commons: Some Rights Reserved
by: Michael Kudela
Instructional Designer - IDEAL, BGSU

What is the Creative Commons
The Creative Commons is an organization interested in the idea of sharing user created content, without giving up all rights associated with that content. Creative Commons Licenses allow creators to keep their copyright but allow other users to copy and distribute the work, provided they give the creator the credit. All Creative Commons licenses require attribution. This means that others may share your work so long as they credit the original author.

Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work. They do not give you the ability to restrict anything that is otherwise permitted by exceptions or limitations to copyright—including, importantly, fair use or fair dealing—nor do they give you the ability to control anything that is not protected by copyright law, such as facts and ideas. Creative Commons licenses attach to the work and authorize everyone who comes in contact with the work to use it consistent with the license.

Creative Commons licenses are non-revocable. This means that you cannot stop someone, who has obtained your work under a Creative Commons license, from using the work according to that license. You can stop offering your work under a Creative Commons license at any time you wish; but this will not affect the rights associated with any copies of your work already in circulation under a Creative Commons license.

Why Use Creative Commons
There can be great reward behind the idea of open information. The main idea behind the Creative Commons allows others to build upon your creative work. Currently, you are given full copyright over any creative content you make. This includes: literature, art, music, photographs, and video. Having copyright over your content means that other people can not use your content unless they have permission from the copyright holder. Creative Commons allows a person to legally share their content and still maintain some rights over how their content is shared. Other people can add to your work, and then redistribute it for other people to add more knowledge or create something entirely new based on your material.

By entering content into the Creative Commons, Instructors can allow their peers to build upon that knowledge. The Creative Commons opens the door for collaboration, while still maintaining ownership. Adding your work to the Creative Commons is not the only reason of interest. Creative Commons also offers a wide gamut of content that can be legally used by education. Educators can search for pictures and use them in class presentations. Creative Commons hosts other resources like movies, music, and more that can be used to create new content for the classroom. Instructors can search the collection of educational Creative Commons materials, ranging from articles to lesson plans, that are ready for classroom delivery.

Creative Commons Licenses have been translated into many different languages and jurisdictions around the world, so content can be shared internationally. This opens up the idea for global communication and sharing between nations.
http://creativecommons.org/international/

Types of Licensing
Creative Commons Licenses state the limitation and freedoms that you apply to your creative work. Listed below are the four main categories.
Licenses - http://creativecommons.org/license/

Attribution. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.
Noncommercial. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
Share Alike. You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

There are many combinations of licenses under the Creative Commons that a person can choose from -

Attribution (by)

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.

Attribution Share Alike (by-sa)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.

Attribution No Derivatives (by-nd)

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.

Attribution Non-commercial (by-nc)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works under the same terms.

Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.

Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd)

This license is the most restrictive of the six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Participate in the Creative Commons
If you are interested in the Creative Commons, think about licensing you work under one of the many Creative Commons options. After you licence your work, there are many available sites under the Creative Commons where you can share and promote your work. Currently, I have around 2000+ licensed images on my flickr site under the Creative Commons. http://flickr.com/photos/mkudel/
Most importantly, continue to educate yourself and others about Creative Commons.

Science Commons [http://sciencecommons.org/] - an organization working toward the advancement of Science by removing unnecessary legal and technical barriers to build collaboration and innovation.
iCommons [http://icommons.org] - an organization with a broad vision to develop a united global commons front by collaborating with open education, access to knowledge, free software, open access publishing and free culture communities around the world. iCommons will feature projects that encourage collaboration across borders and communities, and promote the tools, models and practice that facilitate universal participation in the cultural and knowledge domains.
ccLearn [http://learn.creativecommons.org/] - a division of the Creative Commons which is dedicated to realizing the full potential of the Internet to support open learning and open educational resources (OER). Our mission is to minimize barriers to sharing and reuse of educational materials — legal barriers, technical barriers, and social barriers.
ccMixter [http://ccmixter.org/] - a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want.
Search [http://search.creativecommons.org/] - search engine that looks through Google, Yahoo, flickr, blip.tv, OWL music search, and SpinXpress to find Creative Common resources.