What is creative commons?
A creative commons (CC) license is one of the several public copyright licenses that enable free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. It is commonly used when the owner wants to give other people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created. Creative commons offer license and tools to the public free of charge as it is a non-for-profit organisation dedicated to building a globally accessible public of culture and knowledge.
How does one obtain a Creative Commons license?
To obtain a Creative Commons license, there are many things you should consider which is deeply discussed on their website. These include:
- Is the material copyrightable?
- Do you own the material you want to license? If not, are you otherwise authorized to license it under the specific CC license you are interested in using? You should not apply a license to material that you do not own or that you are not authorized to license.
- Are you aware that CC licenses are not revocable?
- Are you a member of a collecting society?
- Always read the terms and conditions of the specific license you plan to apply.
After this step requires deciding to choose a license, which you can do so on their Creative Commons website. It can be confusing to choose a license, that’s why CC Australia has developed a flow chart that can help you settle on what license is better for you. They have also discussed a list of examples various licenses and their overall strategies. CC Australia recommends you read case studies and use their useful resources such as their CC community email discussion lists.
What are the different types of licenses offered?
There are 6 types of licenses offered:
Attribution: This licence allows others to ‘distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work’ given that credit is given to the original owner/creation. Considered to be the most hospitable licence.
Attribution-Share Alike: This license allows others ‘remix, adapt, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes’, given that credit is given to the original owner/creation and license their new creation.
Attribution-No Derives: This license allows others to reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in any adapted form, and credit is given to the original owner/creation.
Attribution-Non-commercial: This license allows others ‘remix, adapt, and build upon your work’ for non-commercial uses, given that credit is given to the original owner/creation. They don’t have to license their derivative work.
Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike: This license allows others ‘remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially’, given that credit is given to the original owner/creation and license their new creation.
Attribution-Non-commercial-No Derives: This license is the most restrictive. Only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but cannot change them in any way or use them commercially.
Where can content makers find CC material?
To find reusable materials, Creative Commons has a dedicated CC Search portal, search.creativecommons.org. The Search portal lets one search for reusable content — based on keyword, licence type and type of material — all from the Creative Commons website.
Many websites also hold CC licensed materials- such as:
- For Images and video – Flickr – flickr.com/creativecommons
- For music – CC Mixter – ccmixter.org
- For Sounds- Free sound- freesound.org
- For only images – Open photo and Picture Australia – openphoto.net; pictureaustralia.org
- For only videos- Blip.tv and Engage Media – blip.tv; http://www.engagemedia.org
- For images, videos, music and text – ABC Pool- pool.abc.net.au
BCM113 – Ankita Som, Ben Highfield, Madison Hammett. Monica Grace, Samantha Dorigato
Samantha's Show 