Remixing

As an introduction to the broad concept of remixing – and all that it implies – please watch this short video from a TED Talk given by Lawrence Lessig.

Lessig is a Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, but more relevant to this and other topics in this badge, he is a widely publicized and published proponent of Creative Commons on which he serves as member of Board of Directors. That his area of specialization is copyright and intellectual property is an interesting detail in his interesting work. Read more about Lessig at his official website.

Creating new, open content vs. remixing content

Before you begin to create open resources, it is important to understand the difference between licensing content you have created entirely on your own, and licensing content that is a remix of other works (peer produced). Consider the following questions:

CREATING YOUR OWN CONTENT 

REMIXING CONTENT

Now let’s move to creating content that includes works from others (“remixing”). The biggest concern when remixing is making sure that the items you are mixing together are licensed in a way that is compatible with each other.

This takes a little practice to understand. For example, CC-BY-SA can’t be remixed with CC-BY-SA-NC. Try your hand at CC Remix Game, which allows you to practice mixing content that is compatible with each other. 

Please note that there are earlier and later versions of the CC licenses (4.0 is the currrent version.) While they address the same components (share alike, attribution, etc.), there are minor differences that generally do not affect reuse. Specific details can be found here.

Assignment

Using the Creative Commons License Chooser tool, answer the following short questions. Please be absolutely sure to say why the items can or cannot be remixed. It is not enough to just say if they can or cannot be remixed. You are mixing together the following items: