# articles

feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43122
title: OKFestival Keynote Spotlight: Beatriz Busaniche
uri: OKFestival-Keynote-Spotlight-Beatriz-Busaniche
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43122
content:
<p><em>This guest blog post was written by Katelyn Rogers. <a href="http://2014.okfestival.org/okfestival-keynote-spotlight-beatriz-busaniche/">It was originally published on the Open Knowledge Festival website</a>.</em></p>
<p align="center"><img src="media/d8fe0da1.beatriz.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/beatriz.png" width=318 height=401 /></p>
<p>The Open Knowledge Festival team is thrilled to announce that <a href="https://twitter.com/beabusaniche">Beatriz Busaniche</a> will be joining us as a keynote speaker in Berlin this year. Beatriz Busaniche is a free software and culture expert and advocate, a board member of the <a href="http://www.vialibre.org.ar/">Vía Libre Foundation</a> in Argentina, a professor at the University of Buenos Aires, a core team member at <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org.ar/">Creative Commons Argentina</a>, and a founding member of <a href="http://www.wikimedia.org.ar/">Wikimedia Argentina</a>.</p>
<p>Beatriz Busaniche&#8217;s &#8220;Freedom has Never Been Cheap &#8211; A Call to Action for Freedom and the Public Domain&#8221; will draw on the wealth of experience she has in fighting to keep the internet open and free. This talk will do more than simply explain how the public domain is at risk; Beatriz will call on all OKFestival participants to lead the way for the entire global open knowledge community.</p>
<p>Because &#8216;free&#8217; as in &#8216;freedom&#8217; has never come cheap, she will ask that we go beyond passive learning by joining forces and putting ourselves on the front line in the fight for a free public domain. To help us take those first steps, Beatriz will offer examples of and learnings from her own experiences as an activist fighting for the freedom of the public domain and, in doing so, her keynote will aim to truly address and impact the challenges which we are currently facing in the intellectual property debate.</p>
<p>Here is a sneak peak (in Spanish) of Beatriz speaking at TEDxCordoba, and as you may be able to see, we have a lot to look forward to!</p>
<p align="center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/c-0tEvw1i4s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Beatriz Busaniche&#8217;s Keynote will be followed by a Q&#038;A session moderated by Creative Commons board member and <a href="https://webwewant.org/">Web We Want</a> lead <a href="https://twitter.com/avilarenata">Renata Avila</a>. We will open up the discussion to questions from the audience as we begin to develop long term strategies for engaging the entire open knowledge movement in the defence of the public domain!</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://2014.okfestival.org/tickets/">still tickets left</a>. Join Beatriz Busaniche and hundreds of other members of the global open knowledge community at OKFestival from July 15th to July 17th to share experiences, learn from peers, and collectively build a stronger open knowledge movement. Don’t miss out, <a href="http://2014.okfestival.org/tickets/">buy your OKFestival tickets today</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43130
title: New job at CC: Director of development
uri: New-job-at-CC-Director-of-development
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43130
content:
<p>Today, <a href="/opportunities#dirdev">we&#8217;re opening up a new job posting</a>, for a director of development. This person will be in charge of raising money to support our work &#8211; building and maintaining our relationships with foundations, corporations, and individual donors.</p>
<p><a href="/opportunities#dirdev">From the job description</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p>Creative Commons is seeking a Director of Development to lead development on behalf of the organization. You will be responsible for securing the resources and relationships necessary to fulfill our vision to realize the full potential of the Internet &#8211; universal access to research and education, full participation in culture &#8211; to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity. Our reach is global and our ambitions are far-reaching — you’re going to have your work cut out for you.</p></blockquote>
<p>If you have a great track record as a fundraiser; you want to help strengthen the free culture movement; and you want to work in a fast-paced, international organization; then we should talk.</p>
<p>To apply, <a href="/opportunities#dirdev">please follow the instructions in the job listing</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43115
title: Affiliate Project Grants Wrap Up
uri: Affiliate-Project-Grants-Wrap-Up
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43115
content:
<p><a title="top" name="top"></a></p>
<p><img alt="Affiliate Project Grants Wrap Up" src="media/005acc65.8249753855_bbdbcd5344_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/8249753855_bbdbcd5344_z.jpg" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/8249753855">opensource.com</a> / <a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>One year ago, CC announced the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Affiliate_Project_Grants">Affiliate Project Grants</a> to support and expand CC’s global network of dedicated experts. With a little help from Google, we were able to increase the capacity of CC’s Affiliates to undertake projects around the world benefiting a more free, open, and innovative internet.</p>
<p>We received over 70 applicants, and we were <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39505">able to fund 18</a> to tackle important work in their country &#8211; work like using music to break down physical barriers and give Palestinians a voice, gathering leaders in Tanzania to discuss how sharing information can help prevent diabetes, and helping Romanian librarians provide quality educational materials to all.</p>
<p>Watching these projects unfold over the last several months has been reaffirming for everyone at CC. The Affiliates are central to CC’s work, without whom we would simply not be closer to our goal of a more open internet.</p>
<p><a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Affiliate_Project_Grants#Recipient_Final_Reports">Click here</a> to find out the full details of the different grants, and read on to see what our 18 teams had to say on the <a href="#results">results they achieved</a>,  <a href="#motivations">motivations for their projects</a>,  <a href="#work">the work still to be done</a>, and  <a href="#lessons">lessons learned</a>.</p>
<div id="results">Congrats to the Affiliate teams for all the great work accomplished!</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Results Achieved</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 20px; text-align: center;"><img alt="Hope Spoken Broken" src="media/9f0e5609.Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.16.58-PM.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.16.58-PM.png" width="175" height="220" /> <span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
<a href="http://hopespokenbroken.com/">Hope Spoken Broken</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">“We are pleased that we were able to impact the way the people who shared their stories with us think about the concept of sharing stories. Some people when they were asked before to share their suffering and their personal stories on video were not totally sure they wanted to do it, but after seeing the output of their stories reflected on by poets and artists from all over the world, we think we were able to provide them a platform to express themselves and feel part of a greater community that is sharing the same hopes and fears.<br />
[We want to expand] the project concept to other marginalized communities around the world.”<br />
<em>-Bashar Lubbad, Palestine, “<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4MDdSTjVuUEhtRGc/edit"><em>Hope Spoken/Broken: Change in the Eyes of Palestinian Refugees</em></a>”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;The result was publication of a guide on free culture movements in Arabic and a website where it can be downloaded freely in e-book format: <a href="http://www.freecultureguide.net/">www.freecultureguide.net</a>. We target artists, journalists, bloggers and other content creators and the general public who is unfamiliar to the free culture movement and concepts, as this is the first book of its kind in Arabic about this topic.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Ahmed Mansour, CC Morocco, “<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/document/d/1XJKXeh5HCX0x6zPfRRkG9NpZC-SR9Q0sSz1asFhFFk4/edit"><em>Creative BookSprint</em></a>&#8220;</em></p>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 20px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="media/eaac8364.276380757_1ac950f28f_q.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/276380757_1ac950f28f_q.jpg" width="75" height="75" /><br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/4everyoung/276380757">Adriano Gasparri</a> /<br />
<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Lack of consumer level tools is still seen as a major obstacle in CC adoption. WpLicense is now a tool that can be applied to millions of blogs.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Tarmo Toikkanen, CC Finland, “<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4RUx6Q1h6a2FSc1E/edit"><em>WordPress License Revived</em></a>”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;More concretely, participants learnt how to: adapt traditional services to a non-traditional model; locate learning objects that can be reused under CC licence; investigate and use alternative publishing platforms; and apply project management processes to a hack project.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Matt McGregor, CC New Zealand, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4SDlZZnladjNrQjA/edit"><em>Media Text Hack</em></a>&#8220;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="center"><img alt="" src="media/075d746c.Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.13.41-PM.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.13.41-PM.png" width="400" height="87" /><br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><a href="media/f3581b29.COOKBOOK_final16May.pdf" data-original-source="https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/texthack/files/2014/05/COOKBOOK_final16May.pdf">The Cookbook</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p align="center">&#8220;Museums and other memory institutions in Taiwan often have their collections digitized.<br />
A major part of the digitized works shall be in the public domain. However, many of these institutions often keep these works in the equivalents of digital safes, and there are no easy ways to access and reuse them. Together with Netivism Ltd. (a social enterprise based in Taipei) CC Taiwan engaged with memory institutions and independent collectors in Taiwan about the tools and practices for public domain repositories.<br />
Exemplary public domain repositories are being setup using MediaGoblin (a free software package for hosting media collections) with new extensions developed for and supported by this project grant.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Tyng-Ruey Chuang, CC Taiwan, &#8220;Practices and Depositories for the Public Domain&#8221;</em>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 20px; text-align: center;"><img alt="CC Kenya" src="media/a29bf572.Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.06.38-PM.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.06.38-PM.png" width="300" height="183"/> <span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1y5Z4yHmWE&#038;feature=youtu.be">Chemical Titration</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;As a result of the interaction, the students were able to experience the Open culture which has caused a boom in the Kenyan tech scene. They identified industries that were etched on the sole  foundation of Open tools in Kenya and were able to understand more experientially than before, the importance of such ideals.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Simeon Oriko, CC Kenya, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4cXA0N1VuT3JvX2c/edit"><em>School of Open Kenya Initiative</em></a>&#8220;</em>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br clear=all/></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Obami, a platform for resource exchange for elementary school students, has seen a number of copyright violations. Instead of policing kids&#8217; actions, the Creative Commons for Kids program will teach kids how to open and share their creative and educational works legally through the use of CC licenses [...] introducing Creative Commons to the next generation of Africa.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Kelsey Wiens, CC South Africa, &#8220;Creative Commons For Kids&#8221;</em>
</p>
</blockquote>
<div id="motivations"></div>
<p><a class="tinylink" href="#top">back to top</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Motivations</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">“Despite all the work we have done, CC is still an unknown concept to most people in the Arab region. We live in a copy/paste region where it will take a lot of hard work for people to understand the concepts of attribution. After a series of CC presentations in local schools (ages 12 to 18), we found that CC awareness is almost non-existent. On the other hand, our videos at <a href="http://www.wezank.com">wezank.com</a> have been very popular online and we believe that using this asset to spread CC&#8217;s mission &amp; vision would be highly effective across the region. [... This project] is about creating content in Arabic for the CC community, and at any stage, anyone wishing to present CC in Arabic will be able to use those videos.”<br />
-<em>Maya Zankoul, CC Lebanon, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4dS1ZWGhlT2c1TmM/edit"><em>CC Simply Explained in Arabic</em></a>&#8220;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="center"><img alt="Wezank" src="media/10c9cde3.Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.02.31-PM.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-11-at-5.02.31-PM.png" width="350" height="231" /><br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><a href="http://wezank.com/portfolio/creative-commons/">wezank.com</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;[Information is power]&#8230; In Africa, this rich geography of information doesn’t yet exist. And not because there isn’t the richness of knowledge, history or place, but, for a number of reasons, because there is little culture of contribution to the Internet.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Kelsey Wiens, Cross Regional Africa, &#8220;Activate Africa&#8221;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;If the government [in Japan] adopts CC BY or CC zero, data released under these terms will bring scalable impact on the public in a sense that it will help reuse of government data with minimum restrictions. The workshop materials are open to the public, and some of the attendees will learn to teach others, which give the project some ripple effects beyond its immediate outcomes.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Tomoaki Watanabe, CC Japan, &#8220;Workshops and Symposium for Open Data in Japan&#8221;<br />
</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 20px; text-align:center;"><img src="media/7ecd74d8.12497594864_9c0cc48e88_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/12497594864_9c0cc48e88_z.jpg" width="300" height="162"/> <span style="font-size: 11px;" "text-align:center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pongo2007/12497594864">pongo 2007</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0//">CC BY-NC</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;In the Arab world there were several personalities who have a positive influence in the history of their country, in  different areas. That’s why I wish to publish with the help of the Arab community, an Arabic book under CC license, which tells us their lives, stories, and their influence on their own countries.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>-Faiza Souici, CC Algeria, “Arabic Icons”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><br clear=all/></p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;In Colombia, libraries and librarians have become one of the important civil society groups that are collectively seeking information, understanding and participating in public spaces trying to redefine copyright as a tool for access to knowledge and not just as a source of income for some people. [...] The material in this course will be open as a self-guided course that can be tapped on demand — individually, at a user-preferred time and date. Moreover, the course can be harnessed as a group, from a collective or specific institution, to be facilitated according to the possibilities and conditions of a given community.&#8221;<br />
-<em>Maritza Sanchez, CC Colombia / El Salvador / Uruguay, “An Online Course on Basic Copyright for Latinamerican Librarians”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<div id="work"></div>
<p><a class="tinylink" href="#top">back to top</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Work on the Horizon</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 20px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="media/bfa81bd6.5755218939_ae95409bda_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/5755218939_ae95409bda_z.jpg" width="275" height="155"/><br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><a href="http://www.islamelsedoudi.com/">Islam Elsedoudi</a> for <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5755218939/">opensource.com</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Latin Americans are creating and freely making available high quality and innovative music independently from big companies. But it is necessary to work better on both musicians understanding their rights and the power of sharing.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Renata Avila, CC Guatemala, &#8220;Promoting Free Music in Central and South America&#8221;<br />
</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;While Chile has encouraged the creation of open access journals nationwide, researchers with high rates of publication and citation do not see them as a real possibility when publishing. Any policy to promote the creation of journals in Chile should consider factors that give them an edge in the scientific circuit and thus becoming a real possibility by leading Chilean scientists.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Francisco Vera, CC Chile, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4cTk1ZnZ5Qm9XdmM/edit"><em>Promotion of Open Knowledge in the Chilean Academia: Ways to Facilitate Adoption of Creative Commons in the Academic World</em></a>&#8220;</em>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;The conclusion of this project is that there are only building blocks for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Romania since at the moment there is not a clear OER practice &#8211; only grassroots initiatives or projects with huge potential of becoming OER. Most of the projects we discovered in essence share the same philosophy behind OER, but they nevertheless omit to attribute a license for the created resources. In conclusion, more awareness and training activities are needed in order to reach a level of maturity regarding OER and their use.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Bogdan Manolea, CC Romania, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4WWpaWXB5aFNUQVE/edit"><em>OER Awareness Activities for Librarians and Academics in Romania</em></a>&#8220;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="center"><img src="media/05aa9a46.wks-oer-brasov-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/wks-oer-brasov-1.jpg" width="400" height="268" /><br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;">CC Romania / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></p>
<div id="lessons"></div>
<p>
<a class="tinylink" href="#top">back to top</a></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Lessons Learned</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 25px; text-align: center;"><img src="media/10adc508.Screen-Shot-2014-06-15-at-7.35.31-PM.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-15-at-7.35.31-PM.png"/ width="95" height="130"/> <span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
<a href="media/eb62299c.Public-Domain-Brief-Luganda.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.cehurd.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/03/Public-Domain-Brief-Luganda.pdf">CC Uganda Public<br />
Domain Guide</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Because many pupils and students cannot access hard copy textbooks which are discouragingly expensive, the importance of Creative Commons licenses in closing the literacy gaps which have been brought about by income inequality cannot be overstated.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Moses Mulumba, CC Uganda, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/file/d/0B_AkWZf_EUQ4S09kMDIwRTJGX28/edit"><em>Promoting Creative Commons Initiatives in Uganda</em></a>&#8220;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p><br clear=all/></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 20px; text-align: center;">
<img src="media/62ddd99d.DSC00079.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DSC00079.jpg"/ width="270" height="200"/> <span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
<a href="media/33307969.NQp6bBpCmB" data-original-source="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dobz4z2fqf81nuw/NQp6bBpCmB">CC Tanzania</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p align="center">&#8220;The lessons that I learnt and which I can share is that grants from CC headquarters however, small [has great] potential impact to CC Affiliates as it acts as catalysts to the Affiliates to keep things going and mobilizing other funds locally.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Paul Kihwelo, CC Tanzania, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/document/d/1oxpT7-5hTnT70vkfx92Wa2GBzT9JPAnCONfca7W_dDU/edit"><em>Tanzania Creative Commons Salon</em></a>&#8220;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p><br clear=all/></p>
<blockquote>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 20px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="media/f8823406.12015412106_85b6ae0e54_m.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/12015412106_85b6ae0e54_m.jpg" /><br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/114281612@N04/12015412106/">Conor McCabe</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;We learnt that there is a high level of interest in Creative Commons in Ireland, and a need to continuously engage with people who are interested in Creative Commons.&#8221;<br />
<em>-Darius Whelan, CC Ireland, &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/document/d/12mzZccQ6bdwv17hqgCgLb75-bLAlcQgxI_EEocs4F9Y/edit"><em>Awareness-raising Event in Dublin, January 2014</em></a>&#8221;<br />
</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;
</p>
<p><a class="tinylink" href="#top">back to top</a><br />
&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=42967
title: CC0 official translation into French published
uri: CC0-official-translation-into-French-published
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42967
content:
<p>CC0 now has an <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.fr" title="CC0 French">official translation into French</a>. This is the second translation of CC0, and also only the second official translation of any CC legal tool (following <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42397">CC0 in Dutch</a>, published earlier this year).</p>
<p>There are many people who deserve congratulations on this accomplishment. This is often the case for translation projects, but it is especially true with French! According to the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Code_Translation_Policy">translation policy</a> for our legal tools, we will be publishing only one official translation per language—for all of its speakers worldwide. This isn&#8217;t so difficult for some languages, which are primarily spoken in only one country. But with French-speaking countries around the world, many teams had to take part in this project so that the final text works for everyone, even across regional variations in language. </p>
<p>CC France did the tremendous task of leading the effort, coordinating their own team as well as others from Algeria, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Luxembourg, Morocco, Senegal, Switzerland, Tunisia, and collaborators from <a href="http://www.framasoft.org">Framasoft.org</a> and <a href="http://venividilibre.org">VeniVidiLibre.org</a>. </p>
<p>The CC0 translations, as well as the upcoming translations of 4.0, are as close as possible to the original English, keeping the same legal meaning. Under our new <a href"http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Code_Translation_Policy">translation policy</a>, these will all be considered equivalent: anyone linking to the legal code may use any language. We think everyone should be able to understand the legal tools they’re using, and toward that end, we put a lot of thought into simplifying the language in 4.0. But it should be true in a language everyone can read&#8211;and thanks to the translation efforts of our affiliates, we are coming closer to this goal.</p>
<p>There are many more translation projects of CC0 and of 4.0 in progress; expect to see more announcements in the coming months! (You can take a look at the list of projects <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Tools_Translation#Translations_in_progress">in progress</a>.) To get involved with an existing translation project or begin a new one, please see the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Code_Translation_Policy">translation policy</a> for information on getting started. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43164
title: New report from CC: The future is open
uri: New-report-from-CC-The-future-is-open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43164
content:
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://teamopen.cc/thefuture/"><img src="media/828a791e.thefuture-500.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/thefuture-500.png" style="width: 500px; height: 263px; "/></a></p>
<p>Today, we&#8217;re excited to launch our new annual report, <a href="http://teamopen.cc/thefuture/">The future is open</a>. In this report, you&#8217;ll learn about:</p>
<ul>
<li>Why the 4.0 CC licenses were a truly global effort.</li>
<li>The astounding community-building work that CC affiliates are doing all over the world.</li>
<li>Our work in open policy and support for global copyright reform.</li>
<li>How software developers are using CC licenses to make sharing on the internet easier.</li>
<li>The cool things <em>you&#8217;re</em> doing with CC licenses.</li>
</ul>
<p>The report features illustrations by the awesome webcartoonist <a href="http://lukesurl.com/">Luke Surl</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://teamopen.cc/thefuture/">Check it out!</a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43256
title: An Open Letter to TPP Negotiators: Copyright Term Extension Makes No Sense
uri: An-Open-Letter-to-TPP-Negotiators-Copyright-Term-Extension-Makes-No
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43256
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/dozens-organizations-and-businesses-protest-tpp-copyright-proposals"><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/dozens-organizations-and-businesses-protest-tpp-copyright-proposals"><img width="250" height="250" src="media/99579237.tpp-250.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/tpp-250.png" alt="Stop TPP Fast Track" /></a>
<p><small><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/dozens-organizations-and-businesses-protest-tpp-copyright-proposals"><span property="cc:attributionName">EFF</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/3.0/us/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Today, Creative Commons and over 35 other organizations published an <a href="https://www.eff.org/document/letter-tpp-copyright-term-extension-proposals">open letter</a> urging negotiators of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> (TPP) to rescind a proposal to extend copyright terms by another 20 years beyond its current, mandatory term.</p>
<p>This week, 12 Pacific rim countries are meeting in Ottawa, Canada, to continue secret negotiations of the widely criticized TPP trade agreement. Under the current <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIPS_Agreement">TRIPS agreement</a>, signatories are required to enact legislation granting copyright protection to individuals for the life of the author plus another 50 years. TPP negotiators, under the influence of large rights-holding companies, want to add another 20 years to the minimum copyright term.</p>
<p>If adopted, this extension would work to keep creative works out of the public domain for decades beyond the current term. It&#8217;s essentially a double-life sentence for all new works. This would be an incredible loss for the commons.</p>
<p>All creativity and knowledge owes something to what came before it &#8211; every creator builds on the ideas of their predecessors. Copyright is a limited right that is given to creators, but it also has a term limit to ensure we all benefit from culture and knowledge. Both the rights granted to creators and rights afforded to the public are necessary for a vibrant culture and the proliferation of knowledge. And the &#8220;Commons&#8221; in Creative Commons starts with the public domain. It&#8217;s the original corpus for remix. It&#8217;s why we&#8217;ve developed tools to <a href="/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">better mark</a> and <a href="/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">dedicate</a> content to the public domain. Together with hundreds of millions of works whose creators have chosen to share under generous terms of reuse with CC licenses, the commons is growing richer everyday.</p>
<p>Extending the term of copyright will undermine the potential of the public commons and needlessly limit the potential for new creativity. There is no logical reason to increase the term of copyright &#8211; an extension would create a tiny private benefit at a great cost to all of us. Most people agree that the existing term already lasts far past the amount of time required to incentivize creation (the original purpose of copyright) by granting creators a limited monopoly over a creative work. Copyright should strike a balance, giving an incentive to create while also giving the public permission to use and build on that creativity. In 2002, CC co-founder Lawrence Lessig argued against an additional 20 years of copyright protection in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldred_v._Ashcroft"><em>Eldred v. Ashcroft</em></a>. Even Milton Friedman opposed the copyright term extension, <a href="http://www.lessig.org/2006/11/only-if-the-word-nobrainer-app/">calling it a &#8220;no-brainer.&#8221;</a> Nearly all contemporary economists agree.</p>
<p>Increasing the term of copyright protection harms the commons. Any public policy that will further delay their entry into the public domain is contrary to the values we support &#8211; realizing the full potential of the Internet through universal access to the creativity that promotes active participation in culture and society.</p>
<p>Participating countries should should reject any measure in the Trans-Pacific Partnership introduced to increase the term of copyright protection. And TPP negotiations should be held in public and with the input of a broad set of stakeholders that include civil society and public interest representatives.</p>
<p>Although the letter has been presented to TPP negotiators today, they will remain open for further signatories to express their support. Interested organizations can endorse the letter <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16J2GbQ635uZ0K0YMkKPB2eJ9_Co-IYsSFmOya57eXvo/viewform">here</a>. Everyone can speak out by signing the petition at <a href="http://bit.ly/ourfairdeal">ourfairdeal.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=42867
title: CC Welcomes New Teams in India, Mongolia and Bangladesh
uri: CC-Welcomes-New-Teams-in-India-Mongolia-and-Bangladesh
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42867
content:
<p>CC is very proud to announce three additions to its Asia-Pacific community &#8211; two new affiliate teams in Mongolia and the People&#8217;s Republic of Bangladesh, and a revitalised team in the Republic of India. This boosts our Asia-Pacific community to 16 members and adds a great deal of valuable expertise to our affiliate network.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joarder/11750350396"><img style="width: 500px; height: 263px;" src="media/e54f5b51.11750350396_e534c14612.jpg" data-original-source="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5507/11750350396_e534c14612.jpg" alt="Rajshahi / Bangladesh / 2012" /></a></p>
<p><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joarder/">Rakib Hasan Sumon</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>The first of these new groups to join us was CC India, which had its re-launch in November 2013. CC has had affiliate representation in India previously; however, the new team represents a substantial expansion of our Indian community following many years of networking and outreach by key people locally and internationally. It brings together three groups each of whom are already lead advocates for open culture and its benefits in India &#8211; the <a href="http://cis-india.org/">Centre for Internet and Society</a>, based in Bangalore, will be be providing legal expertise; <a href="http://andcollege.du.ac.in/">Acharya Narendra Dev College</a>, who will take the lead in Open Education Resources; and <a href="http://wiki.wikimedia.in/About_us">Wikimedia India</a>, who will focus on social outreach and community development. Each group contributes its own lead to help manage the governance of the team &#8211; Dr. Savithri Singh (Public Lead, Acharya Narendra Dev College), Sowmyan Tirumurti (Public Lead, Wikimedia India), Pranav Curumsey (Public Lead, Wikimedia India), Pranesh Prakash (Legal Lead, The Centre for Internet &amp; Society). This new team has achieved a great deal over the past year, including workshops, translations and a collaborative competition for their own logo.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02/10173885045/"><img style="width: 500px; height: 263px;" src="media/463fcbac.10173885045_ba27430533.jpg" data-original-source="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7368/10173885045_ba27430533.jpg" alt="Mongolia - Mongolei" /></a></p>
<p><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767">alles-schlumpf</a> / <a href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p>The next to arrive on the scene was CC Mongolia. Based out of the New Policy Institute&#8217;s <a href="http://www.dreamit.mn/">DREAM IT</a> and the Open Network for Education, <a href="http://www.one.mn/">ONE Mongolia</a>, this team began to self-organise through a series of seminars designed to spur open culture in Mongolia, including a workshop lead by CC&#8217;s then Regional Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific, Chiaki Hayashi. Spurred by the energy from these events, as well as the success of the 2012 <a href="http://unesco.org/oercongress/">UNESCO OER Declaration</a>, a team formalised late last year with leads drawn from across several organisations: Mr.Z.Batbold (Executive Director, New Policy Institute), Dr.D.Enkhbat (Public Lead), Ms.D.Nergui (Legal Lead), Ms.Baasansuren Burmaa (Technology Lead), and Dr. N.Norjhorloo (Community building in civil society). Following on from the founding workshops, they have begun their first project releasing open material through <a href="http://www.one.mn/">ONE Academy</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasir-khan/6230261584"><img style="width: 500px; height: 263px;" src="media/bf7620a4.6230261584_e42990d1f6.jpg" data-original-source="https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6165/6230261584_e42990d1f6.jpg" alt="Life" /></a></p>
<p><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasir-khan/6230261584">Nasir Khan</a> / <a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Last but not least, the very newest members of the CC family are CC Bangladesh. Once again, this team grew out of an enthusiastic group of people who were already working to encourage the adoption of open principles in Bangladesh, in this case the <a href="http://bdosn.org/">Bangladesh Open Source Network</a> (BdOSN), which has been operating locally since 2005. The team will be led by Nasir Khan Saikat (Public Lead) and Munir Hasan (Lead, (BdOSN). Their goal is to create a broad organization where the open source and open content communities can exchange ideas and embark on new initiatives designed to raise awareness and encourage people to share information and resources.</p>
<p>Both CC Mongolia and CC Bangladesh plan to hold formal launch events later this year.</p>
<p>We welcome these new members of our community, and will seek to assist them in any way we can to achieve their goals. We look forward to great things from these already very active and experienced teams. Welcome to the family!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43172
title: CC Signs Bouchout Declaration for Open Biodiversity
uri: CC-Signs-Bouchout-Declaration-for-Open-Biodiversity
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43172
content:
<p><a href="media/a715128f.bouchout_cc.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bouchout_cc.png"><img src="media/a715128f.bouchout_cc.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bouchout_cc.png" alt="Bouchout CC stamp" width="342" height="100" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43284" align="left" style="padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 10px;padding-bottom: -10px;padding-left: 0px" /></a>CC is supporting the <a href="http://www.bouchoutdeclaration.org/">Bouchout Declration for Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management</a> by becoming a signatory. The Declaration&#8217;s objective is to help make biodiversity data openly available to everyone around the world. It offers the biodiversity community a way to demonstrate their commitment to open science, one of the fundamental components of CC&#8217;s vision for an open and participatory internet.</p>
<p>In April 2013 CC participated in a workshop on <a href="http://names-attribution-rights-and-licensing.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page" title="Names attribution, rights, and licensing" target="_blank">Names attribution, rights, and licensing</a> convened by the <a href="http://globalnames.org" title="Global Names Architecture" target="_blank">Global Names Project</a> which led to a report titled <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/7/79" title="Scientific names of organisms: attribution, rights, and licensing" target="_blank">Scientific names of organisms: attribution, rights, and licensing</a> that  concluded:</p>
<blockquote><p>
&#8220;There are no copyright impediments to the sharing of names and related data. The system must reward those who make the contributions upon which we rely. Building an attribution system remains one of the more urgent challenges that we need to address together.&#8221;
</p></blockquote>
<p>Many of the attendees of the workshop and of the report cited above are among <a href="http://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Final_Conference" target="_blank">those who met in June in Meise, Belgium</a> and released the Bouchout Declaration.</p>
<div style="border: 1px solid #444;padding: 2px;margin-bottom: 10px;font-size: 0.8em;background-color: #d3d3d3">
<div id="attachment_43272" style="width: 710px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="media/610ec754.agosti_bouchout.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/agosti_bouchout.jpg"><img src="media/610ec754.agosti_bouchout.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/agosti_bouchout.jpg" alt="Donat Agosti Bouchout Declaration" width="693" height="314" class="size-full wp-image-43272" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Donat Agosti introducing the Bouchout Declaration at the OpenDataWeek, RMLL, Miontpellier, France, July 11, 2014. Photo by P. Kishor released under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a></p></div>
</div>
<p>The declaration <a href="http://www.bouchoutdeclaration.org/declaration/">calls</a> for <i>free and open use of digital resources about biodiversity and associated access services</i> and exhorts the use of <i>licenses or waivers that grant or allow all users a free, irrevocable, world-wide, right to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly as well as to build on the work and to make derivative works, subject to proper attribution consistent with community practices, while recognizing that providers may develop commercial products with more restrictive licensing.</i> This is not only aligned with the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about#vision">vision of CC</a> itself, CC is also the creator and steward of the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">legal and technical infrastructure</a> that allows open licensing of content.</p>
<div style="border: 1px solid #444;padding: 2px;margin-bottom: 10px;font-size: 0.8em;background-color: #d3d3d3">
<div id="attachment_43198" style="width: 696px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="media/e748c043.fig-10-full.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/fig-10-full.png"><img src="media/e748c043.fig-10-full.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/fig-10-full.png" alt="Phylogeny viewer" width="693" height="442" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43203" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Screenshot of phylogeny from PhyLoTA as displayed in BioNames. The user can zoom in and out and pan, as well as change the layout of the tree from <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/190/">BioNames: linking taxonomy, texts, and trees</a> by Roderick D. M. Page used under a CC BY License.</p></div>
</div>
<p>The declaration also promotes <i>Tracking the use of identifiers in links and citations to ensure that sources and suppliers of data are assigned credit for their contributions</i> and <i>Persistent identifiers for data objects and physical objects such as specimens, images and taxonomic treatments with standard mechanisms to take users directly to content and data.</i> CC has participated from the beginning in the activities that led to the <a href="https://www.force11.org/datacitation">Joint Declaration of the Data Citation Principles</a> and that promotes the use of persistent identifiers to allow discovery and attribution of resources.</p>
<p>Finally, the declaration calls for <i>Policy developments that will foster free and open access to biodiversity data.</i> CC works assiduously on creating, fostering, nurturing and assisting in the promulgation of <a href="http://openpolicynetwork.org/about/#mission">open policies and practices that advance the public good by supporting open policy advocates, organizations and policy makers</a>.</p>
<p>We have a few concerns: most copyright laws around the world treat data as not protected by copyright, thus would not require licensing. We are also aware that some cultures wish to preserve and protect traditional knowledge, so we want to make sure information is released by only those who have the right to do so without impinging on the rights of such segments that might otherwise be negatively affected by its release. However, overall we believe that open biodiversity information is crucial for science and society. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mancos/id541570878" title="Mancos on the App Store" target="_blank"><img src="media/e23f7f41.mancos.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/mancos.jpg" alt="Mancos in the App Store" width="88" height="88" class="size-full wp-image-43224" align="left" style="padding: 5px" /></a> Be it heralding the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42771" title="Seeds of Change" target="_blank">Seeds of Change</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/41780" title="CC now a GEO Participating Organization" target="_blank">participating in the Group on Earth Observations (GEO)</a>, or <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/41216" title="Paleobiology Database now CC BY" target="_blank">assisting the Paleobiology Database to move to CC BY license</a>, CC is playing a vital role in the progress of open science in the areas of biodiversity and natural resources. CC has <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/15BH83pdO0-hY-vnznLxCU6mH9sZ_8mkSZHBIJsOPqU4/pub" title="Google Climate Data Initiative" target="_blank">committed to assisting organizations joining Google in the White House Climate Data Initiative</a>. On a personal front I have released the entire <a href="http://earth-base.org/about" title="Earth-Base" target="_blank">codebase of Earth-Base under the CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a> making possible applications such as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mancos/id541570878" title="Mancos on the App Store" target="_blank">Mancos on the iOS App Store</a>.</p>
<div style="border: 1px solid #444;padding: 2px;margin-bottom: 10px;font-size: 0.8em;background-color: #d3d3d3">
<div id="attachment_43276" style="width: 710px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="media/d15744f2.bouchout_signatories1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bouchout_signatories1.jpg"><img src="media/d15744f2.bouchout_signatories1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bouchout_signatories1.jpg" alt="bouchout_signatories" width="696" height="441" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43282" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Bouchout Signatories. Image by <a href="http://plazi.org">Plazi</a> released under a CC0 Public Domain Dedication</p></div>
</div>
<p>Most of the world&#8217;s biodiversity is in developing countries, and ironically, most of biodiversity information and collections are in developed countries. Agosti calls this, &#8220;Biopiracy: taking biodiversity material from the developing world for profit, without sharing benefit or providing the people who live there with access to this crucial information.&#8221; (<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7075/full/439392a.html">Agosti, D. 2006. Biodiversity data are out of local taxonomists&#8217; reach. Nature 439, 392</a>) Opening up the data will benefit the developing counties by giving them free and easy access to information about their own biological riches. Friction-free access to and reuse of data, software and APIs is essential to answering pressing questions about biodiversity and furthering the move to better understanding and stewarding our planet and its resources. Signing the Bouchout Declaration strengthens this movement.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43295
title: WikiProject Open Barn Raising this Saturday
uri: WikiProject-Open-Barn-Raising-this-Saturday
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43295
content:
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:OPEN">WikiProject Open</a> is an online School of Open training program for new and seasoned Wikipedia volunteers to collaborate on improving Wikipedia articles related to openness. The aim of the project is two-fold: in addition to improving Wikipedia articles related to openness (such as open access publishing and open educational resources), volunteers seek to improve Wikimedia content generally with the aid of openly licensed materials. </p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-54440-0001%2C_Altgol%C3%9Fen%2C_Bau_eines_Stalls_f%C3%BCr_LPG_%28cropped%29.jpg"><a href="media/f776266e.40-0001_AltgolC39Fen_Bau_eines_Stalls_fC3BCr_LPG_28cropped29.jpg" data-original-source="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-54440-0001,_Altgol%C3%9Fen,_Bau_eines_Stalls_f%C3%BCr_LPG_%28cropped%29.jpg"><img src="media/a70ac34d.ild_183-54440-0001_Altgolen_Bau_eines_Stalls_fur_LPG_cropped.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-54440-0001_Altgolßen_Bau_eines_Stalls_für_LPG_cropped.jpg" alt="Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-54440-0001_Altgolßen_Bau_eines_Stalls_für_LPG_cropped" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-54440-0001</span> / <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>This Saturday, WikiProject Open&#8217;s Pete Forsyth and Sara Frank Bristow invite you to join their Barn Raising event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time, at the Oakland Impact Hub on 2323 Broadway, Oakland, California. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. You can also join the event online. Sara <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/youre-invited-wikipedia-barn-raising-event-on-saturday-july-19th/">says</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;At the Barn Raising, we will focus on high priority Wikipedia articles: articles that are widely read, but that — despite ongoing efforts — remain poorly sourced, incomplete, or out of date. (In the wiki world, we often borrow the term “Barn Raising” to evoke the idea of a community coming together to build something substantial in a short time. It’s been described as a way to “make the impossible possible.”)<br />
<br />
This event is open to all! Our goal is to make significant improvements to OER related articles; so those who are brand new to Wikipedia and/or open education might want to take a little time to prepare. We will send out helpful resources for beginners as the date gets closer.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RgXfFfjo0Zjd1nu1NAX-cDQPmWa8-GWvt59n87JwDvQ/viewform">Register here</a>.<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Open_Barn_Raising_2014">Visit the wiki page here</a>.</p>
<p>And read more about School of Open training programs <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/">here</a>!</p>
<hr />
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/b4034b97.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The School of Open is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run online courses, offline workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a peer learning community for developing and running free online courses.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43316
title: European Commission endorses CC licenses as best practice for public sector content and data
uri: European-Commission-endorses-CC-licenses-as-best-practice-for-public-s
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43316
content:
<p>Today the European Commission <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-840_en.htm">released licensing recommendations</a> to support the reuse of public sector information in Europe. In addition to providing guidance on baseline license principles for public sector content and data, the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/document.cfm?action=display&#038;doc_id=6421">guidelines</a> suggest that Member States should adopt standardized open licenses &#8211; such as Creative Commons licenses:</p>
<blockquote><p>Several licences that comply with the principles of ‘openness’ described by the Open Knowledge Foundation to promote unrestricted re-use of online content, are available on the web. They have been translated into many languages, centrally updated and already used extensively worldwide. Open standard licences, for example the most recent Creative Commons (CC) licences (version 4.0), could allow the re-use of PSI without the need to develop and update custom-made licences at national or sub-national level. Of these, the CC0 public domain dedication is of particular interest. As a legal tool that allows waiving copyright and database rights on PSI, it ensures full flexibility for re-users and reduces the complications associated with handling numerous licences, with possibly conflicting provisions.</p></blockquote>
<p>The Commission&#8217;s recommendations warn against the the development of customized licenses, which could break interoperability of public sector information across the EU. The guidelines clearly state that license conditions should be standardized and contain minimal requirements (such as attribution-only).</p>
<blockquote><p>In order to proactively promote the re-use of the licenced material, it is advisable that the licensor grants worldwide (to the extent allowed under national law), perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable (to the extent allowed under national law) and non-exclusive rights to use the information covered by the licence&#8230; it is advisable that [licenses] cover attribution requirements only, as any other obligations may limit licensees&#8217; creativity or economic activity, thereby affecting the re-use potential of the documents in question.
</p></blockquote>
<p>This is a welcome outcome that will hopefully provide a clear path for data providers and re-users. It&#8217;s great to see this endorsement after our efforts alongside our affiliate network to advocate for clear best practices in sharing of content and data. The recommendation benefits from CC&#8217;s free international 4.0 licenses, saving governments time and money, and maximizing compatibility and reuse.</p>
<p>Kudos to the Commission and the assistance provided by <a href="http://www.lapsi-project.eu/">LAPSI</a>, <a href="https://okfn.org/">Open Knowledge</a>, and others.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43306
title: Michael Carroll to Congress: “Copyrights have to expire.”
uri: Michael-Carroll-to-Congress-Copyrights-have-to-expire
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43306
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="//www.flickr.com/photos/sidewalk_flying/2854109652/"><a href="//www.flickr.com/photos/sidewalk_flying/2854109652/"><img width="320" height="199" src="media/df37f5f9.2854109652_e8a65f483a_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org//farm4.staticflickr.com/3200/2854109652_e8a65f483a_n.jpg" alt="Eager Street" /></a>
<p><small><a href="//www.flickr.com/photos/sidewalk_flying/2854109652/"><span property="dc:title">Eager Street</span></a> / <a href="//www.flickr.com/photos/sidewalk_flying/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Seth Sawyers</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>This week, <a href="http://us.creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons US</a> lead and <a href="/board#michaelcarroll">CC board member Michael Carroll</a> addressed the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. In his address, he emphasized that the success of Creative Commons tools doesn&#8217;t eliminate the need for copyright reform; it underscores it. He also laid out the case for why Congress should not extend copyright terms again.</p>
<blockquote><p>Congress, copyrights have to expire. The constitution says so.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Congress&#8217; power to grant the exclusive right to authors in their writings is for a limited time. That limited time currently lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. From an economic perspective, to promote the progress of science means to provide a sufficient incentive for both the creator and the investors in the creative process to make a fair return on that investment. Life plus 70 is far longer than necessary to achieve that goal.</p></blockquote>
<p>Professor Carroll&#8217;s testimony begins at 1:30:</p>
<p><iframe width="480" height="352" src="//www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/50110112?v=3&amp;wmode=direct" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: 0px none transparent; display:inline-block; text-align: center; "></iframe></p>
<p>Professor Carroll asked Congress to consider a move to the way copyright law in the US functioned prior to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976">Copyright Act of 1976</a>, which went into effect in 1978. The pre-1978 system offered creators an initial term of 28 years and an option to opt in to a second 28-year term. <a href="http://us.creativecommons.org/archives/947">You can read Professor Carroll&#8217;s written testimony</a> on the Creative Commons US blog.</p>
<p><strong>Correction:</strong> This post previously referred to the Copyright Act of 1976 as the Copyright Act of 1978. The Act passed in 1976 and went into effect on January 1, 1978.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43335
title: School of Open’s CC4Kids at the Code4CT Maker Party
uri: School-of-Open-s-CC4Kids-at-the-Code4CT-Maker-Party
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43335
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="//bellavelo.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_9157.jpg"><a href="media/e5a128b1.img_9157.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org//bellavelo.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_9157.jpg"><img src="media/a1bc7753.img_9157.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/img_9157.jpg" alt="Code4CT girls with cc4kids certificates" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Code4CT girls with cc4kids certificates</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Kelsey Wiens</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>#<a href="http://code4ct.com/">Code4CT</a> is a three-week training program from <a href="http://innovatesa.org/">Innovate South Africa</a> with twenty-four grade 10 and 11 girls from <a href="http://www.cosat.co.za/">Centre for Science and Technology</a> (COSAT) in Khayelitsha (Cape Town, South Africa). The three-week course consists of sessions on how the web works and actively participating in building web content. Running over the girls winter school break, they learn about the design process, HTML and CSS programming languages &#8211; skills they use to build WordPress sites for their clients. The girls then take their new skills and create mobile sites for local community organizations to benefit their communities.</p>
<p>We were lucky enough to be invited with <a href="http://www.obami.com/">Obami</a> (learning platform) to test out the School of Open <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/#cc4kids">CC4Kids</a> program. The program was funded through a <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Affiliate_Project_Grants">Creative Commons Affiliate Project Grant</a>. We have run the course through a self-study platform but this was the first time running it in real life. We were inspired by how quickly the girls took to the course content. The course&#8217;s modules focus on basics of Copyright and CC licenses &#8211; by the end of the hour, the girls were creating their own CC licensed material!</p>
<p>It was an inspiring day. A highlight of the day was the girls remixing the Pharrell Williams dance steps from &#8220;Happy&#8221; as a remix exercise <a href="//emmajanedicks.makes.org/thimble/LTU3MTUzOTQ1Ng==/how-to-hack-the-happy-dance_">Hack the Happy Dance</a>. We are also attending their &#8220;pitch&#8221; sessions today to see what mobile apps they designed.</p>
<p>Thanks to Code4CT and Mozilla for the opportunity to be part of Maker Party! And stay tuned for more Maker Parties to be hosted by us and other CC/School of Open volunteers as part of the School of Open Africa Launch in August and September.</p>
<hr />
<h3>About Maker Party</h3>
<p><em>School of Open and Creative Commons is excited to be partnering with Mozilla to celebrate teaching and learning the web with <a href="http://party.webmaker.org/">Maker Party</a>. Through thousands of community-run events around the world, Maker Party unites educators, organizations and enthusiastic Internet users of all ages and skill levels.</p>
<p>We share Mozilla&#8217;s belief that the web is a global public resource that&#8217;s integral to modern life: it shapes how we learn, how we connect and how we communicate. But many of us don&#8217;t understand its basic mechanics or what it means to be a citizen of the web. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re supporting this global effort to teach web literacy through hands-on learning and making with Maker Party.</em></p>
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/b4034b97.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The School of Open is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run online courses, offline workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a peer learning community for developing and running free online courses.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43343
title: Wattpad upgrades to Version 4.0 of CC licenses
uri: Wattpad-upgrades-to-Version-4-0-of-CC-licenses
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43343
content:
<p><a href="http://www.wattpad.com/"><img src="media/93b3f53c.wattpad-250.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wattpad-250.png" style="width: 250px; height: 73px; float: right; border: 0px; padding: 4px; " /></a>Fiction-writing community Wattpad has upgraded to the Creative Commons <a href="/version4">Version 4.0 licenses</a> and unveiled several improvements to its CC implementation. As of today, there are 300,000 CC-licensed stories on Wattpad, making this one of the largest adoptions of Version 4.0 to date.</p>
<p><a href="media/a80f2716.wattpad_cc4.pdf" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wattpad_cc4.pdf">From the press release</a>: (72 KB PDF)</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The biggest question facing new writers today isn&#8217;t how to protect their work; it&#8217;s how to find a readership for it, said Cory Doctorow, science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger. &#8220;It makes complete sense that so many Wattpad writers are gravitating toward Creative Commons licenses: by giving others permission to share your writing, you can open doors to new audiences and new creative opportunities.&#8221; Cory Doctorow has shared five stories on Wattpad under CC licenses, including New York Times best-selling novels <em>Homeland</em> and <em>Little Brother</em>. Today, to coincide with the roll out of CC 4.0, he will share his first novel <em>Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom</em> on Wattpad.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;All knowledge and culture owes something to what came before it &#8211; it&#8217;s this public commons of ideas that forms the foundation of our society,&#8221; said Creative Commons CEO Ryan Merkley. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited that the Wattpad community will have Creative Commons&#8217; simple, free tools to share their work, to re-use the works of others, and to contribute to the global creative community.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="media/a80f2716.wattpad_cc4.pdf" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wattpad_cc4.pdf">Read the full press release</a> and find more information in <a href="http://blog.wattpad.com/wattpad-updates-to-creative-commons-4-0/">Wattpad&#8217;s announcement</a>. Congratulations to Wattpad and its community of 30 million writers and readers!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43356
title: “Why Open?” course now open for sign-up
uri: Why-Open-course-now-open-for-sign-up
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43356
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2591/4058757916_1f44fe29b1.jpg"><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/comedynose/4058757916/"><img src="media/abe792a5.whyopen.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/whyopen.jpg" alt="Project 365 #303: 301009 Blink And You'll Miss It!" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Project 365 #303: 301009 Blink And You&#8217;ll Miss It!</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Pete</span> / <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>Another run of <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> courses is starting up in August, September and October! The first course to kick things off is a second iteration of &#8220;<a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2314/why-open/">Why Open?</a>&#8221; &#8220;Why Open?&#8221; was collaboratively developed and facilitated one year ago in August 2013; now the facilitators are back to run it a second time from <strong>10 August to 5 September 2014</strong>. What is &#8220;Why Open?&#8221; From its <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2314/why-open/">About page</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>Why Open? What does open mean? Does it mean free? Does it mean without restriction? What is the role of the producer? What is the role of the consumer? Why is open important? How does open relate to you and your area of expertise?<br />
<br />
In this course, we will discuss and answer these questions. With your help, we will explore the different meanings of open in various contexts as well as its benefits and issues. Participants will use open practices to complete a series of open activities that builds into a final project.</p></blockquote>
<p>Facilitators include <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/clhendricksbc/">Christina Hendricks</a> (Philosophy lecturer at the University of British Columbia), Simeon Oriko (<a href="https://p2pu.org/en/mtotowajirani/">School of Open Kenya Initiative</a>), <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/Jeannette/">Jeanette Lee</a> (English lit and writing teacher), and <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/Janepark/">myself</a>.</p>
<p>Read more about the course over at the <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/whyopen2014/">School of Open blog</a>.</p>
<p>Sign-up is open now through 10 August; to join, simply click the &#8216;Start Course&#8217; button on the lower left of the <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2314/why-open/">course page</a>. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43381
uri: Rijksmuseum-case-study-Sharing-free-high-quality-images-without-rest
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43381
title:
Rijksmuseum case study: Sharing free, high quality images without restrictions makes good things happen

content:
<div style="float: right; padding: 10px;">
<p><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6250"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-43388" src="media/f9efd122.SK-A-3584small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SK-A-3584small.jpg" alt="SK-A-3584small" width="300" height="311" /></a></p>
<p><small>Girl in white kimono, George Hendrik Breitner, 1894; <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Yesterday Europeana published a great <a href="http://pro.europeana.eu/pro-blog/-/blogs/how-the-rijksmuseum-opened-up-its-collection-a-case-study">case study</a> documenting the experiences of the Dutch <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/">Rijksmuseum</a> in opening up access to their collection of digital public domain images. The case study was written by Joris Pekel, community coordinator for cultural heritage at the Europeana Foundation. Over the last few years, Europeana has worked with the Rijksmuseum in order to make available at the highest quality possible images of public domain artworks held by the museum.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://pro.europeana.eu/documents/858566/858665/Democratising+the+Rijksmuseum">report</a> discusses the Rijksmuseum’s initial apprehension to sharing these high quality images of public domain works. The museum originally planned to share the digital reproductions of public domain works under an open license, such as the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY). But after some convincing by organizations that advocate for unrestricted access to the public domain, the Rijksmuseum began to open its collections more by choosing to use the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a> for the digital reproductions.</p>
<p>The Rijksmuseum began to experiment with how it would offer high quality reproductions of the public domain artworks. The museum adopted a mission-driven approach, and staff understood the opportunity to showcase the best of the museum’s collection as a promotional tool. The marketing department argued that “&#8230;The core goal of the museum is to get the collection out and known to the public as much as possible&#8230;[and] the digital reproduction of an item would pique public interest in it, leading them to buy tickets to the museum to see the real deal.” The Rijksmuseum also realized that by releasing high quality digital reproductions of works out of copyright, it could help educate the public by providing <a href="http://pro.europeana.eu/documents/858566/2cbf1f78-e036-4088-af25-94684ff90dc5">true-color images</a> and accurate metadata about the works.</p>
<p>Instead of worrying that making available high quality digital reproductions of public domain artwork for free would destroy a piece of the museum’s revenue stream, the Rijksmuseum initially adopted a hybrid approach. They made images available in two sizes: .jpg images at approximately 4500&#215;4500 pixels were free, while the huge 200MB master .tiff files were made available for €40. The museum saw a steady increase in revenue from image sales, but eventually decided to discontinue the tiered offerings. Since October 2013 the Rijksmuseum has been releasing their highest quality images for free.</p>
<p>The Rijksmuseum has found a way to support broad access to its rich collection of cultural heritage resources. And it’s done so in such as way that promotes interest by new audiences, recuperates costs, and upholds the principles of supporting unrestricted access to the digital public domain.</p>
<p>Take a look at the <a href="http://pro.europeana.eu/documents/858566/858665/Democratising+the+Rijksmuseum">full case study</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43400
title: School of Open Africa to launch in September
uri: School-of-Open-Africa-to-launch-in-September
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43400
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SOO-AfricaV2.jpg"><img src="media/97ff7c78.SOO-AfricaV2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SOO-AfricaV2.jpg" alt="SOO AfricaV2" /><br /><small>(SOO logo <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/about/">here</a>. <span property="dc:title">Earth</span> icon licensed <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a> by <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.thenounproject.com/tinyxl">Erin Standley</a> from the <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com">Noun Project</a></span>.)</small></p>
<p>After months of discussions, deliberations, and planning between CC staff, African Regional Coordinators, African Affiliate teams, and others in the open space, Creative Commons Africa is set to storm Africa by having a continent-wide launch for School of Open in September.</p>
<p>School of Open is a global community of volunteers providing free online courses, face-to-face workshops, and innovative training programs on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age. Through School of Open, you can learn how to add a Creative Commons license to your work, find free resources for classroom use, open up your research, remix a music video, and more!</p>
<p>School of Open programs will be launched in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and South Africa in September on a series of topics ranging from Creative Commons licensing, intellectual property protection, open society concepts, and the Linux operating system .</p>
<p>Strategic collaborations are underway with the Mozilla Foundation, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, WikiAfrica, University of Lagos, University of Tanzania, and the Institute of Educational Management Technology of the Open University of Tanzania to make the launch a success.</p>
<h4>School of Open Kenya&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="media/45c81470.ke.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/images/international/ke.png"/></h4>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/#soo-kenya">School of Open Kenya</a> already started out as a trail blazer by organizing a two-week after school program that introduces high school students to open culture through the use of online School of Open courses and related open educational resources (OER). The training was designed to satisfy the academic needs of the students and to enable the students to use open tools such as Creative Commons licenses to create and share knowledge, as well as learning required subjects in new and creative ways. The students integrated the School of Open training into their school work and were able to produce projects such as this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1y5Z4yHmWE">Titration Demo video</a> by the Lenana School under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>. Despite its long strides, <a href="http://jamlab.co.ke/">Jamlab</a> and <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Kenya">CC Kenya</a> are not resting their oars; they will be launching a Train the Trainers program this September where they will train 10+ community members to organize and run SOO workshops in more high schools and in neighboring countries. SOO Kenya will also host a SOO Africa launch event and Maker Party entitled PopJam. Jamlab + CC Kenya, in collaboration with Mozilla Kenya and Wikipedia Kenya, will host the event for 5 high schools in the region. Stay tuned for details!</p>
<h4>School of Open South Africa&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="media/5278ee06.za.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/images/international/za.png"/></h4>
<p><a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/South_Africa">CC South Africa</a> hosts three projects under the School of Open initiative. The first is the #<a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/#openafrica">OpenAfrica project</a> where in conjunction with WikiAfrica, open advocates from Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda and Ghana were put through an &#8220;open&#8221; bootcamp. The month-long camp covered Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Open Street Maps, Open Educational Resources (OER), Open Data, Open Government, and related fundraising and community building skills. Advocates returned equipped with &#8220;open&#8221; knowledge and skills to their home countries to influence and spur their communities into action. This has resulted in the creation of new CC affiliate teams in Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire and the launch of open mandated tech hubs in these communities. </p>
<p>Launching off #OpenAfrica, participants were invited to compete for the first Kumusha Bus stop. The Kumusha Bus is an African adaption of the South American <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/29436">Libre Bus</a>. Ethiopia &#8216;won&#8217; the first Kumusha Bus stop. The team spent four days inspiring, teaching and sharing at GIZ Headquarters in Addis Ababa. Participants from Sheger Media, AIESEC and Addis Ababa University were in attendance. The four days resulted in the launch of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/projectluwi">Project Luwi</a>. Luwi is an open source project, aiming to increase the application of open source information and communication technologies (ICT). Luwi intends to create a local community of interested volunteers that is able to foster motivation and creativity around Open Educational Resources (OERs) and supports a culture of sharing information freely in Ethiopia. </p>
<p>The third project is the <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/#cc4kids">Creative Commons for Kids program (CC4Kids)</a>. <a href="http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami_School/CC/Course">CC4Kids</a> was built with Obami, a South Africa-based social learning platform. The course is self-taught and takes about 45 minutes to complete. CC South Africa was invited to teach its first course as part of a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43335">Maker Party at the Code for Cape Town project (Code4CT)</a> with 24 grade 10 and 11 girls from the Centre for Science and Technology (COSAT) in Cape Town, South Africa. For three weeks the girls were trained on how the web works and actively participated in building web content. Instead of policing students’ actions, CC4Kids teaches youth how to open and share their creative and educational works legally through the use of CC licenses. All the girls now have simple web pages they created. CC4Kids&#8217; next Maker Party will be held at RLabs in August. Stay tuned!</p>
<h4>School of Open Tanzania&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="media/434df4e7.tz.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/images/international/tz.png"/></h4>
<p><a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Tanzania">CC Tanzania</a> is planning to host three sets of trainings. The first will be an ICT empowerment training for unemployed youth, the second will focus on teaching persons with disabilities how to use computers, and the third will focus on training educators on using ICT to improve how they teach their students. Participants will become new School of Open volunteers, improving and running future training programs as a way to give back to and grow their community. Development will be led by CC Tanzania volunteers with expertise in law, journalism, and information technology. CC Tanzania will host a joint SOO Africa launch event + Mozilla Maker Party, date and location TBD.</p>
<h4>School of Open Nigeria&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="media/512d05bf.ng.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/images/international/ng.png"/></h4>
<p><a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Nigeria">CC Nigeria</a> will, in five weekends, train participants on Nigerian copyright law, intellectual property protection, and the Linux operating system. The training will have two tracks: the first track being copyright law and the second being the Linux operating System. Participants will have the opportunity to choose either or both tracks. CC Nigeria also plans to host a joint SOO Africa launch event + Mozilla Maker Party during the training. During the event, experienced web users will train participants on easy ways to creating content using Mozilla tools.</p>
<h5>SOO Nigeria links:</h5>
<ul>
<li>Courses schedule: <a href="http://creativecommonsng.org/school-of-open-nigeria/">http://creativecommonsng.org/school-of-open-nigeria/</a></li>
<li>SOO Nigeria Launch Event &#038; Maker Party: <a href="https://events.webmaker.org/#!/events/4526">https://events.webmaker.org/#!/events/4526</a></li>
<li>Registration form for all SOO Nigeria activities: <a href="http://creativecommonsng.org/school-of-open-nigeria/soo2014/">http://creativecommonsng.org/school-of-open-nigeria/soo2014/</a></li>
</ul>
<p>After the continent-wide launch, participants who attended the courses will have together obtained and built knowledge of open culture, IP protection and ICT skills.</p>
<p>Stay tuned to this blog or sign up for <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open-announce">School of Open Announcements</a> to be notified when each program launches in September! Learn more about how you can get involved with the School of Open at <a href="http://schoolofopen.org">http://schoolofopen.org</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>About Maker Party</h3>
<p><em>School of Open and Creative Commons is excited to be partnering with Mozilla to celebrate teaching and learning the web with <a href="http://party.webmaker.org/">Maker Party</a>. Through thousands of community-run events around the world, Maker Party unites educators, organizations and enthusiastic Internet users of all ages and skill levels.</p>
<p>We share Mozilla&#8217;s belief that the web is a global public resource that&#8217;s integral to modern life: it shapes how we learn, how we connect and how we communicate. But many of us don&#8217;t understand its basic mechanics or what it means to be a citizen of the web. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re supporting this global effort to teach web literacy through hands-on learning and making with Maker Party.</em></p>
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/b4034b97.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run online courses, offline workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a peer learning community for developing and running free online courses.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43373
title: Creative Commons announces launch of CC Belarus
uri: Creative-Commons-announces-launch-of-CC-Belarus
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43373
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="//www.flickr.com/photos/125728508@N05/14593513490/"><a href="//www.flickr.com/photos/125728508@N05/14593513490/"><img src="media/8e29d05d.14593513490_ff1716d6a4_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org//farm4.staticflickr.com/3912/14593513490_ff1716d6a4_z.jpg" alt="Creative Commons leaflet" width="640" height="480" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="//www.flickr.com/photos/125728508@N05/14593513490/"><span property="dc:title">Creative Commons leaflet</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Sviatlana Yermakovich</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p>Creative Commons is happy to announce the launch of CC Belarus. Youth organization <a href="http://falanster.by/en">Falanster</a> is now the belarusian Creative Commons affiliate team!</p>
<p>On August 29, the official launch of CC Belarus will take place in Minsk. For now, CC Belarus will focus on the following topics:</p>
<ul>
<li>researching the applicability of Creative Commons licenses in Belarusian legislation</li>
<li>connect with foreign teams to exchange experiences</li>
<li>organizing open discussions on adding Creative Commons licenses to Belarusian law</li>
<li>create a platform to discuss the reform of Belarusian Copyright Law</li>
<li>inform the Belarusian public about Creative Commons</li>
</ul>
<p>Falanster began using Creative Commons licenses on its own sites (<a href="http://falanster.by/en">falanster.by</a>, <a href="http://pirates.by/about">pirates.by</a>, <a href="http://drupal-sliot.by/">drupal-sliot.by</a>), has been hosting meetings to endorse the open source principles, organised the Minsk <a href="http://falanster.by/en/afisha/open-data-day-minsk">Open Data Day</a> in 2014, and has hosted several summer courses with lectures and panel discussions about copyright law and necessary reforms. Since 2013, Falanster has been holding <a href="http://falanster.by/en/news/wiki-day-knowledge-expansion">Wiki-Days</a> periodically, encouraging participants to add articles and photos to Wikipedia (Belarusian, Russian, English). The team has also been spreading information about Creative Commons through leaflets.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Belarus">More about the CC Belarus team and contact information</a></strong></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43450
title: Dozens of organizations tell STM publishers: No new licenses
uri: Dozens-of-organizations-tell-STM-publishers-No-new-licenses
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43450
content:
<p>The keys to an elegant set of open licenses are simplicity and interoperability. CC licenses are widely recognized as the standard in the open access publishing community, but a major trade association recently published a new set of licenses and is urging its members to adopt it. We believe that the new licenses could introduce unnecessary complexity and friction, ultimately hurting the open access community far more than they&#8217;d help.</p>
<p>Today, Creative Commons and 57 organizations from around the world released a <a href="http://www.plos.org/global-coalition-of-access-to-research-science-and-education-organizations-calls-on-stm-to-withdraw-new-model-licenses/">joint letter</a> asking the International Association of Scientific, Technical &amp; Medical Publishers to withdraw its model “open access” <a href="http://www.stm-assoc.org/open-access-licensing/">licenses</a>. The association ostensibly created the licenses to promote the sharing of research in the scientific, technical, and medical communities. But these licenses are confusing, redundant, and incompatible with open access content published under other public licenses. Instead of developing another set of licenses, the signatories urge the STM Association to recommend to its authors existing solutions that will truly promote STM’s stated <a href="http://www.stm-assoc.org/by-laws/">mission</a> to “ensure that the benefits of scholarly research are reliably and broadly available.” From the letter:</p>
<blockquote><p>We share a positive vision of enabling the flow of knowledge for the good of all. A vision that encompasses a world in which downstream communicators and curators can use research content in new ways, including creating translations, visualizations, and adaptations for diverse audiences. There is much work to do but the Creative Commons licenses already provide legal tools that are easy to understand, fit for the digital age, machine readable and consistently applied across content platforms.</p></blockquote>
<p>So, what’s really wrong with the STM licenses? First, and most fundamentally, it is difficult to determine what each license and supplementary license is intended to do and how STM expects them each to be used. <a href="media/530b589e.2013_05_29_Twelve_Points_to_Make_Open_Access_Licensing_Work.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.stm-assoc.org/2013_05_29_Twelve_Points_to_Make_Open_Access_Licensing_Work.pdf">The Twelve Points to Make Open Access Licensing Work</a> document attempts to explain its goals, but it is not at all clear how the various legal tools work to meet those objectives.</p>
<p>Second, none of the STM licenses comply with the <a href="http://opendefinition.org/">Open Definition</a>, as they all restrict commercial uses and derivatives to a significant extent. And they ignore the long-running benchmark for Open Access publishing: CC BY. CC BY is used by a majority of Open Access publishers, and is recommended as the optimal license for the publication, distribution, and reuse of scholarly work by the <a href="http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/boai-10-recommendations">Budapest Open Access Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>Third, the license terms and conditions introduce confusion and uncertainty into the world of open access publishing, a community in which the terminology and concepts utilized in CC’s standardized licenses are fairly well accepted and understood.</p>
<p>Fourth, the STM licenses claim to grant permission to do many things that re-users do not need permission to do, such as describing or linking to the licensed work. In addition, it’s questionable for STM to assume that text and data mining can be regulated by their licenses. Under the Creative Commons 4.0 licenses, a licensor grants the public permission to exercise rights under copyright, neighboring rights, and similar rights closely related to copyright (such as sui generis database rights). And the CC license only applies when at least one of these rights held by the licensor applies to the use made by the licensee. This is important because in some countries, text and data mining are activities covered by an exception or limitation to copyright (such as fair use in the United States), so no permission is needed. Most recently the United Kingdom enacted legislation specifically excepting noncommercial text and data mining from the reach of copyright.</p>
<p>Finally, STM’s “supplementary” licenses, which are intended for use with existing licenses, would only work with CC’s most restrictive license, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (BY-NC-ND). Even then they would have very limited legal effect, since much of what they claim to cover is already permitted by all CC licenses. As a practical matter, these license terms are likely to be very confusing to re-users when used in conjunction with a CC license.</p>
<p>The Creative Commons licenses are the demonstrated global standard for open access publishing. They’re used reliably by open access publishers around the world for sharing hundreds of thousands of research articles. Scholarly publishing presents a massive potential to increase our understanding of science. And <a href="https://creativecommons.org/videos/building-on-the-past">creativity always builds on the past</a>, whether it be a musician incorporating samples into a new composition or a cancer researcher re-using data from past experiments in their current work.</p>
<p>But to fully realize innovations in science, technology, and medicine, we need clear, universal legal terms so that a researcher can incorporate information from a variety of sources easily and effectively. The research community can enable these flows of information and promote discoveries by sharing writings, data, and analyses in the public commons. We’ve already built the legal tools to support content sharing. Let’s use them and not reinvent the wheel.</p>
<p>Questions should be directed to <a href="mailto:press@creativecommons.org">press@creativecommons.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43468
title: Fotopedia closes, but CC-licensed photos live on
uri: Fotopedia-closes-but-CC-licensed-photos-live-on
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43468
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://web.archive.org/web/20140809174750/http://www.fotopedia.com/reporter/stories/rUyAaUdiOto/view"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140809174750/http://www.fotopedia.com/reporter/stories/rUyAaUdiOto/view"><img src="media/4341d005.hcmc-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hcmc-500.jpg" alt="Ho Chi Minh City" width="500" height="375" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140809174750/http://www.fotopedia.com/reporter/stories/rUyAaUdiOto/view"><span property="cc:attributionName">Trung Dangy</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re a fan of photo-and-knowledge-sharing community <a href="http://www.fotopedia.com/">Fotopedia</a>, you&#8217;ve likely heard that the site is closing this Sunday, August 10. When Creative Commons heard the news, we contacted Fotopedia to ask if there were some way that we could help save all of the Creative Commons&#8211;licensed photos on the site. Now, we&#8217;re working together with the staff at Fotopedia to create a new archive of all of that content. At the same time, our friends at Archive Team are <a href="http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Fotopedia">creating a copy of the entire Fotopedia website</a>.</p>
<p>Here at CC, we&#8217;ve been big fans of Fotopedia for a long time. The site elegantly mixes together content from Flickr, Wikipedia, and other sources in a way that&#8217;s only possible thanks to CC licenses. And over the years, Fotopedia developed an amazing community of people curating all of that content into highly entertaining, visually rich albums.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s fitting that all of that work will live on in the new archive. Fotopedia has always been a great example of the power of the decentralized web. Just like Fotopedia brought new life to great photos from Flickr, the archive will bring new life to great photos from Fotopedia.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to know when the archive is open, <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">subscribe to our mailing list.</a>. If you have any questions, email us at <a href="info@creativecommons.org">info@creativecommons.org</a>.</p>
<p>Creative Commons salutes Fotopedia for its work as a leader in online content-sharing. We wish Jean-Marie Hullot and his team all the best on their future projects.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43484
title: Examining deficiencies of and limitations on data sharing
uri: Examining-deficiencies-of-and-limitations-on-data-sharing
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43484
content:
<p>Whether patients, or part of traffic, or exercising or simply walking with one of the behavioral trackers <i>du jour</i>, we are constantly giving data about ourselves and our surroundings to data collecters with few returns. From privacy regulations to bureaucratic barriers to collecting and locking up information just in case it might create monetary value in the future, there are a multitude of barriers between those who collect information and those who want to use it.</p>
<p>With support from <a href="http://www.rwjf.org" target="_blank">Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</a> (RWJF), we are launching two projects exploring different aspects that often get in the way of easy sharing of citizen-sourced information.</p>
<h2><a href="http://science.creativecommons.org/sharingvprivacy" target="_blank">Sharing v. Privacy</a></h2>
<div style="border: 1px dotted grey;background-color: #f5f5f5;width:800px;margin-top: 10px;margin-bottom: 20px">
<caption><a href="media/0be589b8.reports.gif" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/reports.gif"><img src="media/0be589b8.reports.gif" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/reports.gif" alt="reports" width="800" height="235" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43499" /></a>
<p class="caption">Original image by Puneet Kishor released under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a></p>
</caption>
</div>
<p>In collaboration with the <a href="http://humangenetics.ucsf.edu" target="_blank">Institute for Human Genetics</a> and <a href="http://ctsi.ucsf.edu/engage-uc" target="_blank">EngageUC</a> at UCSF, and <a href="http://www.personalgenomes.org" target="_blank">Personal Genome Project</a> at Harvard University, we will explore the practical, ethical and legal implications of emphasizing benefits of sharing over the need for privacy at a workshop planned for Spring 2015 in Washington DC. A few of the questions to be tackled at the workshop: What if, instead of emphasizing the imperative of protecting privacy, we emphasized the potential benefits from sharing? Would most patients agree to let their information be shared? <a href="http://science.creativecommons.org/sharingvprivacy" target="_blank">more &rarr;</a></p>
<h2><a href="http://science.creativecommons.org/sensoredcity" target="_blank">Sensored City</a></h2>
<div style="border: 1px dotted grey;background-color: #f5f5f5;width:800px;margin-top: 10px;margin-bottom: 20px">
<caption><a href="media/0af7cac0.inverted-model-of-data-collection.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/inverted-model-of-data-collection.png"><img src="media/0af7cac0.inverted-model-of-data-collection.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/inverted-model-of-data-collection.png" alt="inverted-model-of-data-collection" width="800" height="232" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43497" /></a>
<p class="caption">Original image by Puneet Kishor released under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a></p>
</caption>
</div>
<p>Partnering with <a href="https://www.manylabs.org" target="_blank">Manylabs</a>, a San Francisco-based sensor tools and education nonprofit, and <a href="http://urbanmatterinc.com" target="_blank">Urban Matter, Inc.</a>, a Brooklyn-based design studio, and in collaboration with the <a href="http://www.louisvilleky.gov" target="_blank">City of Louisville, Kentucky</a>, and <a href="http://propellerhealth.com" target="_blank">Propeller Health</a>, maker of a mobile platform for respiratory health management, we will design, develop and install a network of sensor-based hardware that will collect environmental information at high temporal and spatial scales and store it in a software platform designed explicitly for storing and retrieving such data.</p>
<p>Further, we will design, create and install a public data art installation that will be powered by the data we collect thereby communicating back to the public what has been collected about them. <a href="http://science.creativecommons.org/sensoredcity" target="_blank">more &rarr;</a></p>
<div style="border: 1px dotted grey;background-color: #f5f5f5;width:800px;margin-top: 10px;margin-bottom: 20px">
<caption><a href="media/455be3f3.Silent-Lights.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Silent-Lights.jpg"><img src="media/455be3f3.Silent-Lights.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Silent-Lights.jpg" alt="Silent-Lights" width="800" height="258" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43500" /></a>
<p class="caption"><a href="http://urbanmatterinc.com/silent-lights/" target="_blank">Silent Lights</a> Image ©  Urban Matter, Inc., used with permission.</p>
</caption>
</div>
<p>Please follow our progress on <a href="http://science.creativecommons.org/sharingvprivacy" target="_blank">Sharing v. Privacy</a> and the <a href="http://science.creativecommons.org/sensoredcity" target="_blank">Sensored City</a> projects, and get in touch with us if you want to learn more.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43566
title: Announcing the Institute for Open Leadership Fellows
uri: Announcing-the-Institute-for-Open-Leadership-Fellows
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43566
content:
<p>Creative Commons and the <a href="http://openpolicynetwork.org/">Open Policy Network</a> are pleased to announce the first round of fellows for the <a href="http://openpolicynetwork.org/iol/">Institute for Open Leadership</a>. The Institute is a training program to develop new leaders in education, science, public policy, and other fields on the values and implementation of openness in licensing, policies, and practices. We received over 90 applications from around the world and representing a broad diversity of fields. Here are the fellows for this year.</p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Dairo Alexander Escobar Ardila; Instituto Humboldt &#8211; SiB Colombia; Bogotá, Colombia</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">David Ernst; University of Minnesota; St. Paul, Minnesota, USA</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Eric Phetteplace; California College of the Arts; Oakland, California, USA</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Fátima Silva São Simão; UPTEC &#8211; Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto; Porto, Portugal</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Georgia Angelaki, National Documentation Center/Hellenic Research Institute; Athens, Greece</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Jagadish Chandra Aryal; Social Science Baha; Kathmandu, Nepal</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Jane Gilvin; National Public Radio; Washington, D.C., USA</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Julian Carver; Land Information New Zealand; Christchurch, New Zealand</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Klaudia Grabowska; Polish History Museum; Warsaw, Poland</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Mohamud Ahmed Rage; Ministry of Higher Education &amp; Culture, Somalia; Mogadishu, Somalia</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Nasir Khan; Management Information Services, Directorate General of Health Services, Bangladesh; Dhaka, Bangladesh</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Paul UE Blackman; Barbados Community College; St. Michael, Barbados</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Vincent Kizza; Open Learning Exchange Uganda; Kampala, Uganda</li>
<li style="font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Werner Westermann Juarez; Instituto Profesional Providencia, Santiago, Chile</li>
</ul>
<p>The in-person portion of the Institute will take place in San Francisco, California in January 2015. The fellows will be develop, refine, and work to implement a capstone open policy project. The point of this project is for the fellow to transform the concepts learned at the Institute into a practical, actionable, and sustainable initiative within her/his institution.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the fellows, and thank you to all the applicants.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43600
title: Wiki Loves Monuments: bringing open to Pakistan
uri: Wiki-Loves-Monuments-bringing-open-to-Pakistan
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43600
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faisal_Maseet.JPG"><a href="media/578e0fa5.FileFaisal_Maseet.JPG" data-original-source="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faisal_Maseet.JPG"><img src="media/b4b7a9df.faisal-maseet-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/faisal-maseet-500.jpg" alt="Faisal Maseet" width="500" height="333" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="media/578e0fa5.FileFaisal_Maseet.JPG" data-original-source="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faisal_Maseet.JPG"><span property="dc:title">Faisal Maseet</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Khalid Mahmood</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2014">Wiki Loves Monuments</a> is one of the most successful free culture events worldwide. A global photo competition organized by local Wikimedia chapters and groups, it has been running since 2010 and has grown larger each year. For 2014, we speak to <a href="https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/User:Saqib">Saqib Qayyum</a> from <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Pakistan">Wikimedia Pakistan</a> about how the event will help promote the commons to new communities.</p>
<p><strong>Tell us about Wikimedia in Pakistan, and Pakistan&#8217;s open community.</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a> is the 7th most most visited website in Pakistan and is known by the vast majority of the more than 30 million Internet users in the country. Despite having financial and social challenges, Pakistani people are embracing the Internet and the growth rate of internet users is on the rise. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, however, the English language edition of Wikipedia has only a thousand or so registered volunteer editors from Pakistan. When you compare it with the overall number of internet users in the country, this figure is miniscule. The most disappointing fact is that out of those thousand or so registered editors, less than 100 &#8211; mostly students &#8211; actively contribute to the world&#8217;s largest free encyclopedia. The people of Pakistan are not contributing as much to Wikipedia as they should.</p>
<p>The national language Urdu is also underrepresented on the internet and is experiencing an online stagnation. The <a href="http://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%DB%82_%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84">Urdu edition of Wikipedia</a> has more active editors from India than from Pakistan. There&#8217;s a strong need to encourage people to get involved with Wikipedia and push them to collaborate and exchange useful digital materials freely online.</p>
<p>With regards to the open source community in Pakistan, the situation is analogous to that on Wikipedia. Outside of a core group of members of <a href="http://mozilla-pakistan.org/">Mozilla Pakistan</a> and <a href="http://www.linuxpakistan.net/">Linux Pakistan</a>, the majority of internet users are not familiar with the free culture and open movements. This, in all likelihood, is due to a lack of widespread awareness of the movements.</p>
<p>Even as Pakistan is experiencing a widespread internet penetration amongst the public, unfortunately the country has not yet adapted well to the ideas of free culture and open. Copyright protection in Pakistan is a critical issue and copyright infringement and online piracy has always been a concern. With Wikimedia Pakistan, we can help to raise awareness of the advantages and benefits of having open and free platforms, and the major role this could play in developing our market and economy.</p>
<p>We all need to play our part in ensuring a bright future for the open and free internet. I think the success of the movement globally depends on participation of people from not only the developed countries but also from the Global South.</p>
<p><strong>How did you get involved with the open source and Creative Commons movements?</strong></p>
<p>When I wonder why people are not very interested in open educational resources such as Wikipedia or other movements that promote free and open content, I imagine one factor might be due to the low literacy rate in Pakistan, or the deficiency in human rights educational initiatives in the country.</p>
<p>Many people who know me over the internet assume I am a university student or a professional in the information technology sector, but the fact is I&#8217;m actually a college dropout and work part-time in my family-owned manufacturing company and deal with overseas clients. Therefore, I am able to be connected to the internet for most of the time, and am able to keep active on Wikimedia projects as a result. So my devotion to the free culture and open movements isn&#8217;t a professional pursuit, but one I indulge in because it is fun.</p>
<p>Many people, and even my family, ask why I&#8217;m involved in the Wikimedia movement, as it doesn&#8217;t play a role in building my career and is not connected to my line of work. In short, they think I am wasting my time. I disagree. I believe in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge in this ever changing world and vehemently advocate for the principles of collaboration, openness, transparency and consensus which lay the groundwork for innovation and growth. </p>
<p>Since discovering Wikipedia and Creative Commons as a teenager, I have made it a point to actively promote the concept of free knowledge and open content as I believe the free culture movement can bring broad and positive social change in Pakistan.</p>
<p>Right now, I&#8217;m involved with the free web-based travel guide project, <a href="https://www.wikivoyage.org/">Wikivoyage</a>, and am planning to publish a travel guide book for Karachi, my hometown, drawing upon materials I and others have contributed to the Creative Commons licensed Wikivoyage project. There is the possibility this could be the first Creative Commons-licensed book in Pakistan.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lahore_Fort.jpg"><a href="media/e8855070.FileLahore_Fort.jpg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lahore_Fort.jpg"><img width="205" height="300" src="media/1763728f.lahore-fort-205.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/lahore-fort-205.jpg" alt="Lahore Fort" /></a>
<p><small><a href="media/e8855070.FileLahore_Fort.jpg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lahore_Fort.jpg"><span property="dc:title">Lahore Fort</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">M. Umair</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p><strong>What is the history of Wiki Loves Monuments?</strong></p>
<p>Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photographic competition held worldwide each year during the month of September, and organised by the volunteer Wikimedia community members. The first Wiki Loves Monuments competition was held in 2010 in the Netherlands as a pilot project. In 2011, it spread to around 18 countries in Europe and more than 170,000 photographs of cultural heritage sites were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the 2011 edition of Wiki Loves Monuments broke the world record for being the largest photography competition in the world. In 2012, the competition was organised on much bigger scale and extended beyond Europe, with a total of 35 participating countries and more than 363,000 photographs were contributed by more than 15,000 participants from around the globe. Last year, the Wiki Loves Monuments competition was held across six continents including Antarctica and had official participation from more than fifty countries.</p>
<p><strong>What do you hope to achieve with the Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan competition?</strong></p>
<p>Wiki Loves Monuments is one of the most successful initiatives of the Wikimedia movement. Over the past three years, more than 15,000 people, who have never contributed to Wikimedia projects, participated in Wiki Loves Monuments for the first time.</p>
<p>With <a href="http://www.wikilovesmonuments.pk">Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan</a>, I&#8217;m trying to encourage people in Pakistan to contribute to Wikipedia and motivate them to use Creative Commons licensing. It takes a lot of time and energy to edit an article on Wikipedia, but it&#8217;s pretty simple, fun and easy to take a photograph and upload it.</p>
<p>I believe once people participate in Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan they will eventually start to contribute to Wikipedia, which is amongst the most successful products of the open and free internet. Thus, they will eventually come to learn about the concept of a free culture movement. Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan, in my opinion is the best, quickest and easiest way to introduce the free culture movement to the country. I think Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan will bring a change in mindset of Pakistani people as to how they see the Internet. It will also spread awareness of free licensing and copyright amongst the people and will hopefully encourage a change in the mindset that knowledge should be freely accessible to anyone that we all should play our part to make this possible.</p>
<p><strong>Why is Creative Commons licensing important to the competition?</strong></p>
<p>Creative Commons is central to the competition in the same sense that it is important to the world&#8217;s largest encyclopedia Wikipedia, the most-used search engine on the web Google, and the largest and popular photograph database Flickr. I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s really a good reason why one shouldn&#8217;t use Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons licenses were specifically designed for creative works and photography is a creativity, an art. It gives freedom for sharing information and knowledge and aims to encourage creative sharing. Many professional photographers in Pakistan might feel uncomfortable about releasing their photographs under a free license but it&#8217;s worthwhile to release at least part of your work under a Creative Commons license. Even a small part would work and be more than enough. </p>
<p>The Creative Commons license provides an easy and flexible way to share, and enable reuse of, photographs which enables maximum public exposure, at no cost, for both the photographer and their work. Creative Commons licensing also gives the photographer control on how they want to distribute their works whilst still receiving credit for the work.</p>
<p><strong>How do people get involved?</strong></p>
<p>Participating in Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan is really straightforward. Lists of eligible sites to be photographed have been made available online on Wikipedia. All you need to do is register an account on the Wikimedia Commons media repository, choose the sites from the list to photograph, take photographs of your chosen sites and upload the photographs to Wikimedia Commons. That&#8217;s it!</p>
<p>By getting involved in the competition you are helping to document Pakistan&#8217;s rich cultural heritage for current and future generations, and helping to contribute towards the expansion of free knowledge for all. Additionally, by participating in the Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan competition, you may be eligible to win a fantastic cash prize and even become part of a growing community that believes in making knowledge freely available to all.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.wikilovesmonuments.pk">Wiki Loves Monuments Pakistan website</a> gives detailed instructions on how one can participate. I&#8217;m very excited to welcome everyone to participate in the first edition of the Pakistani competition; whether you&#8217;re a professional or amateur photographer or someone who has never engaged in photography before.</p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.wikilovesmonuments.pk">Wiki Love Monuments Pakistan</a> launches on 1 September. To find out about Wiki Loves Monuments in your country, check out the <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2014">2014 website</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43536
title: A new course on Open Research at the School of Open
uri: A-new-course-on-Open-Research-at-the-School-of-Open
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43536
content:
<p><em>The following is a guest post by Beck Pitt, researcher at the Open University&#8217;s OER Research Hub. We are collaborating with Beck and her team to <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/40393">investigate</a> attitudes towards sharing educational resources online and the impact of School of Open courses.</em> </p>
<p>Are you curious about what it means to research openly and what benefits it could have? Interested in how you can be open and ethical when conducting research? Wondering how openness could help raise the profile of your research? Thinking about the benefits of sharing reflections on your research? </p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3JFgZqP6rBc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The award-winning, Hewlett Foundation-funded <a href="http://oerresearchhub.org">OER Research Hub</a> based at <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk">The Open University</a> (UK) is pleased to announce its very own School of Open course in collaboration with the <a href="http://p2pu.org/">Peer 2 Peer University</a> and Creative Commons. It opens for sign-up  today at <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2377/open-research/">https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2377/open-research/</a>.</p>
<p>Over six months in the making and peer-reviewed by the <a href="http://community.p2pu.org/category/school-of-open">community</a>, this new <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> course offers the opportunity to explore the concept and practices of open research with participants from around the world. The course has been designed for any researcher who has an interest in utilizing open techniques and practices in their own research.</p>
<p>Join researchers Bea de los Arcos, Rob Farrow, Beck Pitt, and project manager Natalie Eggleston for this four-week course that explores what open research is and the issues involved around it, including: ethics, dissemination, reflection, and evaluation. The course starts <strong>Monday, 15 September 2014</strong> and features its very own <a href="https://badges.p2pu.org/en/badge/view/563/">&#8220;Open Research&#8221; badge</a> for course completion and participation. </p>
<p><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2377/open-research/"><center><button type="button"><font size="4"><strong>Sign up for the course here</strong></font></button></center></a></p>
<p>To sign up, simply click the &#8220;Start Course&#8221; button on the lower left of the course page once you have signed into or registered for a p2pu.org account. Sign-up will remain open through Friday, 12 September.</p>
<h3>About the OER Research Hub</h3>
<p><em>The <a href="http://oerresearchhub.org">OER Research Hub</a> is an international open research project examining the impact of open educational resources (OER) on learning and teaching practices. It works collaboratively with initiatives, projects and organisations around the world, disseminating its research and curating evidence for the impact of OER on its <a href="http://oermap.org">Impact Map</a>. </em></p>
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The School of Open is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run online courses, offline workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a peer learning community for developing and running free online courses.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43572
title: CC Salon in San Francisco: Public Domain FTW!
uri: CC-Salon-in-San-Francisco-Public-Domain-FTW
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43572
content:
<p style="text-align: center; "><small><a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-commons-salon-public-domain-ftw-tickets-12694486551"><img src="media/5e646f1d.publicdomaincart-500.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/publicdomaincart-500.png" width=500 height=624 /></a><br />Source photo: <a href="http://unsplash.com/post/93258594269/download-by-philipp-henzler">Philipp Henzler</a>, <a href="/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></small></p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-commons-salon-public-domain-ftw-tickets-12694486551"><strong>RSVP on Eventbrite</strong></a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/266848170171808/">RSVP on Facebook</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center; ">September 9, 2014<br />6:30 &#8211; 8:30 PM Pacific time<br />General Assembly, 501 Folsom St (1st and Folsom)<br />San Francisco, CA 94105<br />Public Transportation: Close to Embarcadero BART, Montgomery BART, or San Francisco Caltrain</p>
<p>Creative Commons, <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>, and <a href="https://generalassemb.ly/">General Assembly</a> are excited to announce a salon on Tuesday, September 9. This informal event will be a celebration of the public domain, with discussion on the cool things people are doing with it, <a href="/weblog/entry/43256">why it&#8217;s under attack</a>, and what we can do to fight for it. Before and after the discussion, we&#8217;ll have computers set up around the space with games from the <a href="/weblog/entry/42749">Public Domain Jam</a>. Public domain for the win!</p>
<h3>Speakers</h3>
<table style="border: 0px; width: 100%; ">
<tr>
<td style="width: 50%; text-align: center; padding: 20px; ">
<a href="https://twitter.com/xor"><img src="media/03149f05.parker-150.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/parker-150.jpg" width=150 height=150 border=0 /></p>
<p><strong>Parker Higgins</strong></a><br /><a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a> activist
</td>
<td style="width: 50%; text-align: center; padding: 20px; ">
<a href="https://twitter.com/annewootton"><img src="media/94d22ca2.anne-150.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/anne-150.jpg" width=150 height=150 border=0 /></p>
<p><strong>Anne Wootton</strong></a><br /><a href="https://www.popuparchive.com/">Pop Up Archive</a> CEO</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 50%; text-align: center; padding: 20px; ">
<a href="https://twitter.com/ryanmerkley"><img src="media/74ce4f8f.ryan-150.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ryan-150.jpg" width=150 height=150 border=- /></p>
<p><strong>Ryan Merkley</strong></a><br />Creative Commons CEO</td>
<td style="width: 50%; text-align: center; padding: 20px; ">
<a href="https://twitter.com/ncasenmare"><img src="media/19b88e36.nicky-150.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/nicky-150.jpg" width=150 height=150 border=0 /></p>
<p><strong>Nicky Case</strong></a><br />videogame developer</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h3>About General Assembly</h3>
<p><a href="https://generalassemb.ly/"><img src="media/c3148c23.GA_secondary_cog.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/GA_secondary_cog.png" width=176 height=168 border=0 /></a></p>
<p><em>At <a href="https://generalassemb.ly/">General Assembly</a>, we are creating a global community of individuals empowered to pursue work they love, by offering full-time immersive programs, long-form courses, and classes and workshops on the most relevant skills of the 21st century&#160;&#8212; from web development and user experience design, to business fundamentals, to data science, to product management and digital marketing.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43575
title: The 2nd OER Summer Camp on Luxi Island of CC China Mainland
uri: The-2nd-OER-Summer-Camp-on-Luxi-Island-of-CC-China-Mainland
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43575
content:
<p><em>The following is a guest post by LIUPing, members of the CC China Mainland Affiliate team and the School of Open community. Below is a description of the 2nd CC China Mainland open educational resources (OER) summer camp (30th June to 8th July 2014) for the children of Luxi Island, a remote island off the coast of China.</em></p>
<h3>Why did we have the 2nd OER Summer Camp?</h3>
<p>The summer of 2013 was special for the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/China_Mainland">CC China Mainland team</a>, Wenzhou Medical University and <a href="http://www.guokr.com/">Guokr.com</a>. These three parties co-hosted <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/#oer-summer">OER summer camp</a> which was successfully initiated on Luxi Island. For Wenzhou Medical University, the summer camp has already been a part of its routine volunteering activities for five consecutive years. But it’s the first time for them to connect such a camp with the CC China Mainland Project. The latter, to their surprise, brought something fresh this time; a real world OER activity in rural China took shape.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/41155">first OER summer camp</a> received great feedback, not only from volunteers of Wenzhou Medical University that participated, but from the officials of Luxi Island, and more importantly, from the students of Luxi Public School. </p>
<h3>Can we create some OER courses?</h3>
<p>The first successful but not flawless camp greatly encouraged us to hold the second one. We thought there was a lot of room for improvement, especially that more CC-licensed OER should be included. In addition to OER available online, we wondered if we could make some interesting online courses ourselves for the kids within our reach. And based on feedback, &#8220;How to make herbarium&#8221; was regarded as the most interesting course during the first camp. </p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;We hope to make a difference,&#8221; said volunteers from Wenzhou Medical University. &#8220;why not make some courses based on our knowledge as medical students? We believe that would be more interesting and flexible.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<h3>What courses did we create?</h3>
<p>All preparations went smoothly by volunteers, days before the launch of the camp. Wenzhou Medical University’s student center, which provides opportunities for students to start small businesses within the campus, happened to have a photography studio. Undoubtedly, it was chosen to be our &#8220;OER course studio&#8221; for making videos of the courses. About 12 volunteers participated and 16 different courses were recorded, of which 14 were used, including:</p>
<p>1. <strong>The introduction of traffic signs</strong> (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ2Mjg2MjU2.html">video</a>)</p>
<p>2. <strong>Comprehensive water treatment</strong>, namely sewage treatment, flood prevention, drainage, water supply and water saving. The course was concentrated on how to identify water quality (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ2Mjg2MjU2.html">video</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/0fc8420d.oercamp14water.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14water.jpg"><img src="media/8b0512ef.oercamp14water-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14water-500.jpg" alt="Comprehensive water treatment" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">ZHU Renkai</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>3. <strong>Interesting Japanese language</strong> (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3NDk4NzY0.html">video</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/d09f22a6.oercamp14japanese.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14japanese.jpg"><img src="media/03eda29b.oercamp14japanese-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14japanese-500.jpg" alt="Interesting Japanese language" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">WANG Hongying</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>4. <strong>Traditional Chinese handwork</strong>: stamp, tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty and blue and white porcelain. The courses teach students aged from 11-13, on how to create this handwork. </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3NDcwNDk2.html">Course 1 video</a>    </li>
<li><a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3OTIzODA0.html">Course 2 video</a></li>
<li><a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3NTQ1MzAw.html">Course 3 video</a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/3daeea9f.oercamp14handiwork.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14handiwork.jpg"><img src="media/127717ee.oercamp14handiwork-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14handiwork-500.jpg" alt="Traditional China handwork" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">WAN Yu</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>5. <strong>Interesting Traditional Chinese Medicine</strong>: introduce some basic knowledge about TCM, which is relevant to students daily lives. (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3NjI1NDE2.html ">video</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/345530ef.oercamp14chinesemed.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14chinesemed.jpg"><img src="media/e002dae3.oercamp14chinesemed-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14chinesemed-500.jpg" alt="Interesting Traditional Chinese Medicine" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">WANG Hongying</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>6. <strong>Interesting history</strong>: the introduction of some historical events which had significant impact on China. (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ4NTUzMzA4.html">video</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/83926316.oercamp14history.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14history.jpg"><img src="media/d03d4d23.oercamp14history-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14history-500.jpg" alt="Interesting history" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">ZHU Renkai</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>7. <strong>Presentation skills</strong>: How to give a presentation or host an event. How to present yourself in front of people with confidence. (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ0MDczODY0.html?qq-pf-to=pcqq.c2c">video</a>) </p>
<p>8. <strong>Course for senior citizens on the island</strong>: including some basic knowledge of labor contract if any of their family members are immigrant workers in other provinces; living knowledge such as why some vegetables can’t be cooked together, etc. (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ2Mjg4ODQ0.html">video</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/3f7ae63e.oercamp14seniors.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14seniors.jpg"><img src="media/e0646120.oercamp14seniors-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14seniors-500.jpg" alt="Course for seniors in the island" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">WANG Hongying</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>9. <strong>Pink ribbon</strong>: the course was designed for females on the island by Wenzhou Medical University volunteers. The presenter is a Clinical Medicine Science major student; she introduces relevant knowledge of breast cancer, including how to prevent it from happening. (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ2Mjc1MzE2.html">video</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="/weblog/entry/43575"><a href="media/ee77c64a.oercamp14ribbon.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14ribbon.jpg"><img src="media/bcd8a55c.oercamp14ribbon-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/oercamp14ribbon-500.jpg" alt="Pink ribbon" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">YANG Jiayi</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>10. <strong>Muscle-bone strengthening exercise</strong>: Through proper adjustment in human body and correct method for breath (muscle, bone etc.), the exercise can help to improve blood circulation and the functions of internal organs of the body (heart, spleen, liver, lungs and kidneys). (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3ODQ3NTk2.html ">video</a>)</p>
<p>11. <strong>Interesting Oral English</strong>: Mr. Percy provides kids with some simple and easy oral English. (<a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzQ3NjIxMzA0.html ">video</a>)</p>
<p>12. <strong>MOOC from Guokr</strong>: How to select good quality fruit. A specially designed course for kids (<a href="http://www.guokr.com/zone/fruitmooc/ ">link</a>)</p>
<h3>Feedback from Participants of the 2nd Luxi Summer Camp</h3>
<p><strong><em>Students&#8217; comments on the OER summer camp:</em></strong></p>
<p>CHEN Xinhao, Grade One:</p>
<blockquote><p>We had many different courses, and learnt a lot from our teachers. Besides, discipline plays a big role in our classes. I learnt how to be strong, even if being injured, I didn’t cry. Teachers cared us a lot and we can feel the love from their hearts. Maybe next time, we can have more classified courses based on our exiting knowledge. I sincerely hope that they can come again; we really like all these teachers.</p></blockquote>
<p>CHEN Yanjie, Grade Four:</p>
<blockquote><p>I enjoyed my stay with teachers, from their daily lives, I learnt how to be strong, independent and insistent on my dreams. Teachers gave us so many supports and encouragement. Same time, I got to know my weak points and believe that I can always do better. I really hope they can come and visit us next summer, by binging knowledge and happiness. I like my teachers. </p></blockquote>
<p>MIAO Xiaoting, Grade Four:</p>
<blockquote><p>Though I can’t fully understand the class, I think all classes are great and interesting. Teachers really tried hard to explain us. I like this kind of teaching and will try my best to learn in future. I enjoyed the play time with teachers after class. It’s funny to play games and take photos together. So many unforgettable moments. I hope all of them can come back next summer. I love them! In order to provide us good classed, teachers’ preparation task lasted late at night and got up early in the morning. I hope they can have good rest after back home. </p></blockquote>
<p>ZHENG Ruize, Grade Six:      </p>
<blockquote><p>One of the important things I learnt from these teachers is always be diligent, humble and hard work. I believe that I can walk out of this island and get to know the world outside. Now I’m on Grade Six, and will be in mid school soon. I think I will work harder in future and let myself become an excellent student with the days to come. I really hope after grow-up, I can back to the island with teacher, to support more kids in this island. I hope all teachers would take good care of themselves. I like them all and look forward to seeing them again with diversified courses. </p></blockquote>
<p><strong><em>Volunteers’ comments on OER summer camp:</em></strong></p>
<p>QIN Xu, age 19, major in Law:</p>
<blockquote><p>The most impressive thing happened in summer camp is the process of making courses. It’s a very interesting to be a teacher for others. Besides, team work always makes things earlier to proceed and get diversified thoughts on how to do it. Personally, being a teacher in front of so many students in different ages made me overcome the fear in facing a camera, become more confident. </p></blockquote>
<p>PAN Yixiu, age 19, major in Traditional Chinese Medicine:</p>
<blockquote><p>After being a volunteer for the summer camp, I understand that when kids made mistakes, the last thing to do is to blame them, but let them know why this is not the right thing to do. Taking a trans-positional consideration always helps in communications. As a teacher, we should encourage, praise them, other than criticize or disappoint them. Only by doing so, they create a new world with more confidence.</p></blockquote>
<p>LIU Hanzhong, age 19, major in rehabilitation:</p>
<blockquote><p>This volunteering experience really made me feel that kid’s world is so clean, honest and simple. A fine educational system should concentrate on personality-building, then knowledge-teaching. </p></blockquote>
<hr />
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The School of Open is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run online courses, offline workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a peer learning community for developing and running free online courses.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43541
title: MapWorks Learning combines OER and open data to protect threatened biodiversity
uri: MapWorks-Learning-combines-OER-and-open-data-to-protect-threatened-bi
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43541
content:
<p>Mangrove forests have been described by the World Wildlife Fund as one of the <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/coasts/mangroves/mangrove_threats/">world’s most threatened tropical ecosystems</a>. In an effort to protect and raise awareness around this problem, MapWorks Learning launched the first of what they plan to make an <a href="http://www.mapworkslearning.org/announcements/students-in-costa-rica-help-protect-the-mangroves-during-earth-day-mapathon">annual Mapathon</a> for ecological preservation and learning. The inaugural event engaged schools, universities, and environmental groups around the world to document the health and well being of mangrove populations using the Mapping the Mangroves tool.</p>
<p><a href="http://mappingthemangroves.qfi.org/"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43548" src="media/6d6fc19f.Screenshot-2014-08-21-14.45.032.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Screenshot-2014-08-21-14.45.032.png" alt="Screenshot 2014-08-21 14.45.03" width="640" height="268" /></a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://mappingthemangroves.org">Mapping the Mangroves (MTM)</a> toolkit is a project originally funded by Qatar Foundation International, and is now a keystone project of MapWorks Learning. MTM uses a mapping application built on the open source <a href="https://www.ushahidi.com">Ushahidi software platform</a>, relying on crowdsourcing to collect geographic and descriptive data about mangrove forests. The project’s reporting system allows anyone to submit a report about mangrove forests, describing the area’s biodiversity and pairing it with geographic coordinates and other sensor data. The data are then displayed on an interactive map on the project’s homepage, with all reports searchable and explorable by geographic region and other habitat or report traits. The data are freely available for download and licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a>, too.</p>
<p>The MTM project is supporting the development of <a href="https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/2832-mapping-mangroves/view">OER curriculum</a> introducing learners to mangrove forest ecosystems, basic species identification, and explaining how they can take part in the monitoring and protection of forests around the world. The toolkit&#8217;s learning material is available under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a> license on <a href="https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/2832-mapping-mangroves/view">OER Commons</a>.</p>
<p>To find out more about MapWorks Learning and their upcoming Mapathons see <a href="http://www.mapworkslearning.org/">mapworkslearning.org</a>, visit them on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mapworkslrng">Facebook</a>, or follow them on <a href="https://twitter.com/MapWorksLrng">Twitter</a>.<br />
<a href="http://mappingthemangroves.qfi.org/"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43550" src="media/a6a74ec6.Screenshot-2014-08-21-14.47.501.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Screenshot-2014-08-21-14.47.501.png" alt="mtm_logo" width="300" height="114" /></a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43692
title: Time is running out: We all need to support a fair and neutral Internet
uri: Time-is-running-out-We-all-need-to-support-a-fair-and-neutral-Intern
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43692
content:
<p>Today a large group of companies and organizations are raising awareness about the importance of net neutrality by joining the <a href="https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/">Internet Slowdown</a> campaign. The action asks what would happen if large internet service providers (ISPs) and cable companies get their way and are able to squash net neutrality. Net neutrality is the concept that ISPs should treat all data that travels over their networks equally. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a framework for <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/protecting-and-promoting-open-internet-nprm">“Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet.”</a> But to many companies and users the guidelines are inadequate for truly supporting an open internet. Instead, some think that the FCC proposal props the door open for ISPs to offer internet “fast lanes” to customers who can pay more&#8211;thus breaking the principle of network neutrality.</p>
<p>Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools support access and reuse of hundreds of millions of pieces of creative work by allowing creators to attach rights information about how they wish to share their creativity. And of course, open licensing is just one part of the ecosystem of sharing. CC helps break down copyright barriers to online sharing, but without net neutrality, the sharing of all works (both CC licensed and not) will be restricted from the users who cannot cough up the money to jump into the fast lane. Creators should be able to share content on equal footing. And users should be able to access and reuse that shared content via a fair and open internet.</p>
<p>The FCC has been soliciting feedback from the public. You can support the campaign for net neutrality at <a href="https://www.battleforthenet.com/">Battle for the Net</a> and sign the letter which will be sent to your members of Congress, the FCC, and the White House. And you can still have your voice heard by sending your comments to the FCC. The public comment period ends on 15 September.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=43678
title: Creative Commons launches School of Open events in Tanzania and Nigeria
uri: Creative-Commons-launches-School-of-Open-events-in-Tanzania-and-Niger
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43678
content:
<p>Today and tomorrow the School of Open launches in Tanzania and Nigeria in conjunction with Mozilla Maker Party!</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SOO-AfricaV2.jpg"><img src="media/97ff7c78.SOO-AfricaV2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SOO-AfricaV2.jpg" alt="SOO AfricaV2" /><br /><small>(SOO logo <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/about/">here</a>. <span property="dc:title">Earth</span> icon licensed <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a> by <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.thenounproject.com/tinyxl">Erin Standley</a> from the <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com">Noun Project</a></span>.)</small></p>
<p>In Tanzania, <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Tanzania">CC Tanzania</a> is hosting a creative event for kids at the Open University of Tanzania, the first university in the  region to offer open and distant learning programs. Kids will use the Internet and open educational resources to create animations. This event occurs today: see the <a href="https://events.webmaker.org/events/6341">Maker Party page</a> for details. It marks the launch of three training programs around ICT empowerment training for unemployed youth, teaching persons with disabilities how to use computers, and training educators on using ICT to improve how they teach their students. </p>
<ul>
<strong>&#8212;> <u>Update</u>:</strong> <a href="http://cctz2013.blogspot.com/2014/09/creative-commons-launched-school-of.html">Read CC Tanzania&#8217;s download of the event</a>.</ul>
<p>In Nigeria, <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Nigeria">CC Nigeria</a> is hosting a web building skills event for the public at the Nigerian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies at the University of Lagos. Anyone may join to learn how to build the web and share creative works through Mozilla and CC tools. The opening ceremony and maker party are tomorrow, see the <a href="https://events.webmaker.org/events/4526">Maker Party page</a> for details. The event also marks the launch of a five-week training program around Nigerian copyright and Linux Operating System. During the opening ceremony, SOO Nigeria&#8217;s facilitators, partners and supporters will meet and set expectations for program participants. See the <a href="http://creativecommonsng.org/school-of-open-nigeria/">School of Open Nigeria page</a> for more details. You can follow SOO Nigeria on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CreativeCommonsNigeria">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/cc_Nigeria">Twitter</a>, using the hashtags #SOOAfrica and #MakerParty.</p>
<p>School of Open launch events are also set to occur in Kenya and South Africa &#8212; stay tuned! (Read more about their plans <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43400">here</a>.)</p>
<hr />
<h3>About Maker Party</h3>
<p><em>School of Open and Creative Commons is excited to be partnering with Mozilla to celebrate teaching and learning the web with <a href="http://party.webmaker.org/">Maker Party</a>. Through thousands of community-run events around the world, Maker Party unites educators, organizations and enthusiastic Internet users of all ages and skill levels.</p>
<p>We share Mozilla&#8217;s belief that the web is a global public resource that&#8217;s integral to modern life: it shapes how we learn, how we connect and how we communicate. But many of us don&#8217;t understand its basic mechanics or what it means to be a citizen of the web. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re supporting this global effort to teach web literacy through hands-on learning and making with Maker Party.</em></p>
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run courses, workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU.</em></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43727
title: Daily awesome from the internet: CC presents the Thing of the Day
uri: Daily-awesome-from-the-internet-CC-presents-the-Thing-of-the-Day
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43727
content:
<p>When you go searching for Creative Commons&#8211;licensed content, you never know what you&#8217;ll find. Sometimes you&#8217;ll find the exact photo or piece of sound you were looking for, and sometimes you&#8217;ll find something you never could have imagined.</p>
<p><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/">We&#8217;ve created a new Tumblr blog</a> to celebrate those unusual, beautiful, and quirky CC finds from around the web. It&#8217;s the <a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/">Creative Commons Thing of the Day</a>!</p>
<p><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/">Sign up to get the Thing of the Day delivered to your inbox every morning</a>.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the last week and a half in Thing of the Day.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/95937135101/italic-shelf-ronen-kadushin-cc-by-nc-sa-3-0"><img src="media/1021337d.thing-kadushin-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-kadushin-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.ronen-kadushin.com/index.php/open-design/italic-shelf/">Italic Shelf</a> / Ronen Kadushin / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA 3.0</a></p>
<p>Ronen Kadushin designs unusual pieces of furniture like this unorthodox bookcase. He shares the designs under Creative Commons licenses and invites people to experiment with them, adapt them, and share their modified versions. <a href="media/e3ca8cae.Open_Design_Manifesto-Ronen_Kadushin_.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.ronen-kadushin.com/files/4613/4530/1263/Open_Design_Manifesto-Ronen_Kadushin_.pdf">Kadushin writes</a>, &#8220;An open design value is increased with wider modification possibilities and transformation potentials into other products. Designs that typically live only a few years in the marketplace can live on and develop into new shapes and uses.&#8221;</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/96703689999/buy-my-bed-in-brooklyn-jonathan-mann-cc-by"><img src="media/7e92fa94.thing-mann-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-mann-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtT1inUGqyk">Buy My Bed in Brooklyn</a> / Jonathan Mann / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY 3.0</a></p>
<p>Jonathan Mann writes a song every day. Many of them tackle complex emotions and ideas. But inevitably, a lot of them are just silly, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtT1inUGqyk">&#8220;Buy My Bed in Brooklyn</a>.&#8221; In songs like &#8220;Buy My Bed,&#8221; we see a songwriter whose talent lies in his childlike approach to day-to-day life.</p>
<p><a href="http://teamopen.cc/jonathan/">On why he licenses all his music under CC</a>, Jonathan told us, &#8220;It’s kind of a no-brainer&#8230; I don’t even really understand why anyone would do anything different. It makes such simple sense.&#8221;</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/96787581334/coming-out-simulator-nicky-case-cc0-nicky"><img src="media/7e4300df.thing-case-400.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-case-400.png" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://ncase.itch.io/coming-out-simulator-2014">Coming Out Simulator</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/ncasenmare">Nicky Case</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></p>
<p>Nicky Case creates videogames that deal with issues many videogame designers wouldn&#8217;t touch. Nicky&#8217;s <a href="http://www.nothingtohide.cc/">Nothing to Hide</a> is a frank look at government and corporate surveillance, and an addictive puzzle game to boot.</p>
<p>Coming Out Simulator is a semiautobiographical game about Nicky coming out of the closet to their parents. The player is given choices of what to say, but the heartwrenching ending is inevitable.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/96879401966/andrew-archer-cc-by-nc-3-0-illustrator-andrew"><img src="media/1f3ceda5.thing-archer-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-archer-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/18006477/California-Magazine">Andrew Archer</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">CC BY-NC 3.0</a></p>
<p>Illustrator <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewtarcher">Andrew Archer</a> drew these <a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/18006477/California-Magazine">terrifying images of a post-apocalyptic California</a> for a feature in California Magazine.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/96972708253/found-in-translation-anjaya-iyer-cc-by-nc-nd"><img src="media/2688f0d2.thing-iyer-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-iyer-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/9633585/Found-In-Translation">Found in Translation</a> / Anjaya Iyer / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">CC BY-NC-ND 3.0</a></p>
<p>These gorgeous prints feature words that capture ideas and feelings we&#8217;ve all experienced, but that don&#8217;t translate well into English. By introducing such perfect words to English speakers, they serve as a testament to the way that languages constantly grow, adapt, and borrow words from each other.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/97057862867/copyright-xkcd-cc-by-nc-2-5-it-even-happens"><img src="media/e8bbcba0.thing-xkcd-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-xkcd-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://xkcd.com/14/">Copyright</a> / <a href="http://xkcd.com/">XKCD</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/">CC BY-NC 2.5</a></p>
<p>It even happens to us some days.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/97139719389/miyoung-yi-cc-by-2-0-miyoung-yis"><img src="media/344c7656.thing-miyoung-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-miyoung-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/netstrolling/6874256231/">프라하 까를교 악사</a> / <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/netstrolling/">Miyoung Yi</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/netstrolling/sets/72157629025587771/">Miyoung Yi&#8217;s gorgeous drawings</a> capture everyday moments, both in her home country of South Korea and around the world. As a Creative Commons activist, <a href="http://teamopen.cc/miyoung/">she encourages other Koreans to consider sharing their work under open licenses</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/97302489014/steven-lewis-cc0-here-at-cc-were-huge-fans"><img src="media/677f89c2.thing-motel-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-motel-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://unsplash.com/post/96933087474/download-by-steven-lewis">Steven Lewis</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></p>
<p>Here at CC, we&#8217;re huge fans of the photography blog <a href="http://unsplash.com/">Unsplash</a>. The blog presents a single photo every day &#8211; the Unsplash curators have a great eye for delightful slices of life. The best part is that all of the photos are available under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a>, meaning that anyone can use them for any purpose, commercial or noncommercial, with or without attribution.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/97566525167/silhouettes-the-oo-ray-cc-by-nc-sa-3-0"><img src="media/797eff66.thing-ooray-400.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/thing-ooray-400.jpg" width=400 height=210 /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/tedladeras">Silhouettes</a> / <a href="http://15people.net/">The OO-Ray</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA 3.0</a></p>
<p>Illustration: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/djbrokenwindow/1117348729/">Broken window</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">CC BY-NC-ND 2.0</a></p>
<p>The OO-Ray&#8217;s <em><a href="https://soundcloud.com/disquiet/tedladeras">Silhouettes</a></em> is a great example of how Creative Commons&#8211;licensed work can take on a life of its own. The OO-Ray (n&#233; Ted Laderas) composed and recorded the piece in 2011. Since then, <a href="http://15people.net/silhouettes-videos/">it&#8217;s appeared in dozens of videos</a> thanks to its CC license. <a href="http://blog.soundcloud.com/2013/09/23/sound-video-creativecommons/">As Laderas told SoundCloud</a>, &#8220;It&#8217;s incredibly energizing to see that people like your music so much to include it in their video.&#8221;</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43720
title: Hey, CC musicians! Enter the Free! Music! Contest!
uri: Hey-CC-musicians-Enter-the-Free-Music-Contest
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43720
content:
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2014-en"><img src="media/aaa67b49.fmc-500.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/fmc-500.jpg" width=500 height=494 /></a></p>
<p>Every year, our friends at <a href="http://bandcamp.musikpiraten-ev.de/"> Musikpiraten e.V.</a> host the Free! Music! Contest to find the best Creative Commons&#8211;licensed music of the year. CC is proud to serve as a partner in this awesome tradition.</p>
<p>This year, anyone who preorders the album of winning selections earns the right to vote for their favorite entries. <a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2014-en">From the announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;With the public voting we want to achieve two things,&#8221; explains Christian Hufgard, chairman of the Musikpiraten. &#8220;On the one hand, the selection of songs on the CDs are placed on a broader footing. And the obvious choice is to give a voice to those who will hear the CDs afterwards? But we also hope that the participating bands indicate their fans even before publication of the sampler the competition and we still get the more attention.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Additionally, German gothic rock band Aeon Sable is <a href="http://terrarelicta.com/index.php/news/3344-aeon-sable-invites-you-to-do-a-remix-or-cover-out-of-visions">offering a special prize</a> for remixing its song &#8220;<a href="http://ccmixter.org/files/Aeon_Sable/47289">Visions</a>,&#8221; which the band has shared a multitrack version of under <a href="/licenses/by-nc/3.0/">CC BY-NC</a>.</p>
<p>Submissions are due September 30. <a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2014-en">Check it out!</a></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43746
title: Why are we prosecuting students for sharing knowledge?
uri: Why-are-we-prosecuting-students-for-sharing-knowledge
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43746
content:
<p>In July the Electronic Frontier Foundation <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/colombian-student-faces-prison-charges-sharing-academic-article-online">wrote about</a> the predicament that Colombian student Diego Gomez found himself in after he shared a research article online. Gomez is a <a href="http://www.karisma.org.co/compartirnoesdelito/?p=256%20">graduate student</a> in conservation and wildlife management at a small university. He has generally poor access to many of the resources and databases that would help him conduct his research. Paltry access to useful materials combined with a natural culture of sharing amongst researchers prompted Gomez shared a paper on Scribd so that he and others could access it for their work. The practice of learning and sharing under less-than-ideal circumstances could land Diego in prison.</p>
<p>The EFF reports that upon learning of this unauthorized sharing, the author of the research article filed criminal complaint against Gomez. The charges lodged against Diego could put him in prison for 4-8 years. The trial has started, and the court will need to take into account several factors: including whether there was any malicious intent to the action, and whether there was any actual harm against the economic rights of the author.</p>
<p>Today <a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a>, Creative Commons, <a href="http://www.righttoresearch.org/">Right to Research Coalition</a>, and <a href="https://www.openaccessbutton.org/">Open Access Button</a> are <strong><a href="https://act.eff.org/action/let-s-stand-together-to-promote-open-access-worldwide">launching a campaign</a></strong> to help raise awareness about Diego&#8217;s situation, to promote a reasonable handling of his and similar cases, and to support open access policies and practices. We hope you&#8217;ll sign on.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Let&#8217;s stand together to promote Open Access worldwide.</h3>
<p><em>Help Diego Gomez and join academics and users in fighting outdated laws and practices that keep valuable research locked up for no good reason.</em></p>
<p>Diego Gomez, a Colombian graduate student, currently faces up to eight years in prison for doing something thousands of researchers do every day: posting research results online for those who would not otherwise have a way to access them.</p>
<p>If open access were the default for scholarly communication, cases like Diego&#8217;s would become obsolete.</p>
<p>Academic research would be free to access and available under an open license that would legally enable the kind of sharing that is so crucial for enabling scientific progress.</p>
<p>When research is shared freely and openly, we all benefit. <a href="https://act.eff.org/action/let-s-stand-together-to-promote-open-access-worldwide">Sign the petition</a> to express your support for Open Access as the default for scientific and scholarly publishing, so researchers like Diego don&#8217;t risk severe penalties for helping colleagues access the research they need.</p>
<p><strong>Sign-on statement:</strong><br />Scientific and scholarly progress relies upon the exchange of ideas and research. We all benefit when research is shared widely, freely, and openly. I support an Open Access system for academic publishing that makes research free for anyone to read and re-use; one that is inclusive of all and doesn&#8217;t force researchers like Diego Gomez to risk severe penalties for helping colleagues access the research they need.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43762
title: School of Open Africa launch event in Kenya tomorrow!
uri: School-of-Open-Africa-launch-event-in-Kenya-tomorrow
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43762
content:
<p>Following on the heels of School of Open Africa launch events in Tanzania and Nigeria <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43678">last weekend</a>, School of Open Kenya is hosting its own tomorrow to kick off training for four high schools in Nairobi. </p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SOO-AfricaV2.jpg"><img src="media/97ff7c78.SOO-AfricaV2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SOO-AfricaV2.jpg" alt="SOO AfricaV2" /><br /><small>(SOO logo <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/about/">here</a>. <span property="dc:title">Earth</span> icon licensed <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a> by <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.thenounproject.com/tinyxl">Erin Standley</a> from the <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com">Noun Project</a></span>.)</small></p>
<p>Called Popjam, this SOO launch event + Mozilla Maker Party will be a day-long workshop introducing high school students to <a href="http://creativecommons.org/education#OER">open educational resources (OER)</a>. Students will learn how to use OER and the open web to complement their academic studies. Students from four high schools will participate: Precious Blood Secondary School, Nairobi School, Sunshine Secondary School, and State House Girls Secondary School. SOO Kenya is hosted by Jamlab, a co-creation community based in Nairobi for high school students and graduates in Africa. </p>
<p>For more information about the event, and to RSVP if you&#8217;re in Nairobi, visit the <a href="https://events.webmaker.org/events/6369">event page</a>.</p>
<hr />
<h3>About Maker Party</h3>
<p><em>School of Open and Creative Commons is excited to be partnering with Mozilla to celebrate teaching and learning the web with <a href="http://party.webmaker.org/">Maker Party</a>. Through thousands of community-run events around the world, Maker Party unites educators, organizations and enthusiastic Internet users of all ages and skill levels.</p>
<p>We share Mozilla&#8217;s belief that the web is a global public resource that&#8217;s integral to modern life: it shapes how we learn, how we connect and how we communicate. But many of us don&#8217;t understand its basic mechanics or what it means to be a citizen of the web. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re supporting this global effort to teach web literacy through hands-on learning and making with Maker Party.</em></p>
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run courses, workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU.</em></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43768
title: Hewlett Foundation extends CC BY policy to all grantees
uri: Hewlett-Foundation-extends-CC-BY-policy-to-all-grantees
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43768
content:
<p>Last week the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation <a href="http://www.hewlett.org/blog/posts/helping-good-ideas-go-further">announced</a> that it is extending its open licensing policy to require that all content (such as reports, videos, white papers) resulting from project grant funds be licensed under the most recent Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. From the Foundation’s blog post: “We’re making this change because we believe that this kind of broad, open, and free sharing of ideas benefits not just the Hewlett Foundation, but also our grantees, and most important, the people their work is intended to help.” The change is explained in more detail on the foundation’s <a href="http://www.hewlett.org/about-us/values-policies/commitment-open-licensing">website</a>.</p>
<p>The foundation had a long-standing policy requiring that recipients of its Open Educational Resources grants license the outputs of those grants; this was instrumental in the creation and growth of the OER field, which continues to flourish and spread. Earlier this year, the license requirement was extended to all Education Program grants, and as restated, the policy will now be rolled out to all project-based grants under any foundation program. The policy is straightforward: it requires that content produced pursuant to a grant be made easily available to the public, on the grantee’s website or otherwise, under the CC BY 4.0 license &#8212; unless there is some good reason to use a different license.</p>
<p>“When we began thinking about extending the policy from OER grants to the foundation as a whole, we wanted to be sure we would not be creating unforeseen problems,” said Elizabeth Peters, the general counsel of the Hewlett Foundation. “So we first broadened it to cover education grants that were not for OER &#8212; and have been pleased to find that there were very few issues, and those few easily resolved. CC BY for all grant-funded works will now be the default, but we are willing to accommodate grantees who have a persuasive reason to take a different path. The ultimate goal of this policy is to make the content we fund more openly available to everyone. We’re only just beginning to implement this change, and will continue to monitor how it&#8217;s working, but so far we have found most grantees are ready and willing to apply the license that makes their works fully open for re-use of all kinds.”</p>
<p>In practice, the new policy means that nearly all of the extensive content produced with Hewlett project-based grant funds&#8211;not only works specifically commissioned as Open Educational Resources, but scholarly research, multimedia materials, videos, white papers, and more, created by grantees on subjects of critical importance&#8211;will be widely available for downstream re-use with only the condition that the creator is attributed. Text will be openly available for translation into foreign languages, and high-quality photographs and videos will be able to be re-used on platforms such as Wikipedia. Releasing grant funded content under permissive open licenses like CC BY means that these materials can be more easily shared and re-used by the public. And they can be combined with other resources that are also published under an open license: this collection grows larger every day as governments and other publicly-facing institutions adopt open policies. Promoting this type of sharing can benefit both the original creator and the foundation, as it enables novel uses in situations not intended by the original grant funding.</p>
<p>For a long time Creative Commons has been interested in promoting open licensing policies within philanthropic grantmaking. We received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to survey the licensing policies of private foundations, and to work toward increasing the free availability of foundation-supported works. We <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/40760">wrote</a> about the progress of the project in March, and we’ve been maintaining a <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/document/d/11C7urv5ETzIKjyM92qlhEtqjSolggRyPuMJ5SujjkWM/edit#">list</a> of foundation IP policies, and a <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/document/d/1FbwRphBYehYeAzNYit0gbgeGjQQq1ptVUH8Z0xkkF6Y/edit">model IP policy</a>.</p>
<p>We urge other foundations and funding bodies to emulate the outstanding leadership demonstrated by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and commit to making open licensing an essential component of their grantmaking strategy.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43767
title: CC Colombia and School of Open celebrate the Web We Want
uri: CC-Colombia-and-School-of-Open-celebrate-the-Web-We-Want
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43767
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/leylleras.jpg"><a href="http://karisma.org.co/?p=4609"><img src="media/3cfc7e87.leylleras.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/leylleras.jpg" alt="webwewantcolombia" /><br /><small><a href="http://karisma.org.co/?p=4609"><span property="dc:title">It&#8217;s time to celebrate the Web We Want</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">CC Colombia</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/co/">CC BY-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p>This Friday, School of Open and Creative Commons affiliates in Colombia are throwing a celebration of the Web We Want that will highlight open licensing, copyright reform, and free culture. The event takes place as part of the Creative Commons Film Festival in Bogotá. Its purpose is three-fold:</p>
<ul>
<ol>1) To launch a campaign to promote fair use in copyright reform that is pending Colombia. This campaign is named, <em>Liberen la cultura</em> or <em>Let&#8217;s set culture free</em>.</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>2) To support the Colombian biologist Diego Gómez, who is facing a criminal case against him for copyright infringement. This campaign is named #CompartirNoEsDelito or #sharingisnotacrime.</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>3) To promote live music, books, magazines and films under CC licenses.</ol>
</ul>
<p>As part of both campaigns, affiliates will hold a Licenciatón, a day of awareness, learning and practice for open licensing and its relationship to free culture. This activity incorporates portions of the School of Open course, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42977">ABC del derecho de autor para bibliotecarios de América Latina</a> (ABC of Copyright for Librarians in Latin America). Promotional material about the course will also be shared.</p>
<p>Colombian volunteer Maria Juliana says,</p>
<blockquote><p>We are pleased to announce that as part of the Creative Commons Film Festival, the program will include a Celebration of the Internet, a space that seeks to unite all of us who are interested in an open web where we can contribute and share content freely &#8212; a space to celebrate the Web We Want!<br />
<br />
We will be celebrating with our friends “Radio Pachone” and our special guests will be: “La Real Academia del Sonido” and “Radio Mixticius”.<br />
<br />
The celebration takes place thanks to “A Year of Action” campaign of Web We Want, this campaign convocated organizations around the world to generate actions to celebrate 25 years of the web; we are one of the organizations which benefited.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Event details</strong></p>
<p>Date: Friday, September 26, 2014<br />
Time: 4pm-11pm (Bogotá, Colombia time)<br />
Location: The Raid (Calle 17 No. 2-51 La Candelaria, Bogotá.) Free entrance.</p>
<p>Learn more about the event and its partners at <a href="http://karisma.org.co/?p=4609">http://karisma.org.co/?p=4609</a>. </p>
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a global community of volunteers focused on providing free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run courses, workshops, and real world training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU.</em></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43817
title: Obama highlights open education in U.S. Open Government Partnership National Action Plan
uri: Obama-highlights-open-education-in-U-S-Open-Government-Partnership-Na
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43817
content:
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9wei-pO5fU4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Yesterday at the United Nations, <a title="Celebrating Open Government Around the Globe" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/24/celebrating-open-government-around-globe">President Barack Obama marked</a> the <a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/">Open Government Partnership</a>&#8216;s (OGP) third anniversary by announcing that in addition to the commitments outlined in the current U.S. OGP National Action Plan, &#8220;The United States will take additional steps to make our government more open, transparent, and accessible for all Americans.&#8221;</p>
<p>Among the multiple new commitments: &#8220;<strong>Promote open educational resources, to help teachers and students everywhere</strong>.&#8221;</p>
<p>The multi-pronged commitment to promote OER is described as the first item in the updated <a title="US OGP Plan: Announcing New Open Government Initiatives" href="media/7f469d40.new_nap_commitments_report_092314.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/new_nap_commitments_report_092314.pdf">National Action Plan Commitments document</a> (638 KB PDF):</p>
<div style="border-radius: 5px; padding: 1em; border: 5px solid #98c807;">
<p><strong>Promote Open Education to Increase Awareness and Engagement </strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Open education is the open sharing of digital learning materials, tools, and practices that ensures free access to and legal adoption of learning resources. There is a growing body of evidence that the use of open education resources improves the quality of teaching and learning, including by accelerating student comprehension and by fostering more opportunities for affordable cross-border and cross-cultural educational experiences. The United States is committed to open education and will:
<ul>
<li>Raise open education awareness and identify new partnerships. The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy will jointly host a workshop on challenges and opportunities in open education internationally with stakeholders from academia, industry, and government. The session will foster collaboration among OGP members and other interested governments and will produce best practices to inform good policies in open education.</li>
<li>Pilot new models for using open educational resources to support learning. The State Department will conduct three pilots overseas by December 2015 that use open educational resources to support learning in formal and informal learning contexts. The pilots’ results, including best practices, will be made publicly available for interested educators.</li>
<li>Launch an online skills academy. The Department of Labor (DOL), with cooperation from the Department of Education, will award $25 million through competitive grants to launch an online skills academy in 2015 that will offer open online courses of study, using technology to create high-quality, free, or low-cost pathways to degrees, certificates, and other employer-recognized credentials. This academy will help students prepare for in-demand careers. Courses will be free for all to access on an open learning platform, although limited costs may be incurred for students seeking college credit that can be counted toward a degree. Leveraging emerging public and private models, the investments will help students earn credentials online through participating accredited institutions, and expand the open access to curriculum designed to speed the time to credit and completion. The online skills academy will also leverage the burgeoning marketplace of free and open-licensed learning resources, including content developed through DOL’s community college grant program, to ensure that workers can get the education and training they need to advance their careers, particularly in key areas of the economy.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Creative Commons licenses put the &#8220;open&#8221; in OER and we stand ready to work with governments everywhere who wish to update their OGP National Action Plans with commitments to support Open Educational Resources, Open Access, Open Data and Open Policies that require publicly funded resources be openly licensed.</p>
<div>Well done, President Obama!</div>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43860
title: California enacts law to increase public access to publicly funded research
uri: California-enacts-law-to-increase-public-access-to-publicly-funded-re
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43860
content:
<p>On Monday California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 609&#8211;the <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB609">California Taxpayer Access to Publicly Funded Research Act</a>. The law requires that research articles created with funds from the California Department of Public Health be made publicly available in an online repository no later than 12 months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. AB 609 is described as the first state-level law requiring free access to publicly funded research. It is similar to the federal National Institutes of Health <a href="http://publicaccess.nih.gov/">Public Access Policy</a>. The bill has been making its way through the California legislature since being introduced by Assemblyman Brian Nestande in February 2013. Nestande’s office <a href="http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/AD42/?p=article&amp;sid=215&amp;id=259203">announced</a> the passage yesterday.</p>
<p>The law applies to grantees who receive research funds from the Department of Public Health, and those grantees are responsible for ensuring that any publishing or copyright agreements concerning manuscripts submitted to journals fully comply with AB 609. For an article accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, the grantee must ensure that an electronic version of the peer-reviewed manuscript is available to the department and on an appropriate publicly accessible database approved by the department within 12 months of publication in the journal.</p>
<p>Congratulations to California, the leadership of Assemblyman Nestande, and the coalition of open access supporters who worked hard to make this law a reality.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43873
title: Creative Commons goes (even more) virtual
uri: Creative-Commons-goes-(even-more)-virtual
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43873
content:
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="/staff"><img src="media/b1503bab.15248957732_78e56bf754_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3878/15248957732_78e56bf754_z.jpg" width=640 height=392 /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m writing to announce that Creative Commons is closing its office in Mountain View, CA.</p>
<p>For most people reading this, the news will hardly come as a surprise. We&#8217;ve always been a virtual organization. Although we have a group of staff in the Bay Area, we have full-time staff in six US States and two Canadian provinces, not to mention the <a href="/staff#rc">regional coordinators</a> and <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network">affiliates</a> all over the world.</p>
<p>The photo above was taken a few weeks ago, at the <a href="/weblog/entry/43572">September CC Salon event in San Francisco</a>. There are a few people missing, but I still love it because it&#8217;s the closest thing we&#8217;ve had to a complete staff photo since I&#8217;ve been with Creative Commons. It&#8217;s also a reminder that we&#8217;re a diverse, global organization.</p>
<p>Being a distributed team lets us spend more time interacting with the people who use Creative Commons tools and share our mission. We&#8217;re embedded in communities of hackers, lawyers, artists, and social change activists, all communities that our mission relies upon.</p>
<p>See our <a href="https://creativecommons.org/contact/">Contact page</a> for updated contact information. If you have any questions about the change, feel free to drop us a line.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43883
title: Vaya Con Datos
uri: Via-Con-Datos
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43883
content:
<p><a href="media/852de15e.condatos-hdr.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/condatos-hdr.png"><img src="media/852de15e.condatos-hdr.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/condatos-hdr.png" alt="condatos-header" width="720" height="86" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43909" /></a></p>
<p>What were five hundred folks from 30 countries doing in 40+ different sessions running concurrently in three rooms of two gorgeous buildings in Ciudad de México? They were showing, sharing and learning from the best of each other&#8217;s work utilizing open data, pushing governments to adopt open policies, and hacking for social, environmental and humanitarian change in Latin America and the Caribbean. <a href="http://condatos.org" target="_blank">Condatos</a> may be the most important regional conference on open data held in Latam, but it is undoubtedly a showcase of the diversity, ingenuity, vibrancy and perseverance of the changemakers in that historic yet energetic region. </p>
<p><a href="media/0aaf8bf5.sessions.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sessions.jpg"><img src="media/0aaf8bf5.sessions.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sessions.jpg" alt="sessions" width="720" height="210" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43889" /></a></p>
<p>Creative Commons was invited to a panel discussion on user licenses. Some of the innovative sessions that stood out were on <a href="http://justicejournalism.org/programs/migrahack/" title="Migrahack" target="_blank">Migrahack</a>, <a href="http://condatos.org/agenda/en-1-1200-innovacion.html" target="_blank">health education in favelas in Brasil</a>, a session on the <a href="http://condatos.org/agenda/en-1-1300-innovacion.html" target="_blank">Internet of Things</a>, a hacking workshop, and <a href="http://condatos.org/mapaen.html" target="_blank">mapping labs including one on using drones for mapping</a>. </p>
<p><a href="media/966833ad.mex-buildings.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mex-buildings.jpg"><img src="media/966833ad.mex-buildings.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mex-buildings.jpg" alt="mex-buildings" width="720" height="221" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-43887" /></a></p>
<p>The two buildings of the conference venue were definitely symbolic of the dynamic nature of the gathering—the historic and gorgeous Biblioteca de México with Octavio Paz looking down on the young crowd and its high stone walls inscribed with words from the giants of Mexican literature were like bookends in time; the soaring, modernistic architecture of Cineteca Nacional were a nod to the exponential change in thinking and practice that was being hacked by the young crowd.</p>
<p><a href="media/598d36e2.kishor-condatos.pdf" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/kishor-condatos.pdf"><img src="media/0278f882.kishor-condatos.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/kishor-condatos.png" alt="kishor-condatos" width="360" height="270" align="left" style="padding-right: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px" /></a></p>
<p>We are grateful for the chance to present our vision for a public commons of information that can both drive and be driven by the energy and innovation on display at the conference, and are thrilled at the new partnerships that hold promise for further expansion of the powerful concepts of open and sharing.</p>
<p style="clear: both"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"><img src="media/ded5c125.88x31.png" data-original-source="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/zero/1.0/88x31.png" style="border-style: none;padding-right: 10px" alt="CC0" align="left" /></a> To the extent possible under law, <a rel="dct:publisher" href="http://creativecommons.org/staff#puneetkishor"><span>Puneet Kishor</span></a> has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to <span>all photos and PDF in this blog post</span>.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43758
title: Creative Commons policies grow in New Zealand schools
uri: Creative-Commons-policies-grow-in-New-Zealand-schools
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43758
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/locusresearch/8593109345/"><img src="media/023071fc.8593109345_2f4e932729_z.jpg" data-original-source="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8593109345_2f4e932729_z.jpg" alt="Bethlehem College Preso" /><br /><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/locusresearch/8593109345/"><span property="dc:title">Bethlehem College Preso</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Locus Research</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Last month, I had the honour of providing a keynote address and two workshops at a teacher conference at Northcote College<sup><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College#Secondary_education">1</a></sup>, on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand.</p>
<p>Like many schools, Northcote is in the process of developing an overarching digital citizenship policy for staff, students, and the wider community. This policy is likely to include &#8211; alongside other issues like safety, privacy, research and integrity &#8211; a commitment to Creative Commons licensing.</p>
<p>If Northcote College does adopt <a href="http://creativecommons.org.nz/ccinschools/">a Creative Commons policy</a>, they will join between fifty and one hundred New Zealand schools that have decided to formally give permission for teachers to share resources using a Creative Commons licence, with a preference for <a href=“https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/”>CC BY</a> and <a href=“https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/”>CC BY-SA</a>.</p>
<p>The policy is designed to address the fact that, <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1994/0143/latest/whole.html#DLM345930">under Section 21 of the 1994 Copyright Act</a>, the first owner of copyright works made by New Zealand teachers in the course of their employment is their employer &#8211; namely, the schools governance board, known as the &#8216;Board of Trustees&#8217; (BoT).</p>
<p>This means that teachers who share resources they make are legally infringing the school&#8217;s copyright &#8211; even when they are sharing with other teachers in the New Zealand state education system.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re advocating two solutions to this problem. First, we think every school in New Zealand&#8217;s pre-tertiary education system &#8211; all 2,500 of them &#8211; should pass a Creative Commons policy. This policy allows &#8211; and encourages &#8211; teachers to share their resources with other teachers under a Creative Commons licence.</p>
<p>Second, we think that teachers should adopt practices of finding, adapting, and sharing open content into their workflow. This will give teachers more confidence and flexibility when re-using third-party resources, and provide more resources for other teachers to build on and reuse.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve been working at this for a couple of years now, spreading the word to the many groups working in the sector, including teachers, principals, Boards of Trustees, unions, disciplinary associations, public agencies, and other NGOs.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been a long campaign, but we&#8217;re starting to make real progress. We&#8217;re giving an average of forty talks and workshops per year to the education sector, and we&#8217;re currently looking for ways to scale this work to meet the needs of every school in the country. This will become increasingly important as new resource sharing platforms &#8211; such as the crown-owned <a href="http://www.n4l.co.nz/pond/">Network for Learning&#8217;s Pond</a> &#8211; begin to take off.</p>
<p>The other challenge is to follow the lead of other CC affiliates, such as Poland, and help open up works produced or contracted by the Ministry of Education. There are signs that more of these resources will be openly licensed.</p>
<p>The adoption of open policy in schools coincides with similar moves in the <a href="http://nzcommons.org.nz/project/opening-new-zealands-war-photography/">local heritage</a> and <a href="http://library.lincoln.ac.nz/About/Policies/Open-Access-Policy/">research sectors</a>, and follows the continuing integration of CC licensing in central government. While there is still plenty to be done, it appears as if open licensing is on the verge of becoming mainstream across New Zealand&#8217;s public institutions &#8211; which is definitely good news for the global commons.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43920
title: ccMixter launches crowdfunding campaign
uri: ccMixter-launches-crowdfunding-campaign
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43920
content:
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xCvmWEiEgtI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>If you&#8217;ve been making or enjoying music under Creative Commons licenses for very long, there&#8217;s no doubt you&#8217;re already familiar with ccMixter, a community that&#8217;s been leading the way in CC music for ten years. What makes ccMixter really special is how enthusiastic its users are about borrowing and building off of each other&#8217;s tracks. Users are constantly creating new music from each other&#8217;s stems and playing with each other&#8217;s ideas. It&#8217;s a celebration of what makes CC licenses great.</p>
<p>Last week, ccMixter announced its first-ever <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ccmixter-open-music-for-the-world">crowdfunding campaign</a>. ccMixter&#8217;s volunteer team needs to hire an admin to help maintain ccMixter&#8217;s infrastructure; they also have some big plans for website improvements and upgrades.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.prlog.org/12377895-ccmixter-launches-its-first-fundraiser-open-music-for-the-world.html">From the press release</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;ccMixter is the most prominent experiment in free music culture,&#8221; stated renowned professor of law and global activist Lawrence Lessig, when explaining the unique aspects of ccMixter&#8217;s free, open-source-music community based upon sharing.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>ccMixter connects individuals in countries all around the world, through the universal language of music. It is unlike all other music sites on the web, as it is based wholy upon collaboration, not competition. This makes ccMixter a uniquely positive place for musicians. ccMixter’s fundraiser campaign and supporting videos, posts, social media and tweets, will utilize a  hashtag that represents the spirit of ccMixter: <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MusicConnectsUs">#MusicConnectsUs</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;ccMixter connects me deeply to musicians all around the world I&#8217;ve never met through the universal language of music. That is powerful and positive,” remarked Emily Richards, CEO of ArtisTech Media and ccMixter artist known as Snowflake.</p></blockquote>
<p>ccMixter has some really cool gifts lined up for funders. <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ccmixter-open-music-for-the-world">Check it out!</a></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43812
title: Open Definition 2.0 released
uri: Open-Definition-2-0-released
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43812
content:
<p>Today <a href="https://okfn.org/">Open Knowledge</a> and the Open Definition Advisory Council <a href="http://blog.okfn.org/2014/10/07/open-definition-v2-0-released-major-update-of-essential-standard-for-open-data-and-open-content/">announced</a> the release of version 2.0 of the <a href="http://opendefinition.org/">Open Definition</a>. The Definition “sets out principles that define openness in relation to data and content,” and is the baseline from which various public licenses are measured. Any content released under an <a href="http://opendefinition.org/licenses/">Open Definition-conformant license</a> means that anyone can “freely access, use, modify, and share that content, for any purpose, subject, at most, to requirements that preserve provenance and openness.” The <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a> and <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a> 4.0 licenses are conformant with the Open Definition, as are all previous versions of these licenses (1.0 – 3.0, including jurisdiction ports). The <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a> is also aligned with the Open Definition.</p>
<p>The Open Definition is an important standard that communicates the fundamental legal conditions that make content and data open. One of the most notable updates to <a href="http://opendefinition.org/od/">version 2.0</a> is that it separates and clarifies the requirements under which an individual <b><i>work</i></b> will be considered open from the conditions under which a <b><i>license</i></b> will be considered conformant with the Definition.</p>
<p>Public sector bodies, GLAM institutions, and open data initiatives around the world are looking for recommendation and advice on the best licenses for their policies and projects. It’s helpful to be able to point policymakers and data publishers to a neutral, community-supported definition with a list of approved licenses for sharing content and data (and of course, we think that CC BY, CC BY-SA, and CC0 are some of the best, especially for <a href="http://openpolicynetwork.org/about/#principles">publicly funded materials</a>). And while we still see that some governments and other institutions are attempting to create their own custom licenses, hopefully the Open Definition 2.0 will help guide these groups into understanding of the benefits to using an existing OD-compliant license. The more that content and data providers use one of these licenses, the more they’ll add to a huge pool of legally reusable and interoperable content for anyone to use and repurpose.</p>
<p>To the extent that new licenses continue to be developed, the Open Definition Advisory Council has been honing a process to assist in evaluating whether licenses meet the Open Definition. Version 2.0 continues to urge potential license stewards to think carefully before attempting to develop their own license, and requires that they understand the common conditions and restrictions that should (or should not) be contained in a new license in order to promote interoperability with existing licenses.</p>
<p>Open Definition version 2.0 was <a href="https://github.com/okfn/opendefinition">collaboratively</a> and <a href="https://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/od-discuss/">transparently</a> developed with input from experts involved in open access, open culture, open data, open education, open government, open source and wiki communities. Congratulations to Open Knowledge and the Open Definition Advisory Council on this important improvement.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44000
title: Our Digital Future: New report and agenda for copyright reform
uri: Our-Digital-Future-New-report-and-agenda-for-copyright-reform
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44000
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture"><a href="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture"><img src="media/400964b5.om-500.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/om-500.png" alt="Our Digital Future" width="600" height="400" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture"><span property="dc:title">Our Digital Future</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">OpenMedia.ca</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p><a href="https://openmedia.ca/">OpenMedia.ca</a> just released <a href="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture"><em>Our Digital Future: A Crowdsourced Agenda for Free Expression</em></a>. OpenMedia developed the publication through consultations and surveys with many organizations that care about free expression on the internet. It&#8217;s organized around three principles: Respect Creators, Prioritize Free Expression, and Embrace Democratic Processes.</p>
<p>OpenMedia&#8217;s report makes a clear and compelling case for a better copyright framework &#8211; one that is authored by <em>all of us</em>, developed in the open, and for the benefit of everyone. Too often, monied interests and secret negotiations work against the commons, and we all lose out as a result. We look forward to working alongside OpenMedia to make its thoughtful recommendations a reality, and we hope that this report inspires many more to join us.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44004
title: Creative Commons named Knight Prototype Fund recipient
uri: Creative-Commons-named-Knight-Prototype-Fund-recipient
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44004
content:
<p>Today, <a href="http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2014/10/15/knight-prototype-fund-will-take-18-new-projects/">the Knight Foundation announced the selected recipients of its latest Prototype Fund</a>. We&#8217;re very proud to be among them, with a new project that probably sounds a bit outside of our normal work to those familiar with CC. Here&#8217;s why we&#8217;re doing it:</p>
<p>When I joined as CEO, I was tasked with imagining the next phase of Creative Commons. Now that we have the licenses, what do we want to do with them? How do we build a wide-reaching commons of creativity and knowledge, with easy contribution, use, and re-use? After talking with dozens of partners, funders, our global affiliate network, and our staff, I think it boils down to three areas: building a movement, driving content into the commons, and helping creators get content out.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s announcement from Knight works in the first and second categories: pushing content into the commons, while engaging a new group of contributors. We will create a mobile app to encourage people to take photos and share them from a list of &#8220;most wanted&#8221; images. Organizations and individuals will put out the call, and users will be prompted to respond &#8211; including (eventually for those who want them) with geo-tagged notifications (&#8220;Ryan, we see you&#8217;re at the Mozilla Festival. Would you grab a photo of coders hacking the Web?&#8221;). All images will be uploaded to a public repository and licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>, so anyone can use them. Creators will see their work used more widely, and maybe even &#8220;compete&#8221; to take the best photo. Internally, we&#8217;re calling it &#8220;The List, powered by Creative Commons.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="/staff#mattlee">CC tech lead Matt Lee</a> is working with the talented folks in Toronto&#8217;s <a href="http://playgroundinc.com/">Playground Inc.</a> to create the prototype, and we will be testing our assumptions over the coming months. Everything will be done in the open &#8211; we&#8217;ll be at the Mozilla Festival in London, UK, later this month sharing our initial work and gathering ideas.</p>
<p>This is new ground for us, but we&#8217;re excited about the potential &#8211; for better stock photography, better photos on Wikipedia, better citizen journalism, and a wider pool of contributors who have helped to build the commons. Lots more to come, but we&#8217;re grateful for Knight&#8217;s support and guidance.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43942
title: Guest Post: Boundless Invites You to Write the Future of Education
uri: Guest-Post-Boundless-Invites-You-to-Write-the-Future-of-Education
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43942
content:
<p><em>The following is a guest post by Ariel Diaz, Founder and CEO of Boundless, a platform for the creation of open textbooks that are community-built and CC BY-SA-licensed.</em> </p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/concept-editedview_laptop_72dpi.jpg"><img src="media/456e01ca.concept-editedview_laptop_72dpi.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/concept-editedview_laptop_72dpi.jpg" alt="boundless concept" /><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">Boundless</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>By empowering a dedicated community of contributors in open resources, Creative Commons has given education a strong foundation for creating and sharing content. Beyond the broadly touted affordability and accessibility benefits of open resources, the flexibility these resources offer makes them practical for students and educators everywhere. Now, <a href="http://boundless.com/">Boundless</a> is leveraging the power of these open resources and the community to write the future of educational content — and we invite you to join us! </p>
<p><strong>Universal access to education is a right</strong></p>
<p>The wealth of Creative Commons licensed content is core to our efforts at Boundless to make access to high-quality educational content a universal right. All of our content is available under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">CC BY-SA 4.0 license</a> — which gives us a great combination of openness and flexibility, and assures that derivative works stay in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commons">Commons</a> so others can benefit. </p>
<p>Boundless offers content in <a href="https://www.boundless.com/subjects/">more than 20 introductory-level college subjects</a> for free on our website and mobile app. Using the CC BY-SA license on our content means an educator can use an article about <a href="https://www.boundless.com/psychology/memory/memory-models/long-term-memory/">Long-Term Memory</a>, for example, as content in their classroom and adapt it for their syllabus. Students will save money by using open resources, and educators can share their customized version of that content with the greater Boundless community for further re-use.</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bookpage-ipad_half-height-72dpiV2.jpg"><img src="media/c2aa65a9.bookpage-ipad_half-height-72dpiV2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bookpage-ipad_half-height-72dpiV2.jpg" alt="principles of microeconomics" /><br /><small><span property="cc:attributionName">Boundless</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p><strong>Open content succeeds because of a powerful community</strong></p>
<p>We’re seeing a transition in educational publishing from physical to digital. This transition has been slowed by a conservative industry and lack of great products, but we’re now in a time where entrepreneurs, educators, and more are challenging the status quo to create better teaching and learning opportunities. This gives us an opportunity to create communities of learners, educators, and content creators to build a better, more effective learning experience powered by open content. </p>
<p>I believe that open content succeeds because of its powerful community. The educators, researchers, and more who are motivated to share their work with others keep the flow of education materials moving to benefit their teaching and learning communities. The power of this community means we can challenge the status quo in education — and no longer tolerate static, expensive resources. </p>
<p>Over the past three years, the team at Boundless has worked with an internal community of hundreds of subject matter experts to create and curate open resources for our library of 21 subjects. This foundational content has served <a href="http://blog.boundless.com/2014/04/boundless-unveils-cloud-powered-education/">more than 3 million students and educators</a>. </p>
<p>We’re committed to not only providing universal access to this content, but also building a collaborative, powerful community to create more content. That’s why I’m proud to share that we’ve brought on one of community education’s biggest advocates as a new Boundless advisor: SJ Klein, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sj">veteran Wikipedian</a>. SJ says,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Tapping the minds of the teaching community brings great power to educational content. I look forward to working with Boundless as its community grows, not just to create more freely-licensed material, but to provide greater access to it, and make it personalizable.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>SJ is helping us grow and hone our cloud-powered community — so <a href="http://betaboston.com/news/2014/04/22/boundless-wants-to-do-to-textbooks-what-wikipedia-did-to-encyclopedias/">Boundless can do to textbooks what Wikipedia did for encyclopedias</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Write the future of education</strong></p>
<p>For the first time, Boundless is opening up our platform to empower a community of educators and open resource supporters to create, improve, and share educational content. And we’re inviting Creative Commons supporters to help us write the future of education.</p>
<p>The new <a href="https://www.boundless.com/community/">Boundless cloud-powered community</a> allows for collaboration across disciplines, so contributors can create, edit, and customize content. All content created or customized uses a Creative Commons license (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">CC BY-SA</a>) to ensure a greater distribution across platforms — making universal access to education a right, not a privilege. </p>
<p>Be part of the future of education by joining our community!</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43856
title: School of Open Africa’s Launch and Future
uri: School-of-Open-Africa-s-Launch-and-Future
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43856
content:
<p>In September, the School of Open Africa launched with nine programs distributed across four jurisdictions: Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and South Africa. Kayode from <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Nigeria">CC Nigeria</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43400">announced</a> in the launch in August, and now we want to give you an update on how the programs (some ongoing) and launch events fared! We also want to preview more events to take place during <a href="http://openaccessweek.org/">Open Access Week</a> and tell you our plans for the future of School of Open in Africa. </p>
<h4>School of Open Kenya</h4>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-kenya-4.jpeg"><img src="media/36a11f86.soo-kenya-4.jpeg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-kenya-4.jpeg" alt="SOO Kenya popjam" /><br /><small><a href=""><span property="dc:title">SOO Kenya Popjam</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Jamlab</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Simeon from <a href="http://jamlab.co.ke/">Jamlab</a> <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/popjam-school-of-open-africa-kenya-event/">says</a>, &#8220;We hosted 20 girls from Precious Blood Secondary School, Riruta for the [launch] event. The goal was to work with these students to map out education as they currently experience it in their school and figure out how best to incorporate Open Education in their learning. For most of the afternoon, the emphasis on the workshop centered on figuring out how the students could incorporate Open Education in their learning. After a brief discussion, we mapped out learning and education activities as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lectures/Class instruction</li>
<li>    Private study/prep</li>
<li>    Group study</li>
<li>    Revision of past examination papers</li>
<li>    Student Symposiums</li>
</ul>
<p>We asked them if we could add aspects of Open Education to this list. Very few of the students had heard about Open Education or understood its value at this point. We discussed Open Education in a little more detail: We explored the concept of the commons, copyright and copyleft and how the Creative Commons suite of licenses has enabled the Open Education movement globally.&#8221;</p>
<p><u>The future of SOO Kenya:</u></p>
<p>&#8220;One of the themes that stood out is getting school administrations and teachers to understand and make an investment in Open Education. This will be Jamlab’s focus in the coming year. While we work with administrators and teachers, we encouraged students to begin to demonstrate the value of Open Education by creating demand for it in the following ways: consume OER’s and integrate them in their learning, and pro-actively create and share OER’s with other students from other schools.&#8221;</p>
<h4>School of Open Tanzania</h4>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-tanzania_group.jpg"><img src="media/e3a91179.soo-tanzania_group.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-tanzania_group.jpg" alt="SOO Tanzania" /><br /><small><a href=""><span property="dc:title">SOO Tanzania launch</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">CC Tanzania</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>Paul from <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Tanzania">CC Tanzania</a> <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/cc-tanzania-launched-the-school-of-open-in-style/">says</a>, &#8220;The program officially launched at Academic International Primary School (AIPS) in Dar es Salaam whereby 15 students from grades four to seven got the opportunity to learn how to code, designing animated picture (cartoons) by using open educational resources through the web.&#8221;</p>
<p><u>The future of SOO Tanzania:</u></p>
<p>&#8220;The event also marked the launch of three other training programs around ICT empowerment training for unemployed youth, teaching persons with disabilities how to use computers, and training educators on using ICT to improve how they teach their students in Tanzania that will be coordinated by CC Tanzania and the Open University of Tanzania.&#8221;</p>
<p>CC Tanzania will also highlight the importance of open access to research during Open Access Week in collaboration with the Tanzania Medical Students Association (TAMSA). </p>
<h4>School of Open Nigeria</h4>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-nigeria-4.jpg"><img src="media/636964ac.soo-nigeria-4.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-nigeria-4.jpg" alt="SOO Nigeria" /><br /><small><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/91116545@N03/15212584119/"><span property="dc:title">SOO Nigeria Saturday training</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">K-Why</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>Kayode from <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Nigeria">CC Nigeria</a> <a href="http://creativecommonsng.org/">says</a>, &#8220;Creative Commons Nigeria with support from Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Linux Professional Institute (Nigerian Master Affiliate) and Mozilla Foundation hosted the School of Open. The School of Open is a five week open course that holds every Saturday between 11am till 4pm. The first week started on September 13th with participants been trained on the basics of Intellectual Property, Linux Operating System and using simple Mozilla tools to design websites.&#8221;</p>
<p><u>The future of <a href="http://creativecommonsng.org/school-of-open-nigeria/">SOO Nigeria</a>:</u></p>
<p>The five-week programs wrapped over the weekend with a discussion on plans for sustaining the community. The next phase will be to take School of Open Nigeria online with the present participants acting as moderators. Meanwhile, people and institutions in two different states (Imo State and Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State) have requested that Creative Commons Nigeria come replicate School of Open in their societies. The aim of School of Open Nigeria will be to have an online learning place where people can go to learn at any time without any cost or time restrictions. </p>
<h4>School of Open South Africa</h4>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bus_bus3.jpg"><img src="media/457de27c.bus_bus3.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bus_bus3.jpg" alt="Kumusha bus" /><br /><small><a href="http://www.wikiafrica.net/projects/kumusha-bus/"><span property="dc:title">Kumusha Bus</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">WikiAfrica</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Kelsey from <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/South_Africa">CC South Africa</a> says they already ran their School of Open CC4Kids course as part of Code4CT&#8217;s Maker Party <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/school-of-opens-cc4kids-at-the-code4ct-maker-party/">back in July</a>, and since then have been planning the next phase of <a href="http://www.wikiafrica.net/projects/kumusha-bus/">Kumusha Bus</a>, aka <a href="http://www.wikiafrica.net/kumusha-bus-2-0-apply-now/">Kumusha Bus 2.0</a>, which is &#8220;a remix of Libre Bus and designed to ensure collaboration with local members of the open community to have a week of Open Movement chaos and fun that spreads the ideas behind the movement and gets more people and organisations involved in your country.&#8221; Kumusha Bus is a collaboration of WikiAfrica, Creative Commons, and School of Open.</p>
<p><u>The future of SOO South Africa:</u><br />
Kelsey &#038; co are planning to expand <a href="http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami_School/CC/Course">CC4Kids</a> into a full course pack designed to teach kids about Wikipedia, open journalism, open data, and open/citizen science. As part of this expansion, a session will be run at the upcoming Mozilla Festival called &#8220;OpenMe &#8211; Kids Can Open&#8221;. </p>
<h4>More about the future</h4>
<p>School of Open Africa is hosting another event next week, 22 October, to launch its entrance into the higher education space. Four courses will be developed in collaboration with the C4DLab, the University of Nairobi&#8217;s innovation hub, and will be licensed <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>. The project is a response to ICT playing a critical role in expanding the knowledge economy of Africa; the OER will be developed by and for Africans; and the hope is to replicate the process in other universities. In addition, certificates will be awarded to participants of <a href="http://copyx.org/affiliates/nairobi-kenya-cb/">CC Kenya&#8217;s CopyrightX satellite</a> from earlier this year, a panel discussion on OER will be featured, and SOO Kenya will present its work to date. The event and C4DLab OER project is made possible with technical support from UNESCO and generous support from the Hewlett Foundation. Stay tuned for a more detailed announcement of this event next week!</p>
<p>At its core, School of Open is about equipping communities with the tools to help them do what they already do better. Creative Commons licenses and the open resources they enable empowers users around the world to, as Simeon of SOO Kenya <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/popjam-school-of-open-africa-kenya-event/">says</a>, &#8220;build on what we already know.&#8221; He says,  </p>
<blockquote><p>I think one thing we often forget to highlight when it comes to education is how we learn&#8230; We learn by building on what we already know. We believe Open Education is one sure way of building on what we already know to advance ourselves.</p></blockquote>
<p>We are seeking to expand School of Open to other regions, in and beyond Africa. The upcoming <a href="http://mozillafestival.org/">Mozilla Festival</a> will feature a session on mapping School of Open programs from around the world and hone in on areas with maximum potential for impact &#8212; where we can &#8220;train the trainers&#8221; or otherwise empower student and educator communities to start up programs for themselves. Find out how you can <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/get-involved/">get involved</a>!</p>
<hr />
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a global community of volunteers that provides free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run courses, workshops, and training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a nonprofit that builds and supports learning communities on the web.</em></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44022
title: CC News: Let’s change the internet.
uri: CC-News-Let-s-change-the-internet
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44022
content:
<p align="center"><em>Stay up-to-date with CC by <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">subscribing to our newsletter</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/creativecommons">following us on Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p align="center"><small><a href="/weblog/entry/44022?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img src="media/a7f7e08d.201410-evo.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/201410-evo.png" border=0 style="width: 100%; min-width: 300px; max-width: 600px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-radius: 25px; " /></a></small></p>
<p align="center"><strong><a href="/weblog/entry/44022?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Let&#8217;s change the internet</a></strong></p>
<div style="max-width: 600px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<p>&#8220;CC and its licenses are part of the infrastructure that powers the web we know and love. But building the licenses is just the first step; the next step is to use those licenses as a tool for change. All of us can work together to demonstrate the value of sharing to individuals, governments, policy-makers, institutions, and corporations, and to build a future in which everyone is more free to participate in society.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://teamopen.cc/thefuture/letter/?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Read CC board chair Paul Brest&#8217;s letter</a></strong> from our annual report.</p>
<table cellpadding="10" style="max-width: 600px; ">
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="50%">
<p about="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/24/celebrating-open-government-around-globe" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/43817?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Obama highlights open education" height="160" src="media/e7e8dd36.201410-obama.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/201410-obama.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/24/celebrating-open-government-around-globe" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="cc:attributionName">White House</span></a><br /><a href="/licenses/by/3.0/us/" rel="license">CC BY</a> (cropped)<br />&nbsp;</small></p>
<p>In his address on open government at the United Nations, <a href="/weblog/entry/43817?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>US President Barack Obama underscored the importance of open educational resources</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/44000?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Our Digital Future" height="160" src="media/e35edfec.201410-openmedia.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/201410-openmedia.png" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Our Digital Future</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">OpenMedia.ca</span> / <a href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/" rel="license">CC BY-NC-SA</a><br />(screengrab, cropped)</small></p>
<p>
OpenMedia.ca&#8217;s <em>Our Digital Future</em> lays out a set of <a href="/weblog/entry/44000?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>common-sense recommendations for restructuring copyright law</strong></a> in a way that benefits everyone.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="50%">
<p about="http://tumblr.unsplash.com/post/98554766494/by-casey-fyfe-http-ift-tt-1rat4ga" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/43727?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Creative Commons Thing of the Day" height="160" src="media/9037e4dd.201410-thing.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/201410-thing.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://tumblr.unsplash.com/post/98554766494/by-casey-fyfe-http-ift-tt-1rat4ga" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="cc:attributionName">Casey Fyfe</span></a> / <a href="/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" rel="license">CC0</a><br />&nbsp;</small></p>
<p>
Your daily awesome from the internet. <a href="/weblog/entry/43727?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Check out the Creative Commons Thing of the Day</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="50%">
<p about="/weblog/entry/43856?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/43856?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="SOO Tanzania launch" height="160" src="media/e68393bb.201410-tanzania.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/201410-tanzania.png" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="/weblog/entry/43856?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter" rel="cc:attributionURL">SOO Tanzania launch</a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">CC Tanzania</span> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a> (cropped)</small></p>
<p>
The School of Open is taking off all over Africa. <a href="/weblog/entry/43856?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Find out what&#8217;s next and how to get involved</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<ul>
<li>Creative Commons is proud to be named a Knight Prototype Fund recipient. <a href="/weblog/entry/44004?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>We have exciting plans</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Find out why CC policies are <a href="/weblog/entry/43758?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>great news for education in New Zealand</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>ccMixter launches its <a href="/weblog/entry/43920?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>first-ever crowdfunding campaign</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>What happens when <a href="/weblog/entry/43883?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>open data professionals from 30 countries gather in Mexico City</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>A new California law will open the door to <a href="/weblog/entry/43860?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>more public access to taxpayer-funded research</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Being a distributed team lets us spend more time interacting with the people who use Creative Commons tools and share our mission. <a href="/weblog/entry/43873?utm_campaign=newsletter_1410&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Creative Commons goes (even more) virtual</strong></a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44067
title: Open Access Week 2014 is underway
uri: Open-Access-Week-2014-is-underway
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44067
content:
<p><a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44068" src="media/c3b9fa8b.oaweeksmall.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/oaweeksmall.png" alt="oaweeksmall" width="500" height="283" /></a></p>
<p>Today begins the 8th annual <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/">Open Access Week</a>. Open Access Week is a week-long celebration and educational opportunity to discuss and promote the practice and policy of <a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/issues/open-access">Open Access to scholarly literature</a>&#8211;&#8220;the free, immediate, online availability of research articles, coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment.&#8221; Open Access Week has become a huge international initiative, including dozens of in-person and virtual events, the launch of OA-related projects, and the development and publishing of materials and tools supporting education about the benefits, challenges, and opportunity for open access to scholarly research. This year’s Open Access Week theme is <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/profiles/blogs/2014themeannouncement">“Generation Open”</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The theme will highlight the importance of students and early career researchers as advocates for change in the short-term, through institutional and governmental policy, and as the future of the Academy upon whom the ultimate success of the Open Access movement depends. The theme will also explore how changes in scholarly publishing affect scholars and researchers at different stages of their careers.</p></blockquote>
<p>Check the feed at <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/">openaccessweek.org</a> for hundreds of posts about the variety of activities hosted this week, and share what you’re doing on Twitter using the hashtag #OAWeek2014. There’s already many interesting things happening, with more to come this week! Follow the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog">CC blog</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons">Twitter</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/creativecommons">Facebook</a> for more.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44015
title: Ministries of ICT, Education, & UNESCO join to formally launch School of Open Africa
uri: Ministries-of-ICT-Education-UNESCO-join-to-formally-launch-School
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44015
content:
<p>As <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43856">promised last week</a>, here are the details around the formal launch event for School of Open Africa taking place in Nairobi tomorrow morning. </p>
<p><span style="float:right;padding:10px;" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SOO-AfricaV3.jpg"><img alt="SOO AfricaV3" src="media/601725a1.SOO-AfricaV3.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SOO-AfricaV3.jpg" /><br /> <small>SOO logo <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/about/">here</a>. <span property="dc:title">Earth</span> <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a> by <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.thenounproject.com/tinyxl">Erin Standley</a>, <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com">Noun Project</a></span>.</small></span> </p>
<p>Our Creative Commons and School of Open volunteers in Kenya, including CC Regional Coordinator <a href="http://creativecommons.org/staff#alexgakuru">Alex Gakuru</a>, are hosting a formal launch event of School of Open Africa in celebration of the School of Open programs <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43856">launched last month</a> in Africa, and to announce new programs in higher education. The event will feature a panel discussion with senior government officials from the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Ministry of ICT along with Dr. Bitange Ndemo (University of Nairobi) and regional representatives from UNESCO and Google regarding the status of open education in Africa, School of Open&#8217;s contributions and future. Alex says,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;This event will help establish a conversation platform for policymakers around School of Open Africa, connecting and synchronising education and ICT policies with the innovative open education programs being led by Creative Commons volunteers in Africa. It will also connect current School of Open programs in primary and high school education to academia and NRENs<sup><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_research_and_education_network">1</a></sup> &#8212; towards the realisation of the international aspiration for universal access to education.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Additional attendees include professors from local universities and law schools; participants of the copyright law course, <a href="http://copyx.org/affiliates/nairobi-kenya-cb/">CopyrightX:Kenya</a>, who will be awarded certificates of completion; our CC Kenya affiliates; and School Open Kenya leads. </p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://copyx.org/files/2013/09/Affiliated-course.jpg"><img src="media/f1a2aa5e.CopyrightX-Kenya.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/CopyrightX-Kenya.jpg" alt="CopyrightX Kenya" /><br /><small><a href="media/428fc455.Affiliated-course.jpg" data-original-source="http://copyx.org/files/2013/09/Affiliated-course.jpg"><span property="dc:title">CopyrightX Kenya</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">CC Kenya</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>In addition to the panel, SOO Kenya&#8217;s Simeon Oriko will present on School of Open Africa programs led to date, and Dr. Tonny Omwansa with C4DLab at the University of Nairobi will announce a new School of Open program to develop OER courses for higher education. This program will serve as a model for other universities across Africa to develop high quality open educational resources for use in higher education under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>. In celebration, CC t-shirts in Kiswahili will be distributed, &#8220;mwananchi mbunifu,&#8221; aka &#8216;creative commoner.&#8217;</p>
<p><img src="media/a8766e04.soo-africa-launch-shirts2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/soo-africa-launch-shirts2.jpg" alt="soo africa launch shirts2" width="569" height="295" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44042" /></p>
<p>The event is hosted at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi and will last from 9am-1pm, followed by a celebratory lunch. The event and new OER program in higher education is made possible with technical support from UNESCO and generous financial support from the Hewlett Foundation. </p>
<hr />
<h3>About the School of Open</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/a3995b79.SOO-logo-100x100.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOO-logo-100x100.png" alt="SOO-logo-100x100" width="100" height="98" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-42986" /></a></p>
<p><em>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a global community of volunteers that provides free education opportunities on the meaning, application, and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, and research. Volunteers develop and run courses, workshops, and training programs on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by Creative Commons and P2PU, a nonprofit that builds and supports learning communities on the web.</em></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43858
title: Open Access Button launches with new features
uri: Open-Access-Button-launches-with-new-features
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43858
content:
<p><a href="https://openaccessbutton.org/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44090" src="media/c77fb9fa.oabutton1.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/oabutton1.png" alt="oabutton" width="615" height="222" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/128805157@N06/15381569297/">Open Access Button</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a></small></p>
<p>Today at an <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/">Open Access Week</a> event in London, the <a href="https://openaccessbutton.org/">Open Access Button</a> was <a href="https://openaccessbutton.org/blog/new-apps-find-free-access-to-scientific-and-scholarly-research">re-launched</a> with new features “to help researchers, patients, students and the public get access to scientific and scholarly research.” The Open Access Button originally was created in response to researchers running into paywalls or other control mechanisms when they attempted to read and re-use scholarly journal articles.</p>
<p>The beta Open Access Button&#8211;released in November 2013&#8211;documented these stymied research efforts, tracking nearly 10,000 instances of denied access due to paywalls. The <a href="https://openaccessbutton.org/about">updated button</a> is a browser plug-in that enables a person who conducts a similar search&#8211;but who is once again denied access&#8211;to explore other options in order to get access to the paper. It does this by conducting a search for a freely-available version of the research article on the web, for example a preprint or unformatted version of a finalized article manuscript. If this does not work the button provides the functionality to send an email to the author of the article to ask that a copy of the article be made available and shareable to others who need it. The button will do other things, too, such as creating a unique listing for each paper that is requested, so that authors can view demand for access to their works. Finally, the button aims to collect data and anecdotes arising from its use in order to feed advocacy and reform efforts related to the scholarly communications and publishing system.</p>
<p>The Open Access Button is an interesting tool because it both increases awareness of a problem within the academic publishing ecosystem and strives to deliver needed articles into the hands of the researchers to conduct their work. It is informational, empowering, and practical. Anyone can now <a href="https://openaccessbutton.org/#download">install</a> the Open Access Button. Congratulations to the terrific team on extending a creative and useful tool in support of open access to scholarly research.</p>
<p>Below is the video recording from the Open Access Button launch on 21 October. Keep an eye on the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44067">CC blog</a> and <a href="http://www.openaccessweek.org/">Open Access Week</a> website for more information about OA events this week.<br />
<br />
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wpx3rzdbZ4c" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44030
title: Big win for an interoperable commons: BY-SA and FAL now compatible
uri: Big-win-for-an-interoperable-commons-BY-SA-and-FAL-now-compatible
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44030
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://thenounproject.com/term/move-horizontally/2857/"><img src="media/41d0b765.falcompat.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/falcompat.png" alt="FAL 1.3 now compatible with CC BY-SA 4.0" width="500" height="130" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://thenounproject.com/term/move-horizontally/2857/"><span property="dc:title">Move-Horizontally</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">P.J. Onori</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/3.0/us/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px; max-width: 319px; " xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gl%C3%BChwendel_brennt_durch.jpg"><a href="media/def51989.FileGlC3BChwendel_brennt_durch.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gl%C3%BChwendel_brennt_durch.jpg"><img width="319" height="479" src="media/df5e2a64.bulb.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/bulb.jpg" alt="Gl&#252;hwendel brennt durch" /></a>
<p><small><a href="media/def51989.FileGlC3BChwendel_brennt_durch.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gl%C3%BChwendel_brennt_durch.jpg"><span property="dc:title">Gl&#252;hwendel brennt durch</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Stefan Krause</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/">FAL 1.3</a></small></p>
<p><small>This FAL-licensed photo was selected as Wikimedia Commons&#8217; <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year">2013 Picture of the Year</a>.</small></p>
</div>
<p>Like CC Attribution-ShareAlike (<a href="/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a>), the Free Art License (<a href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/">FAL 1.3</a>) is a copyleft license, meaning that it requires licensees to share their adaptations under the same license. Therefore, it’s impossible to create an adaptation that combines works under both BY-SA and FAL. Until now.</p>
<p>Today, we&#8217;re proud to announce <a href="http://artlibre.org/compatibilite-creative-commons-bysa-licence-art-libre/">in collaboration with ArtLibre.org</a> that the <a href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/">Free Art License 1.3</a> and <a href="/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0</a> are now compatible.</p>
<p>With this compatibility declaration, anyone remixing a work under FAL can license her remix under BY-SA. Similarly, people can adapt works under BY-SA and license them under FAL, or mix works under both licenses and license the resulting works under either license or both.</p>
<p>From the beginning, <a href="/weblog/entry/5709">Creative Commons ShareAlike licenses were designed with interoperability in mind</a>. We believe that the commons is at its best when there are as few walls as possible preventing people from mixing and combining its works. <a href="http://governancexborders.com/2012/12/18/10-years-of-creative-commons-an-interview-with-co-founder-lawrence-lessig/">As CC co-founder Lawrence Lessig noted when speaking of compatibility between BY-SA and the FAL</a>, &#8220;Our idea was eventually that it [wouldn’t] matter which of the free licenses you were in as long as you could move into the equivalent free license that would be CC compatible.&#8221;</p>
<p>Today, this idea has been realized, and there is one less barrier preventing licensees from remixing and combining openly licensed works.</p>
<p>This is a special moment for another reason. <a href="http://artlibre.org/copyleft-attitude-les-premieres-rencontres/">Originally drafted in 2000</a>, the Free Art License is one of the first copyleft licenses designed for content, not software. It’s only fitting that it become the first third-party license to be declared compatible with CC BY-SA.</p>
<p>See our <a href="/compatiblelicenses">Compatible Licenses</a> page for more information. If you’d like to learn more about the steps that led to this announcement, <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/ShareAlike_compatibility:_FAL">see this page on the CC Wiki</a>.</p>
<p>We applaud and congratulate <a href="http://artlibre.org/">ArtLibre.org</a> and its community on this shared achievement. Thanks to Antoine Moreau and the team at <a href="http://creativecommons.fr/">CC France</a> for their support throughout this process.</p>
<p>What’s next? Since the CC licenses launched, many people have dreamed of compatibility between BY-SA and the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a> (GPLv3), a widely-used copyleft software license. Sometimes when reusing openly licensed content in software, it can be difficult to discern where the content ends and the software begins. Allowing developers to license their adaptations of BY-SA content under the GPL would prevent a lot of licensing headaches.</p>
<p>CC will begin to tackle GPL compatibility with a proposal and preliminary analysis in the coming weeks. If you’d like to listen in or get involved, subscribe to our <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-licenses">license development list</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://artlibre.org/compatibilite-creative-commons-bysa-licence-art-libre/">Artlibre.org announcement</a></strong> (fran&ccedil;ais)</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44102
title: Kenya Ministry of ICT congratulates School of Open for transformative model of learning
uri: Kenya-Ministry-of-ICT-congratulates-School-of-Open-for-transformative
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44102
content:
<p style="text-align:left" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SOO-africa-launch-event.jpg"><img src="media/f1357afb.SOO-africa-launch-event.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SOO-africa-launch-event.jpg" alt="SOO Africa Launch Event" /><br /><small><span property="dc:title">SOO Africa Launch Nairobi</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Phillip Ranja</span></small></p>
<p>Today the Mr. Joseph Tiampati, Principal Secretary of the Ministry of ICT of Kenya gave a speech to formally launch the School of Open Africa in Nairobi. The full text of the speech is below and also available as a <a href="media/d466b717.peech-during-the-Launch-SCHOOL-OF-OPEN-AFRICA-22ND-OCT.-2014.pdf" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/PS-speech-during-the-Launch-SCHOOL-OF-OPEN-AFRICA-22ND-OCT.-2014.pdf">PDF</a>. In addition, a congratulatory message from Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology was delivered by Mr. John Temba, Head of ICT in Education at the Ministry. More info on the event from our announcement post <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44015">yesterday</a>.</p>
<p>Some highlights from the speech:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Ministry recognizes Kenya as a signatory of UNESCO’s 2012 Paris Declaration on Open Educational Resources (OER) and that &#8220;open education resources improves the quality of teaching and learning, including by accelerating student comprehension and by providing more opportunities for the realisation of universal access to education.&#8221;</li>
<li>Kenya has developed and is rolling out a National ICT Master plan for the next five years. The Ministry recognizes &#8220;that Creative Commons through the School of Open Africa has provided a good example of innovative use of ICT in education that resonates well with the Kenya National ICT Master Plan&#8230; Open Education Resources coupled with innovative use of ICT in education will accelerate realization of a modern Kenya that will be a knowledge-based economy.&#8221;</li>
</ul>
<p>And lastly,</p>
<blockquote><p>“By using Open Educational Resources, OER, School of Open is opening up to many students who would have otherwise missed the opportunity of accessing education, especially in the marginalized areas which could not adequately access quality education. Ongoing, voluntary, and self- motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons is one of the characteristics of the 21st Century. One of the major ways of promoting life-long learning is the continuous use of ICT innovations in education.<br />
<br />
“I congratulate School of Open teams across Africa for the innovative and transformative mode of teaching and learning that we are launching today. This African initiative is a worthy model for other regions of the world to emulate.”
</p></blockquote>
<p>Congrats on a successful launch to our communities across Africa!</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>SPEECH BY MR. JOSEPH TIAMPATI, PRINCIPAL SECRETARY MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY DURING THE LAUNCH OF THE SCHOOL OF OPEN AFRICA, AT THE SERENA HOTEL, WEDNESDAY 22ND OCTOBER, 2014</strong></p>
<p>&#8220;Good morning.</p>
<p>&#8220;It gives me great pleasure to be here today as the Chief Guest during the launch of School of Open &#8211; Africa. I would like to begin by sincerely thanking Creative Commons Africa community and under the able coordination of Alex Gakuru and Tobias Schonwetter, and the global Creative Commons Community for inviting me to preside over this launch.</p>
<p>&#8220;I am happy to note the enthusiasm demonstrated by School of Open Africa in transforming education along Sustainable Development Goals proposed for post-2015 (Goal No. 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all”) and in line with the Kenya Vision 2030 which seeks to transform Kenya into a middle-income country that offers high quality of life to all citizens by the year 2030. I am happy to note how much School of Open Africa has grown in Kenya and embraced in countries like Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa among other African countries in the last few years. I am informed that School of Open by Creative Commons is highly reputed around the world for addressing universal access to education.</p>
<p><span style="float:right;padding:10px;" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SOO-africa-launch-event-5.jpg"><img alt="SOO Africa Launch Event 5" src="media/50f7c287.SOO-africa-launch-event-5.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SOO-africa-launch-event-5.jpg" /><br /> <small><span property="dc:title">Awarding CopyrightX certificates</span> / <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Phillip Ranja</span></small></span> </p>
<p>&#8220;Kenya is a signatory to the UNESCO&#8217;s 2012 Paris Declaration on Open Education Resources licensed under Creative Commons open licenses. The use of open education resources improves the quality of teaching and learning, including by accelerating student comprehension and by providing more opportunities for the realisation of universal access to education. Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.</p>
<p>&#8220;Fully aware of the role of education in a country’s development agenda, I am sure that the new initiatives being undertaken by School of Open Africa, the Creative Commons and UNESCO are making their contribution towards the social, economic, and political pillars which are the three fundamental cornerstones of our country, and indeed for our great continent.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ladies and gentlemen, as you may be aware, the Country’s development blue print is being implemented through successive five- year Medium Term Plans (MTPs) that will finally enable the country to achieve the long-term goals. We are now in the second medium term plan cycle (2013-2017) whose theme is “Transforming Kenya: Pathways to Devolution, Socio-economic Development, Equity and National Unity”. As you may be aware, the ICT Authority rolled out the National ICT Master plan that will set the pace for progression of the country in ICT for the next five years. The Master plan – once fully rolled out – will completely transform government processes, services and management, and make information access and service delivery more efficient. Again, the Master plan, with the flagship projects to pilot its implementation, will steer the march towards the digital future that will transform the country to a regional technical hub, raise the country’s competitiveness and align the country in line with vision 2030’s ICT goals.</p>
<p>&#8220;By launching the Kenya ICT Master Plan, the government revealed its commitment towards the enhancement of access to quality education and training through ICT in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We are reviewing the National ICT Policy Guidelines to ensure alignment with proposed Sustainable Development Goals.<br />
As a country, we are also privileged to have a National ICT Policy whose goal is to create a prosperous ICT-driven Kenyan society. With a well mainstreamed ICT society, we are assured of better livelihoods of Kenyans attainable through the availability of accessible, efficient, reliable and affordable ICT services.</p>
<p>&#8220;ICT provides a platform that enables the realization of these goals. I must emphasize that Creative Commons through the School of Open Africa has provided a good example of innovative use of ICT in education that resonates well with the Kenya National ICT Master Plan. The integration of ICT into educational programmes places both the teaching staff and students at the forefront in the utilization of ICT for the enhancement of lives.</p>
<p>&#8220;I note with great pleasure the freedom to re-purpose offered by openly licensed educational resources, the convenience online access to learners as alternative courses delivery and certification methods. At this juncture, ladies and gentlemen, I thank William Fisher III, Professor of Intellectual Property and his staff at the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School for providing a free copyright law course taught to graduands present today to receive their certificates. I also thank Michael Murungi (then CEO, National Council for Law Reporting or “Kenya Law”) and Alex Gakuru for successfully conducting the course in Nairobi. I must congratulate the former students and ask to make the very best use of the copyright law knowledge they acquired while also challenging all universities represented here to consider emulating the highly successfully CopyrightX initiative.</p>
<p>&#8220;As the government continues to work on modalities of ensuring universal access to education and increasing the internet penetration in all parts of the country, we are pleased to witness this mode of study that will definitely translate to affordable education. Open Education Resources coupled with innovative use of ICT in education will accelerate realization of a modern Kenya that will be a knowledge-based economy.</p>
<p>&#8220;By using Open Educational Resources, OER, School of Open is opening up to many students who would have otherwise missed the opportunity of accessing education, especially in the marginalized areas which could not adequately access quality education. Ongoing, voluntary, and self- motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons is one of the characteristics of the 21st Century. One of the major ways of promoting life-long learning is the continuous use of ICT innovations in education.</p>
<p>&#8220;I congratulate School of Open teams across Africa for the innovative and transformative mode of teaching and learning that we are launching today. This African initiative is a worthy model for other regions of the world to emulate.</p>
<p>&#8220;As I conclude I take this opportunity to applaud UNESCO&#8217;s efforts and contribution in the development and growth of the country through this noble initiative that enables the primary, secondary and universities to optimize the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in learning. I acknowledge the generous financial support from the Hewlett Foundation and SOO Africa teams support by Google.</p>
<p>&#8220;With those remarks, it is now my pleasure to declare the School of Open Africa officially opened.</p>
<p>&#8220;Thank you.&#8221;</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44124
title: Build a commons for everyone
uri: Build-a-commons-for-everyone
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44124
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #006600;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email1a&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/755c0027.2014fund-puzzle.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014fund-puzzle.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; ">
<p>I joined CC in June of this year, and immediately set out to update our strategy. I spent the summer working with our staff, affiliates, board, partners, and funders to understand the needs and the opportunities, and to plan for 2015 and beyond.</p>
<p>Today, we&#8217;re focused on three strategic objectives:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>A vibrant commons.</strong> Supporting the CC license suite so it&#8217;s easy to contribute to the commons&#160;&#8212;from improving the experience on platforms, to enhancing our license chooser, to translating the 4.0 licenses;</li>
<li><strong>A usable commons.</strong> Helping creators find and reuse the content they want and need, including exploring ways to improve search and content analytics, so creators can see where their content goes after they share it; and,</li>
<li><strong>A relevant commons.</strong> Leading a movement of individuals, organizations, and institutions who will inspire others to create the commons of creativity and knowledge we all want.</li>
</ol>
<p>These three simple objectives will guide our work over the next year. If you share our goal of a more healthy and vibrant commons, we&#8217;re proud to work alongside you.</p>
<p>This month, we&#8217;ll launch our most ambitious annual campaign yet. We&#8217;re going to tell the story of the commons, its reach, and its potential, to make a compelling case for our work. We&#8217;ll share some exciting new projects that show how we&#8217;re building the next phase of CC.</p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email1a&#038;utm_medium=web"><strong>I hope that you&#8217;ll make a donation</strong></a>, but equally as important, I hope you&#8217;ll help us spread the word and grow our community of donors to build a more sustainable organization.</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email1a&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/c99c210c.2014fund-heart1.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014fund-heart1.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44148
title: LRMI stewardship transferred to Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
uri: LRMI-stewardship-transferred-to-Dublin-Core-Metadata-Initiative
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44148
content:
<p><a href="media/00acc3e2.logo_lrmiMain.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/logo_lrmiMain.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-29658 alignleft" src="media/91363296.logo_lrmiMain-300x74.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/logo_lrmiMain-300x74.png" alt="LRMI Logo" width="300" height="74" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Re-post from: <a href="http://www.lrmi.net/lrmi-transfers-stewardship">http://www.lrmi.net/lrmi-transfers-stewardship</a></em></p>
<p>Effective October 23, 2014, leadership and governance of the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI), an education metadata project developed to improve discoverability and delivery of learning resources, have transferred from the Association of Educational Publishers and Creative Commons to the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI).</p>
<p>This long-planned transfer represents a logical next step for the LRMI since the project has reached the end of its initial scope of work.  DCMI will take the leadership role in advancing the project into its next phase with AEP and CC engaged as active LRMI community members.</p>
<p>“Creative Commons and AEP are happy to add this governance transfer to the long list of successes we’ve achieved together on the LRMI project,” said Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons. “After a long and careful evaluation process, the LRMI leadership identified a candidate in DCMI that is well-established and highly respected in the metadata sector and will carry on the LRMI’s spirit of transparency and community involvement.”</p>
<p>“AEP has enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside our partners Creative Commons the past three years to get the LRMI effort off the ground, build a community of practice, and finally, to establish a plan for long-term sustainability for the project,” said Dave Gladney, Project Manager of the AEP LRMI project, which has been housed at the Association of American Publishers since the merger of AEP and AAP in July 2013. “With this transfer, we’re confident that we’re leaving the LRMI with the ideal steward for long-term success.”</p>
<p>“DCMI is pleased to assume stewardship of LRMI at this key, long-planned transition in its development,” said Eric Childress, DCMI Governing Board Chair. “Meeting the metadata needs of the education and training community has been a goal of DCMI since the founding of its Education Community in 1999. DCMI has played encouraging, advisory roles in development of the LRMI specification from the inception of Phase I technical development in 2011 under the leadership of AEP and Creative Commons. DCMI is now poised to provide LRMI with both a permanent home that assures the long-term sustainability of the specification and an open, collaborative context for future community-driven development.”</p>
<p>More information about the transfer and the project follows.</p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>The LRMI began in 2011 shortly after the announcement of Schema.org, a search engine-backed standard for tagging content on the web.   AEP and Creative Commons, with funding from the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, set out to extend the general Schema.org hierarchy with a lightweight set of metadata properties that could describe the instructional intent of a web page, resource or piece of content.  The resulting LRMI specification version 1.1 was accepted as an official extension of Schema.org in April 2013.  Additionally, AEP and Creative Commons have worked closely together throughout the past three years to meet dozens of important project milestones.</p>
<p>The third and final Gates-funded phase of the project focused on long-term sustainability and success.  Among other Phase III projects, the LRMI leadership team has worked over the past six months to identify the ideal next-phase steward for the LRMI specification.  This process included surveying the LRMI community, identifying potential candidates, measuring each candidate against a list of agreed-upon requirements and vetting candidates through a series of interviews.</p>
<p><strong>Why DCMI was chosen</strong></p>
<p>DCMI was chosen based on its status as a well-known, well-respected name in the metadata space; its open governance structure, which closely aligns with the open spirit of the LRMI; and its ongoing connection to the LRMI through the involvement of DCMI’s Managing Director and Education Community chair, Stuart Sutton, on the LRMI Technical Working Group.</p>
<p><strong>DCMI’s next-stage priorities</strong></p>
<p>DCMI stewardship of the LRMI specification will include:</p>
<ol>
<li>Moving the canonical representation of the specification from lrmi.net to dublincore.org with appropriate cross referencing between the two websites.</li>
<li>Creating a permanent LRMI Task Group within the context and working processes of the DC Education Community to supplant the original LRMI Technical Working Group for:
<ul>
<li>Ongoing maintenance of the LRMI 1.1 specification</li>
<li>Assessment of open community input as the means for defining future development of the specification</li>
<li>Management of transparent editorial and decision-making processes in executing further developments</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Supporting open community communications through a Jiscmail list for the new LRMI Task Group (public “read”) and through the existing DC-Education Jiscmail list (public “join/read/write”).   Public conversations on the existing, open LRMI Google Group will be continued until the coordination of two public lists is deemed by DCMI to be no longer tenable. During this time, current members of the Google Group will be encouraged to join the Jiscmail lists.</li>
<li>Initiating immediate engagement with Schema.org to coordinate changes in its cross-referencing for LRMI and the potential development of additional developer/web master documentation at schema.org of those aspects of LRMI 1.1 it has adopted in support of learning resource markup.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>For more information:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Stuart Sutton, Managing Director, DCMI (<a href="mailto:sasutton@dublincore.net">sasutton@dublincore.net</a>)</li>
<li>Cable Green, Director of Global Learning, Creative Commons (<a href="mailto:cable@creativecommons.org">cable@creativecommons.org</a>)</li>
<li>Dave Gladney, LRMI Project Manager, AEP (<a href="mailto:dgladney@publishers.org">dgladney@publishers.org</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-</p>
<p><strong>About Creative Commons</strong></p>
<p>Creative Commons (<a title="Visit http://creativecommons.org/ (click to open in a new window)" href="http://creativecommons.org/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/</a>) is a globally-focused nonprofit organization dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright. Creative Commons provides free licenses and other legal tools to give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions and get credit for their creative work while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make specific uses of it.</p>
<p><strong>About the Association of Educational Publishers</strong></p>
<p>The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) is the 501(c)(3) arm of the Association of American Publishers. At the inception of the LRMI in 2011, AEP was an independent organization serving the educational resource community with programs, events, advocacy, and thought leadership. In July of 2013, AEP merged with the AAP School Division to form the PreK-12 Learning Group. Most of AEP’s programs were transferred over to the newly-formed Learning Group pursuant to the merger, but LRMI projects and administration of grant funding continued on under the 501(c)(3).</p>
<p><strong>About the Association of American Publishers</strong></p>
<p>The members of AAP are building the future of publishing. AAP represents America’s premier creators of high-quality entertainment, education, scientific and professional published content. They include commercial and not-for-profit organizations, scholarly societies, university presses, educational technology companies and digital start-ups. These nearly 450 organizations dedicate the creative, intellectual, financial and technological investments to bring great ideas to life and deliver content to the world’s diverse audiences in all the ways they seek it.</p>
<p><strong>About Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)</strong></p>
<p>DCMI is a global community that has played key roles in the development of best practices in metadata modeling, design and implementation since 1995. The DCMI community has developed and maintains some of the major languages of description used on the Web and in systems. DCMI’s principles of operation are open consensus building, international scope and participation, neutrality of purpose and business models, neutrality of technology, and a cross disciplinary focus. DCMI is a project of ASIS&amp;T, a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and is supported through membership programs for both individuals and organizations.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44167
title: CC Science’s Indian November
uri: CC-Science-s-Indian-November
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44167
content:
<p><img src="media/0230337a.india2014.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/india2014.png" alt="india2014" width="259" height="255" align="left" style="padding: 5px" />We are in New Delhi and Mumbai for a number of presentations, workshops and meetings. Please come say hello if you are at these events or in the area.</p>
<h2>SciDataCon2014 in New Delhi</h2>
<p>The International Conference on Data Sharing and Integration for Global Sustainability (SciDataCon) is motivated by the conviction that the most research challenges cannot be addressed without attending to issues relating to research data essential to all scientific endeavors. However, several cultural and technological challenges are still preventing the research community from realizing the full benefits of progress in open access and sharing. <a href="http://codata.org">CODATA</a> and <a href="http://icsu-wds.org">WDS</a>, interdisciplinary committees of the International Council for Science (ICSU) are co-sponsoring and organizing a high profile international biennial conference at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.</p>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.2em;margin-bottom: 1em">Nov 2: <a href="http://scidatacon2014.org/tdm-workshop">A day long Text and data mining (TDM) workshop</a> offered in collaboration with <a href="http://contentmine.org">ContentMine</a></h3>
<p>TDM is an important scientific technique for analyzing large corpora of articles used to uncover both existing and new insights in unstructured data sets that typically are obtained programmatically from many different sources. While the science and technology TDM is complex enough, its legal complications are equally dizzying. Not only is its legal status unclear at best, it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction making cross-national collaboration difficult. Besides the license status of the original material, contractual agreements between research institutions and publishers, who are often the gatekeepers of the corpora, can create significant hurdles. The workshop offers an introduction to TDM, presenting the legal considerations through hands-on exercises.</p>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.2em;margin-bottom: 1em">Nov 3: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/11HqJnzVMe05FAengsbxmTJ1gWtEi9u7ZnX0E5nii2rA/pub">How well is the data chain working?</a></h3>
<p>Effective and efficient application of scientific data for the benefit of humanity entails agreed goals, clear and reproducible methods, and transparent communication throughout the data chain from producer to user via data organizer and research publisher. How well is that working? A Panel Discussion at the close of each day will summarise that day&#8217;s conclusions, and respond to the question of how well the data chain may be working from a trio of perspectives: Conference Organizer, data-management expert, and data producer.</p>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.2em;margin-bottom: 1em">Nov 5: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19cPZ0vKbGqzJLOctfWAa1X_dDbQDUQ51mfVPW5qXXFQ/pub">Citing Data to Facilitate Multidisciplinary Research</a></h3>
<p><b>Synthesis Data Citation Principles and Their Implications for TDM:</b> Importance, Credit and Attribution, Evidence, Unique Identification, Access, Persistence, Specificity and Verifiability, and Interoperability and Flexibility: these eight important phrases describe the <a href="https://www.force11.org/datacitation">data citation principles</a> agreed upon by the community and published under a joint declaration and endorsed by 185 individuals and 83 organizations. But, what are the implications of these principles beyond just citation, particularly with respect to automated analysis of large corpus of articles? This presentation will briefly present the principles, and then explore some of the issues that we have to come to grips with in order to make text and data mining (TDM) easy for scientists.</p>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.2em;margin-bottom: 1em">Nov 5: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ovbpiu_icJ1NPYdecfdyB3Ijn37dvnH5GuHhnCU2Cd8/pub">Challenges and Benefits of Open Science Data and International Data Sharing</a></h3>
<p><b>Maximizing Legal Interoperability Through Open Licenses:</b> Many scientists do think about interoperability as they have to work with colleagues from other domains. However, common interoperability efforts are focused on  technical, and if we are lucky, semantic interoperability. Rarely do scientists think of legal interoperability in the design of their science experiments. Can my work be legally mixed with someone else’s work without violating any intellectual property (or worse, privacy and security) laws? Is my work portable across not just scientific domains but also across judicial boundaries? We attempt to shed light on some of these questions in this presentation.</p>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.2em;margin-bottom: 1em">Nov 5: Talk on CC/OKF open science activities to be given at the computer science dept., Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi</h3>
<p><a href="http://science.okfn.org">Jenny Molloy, OKFN Open Science</a> and I will be introducing the young computer science students at IIT-Delhi on the various open science and data activities around the world. This talk is organized by <a href="http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/~aseth/">Prof. Aaditeshwar Seth, Computer Science, IIT-Delhi</a>.</p>
<h3 style="line-height: 1.2em;margin-bottom: 1em">Nov 6-8: Meetings on citizen science and sensors at the <a href="http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in">Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Mumbai</a></h3>
<p>HBCSE at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai is a National Center with the broad goals to promote equity and excellence in science and mathematics education from primary school to undergraduate college level, and encourage the growth of scientific literacy in the country. We will be discussing with HBCSE&#8217;s <a href="http://www.metastudio.org/home/">metaStudio</a> potential areas of collaboration in citizen science and the use of sensors in projects to accelerate the growth of scientific awareness in the country through direct public participation in science.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44206
title: Sketchfab announces CC licensing; Microsoft, HTC, and British Museum early adopters
uri: Sketchfab-announces-CC-licensing-Microsoft-HTC-and-British-Museum-e
url: https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44206
content:
<p>Sketchfab &#8211; an awesome website for sharing 3D models &#8211; <a href="http://blog.sketchfab.com/post/100773163909/sketchfab-launches-a-download-option-and-reaches-200k">just unveiled an option to make files downloadable</a>. All of the files marked for download are available under Creative Commons licenses, including those from some big players like <a href="https://sketchfab.com/htc">HTC</a>, <a href="https://sketchfab.com/microsoft">Microsoft</a>, the <a href="https://sketchfab.com/britishmuseum">British Museum</a> and celebrated designer <a href="https://sketchfab.com/francisbitontistudio">Francis Bitonti</a>.</p>
<div style="text-align: center; "><iframe width="500" height="375" src="//sketchfab.com/models/64d0b7662b59417986e9d693624de97a/embed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" onmousewheel=""></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://sketchfab.com/models/64d0b7662b59417986e9d693624de97a">Granite head of Amenemhat III</a> / <a href="https://sketchfab.com/britishmuseum">British Museum</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a></p>
</div>
<p><a href="http://blog.sketchfab.com/post/100773163909/sketchfab-launches-a-download-option-and-reaches-200k">From the announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>This makes Sketchfab not only the best and easiest way to publish and embed a 3D file, but also a great place to find and use 3D content &#8211; for example for 3D printing, to build video games or VR experiments &#8211; or just to share and collaborate privately on 3D designs. Any user can now chose to publish 3D content for display only, or for display and download under Creative Commons licenses.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>[&#8230;]</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>This launch comes with another important milestone: more than 200,000 3D files have been uploaded on the platform so far, making Sketchfab one of the largest repositories of 3D content, and the leading platform to publish and embed interactive 3D models. We want to thank all of our users for that, we are proud to be home for your work. This milestone, combined with our new download option, is strengthening our position as The place to be for 3D files.</p></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center; "><iframe width="500" height="375" src="//sketchfab.com/models/04a5de36228d4f3b83ec3d043f8d5787/embed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" onmousewheel=""></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://sketchfab.com/models/04a5de36228d4f3b83ec3d043f8d5787">Surface Pro 3 Pen Holder</a> / <a href="https://sketchfab.com/microsoft">Microsoft</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a></p>
</div>
<p>Sketchfab co-founder Alban Denoyel told us that his team knew from the start that they wanted to use CC licenses rather than create a new license for model use. &#8220;As soon as we started looking into adding a download option on Sketchfab, we  wanted to find a legal framework to cover the way people could use the files, and CC was top of mind as the perfect solution to do that.&#8221;</p>
<p>And did the high-profile users like Microsoft and HTC have any qualms about CC? Not really, says Alban. &#8220;We had a pretty straightforward approach, exposing our plans of enabling download under CC, and asking if they were in or not. No special concerns were raised, they  quickly jumped in!&#8221;</p>
<div style="text-align: center; "><iframe width="500" height="375" src="//sketchfab.com/models/d627c3898a574e7b9f85e8e5392325b6/embed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen="true" webkitallowfullscreen="true" onmousewheel=""></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://sketchfab.com/models/d627c3898a574e7b9f85e8e5392325b6">HTC One M8 printable case</a> / <a href="https://sketchfab.com/htc">HTC</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a></p>
</div>
<p>Congratulations, Sketchfab!</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44227
title: Leicester City Council gives permission to 84 schools to create and share OER
uri: Leicester-City-Council-gives-permission-to-84-schools-to-create-and-sh
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44227
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://schools.leicester.gov.uk/ls/open-education/"><img src="media/2cb4efb6.OER-banner-600.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/OER-banner-600.png" alt="" width="600" height="137" border="0" /><br />
<small></small></a><small><a href="http://schools.leicester.gov.uk/ls/open-education/">Leicester City Council</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="xh:license license">CC BY 4.0</a></small></p>
<p>Leicester City Council is the first local government authority in the United Kingdom (UK) to provide 84 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_school_%28England_and_Wales%29">community schools</a> with <a href="http://schools.leicester.gov.uk/ls/open-education/">blanket permission to openly license their educational resources</a>. The council is recommending that school staff use the <a href="/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license</a> to share materials created in the course of their work. The Council has also released guidance and practical information for school staff on using and creating <a href="/education">open educational resources (OER)</a>.</p>
<p>As part of Josie Fraser&#8217;s (ICT Strategy Lead, Leicester City Council) work with the council, she leads on a citywide project to raise school staff skills and confidence in using technology to support teaching, learning, and school community development. The project has <a href="http://www.digilitleic.com/?p=542">surveyed</a> staff across the city to identify strengths and gaps in their use of technologies and digital resources. While the results on the whole have been very positive, the survey identified that school staff knowledge about OER and open licensing is very limited.</p>
<p>In response to this, Josie worked with Björn Haßler and Helen Neo (from the University of Cambridge) to create accessible OER schools guidance and practical resources for schools on finding, attributing, remixing, creating, and sharing CC licensed resources. School staff were invited to participate in the development of the resources, by review and discussion, and by taking part in pilot workshops for school staff and leaders.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;The response to the guidance has been very positive, with schools keen to raise the profile of excellent work being produced through the use of Creative Commons licenses. Schools want to raise staff knowledge in relation to copyright and open licensing, and see the classroom modelling of good practice in using and accrediting resources as important for their learners.&#8221;</em><br />
– Josie Fraser</p></blockquote>
<p>Schools routinely make use of web-based resources to support their learners, but don&#8217;t routinely benefit from the range of openly shared resources available if they aren&#8217;t aware of open licensing. The permission and guidance are designed to work together in raising awareness about CC licenses and OER, and support schools in promoting the work they are doing by sharing &#8211; enabling them to create, and to connect and collaborate with other educators. At a time when so many resources used in schools are digital, and accessed and shared online, understanding copyright and the role that open licenses play is essential for education professionals.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>“Leicester City Council is the first local authority in the UK to provide its school employees with permission to openly license their resources. This is a highly commendable and visionary step. We very much hope that this will inspire other councils and schools to look at how they can also support staff in sharing their work.”</em><br />
– Dr. Björn Haßler, University of Cambridge</p></blockquote>
<p>Resource packs, which including model policies, guidance and resources for schools, are available at: <a href="http://schools.leicester.gov.uk/openeducation">http://schools.leicester.gov.uk/openeducation</a>. The resources themselves build on existing openly licensed materials, and all new materials are all released under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a> and are available in editable versions for adaptation.</p>
<p>Josie concludes:</p>
<blockquote><p>“Open licensing is an important step in making cultural change happen &#8211; for educators and learners to benefit from public work, and for schools across the city to move towards open practice. Change will not happen overnight, but the permission and guidance provides a great way for schools to think about how they share and collaborate, and how they would like to take their communities forward.”</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Links:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://schools.leicester.gov.uk/openeducation" target="_blank">OER Guidance for Schools</a> was commissioned by<a href="http://www.leicester.gov.uk/" target="_blank"> Leicester City Council</a>, as part of the Council&#8217;s award winning digital literacy school staff development project,<a href="http://www.digilitleic.com/" target="_blank"> DigiLit Leicester</a>.</li>
<li>The OER Guidance resources were produced by Björn Haßler, Helen Neo, and <a href="https://twitter.com/josiefraser">Josie Fraser</a>, and are available under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.</li>
<li>For further information please contact Josie Fraser (<a href="mailto:fraser@leicester.gov.uk">fraser@leicester.gov.uk</a>) or Björn Haßler (<a href="mailto:bh213@cam.ac.uk">bh213@cam.ac.uk</a>).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Related:</strong> <a href="/weblog/entry/43758">Creative Commons policies grow in New Zealand schools</a></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44277
title: CC Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting Held in Seoul
uri: CC-Asia-Pacific-Regional-Meeting-Held-in-Seoul
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44277
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15283482542/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15283482542/"><img src="media/0d5dab71.15283482542_50fed3746d_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3920/15283482542_50fed3746d_z.jpg" alt="CCKorea" width="640" height="427" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15283482542/"><span property="cc:attributionName">CCKorea</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></a></p>
<p>Representatives from CC affiliates in Asia and the Pacific were once again hosted by CC Korea for the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Asia_Pacific_Regional_Meeting_2014">CC Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting</a> this year. Asia-Pacific CC affiliates have a regular face-to-face meeting every two years to share their experience and know-how, to discuss common issues, and to seek opportunities for collaboration. Last September, 13 representatives from CC affiliate teams in China Mainland, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mongolia, and South Korea came all the way to Seoul for this rare opportunity to get inspired by each other and meet Ryan Merkley, new CEO of Creative Commons, whom many of them met in person for the first time.</p>
<div style="float:left; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15089043849/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15089043849/"><img width="320" height="213" src="media/92d17af6.15089043849_2727441900_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3907/15089043849_2727441900_n.jpg" alt="CCKorea" /></a>
<p><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15089043849/"><span property="cc:attributionName">CCKorea</span> / </a><a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>This year&#8217;s regional meeting was held in conjunction with the <a href="http://2014con.cckorea.org/en/">3rd CC Korea Conference</a>, &#8220;Share Everything, Connect Everything.&#8221; Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons, opened the event with an inspiring keynote speech on sharing and the commons attended by more than 200 people from various fields including government, business and academia. Around the three main themes of Creativity, Sharing City, and Civic Hacking, insightful presentations were given by various local and international speakers including Todd Porter, Co-founder of FabCafe and Hal Seki from Code for Japan. As the closing session, Won-soon Park, Mayor of Seoul City, and Jay Yoon, Project Lead of CC Korea, discussed how we could shape our future with sharing and cooperation.</p>
<p>Following the successful conference on the first day, the CC affiliate representatives sat down together for a full-day meeting dedicated to the discussion of internal issues, from individual activities to regional and global cooperation. After a round of warm greetings to each other, each presented not only their success stories but also exchanged experiences in projects that did not turn out as they had expected, focusing on what they could improve and how they could do better in the future. Challenges faced by teams varied from fundraising to support and sustain their activities to restructuring their volunteer community. Discussion revolved around how to address these by facilitating regional collaboration both among individual affiliates and with CC headquarters in California.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15161577897/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15161577897/"><img width="320" height="240" src="media/8523d61c.15161577897_e2c2138a5e_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2944/15161577897_e2c2138a5e_n.jpg" alt="CCKorea" /></a>
<p><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/15161577897/"><span property="cc:attributionName">CCKorea</span> / </a><a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>After a lunchtime walk along the Cheonggye stream, Ryan Merkley joined the group to share CC&#8217;s new vision and strategies and solicit feedback from the participants. Generally participants were glad for his willingness to share and to engage more closely with affiliates, welcoming opportunities to contribute and work more closely on various fronts. A theme of the day was ways that CC could collaborate and engage more actively with global affiliates on specific projects such as conducting research, developing tools to improve usability of CC licenses and reuse of CC-licensed content, etc. Some representatives also pointed out that more practical support from CC such as toolkits and resource repositories would be useful, especially for teams who are new or restructuring. Regional activities, such as the creation of a regional website and combining efforts in popular areas such as education, were also important part of the day&#8217;s agendas.</p>
<p>The meeting was followed by a CC Salon, held as a wrap-up event of the whole program at a cozy book cafe down an alleyway, away from the noise and bustle of the Hongdae area. Conference speakers, CC Asia-Pacific representatives, and members and friends of CC Korea were all invited to meet old and new friends, try different traditional beverages brought by the participating CC representatives, and get inspired by interesting ignite talks ranging from a fantastic dance performance by Muid Latif from CC Malaysia to Ryan&#8217;s &#8220;20 things I love from the commons&#8221; and a 3rd-grader girl&#8217;s talk about her coding projects.</p>
<p>CC Korea would like to once again thank all representatives who participated and hopes that this could lead to more cooperation in the region and beyond.</p>
<p>For more details, see <a href="http://www.cckorea.org/xe/?mid=english&#038;document_srl=1365512">post-conference resources</a>, including <a href="http://vimeo.com/album/3074386">videos</a>, all available under CC licenses. You can also read about the <a href="/weblog/entry/36193">previous regional meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2012</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center; "><iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/106376353" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><small>bssmile / <a href="/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY 3.0</a></small></p>
<p><em><strong>The thoughts below are from Muid Latif, Project Lead of <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Malaysia">CC Malaysia</a>:</strong></em></p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ml/15122134647/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ml/15122134647/"><img width="320" height="239" src="media/05aa70e5.15122134647_6a99db48b4_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5571/15122134647_6a99db48b4_n.jpg" alt="Seoul, Korea Trip" /></a>
<p><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ml/15122134647/"><span property="dc:title">Seoul, Korea Trip</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Muid Latif</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Visiting Seoul is life-changing experience. As a creative person, each turn you take around the city gives a perfect visual story-telling of its culture and economic progress. Since I was very familiar to the design community in Korea through Behance Network and Creative City project curated by Jackson Tan (Singapore) this year in conjunction of Kaohsiung Design Festival, I was introduced to amazing designers like Yoon Hyup and the talented Na Kim who I had the privilege to meet in September this year in Penang, Malaysia.</p>
<p>I was blown away by the amount of art galleries located in each district. I could easily be overwhelmed by so much talent. It shows how organised and cultured Koreans are in accepting creativity as a part of their daily routine.</p>
<p>While I was in Seoul, attending the CC Korea International Conference provided me with such an insightful experience to know how enthusiastic creators are in ensuring citizen could access better, organised public information and allowing transparency of the government, through projects like CodeNamu. And Randomwalks, for example, amplified various media and data and turned it into phenomenal info-graphics, as shown in Sey Min&#8217;s presentation and demonstration. An aspiring young girl named Hannah enlightened us about the best creative way to have fun by creating DIY ear-folding rabbit and a fun wrist-band. I also had the chance to do a contemporary dance performance during the CC Salon featuring music of DD.85&#8217;s <a href="https://soundcloud.com/d-d-8-5">‘Adaptation&#8217;</a>.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s more extraordinary to learn that Koreans take seriously into sharing culture thus seeing Creative Commons as a medium to empower their creations. From sharing innovation of technology through open source, mobile apps and web-based programmes are easily accessible to all. It facilitates greater alternative in cost-saving, and yet at the same time, some generous users would donate through PayPal as part of their appreciation. This is what CC is catered for its content users, the power to appreciate and attribute. The support does not only stop there, a local renowned KPOP artist expresses interest in offering to become an ambassador of CC Korea to increase more awareness. This is indeed admirable and I see that other CC affiliates could adapt and follow the same strategy to advance CC movement into the next level. If people would ask me, what&#8217;s the next big thing for CC? Well, this is it.</p>
<ul>
<li>See CCKorea&#8217;s photo sets from the event: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/sets/72157647330022998/">1</a>, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/sets/72157647594218730/">2</a>, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wowcckorea/sets/72157647974992825/">3</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ml/sets/72157647444601077/">See Muid&#8217;s photo set</a>.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44284
title: CC in a world of worthy causes
uri: CC-in-a-world-of-worthy-causes
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44284
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #6751a0;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog2&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/d419ebbc.3dprint-2014fund.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/3dprint-2014fund.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; font-family: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 14pt; ">
<p>Creative Commons wasn&#8217;t done after we created our first license suite, or even after hundreds of millions of licensed works were shared. The web is changing&nbsp;&#8212; and so are the ways we get, share, and use content&nbsp;&#8212; so we&#8217;re trying new things.</p>
<p>One new idea is our mobile app, The List, supported by a prototype grant from the Knight Foundation. The List app will allow users to make lists of wanted images, or submit requested photos to a global archive of images, all licensed CC BY. We&#8217;ll release a public beta in the next few months.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re also still active in areas where we can make a huge difference, like open educational resources (OER). We&#8217;ve been helping foundations and governments adopt open policies and exploring new ways of licensing scientific data. Teachers and learners everywhere&nbsp;&#8212; from Kenya to Canada&nbsp;&#8212; are reaping rewards of shared information and knowledge, with huge savings.</p>
<p>All of that work, old and new, is supported by a small team, and a lot of inspired supporters and volunteer advocates, including more than 100 affiliate teams in 75 countries. Our licenses have become the global standard for legal sharing, and they underpin many of the most well-known media platforms on the web.</p>
<p>If Creative Commons plays a role in how you use the internet or share your work, <strong><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog2&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #6751a0; ">please consider making a gift to support the organization</a></strong>. Our licenses are (and will remain) free, so developing a stable funding stream to support sharing has always been a challenge. A generous&nbsp;&#8212; but small&nbsp;&#8212; group of individual donors has always supported us. <strong><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog2&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #6751a0; ">Let&#8217;s grow that number and work together to build a better internet and world</a></strong>.</p>
<p>As you&#8217;re considering which charities to support this year, please take a moment to reflect on what we&#8217;ve built together these past 12 years, and the challenges we face in copyright reform, open access, and building an open web for everyone to learn and create.</p>
<p>In a world of worthy causes, it&#8217;s our job to demonstrate the value of CC to individuals, governments, institutions, and corporations. And especially to you.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog2&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #6751a0; ">Please support us</a></strong> and help us spread the word.</p>
<p>Sincerely,<br />Ryan</p>
<p>PS: In a few weeks, we&#8217;ll be releasing information about the state of the commons&nbsp;&#8212; our most accurate assessment to date. Watch for it.</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog2&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/108d9dbb.heart-email-purple.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/heart-email-purple.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p>&#160;</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44290
title: The Voyager Golden Record
uri: The-Voyager-Golden-Record
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44290
content:
<div style="width: 630px;background-color: #fff;border: 1px solid black;font-size: 0.8em;font-family: sans-serif;margin-bottom: 1em">
<a href="media/d3d1b713.FileVoyager_Golden_Record_Cover_Explanation.svg" data-original-source="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voyager_Golden_Record_Cover_Explanation.svg" target="_blank"><img src="media/acde2422.Voyager_Golden_Record_Cover_Explanation.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Voyager_Golden_Record_Cover_Explanation.png" alt="Voyager Golden Record Cover Explanation" width="626" height="480" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-44293" /></a></p>
<p>&#8220;Voyager Golden Record Cover Explanation&#8221; by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory &#8211; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
</p></div>
<p>The Voyager Spacecrafts are carrying with them <a href="http://archive.org/details/Voyager1">sounds of the earth, of our civilization,</a> recorded on a 12&#8243; gold plated copper disc, a golden record, along with instructions for how to play them.</p>
<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/lilybui/www/" target="_blank"><img src="media/0a7aa860.voyager-lily.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/voyager-lily.png" alt="Voyager by Lily" width="626" height="303" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-44299" /></a></p>
<p>Lily Bui, a graduate student in the MIT Comparative Media Studies program built a <a href="http://web.mit.edu/lilybui/www/">lovely web site</a> that allows everyone to enjoy the sounds and music from the golden record via an attractive, easy to use web interface. In a serial burst of inspiration, Lily has also dedicated her web site to the public domain via a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@dangerbui/infinite-voyager-the-golden-record-d9d77f60d346" target="_blank">In her words</a>, &#8220;To be perfectly frank — I mostly designed this mostly for myself so that I wouldn’t have to access the archival audio through the Library of Congress portal.&#8221; Well, turns out a lot of people share Lily&#8217;s point-of-view. Ever the academic, she was taking a course at MIT that &#8220;examined the &#8216;migration of cultural materials&#8217; into the digital space, combining traditional humanities with computational methods.&#8221; She is convinced her work is grounded in theory. Perhaps, for we love the sounds and music so much that we have yet to read  <a href="http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/1/000091/000091.html" target="_blank">Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display</a> by Johanna Drucker.</p>
<p>Join Lily and all of us at Creative Commons and give the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/lilybui/www/" target="_blank">Voyager Golden Record</a> a listen.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44223
title: Finnish translation of 4.0 published
uri: Finnish-translation-of-4-0-published
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44223
content:
<p>We are thrilled to announce our <a title="CC BY 4.0 in Finnish" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.fi">first official translation of 4.0</a>, into Finnish. Congratulations to the <a title="CC Finland" href="http://creativecommons.fi">CC Finland</a> team, who have done an outstanding job. The translation team consisted of Maria Rehbinder of Aalto University, legal counsel and license translation coordinator of CC Finland; Martin von Willebrand, Attorney-at-Law and Partner, HH Partners, Attorneys-at-law Ltd: for translation supervision; Tarmo Toikkanen, Aalto University, general coordinator of CC Finland; Henri Tanskanen, Associate, HH Partners, Attorneys-at-law Ltd: main translator, and Liisa Laakso-Tammisto, translator. Particular thanks go to <a title="Aalto University" href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/">Aalto University</a>, <a title="HH Partners" href="http://www.hhpartners.fi/en/front-page.php">HH Partners</a>, and the <a title="Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture" href="http://minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=en">Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture</a> for their support.</p>
<div id="attachment_44255" style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="media/f5e76d54.cc40-fi_colour.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cc40-fi_colour.jpg"><img class="wp-image-44255" title="Maria Rehbinder,  Martin von Willebrand,  Tarmo Toikkanen,  Henri Tanskanen, and  Liisa Laakso-Tammisto" src="media/f5e76d54.cc40-fi_colour.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cc40-fi_colour.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="406" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><strong>Maria Rehbinder, Martin von Willebrand, Tarmo Toikkanen, Henri Tanskanen, and Liisa Laakso-Tammisto; photo Mikko Säteri, CC BY</strong></p></div>
<p>Internationalization was one of the <a title="4.0 Goals and objectives" href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0#Goals_and_objectives">5 main goals</a> of the 4.0 licenses, so this is an important milestone for the CC community. Our <a title="legal code translation policy" href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Code_Translation_Policy">translation policy</a> was written to reinforce that goal: if the licenses work everywhere, everyone should be able to use them in their own language without needing to worry about what the original English version says. The official translations are accessible to anyone, anywhere wishing to have access to the official legal text of the 4.0 licenses in Finnish.</p>
<p>Particular kudos go out to this team for their detailed work: producing linguistic translations is difficult! Many words don’t have exact equivalents between languages, especially where you’re bringing in specialized language from countries with different legal systems. Teams working on translations go through a detailed review of their work with CC to ensure that the meaning of the documents lines up. This often involves many detailed questions about exact meanings of words and the legal concepts they refer to, especially when no one on the CC legal team speaks the language. (If you’re particularly curious, you can look at some of the notes in the <a title="legal tools translation guide" href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_tools_translation_guide">translators’ guide</a>.) The Finnish team anticipated most of the questions we might have asked, providing a detailed explanation that will be useful as an example to others, and their thorough work has paid off.</p>
<p>Keep your eyes out: several more translations are in the final stages of review and will be published in the coming months! In the meantime, we join CC Finland in celebrating the launch of the first official 4.0 translation.</p>
<hr />
<p>Read <a href="http://creativecommons.fi/2014/11/creative-commons-4-0-lisenssit-kaannetty-ensimmaisina-maailmassa/">CC Finland&#8217;s announcement</a>.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44292
title: SciDataCon 2014 Recap
uri: SciDataCon-2014-Recap
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44292
content:
<div style="background-color: #f5f5f5;border: 1px solid grey;font-size: 0.8em;font-family: sans-serif;margin-bottom: 1em"><img src="media/1268dbcf.scidatacon.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/scidatacon.jpg" alt="scidatacon" width="700" height="269" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-44319" /><br />
Photo by Puneet Kishor published under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode" target="_blank">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a></div>
<p>Earlier this month, CODATA and World Data System, both interdisciplinary committees of the International Council for Science, jointly organized <a href="http://www.scidatacon2014.org" target="_blank">SciDataCon</a>, an international conference on data sharing for global sustainability. The conference was held Nov 2-5, 2014, on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Creative Commons Science had a busy schedule at the conference attended by 170+ delegates from all over the world, many from the global south. </p>
<div style="background-color: #f5f5f5;border: 1px solid grey;font-size: 0.8em;font-family: sans-serif;margin-bottom: 1em"><img src="media/3736d530.scidatacon-tdm.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/scidatacon-tdm.jpg" alt="scidatacon-tdm" width="696" height="395" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-44320" /><br />
Photo by Puneet Kishor published under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode" target="_blank">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a></div>
<p>We started early with a <a href="http://www.scidatacon2014.org/tdm-workshop" target="_blank">full day workshop on text and data mining (TDM)</a> in cooperation with <a href="http://contentmine.org" target="_blank">Content Mine</a>. The workshop was attended by a mix of PhD students and researchers from the fields of immunology and plant genomics research. It was really rewarding to see the participants get a handle on the software and go through the exercises. Finally, the conversation about legal uncertainty around TDM appraised them about the challenges, but bottom-up support for TDM can be a strong ally in ensuring that this practice remains out of the reach of legal restrictions.</p>
<p>During the main conference we joined panel discussions on <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19cPZ0vKbGqzJLOctfWAa1X_dDbQDUQ51mfVPW5qXXFQ/pub" target="_blank">data citation</a> with Bonnie Carroll (Iia), Brian Hole (Ubiquity Press), Paul Uhlir (NAS) and Jan Brase (DataCite) and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ovbpiu_icJ1NPYdecfdyB3Ijn37dvnH5GuHhnCU2Cd8/pub" target="_blank">international data</a> sharing with Chaitanya Baru (NSF), Rama Hampapuram (NASA) and Ross Wilkinson (ANDS). We also participated in a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/11HqJnzVMe05FAengsbxmTJ1gWtEi9u7ZnX0E5nii2rA/pub" target="_blank">daily roundup of the state of data sharing</a> as presented at the conference organized by Elizabeth Griffin (CNRC).</p>
<p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6SHzCISizIfN0ZHZ1lvYWVnRUU/view"><img src="media/89edb3a8.sneha.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/sneha.jpg" alt="sneha" width="300" height="225" align="left" style="margin-right: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em" /></a> SciDataCon, which used to be called CODATA, is held every two years, and is an important showcase of open science around the world. It is an important gathering for it brings together many scientists from the global south. A lot remains to be done to make real-time, pervasive data sharing and reuse a reality in much of the world, but there are heartening signs. At a national level, India&#8217;s <a href="http://data.gov.in" target="_blank">data portal</a> holds promise, but making data licensing information more explicit and data easily searchable by license would make it more useful. <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yq-mZ9IMrLSOhpaCtoQibo5fWuk8f7K22G2Aa_38AWM/pub" target="_blank">Citizen science projects</a> in the Netherlands, India and Taiwan demonstrated how crowds can be involved in experiments while ensuring the user-generated content is made available for reuse, and SNEHA&#8217;s work on <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6SHzCISizIfN0ZHZ1lvYWVnRUU/view" target="_blank">understanding perspectives on data sharing for public health research</a> was particularly insightful of the value of listening to the feedback from participants.</p>
<p>We look forward to continue working with CODATA and WDS promoting and supporting open science and data initiatives around the world, and particularly in the global south, and hope for more success stories in the next SciDataCon.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44351
title: State of the Commons
uri: State-of-the-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44351
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #2a97b0;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email3a&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/a30a4914.sotc-email.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/sotc-email.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; font-family: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 14pt; ">
<p>Today, we&#8217;re releasing a new report that we think you will want to see. <a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email3a&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #2a97b0; "><strong>State of the Commons</strong></a> covers the impact and success of free and open content worldwide, and it contains the most revealing account we&#8217;ve ever published, including new data on what&#8217;s shared with a CC license.</p>
</p>
<p>We found nearly 900 million Creative Commons-licensed works, dramatically up from our last report of 400 million in 2010. Creators are now choosing less restrictive CC licenses more than ever before &mdash; over half allow both commercial use and adaptations.</p>
</p>
<p>We&#8217;re also celebrating the success of open policy worldwide. Fourteen countries have now adopted national open education policies, and open textbooks have saved students more than 100 million dollars. These are big moves making big impacts.</p>
</p>
<p>Please help us spread the word about this groundbreaking report.</p>
<p>If Creative Commons plays a role in how you use the internet or share your work, <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email3a&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #2a97b0; "><strong>please consider making a gift to support the organization</strong></a>. Creative Commons licenses will always be free, but they would not exist without your generous support.</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email3a&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/df3466b6.heart-email-teal.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/heart-email-teal.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44365
title: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to require CC BY for all grant-funded research
uri: 2014-11-21-
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44365
content:
<p>Philanthropic foundations fund the creation of scholarly research, education and training materials, and rich data with the public good in mind. Creative Commons has long advocated for foundations to add open license requirements to their grants. Releasing grant-funded content under permissive open licenses means that materials may be more easily shared and re-used by the public, and combined with other resources that are also published under open licenses.</p>
<p>Yesterday the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation <a href="http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2014/11/Knowledge-is-Power">announced</a> it is adopting an open access policy for grant-funded research. The policy “enables the unrestricted access and reuse of all peer-reviewed published research funded, in whole or in part, by the foundation, including any underlying data sets.” Grant funded research and data must be published under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license</a> (CC BY). The policy applies to all foundation program areas and takes effect January 1, 2015.</p>
<p>Here are more details from the Foundation’s <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/General-Information/Open-Access-Policy">Open Access Policy</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Publications Are Discoverable and Accessible Online</strong>. Publications will be deposited in a specified repository(s) with proper tagging of metadata.</li>
<li><strong>Publication Will Be On “Open Access” Terms</strong>. All publications shall be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC BY 4.0) or an equivalent license. This will permit all users of the publication to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and transform and build upon the material, including for any purpose (including commercial) without further permission or fees being required.</li>
<li><strong>Foundation Will Pay Necessary Fees</strong>. The foundation would pay reasonable fees required by a publisher to effect publication on these terms.</li>
<li><strong>Publications Will Be Accessible and Open Immediately</strong>. All publications shall be available immediately upon their publication, without any embargo period. An embargo period is the period during which the publisher will require a subscription or the payment of a fee to gain access to the publication. We are, however, providing a transition period of up to two years from the effective date of the policy (or until January 1, 2017). During the transition period, the foundation will allow publications in journals that provide up to a 12-month embargo period.</li>
<li><strong>Data Underlying Published Research Results Will Be Accessible and Open Immediately</strong>. The foundation will require that data underlying the published research results be immediately accessible and open. This too is subject to the transition period and a 12-month embargo may be applied.</li>
</ol>
<p>Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health at the foundation, <a href="http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2014/11/Knowledge-is-Power">said</a> that Gates “put[s] a high priority not only on the research necessary to deliver the next important drug or vaccine, but also on the collection and sharing of data so other scientists and health experts can benefit from this knowledge.”</p>
<p>Congratulations to the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation on adopting a default open licensing policy for its grant-funded research. This terrific announcement <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43768">follows a similar move</a> by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, who recently extended their CC BY licensing policy from the Open Educational Resources grants to now apply foundation-wide for all project-based grant funds.</p>
<p>Regarding deposit and sharing of data, the Gates Foundation might consider permitting grantees to utilize the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a>, which allows authors to dedicate data to the public domain by waiving all rights to the data worldwide under copyright law. CC0 is <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_use_for_data">widely used</a> to provide barrier-free re-use to data.</p>
<p>We’ve updated the information we’ve been tracking on <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Foundation_IP_Policy">foundation intellectual property policies</a> to reflect the new agreement from Gates, and continue to urge other philanthropic foundations to adopt open policies for grant-funded research and projects.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44407
title: The best community we could ask for
uri: The-best-community-we-could-ask-for
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44407
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #4A5B6E;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email4a&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/bfad991b.4.0email.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/4.0email.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; font-family: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 14pt; ">
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email4a&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4A5B6E; "><strong>The best community we could ask for</strong></a></p>
<p>November 25, 2013, was a day we had looked forward to for years&#160;&#8212; the official launch date of Version 4.0 of the Creative Commons licenses. But despite months of planning, something unexpected started to happen just after we hit publish: our website started to fail.</p>
</p>
<p>We spent the next 12 hours working to fix the current setup while simultaneously moving our website to higher-performance servers. That situation was maddening: for a few hours, half of the world could see the new 4.0 licenses, and half couldn&#8217;t.  Finding a fix was our highest priority. All hands were on deck to ensure we delivered on our promise of providing stable, trustworthy infrastructure for our licenses.</p>
</p>
<p>And deliver we did. By the morning of the 26<sup><small>th</small></sup>, the entire world awoke to a new set of CC licenses&#160;&#8212; licenses that reflect two years of work by some of the best minds in copyright law on the planet.</p>
</p>
<p>I&#8217;m telling you about the site outage for two reasons. First, it shows us for what we are: a very small organization with extremely limited resources. CC licenses will always be free, but maintaining them isn&#8217;t. Whether it&#8217;s tech infrastructure, adoption support, or helping users understand the licenses, our stewardship responsibilities are ongoing, in demand, and require resources.</p>
</p>
<p>Second, and more importantly, it says a lot about <em>you</em>. A lot of you were up all night with us. The people who could see the new licenses were excitedly sharing details with those of you who couldn&#8217;t, and asking us how they could help. I remember laughing to myself, &#8220;How many site outages get <em>live-blogged</em>?&#8221; Basically, you&#8217;re the best community we could ask for.</p>
</p>
<p>If you can, <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email4a&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4A5B6E; ">please consider making a gift to help carry Creative Commons into 2015</a>.  Together, we built state-of-the-art licenses that we&#8217;ll all be using for the next decade. But there&#8217;s a lot more work to do, for all of us.</p>
</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing with us in this dream of a world where knowledge and culture are more accessible to everyone. We&#8217;ll never stop fighting for that world, even if it means pulling a few all-nighters.</p>
</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=email4a&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/93acdea6.cc-heart-darkgrey.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cc-heart-darkgrey.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=44305
title: K-12 OER Collaborative launches RFP for math and English
uri: K-12-OER-Collaborative-launches-RFP-for-math-and-English
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44305
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="//www.flickr.com/photos/aaronescobar/3216290796/"><img src="media/3d4c7bf6.3216290796_18f53fb0fa_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3523/3216290796_18f53fb0fa_z.jpg" alt="Math, Math, Math, math, mathh....maaah....." width="640" height="427" /></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronescobar/3216290796/"><br />
<small></small></a><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronescobar/3216290796/">Math, Math, Math, math, mathh&#8230;.maaah&#8230;..</a> / Aaron Escobar / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="xh:license license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>The newly founded <a href="http://k12oercollaborative.org/">K-12 OER Collaborative</a> has released an RFP for the creation of open educational resources (OER) in mathematics and English language arts and literacy. As all content developed under this RFP will be openly licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>, U.S. states, territories and school districts (and anyone else in the world) may freely reuse, revise, remix, redistribute and retain these educational resources.</p>
<p>Forty-three US States + Washington DC + Guam + American Samoan Islands + US Virgin Islands + Northern Mariana Islands (<a href="http://www.corestandards.org/standards-in-your-state/">map</a>) have adopted the <a title="Common Core State Standards" href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core State Standards (CCSS)</a>&#8230; and they all need current, high quality, affordable, CCSS-aligned educational resources for their students, teachers, parents and districts.</p>
<p>Will these US States and territories have the public funds necessary to update educational resources (including textbooks) for these two subjects?</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://publishers.org/schoolfundingfacts">Association of American Publishers</a> school districts across the U.S. spend over $8 billion on instructional materials every year. Textbooks quickly fall into disrepair, students are not allowed to write in or keep their books as they graduate each grade, and teachers are not legally and technically empowered to update outdated educational resources. In addition, much of this spending is on costly, yearly subscription fees for digital content which school districts merely lease (not own).</p>
<p>This aggregate demand represented by the nationwide need for new CCSS-aligned educational materials creates a unique opportunity for states to acquire higher quality, more effective content in a smarter, far less expensive, and far more flexible manner, and make these resources available to teachers, parents and districts. Specifically, states and districts can transition from expensive and rigidly controlled materials to OER.</p>
<p>The RFP specifically seeks complete courses for the following grades and subjects:</p>
<ul>
<li>K–2 English Language Arts/Literacy</li>
<li>3–5 English Language Arts/Literacy</li>
<li>6–8 English Language Arts/Literacy</li>
<li>9–12 English Language Arts/Literacy</li>
<li>K–5 Mathematics</li>
<li>6–8 Mathematics</li>
<li>9–12 Mathematics — Integrated/International Pathway (Secondary Mathematics I, II, III)</li>
<li>9–12 Mathematics — Traditional Pathway (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2)</li>
</ul>
<p>Courses will be designed to meet Common Core State Standards, accessibility standards, technical specifications, and an open licensing requirement of <a title="CC BY 4.0" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a> on all new content produced. For details on the development process, see the <a href="http://k12oercollaborative.org/rfp/">complete RFP</a>.</p>
<p>An informational webinar will take place next week on <strong>December 3, 2014 at 10:00 AM PST</strong> for those interested. RSVP at <a href="http://k12oercollaborative.org/rfp/webinar/">http://k12oercollaborative.org/rfp/webinar/</a>.</p>
<p>The deadline for an initial Letter of Intent is <strong>January 9, 2015 by 5:00 PM PST</strong>.</p>
<h3>About the K-12 OER Collaborative</h3>
<p>The K-12 OER Collaborative is a coalition of eleven U.S. states and eight organizations, including Creative Commons. Together we are working to make quality K-12 educational resources aligned to state standards and accessible under the most open Creative Commons license, CC BY, so that we can drive down the cost of K-12 education for everyone. Learn more about the collaborative at <a href="http://k12oercollaborative.org/">http://k12oercollaborative.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44443
title: CC goes to #Mozfest 2014
uri: CC-goes-to-Mozfest-2014
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44443
content:
<p>Creative Commons staff, affiliates, and supporters were active participants and contributors at this year&#8217;s Mozilla Festival, which has become an annual rallying point for the Open Web and our shared values. Our sessions covered a wide range of issues, from new technology, to open education and science, to working as an open organization. Thanks to Mozilla for inviting us. We’re already looking forward to next year&#8217;s event.</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mozfest.jpg"><img src="media/377a5156.mozfest.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mozfest.jpg" alt="mozfest" /><br /><small><a href=""><span property="dc:title"></span></a><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christosbacharakis/15479480640/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Christos Bacharakis</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<h3 id="tools">CC makes tools for makers</h3>
<p><small>by Matt Lee and Ryan Merkley</small></p>
<p>In <a href="http://schedule.mozillafestival.org/#session/-1iUvBNy8B">CC makes tools for makers</a>, CC’s Ryan Merkley and Matt Lee joined Mozilla dev Ali Al Dallal to talk about tools and technology solutions that could enhance the reach and value of CC-licensed works. CC shared some early screens for <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Hackspace#The_List">The List</a>, a new mobile app that allows anyone to create and share a list of wanted images, and allows users to respond by taking pictures and sharing them in a global archive, all licensed <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>. CC also shared <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Hackspace#CC_Search">CC Search</a>, which will aggregate results from publicly-facing search APIs of openly licensed works. Ali demoed a prototype of MakeDrive, which will allow a user to search for a CC image, then grab it into their own local synced storage. </p>
<p>Participants broke into smaller groups to discuss challenges and opportunities, and identified solutions that were shared back with the group. Issues ranged from UX and usability needs to opportunities for monetization. Everyone was encouraged to join The List mailing list at <a href="http://creativecommons.org/thelist">creativecommons.org/thelist</a> for updates, and to head to <a href="http://hackspace.cc/">hackspace.cc</a> to join the development process and contribute.</p>
<h3 id="portrait">Portrait of a Creative Commons Artist</h3>
<p><small>by Jane Park</small></p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mozfest2.jpg"><img src="media/2b435daf.mozfest2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mozfest2.jpg" alt="mozfest2014" /><br /><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neon_lobster/15047104713/"><span property="dc:title">#ARTOFWEB</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Kat B</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>In <a href="http://schedule.mozillafestival.org/#session/Wkm3AtlOyS">Portrait of a Creative Commons Artist</a>, a group of musicians, filmmakers, museum curators, and arts education practitioners gathered to discuss the kinds of art being created in today&#8217;s digital landscape and how and why they share their artworks and the artworks of others. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the artists&#8217; motivations for sharing included no commercial goals. Motivations cited included wider distribution; to grow a community of like-minded artists; to elicit feedback or emotion; and result in new inferences and ways of thinking.</p>
<p>We also identified barriers to sharing in certain environments, such as child privacy in arts education and the time-consuming effort involved in cataloging artworks for museums. We addressed individual artists&#8217; hang-ups to sharing, such as fear of plagiarism and not being quite ready or confident in the quality of one&#8217;s art to open it up for public criticism. Lastly, we brainstormed potential solutions to overcoming these barriers and help artists feel more comfortable with sharing their works online under more liberal re-use terms, such as Creative Commons licenses. Such solutions included: a tool that could display a canonical representation of your work, including all derivatives made from the original; a better attribution prompt enabling artists to specify exactly how they want to be attributed; and a registry of artworks in the commons. Additional needs included improved interaction design with artworks online, consulting or advisement on how to share such networked art, and simplified best practices around sharing and attributing open artworks. Full agenda and notes from the session are <a href="https://festival.etherpad.mozilla.org/Wkm3AtlOyS">available</a>, in addition to Kevin&#8217;s coverage of the session in The Open Standard, &#8220;<a href="https://openstandard.mozilla.org/the-plight-of-the-open-source-artist/">The Plight of the Open-Source Artist</a>&#8221; &#8212; which is aptly licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a>.</p>
<p>This session affirmed and informed our intentions with several CC projects in development, such as a registry of CC-licensed works, a smart phone application that would make it easier for photo contributions to the commons (<a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Hackspace#The_List">The List</a>), and the <a href="http://wiki.freeculturetrust.org/">Free Culture Trust</a>, a coalition of organizations that would offer comprehensive services to artists wanting to donate their art to the commons. </p>
<h3 id="mapping">Mapping #SchoolofOpen and #TeachtheWeb to places</h3>
<p><small>by Jane Park</small></p>
<p>In <a href="http://schedule.mozillafestival.org/#session/bJFBRFxO1H">Mapping #SchoolofOpen and #TeachtheWeb to places</a>, community members from Creative Commons, School of Open, and Mozilla Webmaker came together to physically map their open web education programs, such as <a href="http://makerparty2014.makes.org/">Maker Party</a> and the recent <a href="http://creativecommons.org/tag/school-of-open-africa">School of Open Africa launch</a>. We &#8220;hacked&#8221; a map of the world by creating our own version of it, and most interestingly, Africa was front and center with the U.S. largely as an afterthought. After mapping, we self-organized into two streams: those leading open web education for adults and those leading open web education for kids and teens. After much discussion, we are now planning to better bridge our communities to increase our impact in several regions, including Africa, India, and the U.S. We will be creating a digital version of our Hack the Map activity, allowing others to add themselves virtually over time, and also planning a joint School of Open and Mozilla Webmaker event with our communities for 2015.</p>
<h3 id="openme">OpenMe &#8211; Kids can Open</h3>
<p><small>by Jane Park</small></p>
<p>In <a href="http://schedule.mozillafestival.org/#session/W1SBAFg_kB">OpenMe &#8211; Kids can Open</a>, a few of us from the CC, School of Open and National Writing Project communities gathered to discuss current efforts around CC and open web education for kids and strategies for replicating those efforts in other jurisdictions. Kelsey Wiens, CC South Africa public lead and School of Open program lead for <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/training-programs/#cc4kids">CC4Kids</a>, shared her experience with piloting CC4Kids in schools. Generally, starting with private schools resulted in more favorable results, in addition to partnering with existing organizations with strong ties to schools, such as Innovate South Africa’s Code4ct. We are now in conversation to pilot the CC4Kids model in the U.S. with the National Writing Project’s Educator/Innovator network. To start, we will be hosting a webinar as well as sharing a call to the network for after school pilot participants.</p>
<h3 id="walking">Walking the talk &#8211; How to work open</h3>
<p><small>by Jane Park</small></p>
<p>In <a href="http://schedule.mozillafestival.org/#session/WyElRIluyS">Walking the talk &#8211; How to work open</a>, CC facilitated the strand on Partnerships and collaboration, or how to better work together as open organizations with overlapping missions and projects. How do we not reinvent the wheel and collectively have greater impact? Part of the solution lies in better communications and transparent organizational practices, but how do we translate these needs into an action item? We brainstormed several &#8220;best case scenarios&#8221; and in the end came up with a strong list of concrete solutions, with an Annual Capacity Building Conference for open organizations at the top of the list. Such a conference would focus specifically on knowledge sharing for the purpose of building capacity within and outside of our organizations to achieve our missions and realizing our vision for universal access to research and education and full participation in culture. Other ideas included:</p>
<ul>
<li>A Natural Language Processing tool that links cross-organizational communications in different languages in one hub</li>
<li>Culture training for organizations that encourages failure and knowledge sharing, versus an environment where keeping information secret results in a competitive edge</li>
<li>Working groups of ambassadors in each city to represent all open organizations in that city (and that would work to bring in new organizations seeking representation) </li>
<li>A Task Rabbit-like platform for open organizations that would match organizations needing capacity in a certain area with an organization that could provide it</li>
</ul>
<p>Complete notes from the session are <a href="https://festival.etherpad.mozilla.org/WyElRIluyS">available</a>, in addition to results from the <a href="http://linkli.st/MozFestCB">Community Building track</a> of which this session was a part. The wranglers for the track are now working on a community building toolkit and will be rallying all organizational representatives in the next few months to make one of the above ideas into a reality. We vote for the Annual Capacity Building Conference of open orgs!</p>
<h3 id="skills">Skills Mapping for Open Science</h3>
<p><small>by Billy Meinke</small></p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mozfestscience.jpg"><img src="media/992e0baa.mozfestscience.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/mozfestscience.jpg" alt="mozfest science" /><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/15106864024/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Billy Meinke</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>In the <a href="http://schedule.mozillafestival.org/#session/Zyq3TUg_1H"> Skills and Curriculum Mapping for Open Science</a> session, facilitators and participants on Mozilla Science Lab&#8217;s &#8220;Science on the Web&#8221; track came together to build a map linking together the many nouns and verbs that describe interactions between people and scientific research, all of which are connected the Commons. An underlying focus of the session was to identify the ways scientists and citizens interact with outputs of research including content, data and code.</p>
<p>Taking a simplified approach to mapping these nodes will lend to the ability of others to expand on the map, and to translate the nodes into learning objectives that can be included in education and training programs around open and reproducible science. Over the two days of the festival, we facilitated the mapping of outputs and interaction types, aiming to capture key statements that describe the way scientific artifacts are created, reused/remixed, and shared. We welcomed scientists and non-scientists alike to stop by and critique the map as it was constructed, and to add nodes or connections where they felt something was missing. Did you ever once produce a dataset for your research blog? Then you&#8217;ve created data! Have you ever downloaded an Open Access research paper? If you have, then you&#8217;ve reused content! Have you ever uploaded a script to Github? Then you&#8217;ve shared code! It&#8217;s easy to drop most interactions people have with science into these buckets once we take a step back, and simplify the statements around what we do with scientific content and code in the Commons.</p>
<p>To allow others to build on the skills mapping done at Mozfest this year, a digital version of the map has been <a href="https://github.com/kubke/MozFest2014-OS-Skills-Curriculum">uploaded to  Github </a>, and is open for anyone to revise, tweak, and add to as they wish. Plans to expand this work include a full build out of high-level learning objectives, and alignment to existing Open Educational Resources in science training programs. A number of universities have expressed interest in piloting an undergraduate or graduate-level course on open and reproducible science, and the idea is that this map will be useful when developing such a course, revealing how and where skills learned in such a course apply to the way we work with content and code in the Commons.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=43939
title: German appellate court upholds common-sense attribution
uri: German-appellate-court-upholds-common-sense-attribution
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43939
content:
<p>All six Creative Commons licenses require licensees to attribute the original creator. Although we provide <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Best_practices_for_attribution">guidelines for attributing a work</a>, we also recognize that standards for how and where licensees should provide attribution vary a lot from medium to medium. That&#8217;s why CC licenses allow licensees to fulfill the attribution requirement &#8220;&#8230;In any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Share the Licensed Material.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://de.creativecommons.org/2014/02/27/stellungnahme-zu-moeglichen-auswirkungen-der-pixelio-entscheidung/">A recent court case in Germany</a> has raised questions among some CC license users about what qualifies as reasonable attribution. Must websites that use openly licensed images make the attribution information visible at all times, even in a gallery of image thumbnails? And what about when a visitor accesses an image directly, via the &#8220;View Image&#8221; feature in her web browser? Must attribution information be visible then too?</p>
<p>Fortunately, we believe that common sense has won out in a recent appellate ruling.</p>
<p style="text-align:center; " xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/locusresearch/8593109345/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/locusresearch/8593109345/"><img src="media/55d66d65.viewimage.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/viewimage.png" alt="View Image example" width="500" height="411" border=0 /></a><br /><small>Does &#8220;View Image&#8221; violate CC licenses? / <a href="/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a><br />Source photo: </small><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/locusresearch/8593109345/"><span property="dc:title">Bethlehem College Preso</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Locus Research</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a> (<a href="/weblog/entry/43758">context</a>)</small></p>
<p>The dispute, which first went to court in February, involves the terms of use of a stock photo site. Although the case did not directly involve Creative Commons licenses, the licensing terms in question were quite similar to the wording of CC licenses’ attribution requirement. Like CC licenses, they required attribution appropriate to the medium in which the photos are used.</p>
<p>The defendant had diligently attributed the rightsholder on the page where they used the picture, but the website also had a dynamically generated &#8220;overview&#8221; gallery showing preview thumbnails of pictures and the site didn&#8217;t restrict users from downloading the images via &#8220;View Image.&#8221; When a visitor viewed an image in these two ways, attribution information was not visible.</p>
<p>The trial court ruled that the preview thumbnails (which did not include attribution information) were acceptable as they were under the two rulings of the German Federal Supreme Court on preview pictures. Regarding the direct viewing via &#8220;View Image&#8221;, the court ruled that this was not covered by the thumbnail rulings, and interpreted the terms of service of the stock photo site to require attribution no matter how the picture is viewed. The judges said that the name of the rightsholder would in case of &#8220;View Image&#8221; need to either be integrated into the picture itself (i.e. as an additional part of the graphic) or be part of the URL of the picture.</p>
<p>The stock photo provider, which was not a party to the case, provided a statement on behalf of the defendant, saying that their terms of service were not intended to require that the name of the author (also) be part of the URL. Nonetheless, the court ruled otherwise. The main argument advanced was that &#8220;appropriate to the medium&#8221; only applied to <em>how</em> attribution was to be given, not to <em>whether it would be given</em>, and as the picture could be viewed separately, attribution was also required in that view no matter how complicated its implementation would be.</p>
<p>After the decision became public, a debate started amongst bloggers and others who regularly use CC-licensed pictures, many of whom worried whether the court&#8217;s strict interpretation of the attribution requirement would also be relevant to how the BY condition of CC licenses is interpreted, at least under German copyright law. It was obvious that almost none of the CC-licensed pictures used on the net are attributed in the graphic itself or in the URL, and that it would be virtually impossible to move attribution to such a standard across the net.</p>
<p>On appeal, the higher district court in Cologne indicated in an oral hearing in August that they did not intend to follow the original decision. Firstly, in their view, the terms of service are very strictly against editing/adaptations of the pictures taken from the site, which speaks against the obligation (or even the right of users) to insert attribution information into the graphics. This would constitute an impermissible edit. Secondly, they interpret &#8220;appropriate to the medium&#8221; to not only cover how attribution is given, <em>but also to cover whether/when attribution is necessary</em>. The court regards the &#8220;View Image&#8221; function as a mere technological side-feature of how the web works and not a separate type of use that requires separate approval by the rightsholder. The latter in effect means that this function doesn&#8217;t trigger separate obligations on the user&#8217;s part, beyond the ones triggered by the use of the picture in the regular browser view. The plaintiffs subsequently took back their claims. Users of pictures that are available under standard terms can relax again to some extent regarding the practicalities of attribution.</p>
<p>While it’s limited to Germany in its legal applicability, this ruling demonstrates how flexible attribution requirements can be well understood by all parties and adapt well to changing technology. The ways that we share content on the web are changing all the time, but if you approach CC licenses with a reasonable, logical approach to attribution, misunderstandings will be few and far between.</p>
<p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="http://de.creativecommons.org/2014/02/27/stellungnahme-zu-moeglichen-auswirkungen-der-pixelio-entscheidung/">Stellungnahme zu möglichen Auswirkungen der Pixelio-Entscheidung</a> (auf Deutsch)</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44502
title: #SharingEveryday
uri: SharingEveryday
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44502
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #990033;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog5&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/10d428f0.giftbox_email5a.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/giftbox_email5a.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; font-family: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 14pt; ">
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog5&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #990033; "><strong>#SharingEveryday</strong></a></p>
<p>December marks the time of year when many of us start thinking about making year-end gifts to our favorite charities, and #GivingTuesday has become one of the most popular days for donating.</p>
</p>
<p>As you&#8217;re thinking about which organizations you&#8217;ll support this year, we hope you&#8217;ll think about how Creative Commons affects your life (and the lives of millions around the world).</p>
</p>
<p>Our core values are rooted in helping people to share their ideas, art, research, and culture with the rest of the world. That sharing can really add up too. Our recent <a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog5&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #990033; ">State of the Commons report</a> (translated by volunteers into 12 languages and counting) found that textbooks shared with open licenses have saved students more than $100 million.</p>
</p>
<p>CC is a small organization, but we still need resources to educate policy makers, support online sharing platforms, promote the benefits of open licenses, and grow our community. So, if you are in a giving mood on #GivingTuesday, <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog5&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #990033; ">consider a gift that supports #SharingEveryday!</a></p>
</p>
<p>With thanks,<br />Heidi</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog5&#038;utm_medium=web" ><img src="media/0f54cb7c.cc-heart-maroon.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/cc-heart-maroon.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p><small>Banner image: gift box icon by <a href="http://thenounproject.com/term/gift/62877/" style="color: #990033; ">Pham Thi Dieu Linh</a> licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/" style="color: #990033; ">CC BY 3.0 license</a> / snowflake icon by <a href="http://thenounproject.com/term/snowflake/3777/" style="color: #990033; ">Paulo Volkova</a> placed in the public domain</small></p>
<p>&#160;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44515
title: Internet Censorship Editathon in San Francisco
uri: Internet-Censorship-Editathon-in-San-Francisco
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44515
content:
<p>Join us in San Francisco on December 14 for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco/Internet_Censorship">Wikipedia Editathon on interent censorship</a>. If you&#8217;ve never edited a Wikipedia article, don&#8217;t worry! There will be experts there to help you through the process.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco/Internet_Censorship">From the announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Join volunteers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, and the Bay Area Wikipedia community to write and edit about human rights and free speech online. We will improve, create, and update Wikipedia articles related to global internet censorship. People regularly turn to Wikipedia to get a basic overview of internet censorship, so it&#8217;s crucial that we ensure Wikipedia’s coverage is up-to-date and accurate. Internet censorship means that users across the world aren&#8217;t always using the same Internet, cannot access the same websites, or can&#8217;t contribute to or read the same Wikipedia articles. Speech-chilling government surveillance, blocking, and filtering are all methods of censorship, and they are globally ubiquitous. Internet censorship impacts users everywhere, because fewer people are able to upload or contribute to the Internet or access information online.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>In addition to improving articles on Internet Censorship as a broad topic, we will focus on improving and updating key articles about internet censorship for individual countries, and if possible, ensure the content is also available in their local language.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Please join us in person or online to help improve the public conversation on Internet Censorship. All levels of Wikipedia-editing experience are welcome!</p></blockquote>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44527
title: Lessig to speak in San Francisco
uri: Lessig-to-speak-in-San-Francisco
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44527
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/2235721396/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/2235721396/"><img src="media/be2a6ee8.2235721396_c6f761f416.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2324/2235721396_c6f761f416.jpg" alt="Lawrence Lessig" width="500" height="336" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/2235721396/"><span property="dc:title">Lawrence Lessig</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Joi Ito</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/lectures/history-current-affairs/lawrence-lessig/">CC co-founder Lawrence Lessig will speak on January 8</a> at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. JCCSF has provided CC with a special discount code to share with our community.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/lectures/history-current-affairs/lawrence-lessig/">From the announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Harvard Law Professor and legal activist Lawrence Lessig (<em>Republic, Lost) believes he&#8217;s found a way to mitigate the corrosive effect of big money on elections. He discusses Mayday PAC, his own crowd-funded Super PAC, launched in order to elect a Congress committed to fundamentally reforming the way campaigns are financed.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>If you use the code <strong>DEMOCRACY</strong>, you can pay $10 for standard or $15 for premium tickets.</p>
<p><em>Edited December 11. We&#8217;d previously reported the incorrect date for this event.</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44531
title: Free Bassel
uri: Free-Bassel
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44531
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/"><img src="media/90059f07.4670781482_d072301ef0.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4018/4670781482_d072301ef0.jpg" alt="Bassel" width="500" height="333" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/"><span property="dc:title">Bassel</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Joi Ito</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></a></p>
<p>As of today, Creative Commons Syria lead Bassel Khartabil has been in prison for 1000 days. Today, we take a moment to honor Bassel and his contributions to Creative Commons. <a href="http://freebassel.org/">And we stand with our peers in the free software and free culture communities in demanding that he be freed</a>.</p>
<p>Before Bassel was imprisoned, he worked hard to build digital literacy in Syria. Not only did he play a central role in Syria&#8217;s CC community; he was also active in Wikimedia, Openclipart, and numerous other free culture projects. <a href="http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324669104578204300433143478">As Lawrence Lessig wrote</a>, &#8220;Mr. Khartabil isn&#8217;t a partisan, aligned with one Syrian faction against another. He represents a future, aligned against a totalitarian past.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bassel&#8217;s imprisonment is also a reminder that our fight is real. For those of us that work in relative safety, it can sometimes be easy to forget that a free and open internet is not a theoretical matter. Real lives are at risk.</p>
<p>Visit <a href="http://freebassel.org/">freebassel.org</a> for more information on Bassel and how you can get involved. If you&#8217;re in San Francisco, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1517016571909506">visit Noisebridge this evening for a Free Bassel letter-writing event</a>.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iCryvkgBUfo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>More information:</strong> <a href="http://free-syrian-voices.org/bassel-khartabil/">Bassel Khartabil profile</a> (Free Syrian Voices)</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44538
title: Team Open: Stories of how we use Creative Commons
uri: Team-Open-Stories-of-how-we-use-Creative-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44538
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://teamopen.cc/"><img src="media/c692adda.teamopen-all-tc.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/teamopen-all-tc.png" width=600 height=315 /></a></p>
<p>A few weeks ago, <a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/">we published a report</a> showing that there are nearly a billion Creative Commons&#8211;licensed works. That&#8217;s an impressive number, but it only hints at how powerful and widespread CC licenses have become.</p>
<p>The real story of Creative Commons is the story of the people who use CC licenses. It&#8217;s the story of people who use CC licenses to make information, education, and data more public and accessible. Creators who have built real careers on free and open content. Policymakers working to make open the rule, not the exception. If you&#8217;re reading this, the story of CC is your story.</p>
<p>Today, we&#8217;re proud to present Series Two of <a href="http://teamopen.cc/?utm_campaign=teamopen2014&#038;utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=web">Team Open</a>, our ongoing project to tell the stories of people who use Creative Commons. In Series Two, you&#8217;ll meet <a href="http://teamopen.cc/kellee/?utm_campaign=teamopen2014&#038;utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=web">a musician who used Creative Commons licensing to score a sponsorship deal with Toyota</a>, <a href="http://teamopen.cc/simon/?utm_campaign=teamopen2014&#038;utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=web">a filmmaker who convinced his funders to give his film away</a>, <a href="http://teamopen.cc/david/?utm_campaign=teamopen2014&#038;utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=web">a professor who saved students a million dollars</a>, and <a href="http://teamopen.cc/max/?utm_campaign=teamopen2014&#038;utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=web">one of the minds behind the best-selling game on Amazon</a>.</p>
<p>When you use a CC-licensed photo in a presentation or share your latest song under CC, you&#8217;re a part of the story of CC’s impact in the world. We&#8217;re proud to share in this amazing journey with you.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re proud to be on Team Open, <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blogto&#038;utm_medium=web">please consider making a donation to help carry Creative Commons into 2015</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44544
title: 48 Civil Society Groups Demand Public Release of TPP Agreement Text
uri: 48-Civil-Society-Groups-Demand-Public-Release-of-TPP-Agreement-Text
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44544
content:
<p>Today Creative Commons and 47 civil society organizations and academics released a letter (<a href="media/b3d0439a.Tpp_transparencyletter_12-2014-fnl.pdf" data-original-source="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/e/e8/Tpp_transparencyletter_12-2014-fnl.pdf">PDF</a>) calling on negotiators of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership">Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)</a> to publish the draft text of the agreement. Up until now the text of the TPP has been developed mostly in secret by the 12 negotiating countries. Wikileaks <a href="https://www.wikileaks.org/tpp-ip2/">published</a> a draft text of the chapter on intellectual property in October, revealing several provisions that would threaten access to and re-use of creative works, including an arrangement to allow countries to extend copyright terms by another 20 years. CC and other groups <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43256">wrote a letter</a> calling for that proposal to be rescinded.</p>
<p>Today’s call for increased accountability into the process and substance of the TPP agreement follows on the heels of the <a href="http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1205">European Commission’s announcement</a> for transparency into the negotiations over the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership">Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)</a>, a trade agreement being negotiated between the United States and the European Union.</p>
<p>The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) organized the letter from civil society organizations and experts. They <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/12/48-civil-society-groups-and-experts-call-tpp-negotiators-follow-eus-lead-and">said</a>, “As TPP seems to arrive at its final stage, this is a prime moment for trade ministers to stop the secrecy and re-commit themselves to democratic principles of transparency and public participation in rule making.”</p>
<p>We couldn’t agree more.</p>
<p>The text of the letter (<a href="media/b3d0439a.Tpp_transparencyletter_12-2014-fnl.pdf" data-original-source="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/e/e8/Tpp_transparencyletter_12-2014-fnl.pdf">PDF</a>) is below.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;</p>
<p><em>Dear TPP Ministers and Heads of Delegation,</em></p>
<p><em>Ever since talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) began over five years ago, there have been broad public calls on leaders to make negotiations more transparent and open to the public. In statements, in letters, and in face-to-face meetings with trade representatives, we have urged the adoption of concrete practices that would better enable the kind of open debate and oversight that would help demystify these ongoing negotiations by making better, more accurate information available to the public.</em></p>
<p><em>The European Commission has recently taken leadership on this issue in the parallel context of negotiations over a Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), recommending on 25 November 2014 that the EU&#8217;s TTIP text proposals henceforth be released to the public, and that other information related to TTIP be shared more broadly with all Members of the European Parliament, beyond the currently limited membership of the International Trade Committee.</em></p>
<p><em>The end of TPP negotiations now seems to be coming into focus. They have come down to high-level political decisions by negotiating countries, and the text is largely completed except for some resolutions on remaining landing zones. At this point, we know that there is a draft of the TPP that is mostly agreed upon by those negotiating the deal.</em></p>
<p><em>Today, we strongly urge you to release the unbracketed text and to release the negotiating positions for text that is bracketed, now and going forwards as any future proposals are made. The public has a legitimate interest in knowing what has already been decided on its behalf, and what is now at stake with our various countries&#8217; positions on these controversial regulatory issues.</em></p>
<p><em>We call on you to consider the recent announcement from the European Commission as a welcome precedent to follow, thereby re-affirming your commitment to fundamental principles of transparency and public participation in rule making. The negotiations in Washington DC this week would provide the perfect opportunity for such a ground-breaking accord to be announced.</em></p>
<p><em>Sincerely,</em></p>
<p><em><b>International:</b></em><br />
<em>Article 19</em><br />
<em>Creative Commons</em><br />
<em>Consumers International</em><br />
<em>Oxfam International</em><br />
<em>SumOfUs</em></p>
<p><em><b>Australia:</b></em><br />
<em>Australian Digital Alliance</em><br />
<em>Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET)</em><br />
<em>Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)</em><br />
<em>Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (ALCC)</em><br />
<em>Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA)</em><br />
<em>Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA)</em></p>
<p><em><b>Canada:</b></em><br />
<em>Council of Canadians</em><br />
<em>Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (Réseau juridique canadien VIH/sida)</em><br />
<em>OpenMedia International</em></p>
<p><em><b>Chile:</b></em><br />
<em>ONG Derechos Digitales</em><br />
<em>Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios de Chile (ODECU)</em></p>
<p><em><b>Japan:</b></em><br />
<em>Movements of the Internet Active Users (MIAU)</em><br />
<em>Creative Commons Japan</em><br />
<em>thinkC</em></p>
<p><em><b>New Zealand:</b></em><br />
<em>Consumer NZ</em><br />
<em>Its Our Future NZ</em></p>
<p><em><b>Malaysia:</b></em><br />
<em>Blindspot</em><br />
<em>EcoKnights</em><br />
<em>Malaysian AIDS Council</em><br />
<em>Positive Malaysian Treatment Access &amp; Advocacy Group (MTAAG+)</em></p>
<p><em><b>Mexico, Chile, Peru:</b></em><br />
<em>International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC-LATCA) (Regional Office for</em><br />
<em>Latin American and Carribean Networks)</em><br />
<em>Alianza LAC &#8211; Global por el Acceso a Medicamentos</em></p>
<p><em><b>Peru:</b></em><br />
<em>Hiperderecho</em><br />
<em>Peruvian Association of Consumers and Users (ASPEC)</em><br />
<em>Acción Internacional para la Salud (AIS)</em></p>
<p><em><b>USA:</b></em><br />
<em>Action on Smoking and Health</em><br />
<em>American Library Association</em><br />
<em>Electronic Frontier Foundation</em><br />
<em>Fight For the Future</em><br />
<em>Food &amp; Water Watch</em><br />
<em>Government Accountability Project</em><br />
<em>Health GAP</em><br />
<em>Just Foreign Policy</em><br />
<em>Knowledge Ecology International</em><br />
<em>National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices</em><br />
<em>Public Knowledge</em><br />
<em>Sunlight Foundation</em><br />
<em>Association of Research Libraries</em></p>
<p><em><b>Academics:</b></em><br />
<em>Gabriel J. Michael, Yale Law School</em><br />
<em>Pam Samuelson, Berkeley Law School</em><br />
<em>Susan Sell, George Washington University</em><br />
<em>Sean Flynn, American University</em><br />
<em>David Levine, Princeton University</em></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44550
title: Are you on #teamopen?
uri: Are-you-on-teamopen
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44550
content:
<p><em>Stay up-to-date with CC by <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">subscribing to our newsletter</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/creativecommons">following us on Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p align="center"><small><a href="/weblog/entry/44538?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img src="media/493886c0.201412-teamopen-header.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/201412-teamopen-header.png" border=0 style="width: 100%; min-width: 300px; max-width: 600px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-radius: 25px; " /></a></small></p>
<p align="center"><strong><a href="/weblog/entry/44538?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Are you on #teamopen?</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="/weblog/entry/44538?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>We&#8217;re proud to present Series Two of Team Open</strong></a>, our ongoing project to tell the stories of people who use Creative Commons. In Series Two, you&#8217;ll meet a musician who used Creative Commons licensing to score a sponsorship deal with Toyota, a filmmaker who convinced his funders to give his film away, a professor who saved students a million dollars, and one of the minds behind the best-selling game on Amazon.</p>
<p>When you use a CC-licensed photo in a presentation or share your latest song under CC, you&#8217;re a part of the story of CC&#8217;s impact in the world. We&#8217;re proud to share in this amazing journey with you.</p>
<table cellpadding="10">
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="50%">
<p about="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/24/celebrating-open-government-around-globe" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/44544?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Redacted" height="160" src="media/551e554e.201412-redacted.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/201412-redacted.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/6555467573/" rel="cc:attributionURL">Redacted</a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">opensource.com</span><br /><a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a> (cropped)</small></p>
<p>We&#8217;ve learned disturbing details of of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement that could extend copyright terms 20 years. <a href="/weblog/entry/44544?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Join us in demanding that the agreement be made public</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="https://openmedia.org/DigitalFuture" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/44351?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="State of the Commons" height="160" src="media/bd52373f.201412-sotc.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/201412-sotc.png" width="250" /></a><br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</small></p>
<p>
Nearly 900 million CC-licensed works, and most of them under licenses that allow commercial use and adaptations. Check out our brand new <a href="/weblog/entry/44351?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>State of the Commons report</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="50%">
<p about="http://tumblr.unsplash.com/post/98554766494/by-casey-fyfe-http-ift-tt-1rat4ga" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/"><img alt="Creative Commons Thing of the Day" height="160" src="media/7696a0ad.201410-thing.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/201410-thing.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://tumblr.unsplash.com/post/98554766494/by-casey-fyfe-http-ift-tt-1rat4ga" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="cc:attributionName">Casey Fyfe</span></a> / <a href="/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" rel="license">CC0</a><br />&nbsp;</small></p>
<p>
Your daily awesome from the internet. <a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/"><strong>Start your morning with the Creative Commons Thing of the Day</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="50%">
<p about="/weblog/entry/43856?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/44407?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="CC 4.0" height="160" src="media/1f3f077d.201412-40.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/201412-40.png" width="250" /></a><br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</small></p>
<p>
Remember that time when <a href="/weblog/entry/44407?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>CC Version 4.0 broke the internet?</strong></a></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<ul>
<li>Yesterday, CC Syria lead Bassel Khartabil spent his 1000th day in prison. We stand with our peers in the free software and free culture communities in <a href="/weblog/entry/44531?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>demanding that he be freed</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li><a href="http://ccthing.tumblr.com/post/104764760336/parable-of-the-polygons-vi-hart-and-nicky-case"><strong>The Parable of the Polygons</strong></a> is a fascinating interactive essay on gentrification. It&#8217;s also in the public domain under CC0.</li>
<p></p>
<li>If you&#8217;re in San Francisco, <a href="/weblog/entry/44515?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>join us this weekend for a Wikipedia Editathon on internet censorship</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>A recent court case in Germany has raised some serious questions about the attribution requirement in CC licenses. Fortunately, <a href="/weblog/entry/43939?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>we believe that common sense has won out</strong></a> in the recent appellate ruling.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Amazing news. <a href="/weblog/entry/44365?utm_campaign=newsletter_1412&#038;utm_medium=web&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation now requires open licensing</strong></a> for all grant-funded research.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44566
title: Happy birthday, Creative Commons
uri: Happy-birthday-Creative-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44566
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #0066CC;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog6&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/ed6d3b32.lessig-email.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lessig-email.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; font-family: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 14pt; ">
<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog6&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #0066CC; "><strong>Help build the next era of sharing online.<br />Make a donation to Creative Commons.</strong></a></p>
<p>12 years ago today, we launched the first Creative Commons license suite.</p>
<p>The internet was changing the way people share, and changing what it meant to be a creator. But copyright law hadn&#8217;t caught up. The Net was making sharing easy; the law was making it hard.</p>
<p>We made a bet that many creators would stand between the extremes. That they would be inspired by the idea of &#8220;some rights reserved&#8221; and dedicate some of their rights to the commons.</p>
<p>One billion licensed works later, I think we were right.</p>
<p>Back then, it was a leap of faith. We just didn&#8217;t know. I certainly didn&#8217;t know that CC licenses would catalyze a global community in almost 80 countries, or that governments and foundations would take our values and embed them in official policies, dedicating funds to create freely available works. But that&#8217;s what CC has been helping to facilitate.</p>
<p>Today, Creative Commons is making another leap. We&#8217;re betting that if we can make it more seamless to share CC-licensed content between different web platforms, we can multiply CC&#8217;s impact exponentially. So this is what our tech team is building.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re also betting that by investing in a new generation of advocates for open, we can accelerate our policy wins to a worldwide tipping point.</p>
<p>CC licenses are having a real impact on people&#8217;s lives. They are helping reveal information used to treat diseases, to make governments more transparent and accountable, and to make education accessible for everyone, everywhere. That&#8217;s an incredible impact for a set of simple, free licenses.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog6&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #0066CC; "><strong>I hope you will consider making a donation today</strong></a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been inspired by many idealists. And I&#8217;ve had my heart broken more than a few times as I&#8217;ve rallied people together for change. But CC has proved that big change can happen, when it is supported by many, and often.</p>
<p>So please take a moment to think about the role that Creative Commons licenses play in your life and in our communities. CC licenses have transformed how the internet works, but we&#8217;re just getting started.</p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog6&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #0066CC; "><strong>Please consider making a gift to Creative Commons</strong></a>.</p>
<p>Sincerely,<br />Lessig</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog6&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/4bc623ca.heart-email-0066CC.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/heart-email-0066CC.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p>&#160;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44570
title: Brin Wojcicki Foundation doubles gifts to CC
uri: Brin-Wojcicki-Foundation-doubles-gifts-to-CC
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44570
content:
<div style="max-width: 600px; background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; border-radius: 50px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border:5px solid #3f3aa5;">
<div style="margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 25px; ">
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog7&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/c6e59060.ccnetwork-600.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ccnetwork-600.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
</div>
<div style="max-width: 450px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; font-family: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 14pt; ">
<p>We just received a wonderful gift for our 12th anniversary: the Brin Wojcicki Foundation is giving to CC <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog7&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #3f3aa5; "><strong>to match all of your donations from now until the end of the year!</strong></a></p>
<p>Every dollar you donate will now be doubled by funds from the Brin Wojcicki Foundation.</p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog7&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #3f3aa5; "><strong>Please consider making a donation today</strong></a>.</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog7&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/578d6128.heart-email-3f3aa5.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/heart-email-3f3aa5.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
</div>
</div>
<p>&#160;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44586
title: Flickr removes CC-licensed photos from Wall Art program
uri: Flickr-removes-CC-licensed-photos-from-Wall-Art-program
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44586
content:
<p>In October, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/create">Flickr announced a new service</a> that allows its members to order printed photos on wood or canvas, choosing either from their own photos, from a set of curated images, or from about 50 million <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a> or <a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a>&#8211;licensed images. Flickr would share profits with the photographers of the curated images, but not the CC-licensed ones, as those licenses permit Flickr to use the photos commercially.</p>
<p>Today, <a href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2014/12/18/an-update-on-flickr-wall-art/">we learned that Flickr is removing all CC-licensed images from the Wall Art program</a>. I understand why Flickr has made the decision to change the program, and appreciate their commitment to working to strengthen our community.</p>
<p>This has been a controversial topic here at Creative Commons&#160;&#8212; at all levels of the organization, and in our community. Some feel that a community discussion should have come before launching the program, or that Flickr users should have had a choice of whether to allow Flickr to monetize their CC-licensed photos. Others think that abiding by the terms of CC BY isn&#8217;t enough, and that there is a moral obligation to share profits. And still others think that this is exactly what the free culture movement intended&#160;&#8212; permissive use of any kind by anyone (even large companies), so long as the terms are met.</p>
<p>Flickr has been a big part of the growth of the commons, and the advancement of CC licenses. In our recent <a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/">State of the Commons report</a>, we identified over 880 million licensed works&#160;&#8212; 307 million of them are on Flickr. It&#8217;s the largest public archive of CC-licensed images. So when I read articles and blog posts recommending that Flickr users remove their works from the commons, I was concerned. Users of any media platform should feel secure in their understanding of how their content will or won&#8217;t be used.</p>
<p>A central principle of open licenses is that the rights they grant apply to <em>everyone</em>, from hobbyists to large corporations. I hope this decision does not create confusion for those who would use licensed works. Under CC licenses, everyone plays by the same rules. Entrepreneurs should be able to experiment with monetizing openly licensed content without fear that if they become successful, the licenses will no longer apply to them. Just as licensors should be able to feel confident that the licenses are legally airtight, so should licensees.</p>
<p>Everyone can agree that providing clearer information on how CC licenses work&#160;&#8212; and what rights they grant&#160;&#8212; can prevent many misunderstandings. I see this as an important opportunity for Flickr and CC to do more to engage and inform users. We&#8217;re a global nonprofit that represents a diverse community of creators, users, businesses, and activists. In order for our work to be meaningful, we must recognize that the people who make up the commons are its most important asset.</p>
<p>Our vision is one where content of all kinds is freely available for use under simple terms, where the permissions are clear to everyone. If that doesn&#8217;t happen, creators can feel misled or cheated, and users are left uncertain if they can use the commons as a source of raw material. That&#8217;s not just about the terms of the licenses. It&#8217;s about how platforms develop and position their products and services, and how users engage in a community.</p>
<p>The Flickr team has asked Creative Commons to work with them to help make their messaging about CC license options clearer, and help ensure their programs are in alignment with the spirit of both communities. We hope that we can use this opportunity to help foster stronger relationships throughout the commons community, license users and media platforms alike. As we do that work in the coming months, I welcome your suggestions and ideas.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44595
title: European Space Agency shares Mars Express images and videos under CC
uri: European-Space-Agency-shares-Mars-Express-images-and-videos-under-CC
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44595
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://blogs.esa.int/communication/2014/12/18/esa-mars-express-high-resolution-stereo-camera-hrsc-images-now-available-under-a-creative-commons-licence/"><a href="http://blogs.esa.int/communication/2014/12/18/esa-mars-express-high-resolution-stereo-camera-hrsc-images-now-available-under-a-creative-commons-licence/"><img src="media/ef3dcabe.Hellas_Chaos_new-600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Hellas_Chaos_new-600.jpg" alt="Hellas Chaos on Mars" width="600" height="265" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://blogs.esa.int/communication/2014/12/18/esa-mars-express-high-resolution-stereo-camera-hrsc-images-now-available-under-a-creative-commons-licence/"><span property="dc:title">Hellas Chaos on Mars</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">ESA/DLR/FU Berlin</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/">CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO</a></small></a></p>
<p>As of yesterday, the <a href="http://blogs.esa.int/communication/2014/12/18/esa-mars-express-high-resolution-stereo-camera-hrsc-images-now-available-under-a-creative-commons-licence/">European Space Agency is now sharing all of its images and videos</a> from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express">Mars Express</a> mission under CC BY-SA. ESA is using the <a href="/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/">IGO port of CC BY-SA 3.0</a>. ESA is one of several intergovernmental organizations to use the IGO port <a href="/weblog/entry/41061">since we introduced it last year</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.esa.int/communication/2014/12/18/esa-mars-express-high-resolution-stereo-camera-hrsc-images-now-available-under-a-creative-commons-licence/">From ESA&#8217;s announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Since <a href="http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2004/01/Mars_Express_HRSC_image_14_January_20043">January 2004</a>, ESA and its partners at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) have been jointly publishing colour, stereo pictures of the martian surface from orbit, both still and moving. For example, a &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPUdZtnt24">Mars showcase</a>&#8221; video, comprised of HRSC images, has been viewed almost 700,000 times since it was published on ESA’s Youtube channel in 2013.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>But starting today, something is different with these regular image releases: in a joint undertaking by all three partners, Mars Express HRSC images will be made available under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> (CC) licence. The licence we will apply is the same one <a href="http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/04/rosetta-navcam-images-now-available-under-a-creative-commons-licence/">we recently introduced</a> for Rosetta NAVCAM images: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/">CC BY-SA IGO 3.0</a>.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>[&#8230;]</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>While at ESA we have only just begun releasing content under Creative Commons licences, our partners at DLR have been using CC as their standard licencing policy since 2012. Nevertheless, there is still something just a little bit special about the news today: as far as we know, it is the first time that three public organisations in Europe have teamed up in licencing a batch of joint content under Creative Commons.</p></blockquote>
<p>ESA also posted this amazing video yesterday, making it the first video of Mars the agency has published under BY-SA:</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mtm4hOsYPHs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44362
title: The Commons in Aotearoa showcased on NZCommons.org.nz
uri: The-Commons-in-Aotearoa-showcased-on-NZCommons-org-nz
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44362
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/41504"><a href="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/41504"><img src="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/APICollection/media/78953/640" alt="Wellington" width="500" height="333" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/41504/"><span property="dc:title">Wellington</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">John Bunney, courtesy of Te Papa Tongarewa</span> / <a rel="license" href="">No known copyright restrictions</a></small></a> </p>
<p><em>In the first of a series of blog posts focusing on our global activities, Matt McGregor tells us of exciting developments in CC in New Zealand Aotearoa.</em></p>
<p>2014 has been a busy year for the commons in Aotearoa. After a few years of relatively slow progress, many of New Zealand’s public institutions have started to adopt open policies. So many, in fact, that we&#8217;ve decided to launch an entire website, <a href="http://http://nzcommons.org.nz/" target="_blank">NZCommons.org.nz</a>, dedicated to discussing the opportunities and challenges of opening New Zealand’s culture and knowledge for access and reuse. With a particular focus on copyright, licensing and the public domain, the NZCommons site aims to help cross-pollinate and energise the various open groups in New Zealand, who are all doing excellent work, though too often in isolation from one another. The site will have news, case studies and a range of pieces from New Zealanders working to grow the commons, supporting and encouraging the many individuals and institutions working to adopt CC licensing across the country. </p>
<p>And what a lot there is to be discussed. I&#8217;ve already mentioned some of the developments being highlighted on NZCommons in my <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43758">recent post</a> to this blog about Creative Commons policies being passed in New Zealand schools, now up to the rate of around one per week. But the increased adoption of CC licensing hasn&#8217;t been limited to schools.</p>
<p>This year, both the <a href="http://www.waikato.ac.nz" target="_blank">University of Waikato</a> and the <a href="http://www.canterbury.ac.nz" target="_blank">University of Canterbury</a> passed open access mandates requiring all research published within their respective institutions to be uploaded to the library’s repository, enabling research to be made openly available as soon as possible. In so doing, they joined <a href="http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/" target="_blank">Lincoln University</a> in paving the way for open access policies at other New Zealand research institutions. </p>
<p>And then, in the middle of the year, we saw three big developments in the heritage sector. First, the <a href="http://natlib.govt.nz" target="_blank">National Library of New Zealand</a> passed their excellent <a href="http://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/our-new-use-and-reuse-policy">use and reuse policy</a>, which provides a clear framework for opening up the library’s collections. Under the policy, out-of-copyright works will be clearly labelled as such, which has not generally been the case in the sector; also, in-copyright works that are owned by the library will be made available under a Creative Commons licence. Our <a href="http://creativecommons.org.nz/2014/11/national-librarys-new-use-reuse-policy/" target="_blank">case study of this policy has been up on NZCommons for a few weeks now.</p>
<p></a><a href="http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/pages/home.aspx" target="_blank">Te Papa</a>, the Museum of New Zealand followed this announcement by <a href="http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2014/06/03/free-downloadable-images-from-te-papas-collections/" target="_blank">releasing over 30,000 high resolution images</a> under either a no-known copyright or a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives licence</a> &#8212; a figure that has since approached 40,000. As it happens, we published a <a href="http://nzcommons.org.nz/project/te-papas-openly-licensed-images/" target="_blank">case study about Te Papa</a> recently, as well. Since that release, Te Papa have signalled that they will shortly remove the &#8216;ND&#8217; restriction from their licences. </p>
<p>Then, the <a href="http://ww100.govt.nz/" target="_blank">WW100</a> team, announced that as part of New Zealand&#8217;s commemorations of the Centenary of World War I, the <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/alexander-turnbull-library-collections" target="_blank">Turnbull Library</a> was openly releasing the H Series of photographs taken during by New Zealand’s official photographer, Henry Armytage Sanders. As Melanie Lovell-Smith points out in a <a href="http://ww100.govt.nz/photographing-new-zealanders-at-war" target="_blank">detailed background piece</a>, these photographs are “the most comprehensive visual record of New Zealanders on the Western front from 1917 to 1918.” Other GLAM projects, such as the <a href="http://creativecommons.org.nz/2014/11/marsden-online-archive/" target="_blank">Marsden Online project</a>, are also starting to use CC licensing.  </p>
<p>One of the most exciting things about these announcements is the best practice implementation by each of the institutions. Although all of them use their own method, all of the photos are clearly marked as being available to download and free of copyright restrictions, with a detailed and easily accessible description of what you can and can&#8217;t do with the image (see pictured). Te Papa even allows you to use copyright status as a search term. This level of transparency when it comes to copyright is essential to unlocking the value of our national collections.</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/41504/download"><a href="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/41504/download"><img src="media/5c001c78.collections.tepapa.govt_.nz_Object_41504_download.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/collections.tepapa.govt_.nz_Object_41504_download.jpg" alt="Wellington" width="500" height="333" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Object/41504/download"><span property="dc:title">Excerpt from Te Papa&#8217;s image download page</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Te Papa Tongarewa</span></small></a> </p>
<p>Other open projects &#8212; such open government data, open textbooks in higher education and legal tools for indigenous knowledge &#8212; are also progressing quickly. Working with Susy Frankel and Aroha Mead from <a href="http://www.victoria.ac.nz" target="_blank">Victoria University of Wellington</a> and CC Panel Member Karaitiana Taiuru, the local Creative Commons team is working on developing an indigenous knowledge notice that will help Māori creators, iwi (tribe) and hapū (sub-tribe) to release their works more openly. </p>
<p>In the government data sector, <a href="http://www.linz.govt.nz" target="_blank">Land Information New Zealand</a> have released truly massive &#8212; and massively interesting &#8212; open datasets, including detailed aerial photography of the entire country and <a href="http://www.linz.govt.nz/news/2014-03/3d-models-released-christchurch-city" target="_blank">3D models of Christchurch before September 2010</a>. These openly licensed models can be adapted and 3D printed by anyone, to help remember the heritage that was lost in the earthquakes. </p>
<p>Taken together, these projects will add an enormous amount of high quality copyright works to the commons, making it easier to access and reuse the works produced and held by New Zealand’s public institutions. These releases promise to save time and money for both the organisations involved and the public. They will also enable others to adapt and build on existing works, which means that fewer people will have to &#8212; excuse the cliche &#8212; reinvent the wheel. </p>
<p>Good news, then. But these projects are only the beginning: there are thousands of other schools, heritage and research institutions with millions of copyright works that could be made openly available to the public for sharing and reuse. This could fundamentally change how New Zealanders access and engage with their culture and knowledge. </p>
<p>For this to happen, these sectors are going to need some help. To help out, we’re developing toolkits &#8212; remixing some resources and platforms developed by HQ, and making a bunch of our own &#8212; that organisations can use to open their works for reuse. These toolkits will include an introductory paper, brochures, articles, sample policies and examples of best practice from New Zealand and around the world. We’re hoping to launch them at the National Digital Forum in Wellington in late November. </p>
<p>Beyond the toolkits, though, we’re going to need much more open discussion and analysis on copyright, licensing and reuse &#8212; especially in the heritage sector, where copyright issues can be very complicated, and where there isn’t nearly enough information and discussion available online. NZCommons is designed to prompt that discussion. With it we hope to build momentum and support for more open policy across the country, and help realise the potential of the commons in Aotearoa.</p>


