Module 1: Overview of Creative Commons

Learning Outcomes:

  • Understand why Creative Commons was created and the copyright issues that it addresses.

  • Learn about how Creative Commons has enabled technical, legal, and policy solutions for governments, institutions, individuals and communities.

  • Learn about the strategies for growing the commons.

What is Creative Commons?

"Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that helps overcome legal obstacles to the sharing of knowledge and creativity to address the world’s pressing challenges."

Why was Creative Commons Created?

- To help us realize the full potential of the internet.

- To help address the tension between an ability to share digital works globally and copyright regulation.

- Technology makes it possible for online content to be consumed by millions of people at once. However, copyright law places limits on our ability to take advantage of these possibilities.

"This seemingly simple idea, of an ‘author’ creating a license enabling people to freely access and adapt copyright material, without charge or special permission, is one of the great ideas of the 21st century. This does not take away someone’s copyright, but enables that copyright holder to give permission automatically for different kinds of use of their material without charge or any bureaucracy."

Tony Bates, Teaching in a Digital Age Chapter 10

Why use a Creative Commons License?

Creative Commons licenses are appropriate for creators who want to provide people with one or more of the permissions governed by copyright law.

Growing the Commons

In 2020, Creative Commons embarked on a new strategy

  • Advocacy: Reshape the open ecosystem to support equitable and prosocial sharing in the public interest.

  • Innovation: Enhance the open infrastructures to foster sustainable and ethical sharing in the public interest.

  • Capacity Building: Make knowledge and cultural heritage assets as openly accessible as possible

This work focuses on empowering governments, institutions, individuals and communities around the world by equipping them with technical, legal, and policy solutions to enable sharing of knowledge and culture in the public interest.

Creative Commons: A Global Community

Attributions

Content in this module is from or paraphrased from the following sources:

Creative Commons World Network by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Announcing Our 20th Anniversary “Better Sharing” Campaign by Steve Snodgrass is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Creative Commons: What is it anyway? by Susan Kung is licensed under CC BY 4.0

1. What Is Creative Commons? | Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians and GLAM by Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians and GLAM by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

3. Anatomy of a CC License | Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians and GLAM by Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians and GLAM by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Teaching in a Digital Age by Tony Bates is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

State of the Creative Commons 2017 by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Where CC-licensed works are published by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Additional Resources

Robinson E. A., (2021). Review of Creative Commons for Educators and Librarians. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 9(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.12904

Weichler, J. (2020). How and why to use Creative Commons licensed work. Opensource.com