Creative Commons is an international non-profit program that works to give creators a way to share their information with others to encourage further creativity and growth. Check out this badge program to find out about Creative Commons and how it affects copyright.
Steps
1. Copyright.
Copyright allows you to keep the rights to the things you create and each country has their own definition. US copyright law allows authors / artists the exclusive rights to:
- Hold onto their creations
- Make and sell copies
- Create derivative works
- Publically display or perform the work
- Digitally transmit it
These rights are limited to 70 years after the creator’s death. Find out more about the copyright laws in the country in which you live.
2. Creative Commons.
Creative Commons gives copyright owners the ability to give up some, or all, of their rights. They strive to make this free and easy-to-use. By using this simple, standardized way to give up some rights, the public has permission to share and use your creative work. You do control how they can use it by the rights you assign to it.
Creative Commons has representatives in 85 countries to ensure that the rights allowed by their licensing is consistent internationally. It can be used for any work EXCEPT software and hardware.
3. Why?
Using a Creative Commons license allows your work to spread. What is the use of creating something if only one or two people purchase it? While there are a lot of reasons to keep control of all rights, like making money from it, releasing one or more rights gets more people involved with your work, they can improve upon it and share it with others. Explore one or more works with a Creative Commons license. Is it something you would share?
4. Licenses.
What rights can you keep or give away? Here’s a short list. As you look through it, think of the items you create What would you be willing to give up so that more people see your work?
- BY – Your attribution stays with the work. – It’s your copyright.
- NC – Non-Commercial – It cannot be sold.
- ND – No Derivatives – Other products cannot be made from it.
- PD – Public Domain – You release all rights to it to the public.
- SA – Share Alike – It can be shared / adapted in any way including commercially.
That said, these can be put into the following groupings:
- BY (only)
- BY-ND
- BY-NC-NC
- BY-NC
- BY-NC-SA
- BY-SA
- PD
Look at the first bulleted list and see what each of these symbols means in regards to rights and how they work together.
5. Enrichment Project.
You knew it would be here. If you check out my materials, you’ll see that I use a Creative Commons license. I do BY-NC. In other words, my copyright information stays with the file (attribution), but you can share it as long as you don’t sell it (non-commercial). This includes sales of the individual files or in archives.
This license allows you to keep a copy and put it into Activity Boxes, use it to train adults, as programming for the kids, share it with other leaders, etc. By allowing you to use the material without asking permission to do so, you’re more likely to use and share it.
6. CC0.
CCO is another way of expressing the item is in the public domain. Files with this designation can be used freely as you wish. There is a growing movement of people who are giving up their rights so information can be shared and spread. Do a search for CC0 content. Is there any you might use?
7. Length of term.
The term for a Creative Commons license is the same as the copyright for the work. So, if someone writes a book and allows it to be shared (BY-NC), when the copyright expires, so does the Creative Commons license. They go hand-in-hand. In addition, once a work has a Creative Commons license applied to it, it cannot be rescinded.
8. Trolls.
There are people out there who want to claim public domain (and other rights-restricted) content as their own. This isn’t just individuals who do this, but companies as well. They’re looking for money for doing nothing.
A certain well-known stock image provider sued a photographer for using her own work. She had released it to the public domain. They claimed she got it from their site and hadn’t licensed it. The stock image provider lost, but most of the suits they file are settled out of court. So, they are forcing people who don’t realize the images are in the public domain to pay for them.
Always check out the rights on any piece of content before you use it.
9. Use.
Take a piece of Creative Commons content that allows you rights to change it and do so. You’ll find it is easier to create something new when you have guidelines to follow. By allowing you rights, you can add to the original content and make it better or adapt it to new circumstances like technological advances. This is why the copyright terms were originally much shorter . . . so progress could continue to flow. Unfortunately, greed has slowed down the movement of works moving into the public domain. This is why Creative Commons is so important.
10. More.
This badge program only covers a small amount of what Creative Commons is. To find out more, check out their site at creativecommons.org.
11. Public domain.
To learn more about the public domain, check out the Public Domain badge set at the Enrichment Project.
Supplements
Member Level
- EP_Badge List_Creative Commons_larajla — list of badge items
- EP_Badge Set_Creative Commons_larajla — list of badge set and related badges
- EP_Supp_List_Creative Commons_larajla — list of supplements for the badge
- SUPP_BPG_Creative Commons_2in_12up_larajla — generic badge printable
- SUPP_Creative Commons_Journal_larajla — badge journal
- SUPP_Creative Commons_Planner_larajla — badge planner
Supplement Fun
- N/A
Sites to Explore
- creativecommons.org
- creativecommonsusa.org/index.php/fact-sheets
- wikicreativecommons.org
- www.flickr.com/creativecommons
Get the infographic here > larajla blog post
Get the PDFs of the badge program / supplements here > Full badge PDFs