Creative commons explained
Copyright holding you back? It restricts whose content you can use, who can use yours, and just how far you get along the internet pipeline. But thanks to some caring, sharing techies, we now have another option - creative commons!
Submitted
1/20/2010
By
actnow
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648
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0
Updated
2/12/2010
Photographer : jorgeandresem @ Flickr
Most of us don’t understand copyright laws, what we are allowed to use and what we own the rights to. That’s why we’re thankful for a certain group of community minded techies. They’ve done the hard yards and got copyright sussed, told us what needs to change and have come up with an alternative.
For this group of pro-sharing, intellectual property experts, default copyright laws are simply too rigid. They only offer a blanket approach that applies to every work ever created, regardless of the creator’s wishes. Copyright laws dictate that you own your creative work as soon as it is created and that others must ask your permission to share, reproduce or change your work. Sure, these laws sound great for keeping tight control over any of your masterpieces, but for those that want their work passed around they’re hardly accommodating.
Sharing is caring
Previously, there was no system for dictating what can or can’t be done to your work. It was all rights reserved (copyright), or no rights (public domain). That’s where creative commons comes in. It fills the middle ground.
Creative commons is the brainchild of those dissatisfied intellectual property experts. It offers ways to share your work with others and for them to share it with you according to the wishes of the original author. Have a look at this nifty video summary:
Sharing worldwide
The creative commons project is spreading fast worldwide. Australia is now one of forty countries to have taken up the project, with another eight countries still in the roll out phase. Have a look at this video to see why this alternative to copyright is so appealing:
Licensing logistics
First things first. Before you can start offering up your work to the world, you need to make sure you have the authority to do so. If you’re not the original creator or copyright holder, you need to get permission to re-license any content. For example, if your employer holds the ownership rights to a graphic, you’re using someone else’s PowerPoint presentation, or if you’ve got some videos on your website that aren’t yours, you need the copyright holders permission to re-license that content first.
Once you know you’re good to go, the easiest way to contribute to the commons is by using this free online tool. It’ll take you through a few quick questions, and work out what license will work for you. It’ll provide the source code to add the creative commons graphic to your content. If you do get stuck there’s a tutorial available too!
Be warned though, you can’t change your mind. Once a work is creative commons licensed, you are free to remove that license. But anyone who has already acquired your work via creative commons is free to keep using it in accordance with the original license.
Searching for sharers
Unfortunately, there is no real one stop shop for creative commons content. The creative commons search does try to make it easier for you, but it’s up to you to make sure the content is definitely free for your use. Check out Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons who have cataloged a heap of text and media files for free use. If you need photos in particular, Flickr hosts over 127 million happy snaps under various creative commons licenses.
If you’re a YouTube user, the Audioswap function allows you to add tunes to your video from a YouTube library for free. If you think you’ve got rhythm, try mixing your own songs on Musicshake or Dopetracks with thousands of copyright-free music samples. You can also use these sites to pick up an original by someone else.
Last of all, add to the pool. Link creative commons work back to its original source to help others scout out free content. If you’re using a lot of creative commons content, remember that you’re working off other people’s generosity. Loosen the sharing restrictions on some of your own work a little and see where your creative fans take you.
This work is licenced under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence.
© 2008. First published on actnow.com.au
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