# articles

feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36264
title: Welcome Dan Mills, Director of Product Strategy
uri: Welcome-Dan-Mills-Director-of-Product-Strategy
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36264
content:
<p align="center"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/danmills.jpg" width="600" height="399" border="0"/></p>
<p>2013 starts off fresh with Dan Mills joining the Creative Commons team as our director of product strategy. We are delighted to have Dan onboard and look forward to engaging his leadership. In his new role, Dan will head the Technology Team in the creation of software products to propel the Creative Commons mission forward and enable the growth of the community.</p>
<p>Dan brings a spot on range of skills and experience to his new position. Before Creative Commons, Dan was Product Manager for <a href="http://identity.mozilla.com/">Identity at Mozilla</a>, responsible for creating <a href="http://persona.org/">Persona</a>, a decentralized Web sign-in solution. He has worked with partners to integrate sign-in and payments into the Firefox Marketplace and upcoming <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefoxos/">Firefox OS</a>. Dan has served as a spokesperson for Mozilla in many international venues, including Barcelona, Buenos Aires, and Kuala Lumpur. He led efforts to engage and grow the open source communities for Mozilla in various countries.</p>
<p>Prior to switching over to product management, Dan was a software engineer at <a href="https://mozillalabs.com/en-US/">Mozilla Labs</a> and the <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/firefox">Firefox</a> team, as well as the open source startup Ximian (acquired by Novell).</p>
<p>Dan grew up in sunny Venezuela. He has lived in the US since going to Duke University, where he graduated with a BS in computer science and minors in economics and Italian. He loves to cook and experiment with his sous vide machine. We look forward to Dan sharing his culinary delights and product vision with all of us at CC!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36322
title: OER advocates recommend open licensing for $100+ million Investing in Innovation fund
uri: OER-advocates-recommend-open-licensing-for-100-million-Investing-in
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36322
content:
<blockquote><p>This is sound public policy; taxpayers should have free and legal access to publicly funded educational content.</p></blockquote>
<p>This is an excerpt from <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/I3_comment_2013">comments we submitted last week</a> to the U.S. Department of Education on the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/12/14/2012-30199/proposed-priorities-requirements-definitions-and-selection-criteria-investing-in-innovation-fund">proposed requirements for the Investing in Innovation Fund</a> (I3 program). Creative Commons, along with the Open CourseWare Consortium, the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, and the State Educational Technology Directors Association, believe that insofar as the I3 program will use public funds to support the creation of educational materials, those educational materials ought to be made freely and openly available to the public. We urge the U.S. Department of Education to adopt a policy identical to that of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant program (<a href="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/">TAACCCT</a>). That initiative <a href="http://creativecommons.org/taa-grant-program">requires</a> that educational content created with DOL grant funds be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution license (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>).</p>
<p>The DOL open policy <a href="http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/taaccct_sga_dfa_py_11_08.pdf">states</a> (pdf): </p>
<blockquote><p>In order to ensure that the Federal investment of these funds has as broad an impact as possible and to encourage innovation in the development of new learning materials, <strong>as a condition of the receipt of a TAACCCT grant, the grantee will be required to license to the public </strong>(not including the Federal Government) <strong>all work created with the support of the grant (Work) under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY) license</strong>. Work that must be licensed under the CC BY includes both new content created with the grant funds and modifications made to pre-existing, grantee-owned content using grant funds&#160;&#8230; This license allows subsequent users to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the copyrighted Work and requires such users to attribute the Work in the manner specified by the grantee.</p></blockquote>
<p>The $2 billion DOL program’s CC BY open licensing requirement will help maximize the impact of those grant funds, and the $100+ million I3 Program can realize similar benefits by adopting the same policy.</p>
<p>Read the complete comments we submitted at the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/I3_comment_2013">CC wiki</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36366
title: U.S. News and World Report Examines the Growth of Open Education
uri: U-S-News-and-World-Report-Examines-the-Growth-of-Open-Education
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36366
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/8139708904/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/8139708904/"><img width="300" height="200" src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/openbooks.jpg" alt="Open as in Books?" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/8139708904/"><span property="dc:title">Open as in Books?</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Alan Levine</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>This week, U.S. News and World Report ran an <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/01/17/the-growing-adoption-of-creative-commons-textbooks">excellent story</a> about the rise of openly-licensed educational materials. Simon Owens&#8217; article touches on many of the open education landmarks we&#8217;ve been celebrating over the past year, including the Department of Labor&#8217;s <a href="/weblog/entry/34328">TAA-CCCT grant program</a> and open textbook legislation in <a href="/weblog/entry/34566">British Columbia</a> and <a href="/weblog/entry/34288">California</a>. Owens interviewed CC director of global learning Cable Green as well as <a href="http://davidwiley.org/">David Wiley</a>, the <a href="http://www.20mm.org/">Twenty Million Minds Foundation</a>&#8216;s Dean Florez, and several other experts in the space.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/01/17/the-growing-adoption-of-creative-commons-textbooks">From the article</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Upon its launch a decade ago, Creative Commons was embraced by the artist and literary community, and its iconic logo began appearing on the sidebars of thousands of blogs, web pages, and Flickr photos. By 2005, the nonprofit estimated there were 20 million works that utilized the license, and by 2009 that number had climbed to 350 million. But while the organization has always embraced its grassroots enthusiasm, it continually sought recognition and adoption from larger, more traditional institutions.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>The philosophy behind this goal is simple. &#8220;The public should have access to what it paid for,&#8221; says [Cable Green]. &#8220;Free access and legal access to what it bought. The tagline is &#8216;buy one get one.&#8217; If you buy something, you should get access to it.&#8221; And it shouldn&#8217;t come as a surprise that Creative Commons activists have identified education materials as a prime target for their view. Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that student loan debt had surpassed auto loans and credit debt, coming in at an estimated $1 trillion. And a not-insignificant contribution to this burden has been the rising cost of textbooks.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>[&#8230;]</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>David Wiley, an associate professor of instructional psychology and technology at Brigham University in Utah, has been immersed in the OER community predating the creation of the Creative Commons license. He was inspired by a group of technologists who met in 1998 to rebrand the free software movement as &#8220;open source,&#8221; and he later worked to develop an &#8220;open content&#8221; license that would allow content creators to share and distribute their content easily. &#8220;The only difference was that all of us who were initially involved weren&#8217;t lawyers,&#8221; he recalls. &#8220;We were just making stuff up. It was scary, because there were hundreds of thousands of people who were using these licenses, and if any of them actually went to court, who knows what would have happened?&#8221; Imagine his relief then when the Creative Commons license was formed. &#8220;I put a big notice on our website saying, &#8216;please everyone, run away from our licenses as fast as you can. Here are real lawyers that have done something similar but way better.&#8217;&#8221;</p></blockquote>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36307
title: Boundless, the free alternative to textbooks, releases its content under Creative Commons
uri: Boundless-the-free-alternative-to-textbooks-releases-its-content-und
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36307
content:
<p><a href="https://www.boundless.com/"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/boundless-logo.jpg" alt="boundless logo" width="220" height="229" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36309" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.boundless.com/">Boundless</a>, the company that builds on existing open educational resources to provide free alternatives to traditionally costly college textbooks, has released 18 open <a href="https://www.boundless.com/textbooks/">textbooks</a> under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a>), the same license used by Wikipedia. Schools, students and the general public are free to share and remix these textbooks under this license. The 18 textbooks cover timeless college subjects, such as accounting, biology, <a href="https://www.boundless.com/chemistry/">chemistry</a>, sociology, and economics. <a href="http://edtechtimes.com/2013/01/09/students-at-over-half-of-u-s-colleges-are-now-using-free-textbooks-study-tools-from-boundless/">Boundless reports</a> that students at more than half of US colleges have used its resources, and that they expect its number of users to grow. </p>
<p>Boundless has an entire <a href="https://www.boundless.com/oer/">section explaining open educational resources (OER)</a> and <a href="https://www.boundless.com/how_it_works/">how they use them</a>. However, you can easily see how it works for yourself by browsing one of their textbooks directly. For example, see their textbook on <a href="https://www.boundless.com/biology/">Biology</a>. At the end of each chapter, sources are cited as a list of links where you can find the original material:</p>
<p><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/boundless-biology-chapter.jpg" alt="boundless biology chapter" width="500" height="394" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36308" /></p>
<p>This chapter on <a href="https://www.boundless.com/biology/introduction-to-biology/study-life/organismal-interactions/">Organismal Interactions</a> references a Wikipedia article and several articles in The Encyclopedia of Earth. If you follow these links, you will find that the original articles are OER governed by the same <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license.</p>
<p>From Boundless&#8217; FAQ,</p>
<blockquote><p>
<strong>Is it really free? How does Boundless make money?</strong></p>
<p>Absolutely. Boundless books are 100% free with no expiration dates like textbook rentals or buybacks at the bookstore. It starts with <a href="https://www.boundless.com/oer">Open Educational Resources</a>. In the future, Boundless will implement some awesome optional premium features on top of this free content to help students study faster and smarter.</p></blockquote>
<p>As you can see in the screenshot above, Boundless is already rolling out some of those premium features, including flashcards, study guides, and quizzes. To access these features Boundless requires a free user account. The textbooks themselves are completely open, without registration required, and are accessible at <a href="https://www.boundless.com/textbooks/">boundless.com/textbooks/</a>.</p>
<p>For further reading, we recommend Slate&#8217;s article entitled, &#8220;<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/12/boundless_and_the_open_educational_resources_movement_are_threatening_publishers.single.html">Never Pay Sticker Price for a Textbook Again &#8211; The open educational resources movement that’s terrifying publishers</a>.&#8221; It does a fantastic job of placing the company&#8217;s aims in the context of the current publishing ecosystem.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36388
title: Memorial for Aaron Swartz in SF at Internet Archive
uri: Memorial-for-Aaron-Swartz-in-SF-at-Internet-Archive
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36388
content:
<p><img src="http://archive.org/download/aaronswmemorialinvitation/aaronsw_m-261x300.jpg" width=261 height=300 align="right"/></p>
<p>Dear Friends, please join us as we gather to remember Aaron Swartz on the evening of <strong>Thursday, January 24th</strong>.</p>
<p align="center">Reception at 7:00pm<br />
<br />Memorial at 8:00pm<br />
<br />at the Internet Archive<br />
<br /><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=300+Funston+Avenue,+San+Francisco,+CA&#038;hl=en&#038;ll=37.782333,-122.471552&#038;spn=0.010616,0.018432&#038;sll=37.7577,-122.4376&#038;sspn=0.169917,0.294914&#038;oq=300+Funston&#038;hnear=300+Funston+Ave,+San+Francisco,+California+94118&#038;t=m&#038;z=16&#038;iwloc=A">300 Funston Avenue</a><br />
<br />San Francisco 94118</p>
<p>Speakers will include Danny O’Brien, Lisa Rein, Peter Eckersly, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, Cindy Cohn, Brewster Kahle, Tim O’Reilly, Elliot Peters, Alex Stamos, and Carl Malamud; there will be an opportunity for brief remembrances.</p>
<p>Please consider <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHdwUlBId1NlWkQ2Y1JBTmNEaWh4Y3c6MQ">RSVP</a>ing so that we know how many people to expect. If you are unable to join us, you can watch a <a href="http://www.livestream.com/oreillyradar?utm_source=lsplayer&#038;utm_medium=embed&#038;utm_campaign=footerlinks">live stream</a> of the event.</p>
<p>From Aaron’s friends at: Creative Commons, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Noisebridge, Internet Archive, Wikimedia Foundation, Stanford Center for Internet and Society, O’Reilly and Blurryedge.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36400
title: CC News: Celebrate Ten Years of Creative Commons
uri: CC-News-Celebrate-Ten-Years-of-Creative-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36400
content:
<p align="center">
		<a href="/weblog/entry/36400?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Creative Commons" border="0" src="media/cfc4fd92.cclogo-450.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cclogo-450.png" width=450 height=108 /></a></p>
<p align="center">
		<em>Stay up to date with CC news by <a href="https://creativecommons.net/civicrm/mailing/subscribe?reset=1&#038;%3bgid=121&#038;%3b">subscribing to our newsletter</a> and following us on <a href="http://twitter.com/creativecommons">Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p>
	<strong>Top stories:</strong></p>
<table cellpadding="10" width="700">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47993455@N00/8246896348/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="http://10.creativecommons.org/"><img alt="#cc10 Costa Rica" height="160" src="media/3acb3453.201301-cc10.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/201301-cc10.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47993455@N00/8246896348/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">#cc10 Costa Rica</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Adri&#225;n Coto</span> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>
<a href="http://10.creativecommons.org/"><strong>Celebrate ten years of Creative Commons</strong></a>, and consider <a href="https://creativecommons.net/donate/?utm_campaign=2012fund&#038;utm_source=newsletter&#038;utm_medium=blog"><strong>making an investment in the next ten</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ioerror/335161549" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/36298?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Aaron Swartz" height="160" src="media/a28ba0ee.201301-aaron.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/201301-aaron.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ioerror/335161549/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Aaron Swartz</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Jacob Appelbaum</span> / <a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>
As a teenager, <a href="/weblog/entry/36298?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Aaron Swartz helped start Creative Commons</strong></a>. Join us in remembering a friend, ally, and inspiration.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/36271?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Bassel" height="160" src="media/b9c6379c.201301-bassel.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/201301-bassel.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Bassel</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Joi Ito</span> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>
Longtime CC volunteer Bassel Khartabil has been detained in Syria since March. Thanks to an international community of supporters, he now has family visitation rights. <a href="/weblog/entry/36271?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Join the campaign to free Bassel</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/8139708904/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/36366?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Open as in Books?" height="160" src="media/920fb3fd.201301-openbooks.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/201301-openbooks.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/8139708904/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Open as in Books?</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Alan Levine</span> / <a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>
This month, U.S. News and World Report ran an <a href="/weblog/entry/36366?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>excellent article about the rise of open educational resources</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
		<strong>In other news:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
Every year on January 1st, copyright protection expires for millions of creative works. <a href="/weblog/entry/35435?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Celebrate Public Domain Day and find out what&#8217;s new to public domain this year</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>
<a href="/weblog/entry/36266?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Open Education Week is coming up</strong></a>, and School of Open is planning something big. Find out how to get involved.</li>
<p></p>
<li>
Not one, <a href="/weblog/entry/35903?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>but <em>five</em> #cc10 mixtapes</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>
Boundless has released <a href="/weblog/entry/36307?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>18 new textbooks</strong></a> under CC BY-SA.</li>
<p></p>
<li>CC Korea has launched <a href="/weblog/entry/35929?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>a new iPhone app</strong></a> celebrating ten years of Creative Commons music.</li>
<p></p>
<li>In case you missed it: <a href="/weblog/entry/35906?utm_campaign=newsletter_1301&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>#cc10 Antarctica</strong></a>.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=35378
title: Blackboard’s xpLor: Cross-platform learning repository adds Creative Commons license options
uri: Blackboard-s-xpLor-Cross-platform-learning-repository-adds-Creative
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35378
content:
<p>Earlier this year, Blackboard <a href="http://blog.blackboard.com/company/bbworld/exciting-educational-and-enticing-content-from-bbworld-2012/">announced</a> xpLor &#8212; a new cloud-based learning object repository that will work across the various <strong>l</strong>earning <strong>m</strong>anagement <strong>s</strong>ystems (LMS) in use at educational institutions: e.g., Blackboard, Moodle, ANGEL, and Sakai. xpLor&#8217;s goal, as stated by Product Manager Brent Mundy, is to dissolve content boundaries between LMS&#8217;s and institutions so that instructors can more easily share, discover, and reuse course content. While the LMS is good at administering courses, LMSs are not particularly good at large-scale content management. For example, you can only manage content within an individual course, and you can&#8217;t easily share course content with other instructors using a different LMS or even with instructors using the same LMS at different institutions. </p>
<p>Now, with xpLor, which is currently in beta at more than 70 institutions, you can. Since xpLor is cloud-based and built using IMS standards (such as <a href="http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/alliance.html">Common Cartridge and Learning Tools Interoperability</a>), any LMS employing IMS standards can work with it. And now, xpLor has added Creative Commons license options, which means that instructors and institutions can create, share, and even build on each other&#8217;s CC-licensed content all through the same interface. </p>
<p>The default license for adding content is Creative Commons Attribution (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>), </p>
<p><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/xplor-upload.jpg" alt="" title="xplor upload" width="600" height="472" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35381" /></p>
<p>but instructors can opt for a different CC license or their own custom terms. Here&#8217;s an example of what a CC-licensed resource via xpLor looks like:</p>
<p><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/xplor-khan-academy.jpg" alt="" title="xplor khan academy" width="600" height="471" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35382" /></p>
<p>xpLor also integrates CC-licensed content from existing open education projects, like the Khan Academy and Blackboard CourseSites’ CC BY licensed courses. </p>
<p>Instructors can find resources from these projects in addition to content added by their colleagues via xpLor&#8217;s search interface. As shown below, the CC license mark is clearly displayed next to each resource. In the future, instructors will be able to filter their searches by the CC license they desire. </p>
<p><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/xplor-search-results.jpg" alt="" title="xplor search results" width="600" height="342" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35383" /></p>
<p>In addition, xpLor offers instructors the ability to directly copy, edit and remix CC-licensed content in its system, as long as the resource is one of the basic common content types found in all LMS&#8217;s, according to common cartridge standards. As instructors pull from various sources to create content, the resource&#8217;s attribution and license will automatically be retained and carried into the new, derivative work, thanks to xpLor&#8217;s built-in support for authoring and versioning. In future iterations, content will also be exportable according to the same standards, with the license metadata attached. </p>
<p>For those interested in learning more, Blackboard has produced an <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/sites/xplor/infographic.html">infographic</a> site on how it all works, where you can also sign up to receive additional info. If you want the back story on how xpLor originated, including the technical details of how the different systems will operate, we recommend reading project consultant Professor Chuck Severance&#8217;s <a href="http://www.dr-chuck.com/csev-blog/2012/07/blackboard-xplor-and-sakai-oh-my/">post on xpLor</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36421
title: US Department of State Unveils Open Book Project
uri: US-Department-of-State-Unveils-Open-Book-Project
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36421
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Department_of_state.svg"><a href="http://www.state.gov/"><img width="300" height="300" src="media/159f2c2d.departmentofstate.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/departmentofstate.png" alt="Department of State" /></a>
<p align="center"><small><br /><a href="media/cfd5d402.FileDepartment_of_state.svg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Department_of_state.svg"><span property="dc:title">Department of State Seal</span></a> / Public Domain</small></p>
</div>
<p>Earlier today, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the Open Book Project (<a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2013/01/203382.htm" title="Remarks at the Announcement of the Open Book Project">remarks</a>, <a href="http://www.state.gov/p/nea/openbook/" title="Open Book Project page">project page</a>, <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/01/203330.htm" title="Notice to the Press">press notice</a>), an initiative to expand access to free, high-quality educational materials in Arabic, with a particular focus on science and technology. These resources will be released under open licenses that allow their free use, sharing, and adaptation to local context.</p>
<p>The initiative will:</p>
<ul>
<li>Support the creation of Arabic-language Open Educational Resources (<a href="http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education-program/open-educational-resources" title="Open Educational Resources">OER</a>) and the translation of existing OER into Arabic.</li>
<li>Disseminate the resources free of charge through project partners and their platforms.</li>
<li>Offer training and support to governments, educators, and students to put existing OER to use and develop their own.</li>
<li>Raise awareness of the potential of OER and promote uptake of online learning materials.</li>
</ul>
<p>Creative Commons is proud to be a part of the Open Book Project, partnering with the Department of State; the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization; and our open colleagues around the world. CC licenses are core to OER, providing the world’s teachers and students the rights needed to legally reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute educational resources. When education content is CC licensed, it may be legally translated into (or from) Arabic and any other language. Using CC licenses provides an unprecedented opportunity to ensure OER are able to bridge cultures and fill educational gaps that exist on a global, regional, and local level.</p>
<p>In Clinton&#8217;s words, &#8220;Talent is universal, but opportunity is not. It&#8217;s incumbent upon all of us to keep opening doors of opportunity, because walking through it may be a young man or young woman who becomes a medical researcher and discovers a cure for a terrible disease, becomes an entrepreneur, or becomes a professor who then creates the next generation of those who contribute.&#8221;</p>
<p>When digital learning resources can be openly licensed and shared for the marginal cost of $0, many educators believe we collectively have an ethical and moral obligation to do so. Congratulations to all of the partners who will work together to help more people access high quality, affordable educational resources.</p>
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<p><strong>Update (Jan 29):</strong> The <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2013/01/203382.htm">full text of Secretary Clinton&#8217;s speech</a> is now available.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36484
title: IAmSyria.org releases Teachers Guide to Syria
uri: IAmSyria-org-releases-Teachers-Guide-to-Syria
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36484
content:
<p>In December, we <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36201">blogged</a> about a new initiative by journalists called <a href="http://beta.syriadeeply.org/">Syria Deeply</a>, a news platform aiming to redesign the user experience of the Syrian conflict through news aggregation, interactive tools, original reporting, and feature stories. To encourage sharing and viral distribution, Syria Deeply licensed everything on its site under Creative Commons Attribution (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.iamsyria.org/"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/iamsyria.jpg" alt="iamsyria" width="437" height="196" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36487" /></a></p>
<p>Now &#8220;<a href="http://www.iamsyria.org/">I Am Syria</a>,&#8221; a project to increase education about Syria in the classroom, is working with Syria Deeply and President-elect Steve Armstrong of the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) to build a lesson plan about the Syrian crisis. This lesson plan, along with other open educational resources for the classroom, is available at <a href="http://www.iamsyria.org/">iamsyria.org</a> under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>. It will be the first in a series of teaching materials on global events and humanitarian issues.</p>
<p>From the announcement,</p>
<blockquote><p>Even the most off-the-shelf tech solutions can make a monumental impact in bringing more foreign policy education to our schools. Which is why we built our Creative Commons licensed open courseware on IamSyria.org as a portal to our teacher friendly lesson plan. You simply go to IamSyria.org to download a Teacher’s Guide, and you will have a full 40 minute lesson plan&#8217;s worth of Common Core friendly material to expand your student’s horizons about global affairs. Included on the website is an introductory background video for your students as well as supplemental materials for executing the lesson plan, including a PowerPoint with accompanying worksheet, a video on what other kids are doing, and a Presidential Cabinet exercise which has been focus-grouped and loved by students.</p></blockquote>
<p>By CC licensing its resources, “I Am Syria” will encourage teachers everywhere to educate their students about events in Syria and why it impacts them. Teachers will also be able to adapt “I Am Syria” resources to their particular classroom needs, and even contribute to the resources’ improvement over time. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=36504
title: PLOS and figshare make open science publishing more open
uri: PLOS-and-figshare-make-open-science-publishing-more-open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36504
content:
<p>PLOS and fig<strong>share</strong> <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/plos/2013/01/easier-access-to-plos-data/" title="PLOS" target="_blank">announced</a> a <a href="http://figshare.com/blog/figshare_partners_with_Open_Access_mega_journal_publisher_PLOS/68" title="figshare" target="_blank">partnership</a> earlier today that will allow authors publishing in PLOS journals host their data on fig<strong>share</strong>. The authors would also benefit from the visualization capabilities that fig<strong>share</strong> provides right in the browser alongside the content. This partnership symbolizes all that is good about a healthy scientific publishing process that is enabled by innovative thinking aided by open licensing tools from Creative Commons.</p>
<p>When PLOS launched ten years ago, everyone involved could only hope for the kind of success it has seen in promoting open access publishing. Now with seven journals, six Currents sections, a network of blogs and new ways such as hubs and collections to organize content post-publication, PLOS spans a range of options from very selective to relatively inclusive. PLOS is the undisputed leader in the open access publishing space, and everything published by PLOS is under a CC license. But PLOS is constantly thinking of new ways to make the publishing process better.</p>
<p>John Chodacki, Director of Product Management at PLOS: &#8220;We know that Supporting Information acts as a container for valuable resources and data, but can remain relatively hidden from readers. With our partnership with figshare we are opening this data up to PLOS readers and showcasing its value.&#8221;</p>
<p>fig<strong>share</strong> is much younger. Founded by <a href="http://www.digital-science.com/people/mark-hahnel" title="Mark Hahnel" target="_blank">Mark Hahnel</a>, a young scientist frustrated with the stunted mechanism for data sharing, fig<strong>share</strong> also adopted a blanket open licensing policy based on CC licenses and public domain dedication, and made it easy to upload, visualize and share data.</p>
<p>Mark says, &#8220;The common goal of PLOS and fig<strong>share</strong> for open access to research are connected by the liberal licensing of content, giving authors control over their outputs. Without the standards set out by Creative Commons, partnerships such as this would be much less achievable. Long may it continue as the academic space moves into new ways of disseminating research&#8221;.</p>
<p>Both PLOS and fig<strong>share</strong> leverage the internet to the fullest giving scientists a better way to publish research results and data. This directly promotes CC&#8217;s vision of <em>realizing the full potential of the Internet — universal access to research and education, full participation in culture — to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity</em>.</p>
<p>By complementing each other, PLOS and fig<strong>share</strong> help the entire scientific process take another step toward being truly open. They are shining examples of leveraging the open licensing and public domain dedication tools created by Creative Commons. We wish them continued success and a future full of innovations we hope will continue to surprise and delight us.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36518
title: Work for Creative Commons in Europe: new Regional Coordinator job opening up
uri: Work-for-Creative-Commons-in-Europe-new-Regional-Coordinator-job-open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36518
content:
<div style="float:left; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/8247962102/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/8247962102/" title="Black Marble - Africa, Europe, and the Middle East by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, on Flickr"><img src="media/2e826e7f.8247962102_186e99db39.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8247962102_186e99db39.jpg" width="220" alt="Black Marble - Africa, Europe, and the Middle East"/></a> 
<p align="left"><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/8247962102/"><span property="dc:title">Black Marble &#8211; Africa, Europe, and the<br />Middle East</span></a><br /><span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gsfc/">NASA Goddard Photo and Video</a></span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>After nearly two years working with to support our community and forward Creative Commons in Europe, our European Regional Coordinator, Jonas &#214;berg, will be leaving us at the end of the month. Jonas has been awarded a <a href="http://jonasoberg.net/post/38250015637/joining-the-shuttleworth-foundation">prestigious fellowship from the Shuttleworth Foundation</a> to further his research into metadata standards for open materials. We will be very sad to lose Jonas, who has done a wonderful job of promoting CC and open in general over the last few years, and has worked tirelessly to support our European affiliates in their work. Europe is CC&#8217;s biggest region, with 37 affiliates stretching from Ireland and the UK all the way through Kazakhstan and Russia &#8211; so the job isn&#8217;t easy.</p>
<p>The good news is that Jonas won&#8217;t be going far, with his Shuttleworth work likely to keep him a constant face in our community.</p>
<p>The other good news is that this opens up a new position for someone to work with Creative Commons in Europe. You can find the full position description <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#rceurope">here</a>.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Department_of_state.svg"><a href="media/7dad5df7.FileStairs-640x.jpg" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/File:Stairs-640x.jpg"><img width="220" src="media/ab1555a3.jonas-oberg1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/jonas-oberg1.jpg" alt="Jonas Oberg" /></a>
<p align="left"><small><a href="media/7dad5df7.FileStairs-640x.jpg" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/File:Stairs-640x.jpg"><span property="dc:title">Jonas &#214;berg</span></a> / <span>Mathias Klang</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY-ND</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>In summary, our European Regional Coordinator works to “Assist Creative Commons and the CC Global Network team with organizational planning, strategic communications, community building, and fundraising in Europe in support of the organization’s mission, goals and objectives.” This means running events, coordinating collaborative projects, and generally assisting our European affiliates to build and grow their community. We also expect that 2013 in Europe will see a lot of work with local organisations advocating for the adoption and implementation of open policies in the region, particularly in the fields of government and educational materials. </p>
<p>If you have an interest in community management, open access, and Creative Commons, and live in or have ties to Europe, we’d love to hear from you.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36572
title: Clarifications about CC BY in the UK Open Access Policy
uri: Clarifications-about-CC-BY-in-the-UK-Open-Access-Policy
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36572
content:
<p>In the UK, the House of Commons <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news/committee-announces-an-inquiry-into-open-access/">has asked for feedback</a> on their Open Access Policy. One provision of that policy requires that articles funded through the Research Councils UK (RCUK) must be released under a CC BY license. Last year, CC submitted a <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/RCUK_comments">short comment</a> in support. </p>
<p>And just last month, the House of Lords completed a consultation period which has <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-committees/science-technology/Openaccess/OpenAccessevidence.pdf">generated some misinformation</a> about how the CC BY license operates. So, in order to clarify some of these misconceptions, Creative Commons and <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org.uk/">Creative Commons UK</a> submitted a joint response to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee to set the record straight. </p>
<p>We&#8217;ve <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/BIS_committee_UK_OA_Policy">pulled together some clarifications</a> to some of the uncertainty lobbed at the CC BY license provision in the Open Access Policy. Some of the reasons given that CC BY should not be retained include:</p>
<ul>
<li>it would promote &#8220;misuse of research or would cause authors to &#8220;lose control of their work&#8221;</li>
<li>third party rights negotiations for content that authors wish to include within an openly licensed article would prove too difficult</li>
<li>open licensing provides less protection against plagiarism</li>
<li>CC BY is not widely used in OA publishing</li>
<li>authors should choose licensing conditions, not funders</li>
</ul>
<p>These claims are confusing, misguided, or not backed up by evidence. We offer our responses and support <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/BIS_committee_UK_OA_Policy">here</a>. </p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36600
title: Open Science Course Sprint: An Education Hackathon for Open Data Day
uri: Open-Science-Course-Sprint-An-Education-Hackathon-for-Open-Data-Day
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36600
content:
<p><div id="attachment_36601" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 251px"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/open_science-logo-241x300.jpg" alt="Open Science logo by Greg Emmerich / CC-BY-SA" width="241" height="300" class="size-medium wp-image-36601" /><p class="wp-caption-text"><small>Logo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gemmerich/6365692623/in/photostream/">Greg Emmerich</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/">CC-BY-SA</a></small></p></div><br />
</p>
<h3>An Education Sprint</h3>
<p>The future of Open is a dynamic landscape, ripe with opportunities to increase civic engagement, literacy, and innovation.  Towards this goal, the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/science" title="creativecommons.org/science">Science Program</a> at Creative Commons is teaming up with the <a href="http://okfn.org/" title="okfn.org">Open Knowledge Foundation</a> and members of the Open Science Community to facilitate the building of an open online course, an Introduction to Open Science.  The actual build will take place during a hackathon-style “sprint” event on <a href="http://opendataday.org" title="opendataday.org">Open Data Day</a> on Saturday, February 23rd and will serve as a launch course for the <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/" title="schoolofopen.org">School of Open</a> during <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36266" title="creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36266">Open Education Week</a> (Mar 11-15).</p>
<p><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/5/open-science-an-introduction/"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-shot-2013-02-10-at-3.56.45-PM1.png" alt="Screen shot 2013-02-10 at 3.56.45 PM" width="500" height="304" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36620" /></a></p>
<h3>Want to help us build this?</h3>
<p>The course will be open in it’s entirety, the building process and content all available to be worked on, all to help people learn about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science" title="wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science">Open Science</a>.  Do you know a thing or two about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access" title="wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access">Open Access</a>?  Are you a researcher who’s practicing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_research" title="wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_research">Open Research</a>?  Do you have experience in instructional or visual design?  This is an all-hands event and will be facilitated by representatives at CC, OKFN, and others in the Community.  Open Science enthusiasts in the Bay Area are invited to the CC Headquarters in Mountain View for the live event.  Remote participants will also be able to join and contribute online via Google Hangout.</p>
<p>The day will begin with coffee, refreshments and a check-in call with other <a href="http://wiki.opendataday.org/2013/City_Events" title="Open Data Day wiki, events list">Open Data Day Hackathons</a> happening around the globe.  The Open Science Community is strengthened by shared interests and connections between people, which we hope will grow stronger through networked events on Open Data Day.  The Open Science course sprint at CC HQ will build upon open educational content, facilitate the design of challenges for exploration, and provide easy entry for learners into concepts of Open Access, Open Research, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data" title="wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data">Open Data</a>.  It will be done in a similar fashion to other <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34550" title="School of Open builds curriculum at Creative Commons Palo Alto meeting">“sprint-style” content-creation events</a>, with lunch and refreshments provided for in-person participants.  We’re literally going to be hacking on education.  Sound like something you’d be interested in?</p>
<h3>Join us.</h3>
<p>For details about the ways you can participate, see the Eventbrite page <a href="http://www.opensciencecoursesprint.eventbrite.com" title="opensciencecoursesprint.eventbrite.com">here</a>.<br />
To see the draft (lightly framed) course site on Peer to Peer University, go <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/5/open-science-an-introduction/" title="Open Science: An Introduction on P2PU">here</a>.<br />
For information about other Open Data Day events, see the events wiki <a href="http://wiki.opendataday.org/" title="wiki.opendataday.org/">here</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_36606" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://opendataday.org/map/"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-shot-2013-02-10-at-4.17.35-PM-e1360547585923.png" alt="Opendataday.org/map Geographic rendering of Open Data Day Hackathons" width="500" height="300" class="size-full wp-image-36606" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://opendataday.org/map/">Opendataday.org/map</a></p></div>
<h3>Developers</h3>
<p>We need you, too!  Basic skills for working with open datasets is important, and can be difficult to grasp.  Who better to develop great lessons about working with data than you?  Similarly, for those interested in building upon apps and projects from other Open Data Events, updated source code and repository information will be posted to a public feed (for now, follow hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ODHD13" title="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ODHD13">#ODHD13</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23opendataday" title="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23opendataday">#opendataday</a> on Twitter).  </p>
<p>For other information, contact billy dot meinke at creative commons dot org or <a href="http://twitter.com/billymeinke" title="twitter.com/billymeinke">@billymeinke</a>.<a href="http://twitter.com/billymeinke"><img src="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/twitter_logo-e1360551878983.png" alt="twitter_logo" width="20" height="20" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-36654" /></a></p>
<p>This event is being organized by the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/science" title="creativecommons.org/science">Science Program</a> at Creative Commons with support from the <a href="http://okfn.org" title="okfn.org">Open Knowledge Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.plos.org">PLOS</a>, and members of the Open Science Community.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36681
title: CC Arab World Community Gathers and Celebrates
uri: CC-Arab-World-Community-Gathers-and-Celebrates
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36681
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fsouici/8264693788/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fsouici/8264693788/"><img src="media/e91c5802.ccaw-group-700.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ccaw-group-700.jpg" alt="CC Arab World" width="700" height="363" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fsouici/8264693788/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Faiza Souici</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p>In keeping with the tradition inaugurated by the third Creative Commons Arab regional meeting (<a href="/weblog/entry/28409">30th June-2nd July</a>, Tunis, 2011), the 2012 fourth annual gathering of the CC Arab communities was marked by a great deal of creative energy and a strong push towards strengthening a sharing culture in the Arab region.</p>
<p>Organized in cooperation with <a href="http://arabdigitalexpression.org/">Arab Digital Expression Foundation (ADEF)</a>, an Egyptian NGO extremely active in the domain of free culture and sharing, the fourth Creative Commons Arab regional meeting was held in Cairo from 10 to 14 December 2012, with participants coming from <a href="http://arabdigitalexpression.org/content/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B9-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A">Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Sudan, Oman, and Egypt</a>.</p>
</p>
<p>Three days of intensive hands-on workshops, held at ADEF headquarters in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fsouici/8264693788/in/pool-ccmena">the beautiful area of Moqattam overlooking Cairo</a>, were self-organized and led by members of the CC Arab community. Workshops tackled issues such as licensing artworks under CC licenses, or using open-source tools to design and produce creative work. A team of musicians, together with a filmmaker and a graphic designer, worked on a multimedia project aimed at producing a creative journey into science fiction literature in the Arab world (see sample below).</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/afI80XAcbd0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>A group of visual artists worked on caricatures of the participants, which were remixed and turned into <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.448146295243032.104072.246272025430461&#038;type=1">beautifully colored cartoons</a>. Another team worked on the concept of Creative Commons as <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=448979728493022&#038;set=a.448146295243032.104072.246272025430461&#038;type=3&#038;theater">bringing creative people to life</a>; or lampooning the traditional copyright as a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=448978891826439&#038;set=a.448146295243032.104072.246272025430461&#038;type=3&#038;theater">&#8220;locked up&#8221; culture</a>.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meexplore/8278897178/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meexplore/8278897178/"><img width="300" height="395" src="media/e55d2d82.happybirthday-300.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/happybirthday-300.jpg" alt="Happy Birthday" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meexplore/8278897178/"><span property="dc:title">Happy Birthday</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Bilal Randeree</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Egyptian guest speakers were also featured during the three days meeting, such as filmmaker <a href="http://www.ahmadabdalla.net/">Ahmed Abdallah</a> who directed the popular movie <a href="http://vimeo.com/17246307"><em>Microphone</em></a> and who raised the controversial issue of using CC-licensed music in movies that the producers then decide to distribute under a traditional, all-rights reserved copyright. Blogger <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaa_Abd_El-Fattah">Alaa Abdel Fattah</a> and technologist <a href="http://ahmad.gharbeia.org/">Ahmed Gharbeia</a> also shared their thoughts about openness.</p>
<p>The works produced during the meeting were showcased on 14 December at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meexplore/8278891588/in/set-72157632222852916/">Zamalek Public Library</a>, in a closing ceremony which also celebrated the <a href="http://arabdigitalexpression.org/news/2012/12/24/190251">10th anniversary of Creative Commons</a>.</p>
<p>The 10th anniversary celebrations were held across the four corners of the Arab region. Creative Commons communities in <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570263@N08/">Algeria</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.312343658867843.55790.108381029264108&#038;type=1">Jordan</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIbp9jpmEt0">Iraq</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OakvwAmwaJE">Qatar</a>, and Oman all hosted live events animated by local artists and communities, featuring light talks, discussions about sharing culture, and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meexplore/8278897178/in/set-72157632222852916/">homemade birthday cakes</a>.</p>
<p>CC CEO Cathy Casserly, in her first official trip to the Middle East, joined the CC Qatar celebrations in Doha, before heading to Cairo where <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJzH4m1wPoU">she participated in the CC Arab community&#8217;s call to free Bassel Khartabil aka Safadi</a>, the public lead of CC Syria who has been <a href="http://freebassel.org/">detained in Damascus since March 2012</a>. During the closing ceremony of the 4th Arab regional meeting in Cairo, the CC Arab community recorded a <a href="http://vimeo.com/55799381">video message for Bassel</a> and emphasized that in the Arab region, advocating for free culture and sharing might put one&#8217;s life at risk of imprisonment or death.</p>
<p>Two months later, <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/01/25/fears_that_syria_may_execute_jailed_software_activist.html">the open community is still urging for Bassel&#8217;s release</a>. The good news is that Bassel has been granted visitation rights, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1193131&#038;l=a89494b3b0&#038;id=326127250800681">even wrote a letter to #freebassel supporters</a>. Visit <a href="http://freebassel.org/">FreeBassel.org</a> to find out how to get involved.</p>
<p>Since the outbreak of the uprisings in late 2010, the Arab world has witnessed the rise of popular movements for political and social change. This has been matched by violent reactions by authoritarian regimes, repression and political unrest. Yet, a genuine push towards peer-produced and collaborative work has responded to violence and repression with creativity and innovation. The fourth Creative Commons Arab regional meeting has been a celebration of this courageous stance of the Arab youth and of their defiance in responding to authoritarian power with the weapons of creativity.</p>
<h3>Related Links</h3>
<h4>CC Cairo meeting</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/ccarab4group/">CC Arab World Facebook group</a></li>
<li>Flickr pools: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/2138128@N21/pool/with/8263111823/#photo_8263111823">CC10</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/ccmena/pool/with/8277816431/#photo_8277816431">CC Arab World</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.448146295243032.104072.246272025430461&#038;type=1">Works from the Cairo workshops</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afI80XAcbd0">Video project</a></li>
<li><a href="http://arabdigitalexpression.org/news/2012/12/24/190251">Report about the closing party (Arabic)</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Creative Commons 10th anniversary in the Arab world</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.312343658867843.55790.108381029264108&#038;type=1">Jordan</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/87570263@N08/">Algeria</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OakvwAmwaJE">Qatar</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIbp9jpmEt0">Iraq</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36699
title: FASTR introduced in U.S. Congress to drastically expand public access to federally funded research
uri: FASTR-introduced-in-U-S-Congress-to-drastically-expand-public-access
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36699
content:
<p>Today marks an historic step forward for public access to publicly funded research in the United States. The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) was introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. <a href="media/a7d6048a.20132002201420DOYLE20FASTR20FINAL.pdf" data-original-source="http://doyle.house.gov/sites/doyle.house.gov/files/documents/2013%2002%2014%20DOYLE%20FASTR%20FINAL.pdf">FASTR</a> requires federal agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online access to the research articles stemming from that funded research no later than six months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. </p>
<p>If passed, the legislation would extend the current <a href="http://publicaccess.nih.gov/">NIH Public Access Policy</a> (with a shorter embargo) to other US federal agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and others. </p>
<p>The bill text is available <a href="media/a7d6048a.20132002201420DOYLE20FASTR20FINAL.pdf" data-original-source="http://doyle.house.gov/sites/doyle.house.gov/files/documents/2013%2002%2014%20DOYLE%20FASTR%20FINAL.pdf">here</a>. The legislation was introduced with bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate. Sponsors include Sens. Cornyn (R-TX) and Wyden (D-OR), and Reps. Doyle (D-PA), Yoder (R-KS), and Lofgren (D-CA).</p>
<p>Creative Commons <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/31283">has supported policies</a> aligned with the practice of making taxpayer funded research available free online and ideally under an open license that communicates broad downstream use rights, such as CC BY. While FASTR – like the NIH Public Access Policy before it – does not directly require the application of open licenses to the scientific research outputs funded with federal tax dollars, it represents a key next step toward increasing the usefulness of public access to research. </p>
<p>Specifically, FASTR includes provisions that move the ball down the field toward better communicating reuse rights. <a href="https://plus.google.com/109377556796183035206/posts/FZFvDhBLTzE">Peter Suber notes</a>, </p>
<ul>
<li>FASTR includes a new &#8220;finding&#8221; in its preamble (2.3): &#8220;the United States has a substantial interest in maximizing the impact and utility of the research it funds by enabling a wide range of reuses of the peer-reviewed literature that reports the results of such research, including by enabling computational analysis by state-of-the-art technologies.&#8221;</li>
<p></p>
<li>FASTR includes a formatting and licensing provision (4.b.5): the versions deposited in repositories and made OA shall be distributed &#8220;in formats and under terms that enable productive reuse, including computational analysis by state-of-the-art technologies.&#8221;</li>
<p></p>
<li>FASTR requires that the annual report from each covered agency include a statement from the agency on &#8220;whether the terms of use applicable to such research papers are effective in enabling productive reuse and computational analysis by state-of-the-art technologies&#8221; (4.f.2.B.i) and the results of the agency&#8217;s &#8220;examination of whether such research papers should include a royalty-free copyright license that is available to the public and that permits the reuse of those research papers, on the condition that attribution is given to the author or authors of the research and any others designated by the copyright owner&#8221; (4.f.2.B.ii).</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to making articles free to access and read after a six-month publishing embargo, these new provisions make a significant impact in pushing federal agencies to ensure that the research they fund is available and useful for new research techniques like text/data mining. </p>
<p>SPARC has issued an <a href="http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action/FASTR_calltoaction.shtml">action alert</a>, and there are several specific things you can do to support of FASTR. Today marks the 11th anniversary of the <a href="http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/openaccess/read">Budapest Open Access Initiative</a>, and you can voice your support that the public needs and deserves access to the research it paid for and upon which scientific advancement and education depends.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36713
title: 4.0 draft 3 published – final comment period underway
uri: 4-0-draft-3-published-final-comment-period-underway
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36713
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/umjanedoan/497327067/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/umjanedoan/497327067/"><img width="300" height="225" src="media/82302ef7.lawbooks.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/lawbooks.jpg" alt="&#8220;&#8230; Civile&#8221;" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/umjanedoan/497327067/"><span property="dc:title">&#8220;&#8230; Civile&#8221;</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">umjanedoan</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>It’s a fitting start to CC’s <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35749">second decade</a> as a license steward that we are publishing for comment the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Draft_3">third and final draft of version 4.0</a>. </p>
<p>This draft has been long in the making, but we think it’s all the better for the extended discussion and drafting period, and therefore that much closer to finalization and realizing its full potential as an international license suite.</p>
<p><strong>New in Draft 3</strong></p>
<p>Much of our attention since <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/33632">publishing draft 2</a> has been focused on improving the license in ways tied to <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/29639">key objectives</a> we had in mind when <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/30676">this process started</a> a little more than a year ago. </p>
<p>Sui generis database rights – a weighty factor in our decision to version – are now handled more thoroughly and clearly. The <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Sui_generis_database_rights">changes introduced in draft 3</a> will be of particular benefit for data projects and communities forced to manage the complexities of licensing those rights in addition to copyright. The 4.0 suite will provide more certainty about application of the license and the obligations of re-users of data where those right apply. The revisions also reinforce CC’s policy of <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/26283"> combatting the expansion of sui generis database rights</a>  beyond the borders of the few countries where they exist. Those rights and obligations remain safely confined.</p>
<p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/29639">Interoperability</a> has been a second, important objective of this versioning process. Our <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode">BY</a> and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode"> BY-NC</a> licenses have never specified how adaptations may be licensed. This is a source of confusion at times for users, especially for those remixing materials under a variety of licenses whether within or external to the CC suite. In draft 3, we have <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Treatment_of_adaptations">introduced provisions</a> specifying how contributions to adaptations built from BY and BY-NC licensed material must be licensed. The rule we introduce should be intuitive for most (and has always been true), and will be easily recognized by others because of its foundation in copyright. We are eager to hear feedback on whether it’s a workable rule in practice. If so, then these new provisions will clear the way for increased interoperability between those two licenses and other public licenses.</p>
<p>We have also introduced a number of features to better ensure that works can be reused as the licenses (and licensors) intend.  We recognize that licensors are often required or encouraged to apply technological protection measures when distributing their works through large platforms, and that those TPMs can prevent the public from using the CC-licensed work as the license permits (reproduce, modify, share, etc.). The <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Technical_protection_measures">license is now clear</a> that if users choose to circumvent those measures in order to exercise rights the CC licenses grant, the licensor may not object. In some situations others (such as the platform provider) <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Technical_protection_measures#Relevant_references">may have the right to object</a>, and in some circumstances and jurisdictions doing may still be a criminal offense. Our licenses do not help in those situations (and should not be relied upon to protect users in those cases). But at least between licensors and those reusers, circumvention is expressly authorized. </p>
<p>Several other changes have been introduced to improve the smooth functioning of the licenses, including a few worth highlighting here:
<ul>
<li>Although we have decided not to pursue a proposal that would have required licensors to offer <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Disclaimer_of_warranties_and_related_issues">representations and warranties</a>, we now prominently highlight important before-licensing considerations that encourage rights clearances and proper marking of third-party content. These practices and considerations have long been <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Before_Licensing">promoted by CC</a>.  Placing them in closer proximity to the licenses educates licensors and encourages responsible licensing practices, and alerts the public to the limitations of the licenses.</li>
<li>The license now includes a mechanism that allows for <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Termination">automatic reinstatement</a> of the license when a violation is cured within 30 days of discovery, while preserving a licensor’s right to seek remedies for those violations. This was a popular request, particularly by institutions wanting to use high-quality CC-licensed content in important contexts but who worried about losing their license permanently for an inadvertent violation.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Public Discussion – Featured Topics</strong></p>
<p>In this <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Draft_3#Legal_Code_.E2.80.93_Pending_Topics_for_Feedback">third discussion period</a>, we will be returning our attention to <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Compatibility">ShareAlike compatibility</a>, the centerpiece of our interoperability agenda. We will take a harder look at the mechanism necessary to permit <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Compatibility#GPL_Compatibility">one-way compatibility</a> out from BY-SA to other similarly spirited licenses like GPLv3, and whether one-way compatibility is, in fact, desired. We will also develop compatibility criteria and processes, though that may not conclude until after the 4.0 suite is launched. We expect to explore the introduction of a compatibility mechanism in BY-NC-SA similar to that already present in BY-SA. Draft 3 incorporates the changes that would accomplish all of this, if the decision is made to pursue these actions following vetting with our community.</p>
<p>Internationalization will also be a highlight of this discussion period. We will be making a final push with our legal affiliates to fine tune the legal code so the licenses operate as intended and are enforceable around the world. As part of this, we expect a full discussion on the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Internationalization">new interpretation clause</a> that establishes a default rule for how the license should be interpreted.</p>
<p>Other topics we will be covering include <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Attribution_and_marking">attribution</a> and some finessing of those requirements. And as publication time draws nearer, we will also be having discussions about the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Draft_3#Other_Pending_Topics">license deed and related matters</a>.  You can find a complete list of <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Draft_3">open topics</a>, <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Draft_3#Policy_and_Drafting_Decisions">a list of changes in draft 3</a> and a side-by-side comparison of <a href="media/d93c7036.Comparison_Chart_d2_to_d3_.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/e/ef/Comparison_Chart_d2_to_d3_.pdf">Draft 2 and Draft 3</a> (237 KB PDF) on our 4.0 wiki, as well as <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Drafts#Licenses_.28all_six_will_be_published_shortly.2C_and_links_posted_here_and_to_the_license_development_list.29">downloads and links</a> to all six draft licenses.</p>
<p>We look forward to hearing from you in this final comment stage.  Check out all <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0/Drafts#Licenses_.28all_six_are_presented_in_HTML.3B_BY-NC-SA_is_published_in_alternative_formats_as_well.29">six of the 4.0d3 licenses</a>, and join the <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-licenses">CC license development and versioning list</a>, or contribute ideas directly to the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0">4.0 wiki</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks again for a productive comment period. Thanks for the many valuable contributions to date!</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36725
title: Commercial Rights Reserved proposal outcome: no change
uri: Commercial-Rights-Reserved-proposal-outcome-no-change
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36725
content:
<p>CC recently considered a proposal to rename the NonCommercial license to &#8220;Commercial Rights Reserved&#8221;, as <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/cc-community/2012-December/008087.html">raised on this list</a> back in December. </p>
<p>We have decided not to pursue that proposal, and to leave the name of the license the same. However, there is a possibility of using the &#8220;Commercial Rights Reserved&#8221; language in messaging and other informational materials about the license to make the function of the license clearer.</p>
<p>We are continuing to work on the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35773">other action items</a> to improve understanding around the NC and ND licenses.</p>
<p>We received a lot of valuable feedback on the Commercial Rights Reserved proposal, and ultimately, there were many strong arguments both for and against it. One point that was broadly recognized, however, was that a change of the license name would be difficult to communicate and require a fair amount of time, effort, and in some cases expense, and a change would have to justify this cost. After evaluating the feedback, we believe that the case for changing the name was not strong enough for this.</p>
<p><strong>Some common arguments in favor:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>It avoids the problem of licensors selecting an NC license due to misunderstanding based on the name.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Some of the use of NonCommercial comes from licensors who choose to use it based on the name alone. More specifically, some licensors are choosing NC because they intend to use their work only for non-commercial purposes. They may be choosing NC without considering that it also restricts licensees.</p></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>It is more descriptive of the way the license operates.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Many license users are confused about the actual operation of the NonCommercial license. Some believe, for example, that it is to be placed on works that are not meant to be commercialized at all, including by the licensors themselves. CRR describes what it does, not what it doesn’t.</p></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The proposed name would help make some CC business models clear.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Many potential licensors are not aware that you can use CC licenses as part of a business model that includes reserving rights for paid use. A license with a name that is more explicit about commercial rights could make it more immediately apparent that this possibility exists.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>And against:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>There is difficulty involved in any name change that potentially comes at high cost.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>The primary argument against a rename is that any switch would potentially create a great deal of confusion among the license-using community, as well as work to rebrand and relocate all of the materials currently referring to NonCommercial.</p></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>A name change may lead to licensors adopting this license instead of more free licenses.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Changing the name to “Commercial Rights Reserved” may attract some licensors to use it who were not previously thinking about the possibility of leveraging their commercial rights and might otherwise have used a free license.
</p></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The name would be harder to understand.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>“Commercial Rights Reserved” is more “legalese” than “NonCommercial”. Potential licensors who wish to use a no-commercial-use license may not understand that this would meet their needs, leading them to avoid using CC licenses altogether.</p></blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The change would not satisfy the desires of those critical of NC.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Though it would be intended to address some of the criticisms of NonCommercial license, many would see the rename as too small a change to meaningfully address their concerns.</p></blockquote>
<p>Many thanks to those of you who offered feedback, both on and off the lists; while we have ultimately decided not to make this change, the comments we received in the consultation process contained a lot of useful insight and information that we&#8217;ll take into account when revising and creating new educational materials around the 4.0 licenses.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36675
title: Apply now for 2013 Google Policy Fellowship at Creative Commons
uri: Apply-now-for-2013-Google-Policy-Fellowship-at-Creative-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36675
content:
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/policyfellowship"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-25052" title="goog policy fellowship" src="media/41b64c90.goog-policy-fellowship.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/goog-policy-fellowship.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="166" /></a></p>
<p>For the fifth year, Creative Commons will take part in the <a href="http://www.google.com/policyfellowship">Google Policy Fellowship</a> program. It&#8217;s fantastic to see that Google has expanded the number and diversity of groups involved in the fellowship program. This year there are <a href="http://policybythenumbers.blogspot.com/2013/02/apply-for-2013-google-policy-fellowship.html">participating organizations</a> from Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America. </p>
<blockquote><p>The Google Policy Fellowship program offers undergraduate, graduate, and law students interested in Internet and technology policy the opportunity to spend the summer contributing to the public dialogue on these issues, and exploring future academic and professional interests. Fellows will have the opportunity to work at public interest organizations at the forefront of debates on broadband and access policy, content regulation, copyright and trademark reform, consumer privacy, open government, and more.</p></blockquote>
<p>The 2013 Google Policy Fellow will receive a grant to work at Creative Commons’ office in Mountain View, California. </p>
<p>Past CC Google Policy Fellows have worked on a wide variety of projects. These have included surveying intellectual property and licensing policies of philanthropic foundations, research on the welfare impact of Creative Commons across various fields, and an investigation of the characterization of Creative Commons within U.S. legal scholarship. </p>
<p>We look for motivated candidates with partially-developed ideas in exploring a particular interest/expertise area, short research project, or related activity within the broad spectrum of open licensing and the commons. In 2013 we are particularly interested in working with fellows interested in supporting education and advocacy efforts around open policies so that publicly funded resources are openly licensed resources. One specific project we are looking for assistance on is the development of an <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Open_Policy_Network">Open Policy Network</a>. We are very flexible in accommodating project ideas that will be mutually beneficial to the candidate and CC. The project work with CC will not be supervised by an attorney. </p>
<p><strong>Please be sure to apply before March 15, 2013, and good luck.<br />
</strong></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36835
title: School of Open returns to Berlin for a workshop with Wikimedia Germany
uri: School-of-Open-returns-to-Berlin-for-a-workshop-with-Wikimedia-German
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36835
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2736/4539816870_9853ecf017.jpg"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hpnadig/4539816870/in/photostream/"><img width="" height="" src="media/2a0c0eeb.4539816870_9853ecf017.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2736/4539816870_9853ecf017.jpg" alt="Wikimedia Office in Berlin" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hpnadig/4539816870/in/photostream/"><span property="dc:title">Wikimedia Office in Berlin</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Hari Prasad Nadig</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>On March 2nd, the Creative Commons &#038; P2PU <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> will join forces with Wikimedia at the Wikimedia Germany offices in Berlin! As part of Open Education Week, <a href="http://de.creativecommons.org/">CC Germany</a> and <a href="http://www.wikimedia.de/wiki/Hauptseite">Wikimedia Germany</a> are kicking things off early with a workshop to introduce P2PU and the School of Open, and to create and translate School of Open courses in German, in addition to brainstorming ideas for new courses about Wikipedia as part of the School. </p>
<h3>Event details</h3>
<p><strong>What</strong>: School of Open workshop<br />
<strong>When</strong>: 2nd of March, 11 &#8211; 16:00<br />
<strong>Where</strong>: Wikimedia Germany Offices, Obentrautstr. 72, 10963 Berlin<br />
<strong>Who</strong>: Wikimedia Germany, Creative Commons Germany, P2PU community, all enthusiastic promoters of free knowledge with the desire to share their knowledge<br />
<strong>RSVP</strong>: Space will accommodate up to 25 participants; please send an email to legal@creativecommons.de by Feb 27th so that we can keep track of who&#8217;s coming.<br />
<strong>Language</strong>: Likely German</p>
<p>From Wikimedia Germany&#8217;s <a href="http://blog.wikimedia.de/2013/02/15/wikimedia-trifft-die-school-of-open/">blog</a> (and via Google translate),</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;We want to start the year with a workshop with Creative Commons and the initiative &#8220;School of Open&#8221;! The initiative of Creative Commons and the Peer-2-Peer University (P2PU) aims to develop online courses that help you create free content and tools to use and develop. There are English courses on Wikipedia and the use of free content, but as of yet nothing in German. Also, the subject of &#8220;free educational content&#8221; is not yet represented in courses. So there is still much to do. As part of Open Education Week further work is required.<br />
<br />
Together, we want to work intensively on the expansion of the existing courses. It will focus on tools and topics related to free access to knowledge. Anyone can create courses and remix existing courses on their own &#8212; but it&#8217;s best to share. After some brief input from Creative Commons, we will start working. So bring your ideas, and let&#8217;s share our knowledge!&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>To participate, please RSVP to legal@creativecommons.de by February 27th!</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=35267
title: White House issues directive supporting public access to publicly funded research
uri: White-House-issues-directive-supporting-public-access-to-publicly-fund
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35267
content:
<div style="float:left; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg"><a href="media/3bef1f9b.FileUS-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg"><img width="300" height="300" src="media/e26cc8d8.ostp-300.gif" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ostp-300.gif" alt="Seal of the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy" /></a>
<p align="center"><small><a href="media/3bef1f9b.FileUS-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg"><span property="dc:title">Seal of the United States Office of Science<br />and Technology Policy</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">Public Domain</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Today, the White House <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/22/expanding-public-access-results-federally-funded-research">issued a Directive</a> supporting public access to publicly-funded research. </p>
<p>John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, &#8220;has directed Federal agencies with more than $100M in R&#038;D expenditures to develop plans to make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication and requiring researchers to better account for and manage the digital data resulting from federally funded scientific research.&#8221;</p>
<p>Each agency covered by the <a href="media/652d6d11.ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf">Directive</a> (54 KB PDF) must &#8220;Ensure that the public can read, download, and analyze in digital form final peer reviewed manuscripts or final published documents within a timeframe that is appropriate for each type of research conducted or sponsored by the agency.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Directive comes out after a multi-year campaign organized by Open Access advocates, and reflects a groundswell of <a href="/weblog/entry/32727">grassroots support</a> for public access to the scientific research that the public pays for. Of course, the White House Directive is issued on the heels of the <a href="/weblog/entry/36699">introduction</a> of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR). Both the Directive and the FASTR legislation are <a href="https://plus.google.com/109377556796183035206/posts/8hzviMJeVHJ">complementary approaches</a> to ensuring that the public can access and use the scientific research it pays for. </p>
<p>We applaud this important policy Directive. While the Directive and FASTR do not specifically require the application of open licenses to the scientific research outputs funded with federal tax dollars, both actions represent crucial steps toward increasing public access to research.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36868
title: The Net Works Effect: Open Data Day 2013
uri: The-Net-Works-Effect-Open-Data-Day-2013
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36868
content:
<p><iframe width='700' height='400' frameborder='1' src='http://punkish.cartodb.com/tables/dataday/embed_map?title=false&#038;description=true&#038;search=false&#038;shareable=false&#038;cartodb_logo=true&#038;sql=&#038;zoom=1&#038;center_lat=23.885837699862005&#038;center_lon=8.4375'></iframe></p>
<p>There are many ways we can measure the effect of the work we do &#8212; count the number of objects licensed with CC licenses, count the number of users who have used CC licenses, count the number of works created by reuse of works licensed with CC licenses, perhaps many other ways. But the one that is most immediately visible, and most satisfying, is seeing events of spontaneous openness appear as is for <a href="http://opendataday.org">the international celebration of Open Data Day</a> taking place tomorrow, February 23. Well, perhaps not so spontaneous, because organizing events takes planning, work, contacts, brainstorming, publicizing, and more. </p>
<p>Our own Billy Meinke is organizing <a href="/weblog/entry/36600" target="_blank">an event at the CC HQ in Mt. View</a>, and has also written more on the event here and around the world in a <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/scied/2013/02/21/guest-post-open-data-day-sprint-courses-and-hackathons/">guest blog post on PLOS</a>. Check it out, organize an event, or <a href="http://wiki.opendataday.org/2013/City_Events" target="_blank">attend one near you</a>. Heck, attend one far away by joining in over the web where possible. After all, that is how the net works.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36913
title: School of Open will launch during Open Education Week
uri: School-of-Open-will-launch-during-Open-Education-Week
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36913
content:
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/60035152" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></p>
<p>As <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36078">promised</a>, the School of Open is launching its first set of courses during Open Education Week, <strong>March 11-15, 2013</strong>. This means that all facilitated courses will open for sign-up that week, and all stand-alone courses will be ready to take then or anytime thereafter. The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is a community of volunteers developing and running online courses on the meaning and impact of &#8220;openness&#8221; in the digital age and its benefit to creative endeavors, education, research, and beyond. <strong>To be notified when courses launch, sign up for <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open-announce">School of Open announcements</a></strong>. </p>
<h3>Facilitated courses</h3>
<p>Facilitated courses run for a set period of weeks after sign-up. Four courses will be open for sign-up the week of March 11. They are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Copyright 4 Educators (Aus)</strong> &#8211; A course for educators in Australia who want to learn about copyright, open content and licensing.</li>
<li><strong>Copyright 4 Educators (US)</strong> &#8211; A course for educators in the US who want to learn about copyright law.</li>
<li><strong>Creative Commons for K-12 Educators</strong> &#8211; A course for elementary educators who want to find and adapt free resources for their classes, and incorporate activities that teach their students digital world skills.</li>
<li><strong>Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond</strong> &#8211; A course on how to edit Wikipedia articles, focusing on articles covering the open educational resources (OER) movement.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Stand-alone courses</h3>
<p>Ten new courses will be ready to take at any time independently after March 11. They are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>A Look at Open Video</strong> &#8211; An overview of open video for students interested in developing software, video journalists, editors and all users of video who want to take their knowledge further.</li>
<li><strong>Open up your institution&#8217;s data</strong> &#8211; A course for GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) professionals interested in opening up their institution&#8217;s data.</li>
<li><strong>Contributing to Wikimedia Commons</strong> &#8211; A course to get you acquainted with uploading your works to the commons &#8211; a repository of openly licensed images from all over the world.</li>
<li><strong>dScribe: Peer-produced Open Educational Resources</strong> &#8211; A course where you can learn the ins and outs of building OER together with your peers.</li>
<li><strong>Open Science: An Introduction</strong> &#8211; A course for both seasoned and new researchers who want to learn what makes science &#8220;open&#8221;, how they can find/use/build on open scientific works, and share their contributions back to the commons.</li>
<li><strong>Open Detective</strong> &#8211; This course will explore the scale of open to non-open content and how to tell the difference.</li>
<li><strong>How to run an &#8220;open&#8221; workshop</strong> &#8211; A course to prepare people for the delivery of workshops on Free Culture, Openness and related topics in informal spaces.</li>
<li><strong>Get a CC license. Put it on your website</strong> &#8211; A simple break-down of how to apply the CC license of your choice to your website so that it aligns with marking and metadata best practices.</li>
<li><strong>Open habits: making with the DS106 Daily Create</strong> &#8211; An hour-long challenge about building openness into your daily routine.</li>
<li><strong>Teachingcopyright.org (in Spanish)</strong> &#8211; A Spanish language course based on EFF&#8217;s http://teachingcopyright.org.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Events</h3>
<p>In addition to courses, School of Open launch events are being held around the world in Germany, Kenya, Sudan, the U.S., and online. They are: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://cipitlawstrath.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/creative-commons-kenya-school-of-open-launch/">CC Kenya&#8217;s School of Open launch</a> (<strong>Feb 23 in Riruta, Kenya</strong>) &#8211; CC Kenya introduced the School of Open at the Precious Blood Secondary School this past Saturday. They hope to introduce the concept of &#8220;open&#8221; to high school students all over the country and engage them in the use of Open Education Resources (OER). Read about <a href="http://jamlab.co.ke/blog/school-of-open-initiative-kenya/">their efforts</a> so far and stay tuned for a guest blog post reporting on how it went!</li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36600">Open Science Course Sprint: An Education Hackathon for Open Data Day</a> (<strong>Feb 23 in Mountain View, US</strong>) &#8211; A sprint to build an intro course on open science also took place on Saturday. The debrief on that event is <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37060">here</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36835">P2PU&#8217;s School of Open meets Wikimedia</a> (<strong>March 3 in Berlin, Germany</strong>) &#8211; As part of Open Ed Week, CC Germany and Wikimedia Germany are putting on a workshop to create and translate School of Open courses into German, and to brainstorm ideas for new German courses about Wikipedia.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.xmlab.org/events/workshops/openvideosudan/">Open Video Sudan</a> (<strong>March 10-17 in Khartoum, Sudan</strong>) &#8211; Following on the <a href="http://info.p2pu.org/2013/01/23/open-video-course-sprint-in-berlin-for-school-of-open/">open video course sprint</a> in Berlin last year, the Open Video Forum is holding another open video course creation workshop in Sudan.</li>
<li><a href="http://lamcitizenscience-es2.eventbrite.com/">School of Open at Citizen Science Workshop</a> (<strong>March 10 in Los Angeles, US</strong>) &#8211; School of Open will join the monthly Citizen Science Workshop at the LA Makerspace to introduce the School, talk about open science data, and present the new intro to open science course.</li>
<li>P2PU: A Showcase of Open Peer Learning (<strong>March 13 on the web</strong>) &#8211; This Open Ed Week webinar led by P2PU School of Ed&#8217;s Karen Fasimpaur will showcase some of P2PU&#8217;s best learning groups spanning topics from education to open content to programming to Spanish and more. Mark your calendars to join virtually on March 13 @ 3pm US PST / 10pm GMT.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Help us launch!</h3>
<p>Here are 5 simple things you can do to get the word out to as many people as possible and make this launch a success:</p>
<ul>
<ol>1. Tweet this: </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23SchoolofOpen">#SchoolofOpen</a> will launch @<a href="https://twitter.com/openeducationwk">openeducationwk</a> (Mar 11-15). Preview courses &amp; get notified: <a href="http://t.co/LKWPoOBv6W" title="http://creativecommons.org/?p=36913">creativecommons.org/?p=36913</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23oer">#oer</a></p>
<p>&mdash; creativecommons (@creativecommons) <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/306458901405118464">February 26, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></ol>
<p></p>
<ol>2. Blog and email this:</p>
<blockquote><p>The School of Open (<a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">http://schoolofopen.org/</a>) is launching during Open Education Week, March 11-15. A community of volunteers from P2PU, Creative Commons, Open.Michigan, and Wikimedia will offer free online courses on copyright, CC licenses, Wikipedia, open science, open data, open video formats, and more. I think you would be interested in the course on <strong>[insert course title here]</strong>. Get notified when it is open for sign-up at <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open-announce">http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open-announce</a>. Read more about the launch at <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36913">http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36913</a>.</p></blockquote>
</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>3. Add and hyperlink the <a href="media/87eb877d.FileSchool_of_open_logo.png" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/File:School_of_open_logo.png">School of Open logo</a> along with the following blurb to your webpage:</p>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/9ccf81c8.School_of_open_logo.png" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/f/fd/School_of_open_logo.png" alt="school of open logo" /></a></p>
<blockquote><p>Starting March 11, School of Open is offering free online courses on what &#8220;open&#8221; means and how it can help you. Learn more at <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">http://schoolofopen.org/</a></p></blockquote>
</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>4. Share/embed this video: <a href="http://youtu.be/yRbgJzjrE5w">YouTube</a> or <a href="https://vimeo.com/60035152">Vimeo</a> (embedded above)</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>5. Print and hand out copies of this <a href="media/bf9cdfdc.School_of_Open_One_pager.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/2/26/School_of_Open_One_pager.pdf">one pager</a> (pdf)</ol>
</ul>
<p>For the next two weeks, we are reviewing and finalizing courses for launch. If you want to help with any of that, please join the School of Open <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open">discussion list</a> and introduce yourself. </p>
<hr />
<span style="font-size: 9px;">School of Open logo incorporates &quot;<a href="http://thenounproject.com/noun/unlock/#icon-No300">Unlock</a>&quot; icon from <a href="http://thenounproject.com/">The Noun Project</a> collection / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></span></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36906
title: OERu: Distinctively Open
uri: OERu-Distinctively-Open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36906
content:
<p>While mainstream attention has been focused on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course">MOOCs</a>, the <a href="http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/Home">Open Educational Resource university (OERu)</a> has been developing a parallel education offering which is distinctively open.</p>
<p>The OERu aims to provide free learning to all students worldwide using OER learning materials with pathways to gain credible qualifications from recognized education institutions.</p>
<p>Like MOOCs, the OERu will have free open enrollment. But OERu&#8217;s open practices go well beyond open enrollment.</p>
<p>The OERu uses an open peer review model inviting open public input and feedback on courses and programs as they are being designed. At the beginning of 2013, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority approved a new <a href="http://wikieducator.org/Another_world_first_for_Otago_Polytechnic:_OP_to_offer_full_credential_for_the_OERu">Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Education</a> to be developed as OER and offered as part of OERu offerings. OERu recently published the <a href="http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/Planning/OERu_2013_Prototype/Open_education_practice/Design_blueprint">design blueprint</a> and requested public input and feedback for the Open Education Practice elective, one of a number of blueprints for OERu courses.</p>
<p>OERu course materials are licensed using Creative Commons licenses (CC-BY or CC-BY-SA) and based solely on OER (including open textbooks). In addition, OERu course materials are designed and developed using open file formats (easy to revise, remix, and redistribute) and delivered using open-source software.</p>
<p>The OERu network offers assessment and credentialing services through its partner educational institutions on a cost-recovery basis. Through the community service mission of OERu participating institutions, OER learners have open pathways to earn formal academic credit and pay reduced fees for assessment and credit.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="media/c09f123a.OERuBlogPostImage.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/OERuBlogPostImage.png"><img src="media/78d62a1f.OERuBlogPostImage-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/OERuBlogPostImage-small.jpg" alt="OERuBlogPostImage" width="479" height="360" /></a></p>
<p>Open peer review, open public input, open educational resources, open textbooks, open file formats, open source software, open enrollments &#8211; the OERu is distinctively open. </p>
<p>Congratulations to the OERu on its second anniversary and its upcoming international launch in November.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37060
title: Debrief: Sprinting to Build an Open Science Course
uri: Debrief-Sprinting-to-Build-an-Open-Science-Course
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37060
content:
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/8507023131/in/set-72157632858124602/"><img src="media/4e39c58e.EKTWQV6.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/EKTWQV6.jpg" alt="Course Sprint Welcome Sign" width="500" height="402" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-37065" /><br /><small>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/8507023131/in/set-72157632858124602/">Billy Meinke</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/">CC-BY</a></small></a><br />
</p>
<h3>Celebrating Open Data</h3>
<p>Open Data Day 2013 can be described as a success.  Why?  Because hundreds of people participated in more than 100 events distributed across six continents <a href="http://wiki.opendataday.org/2013/City_Events">all over the world</a>, celebrating open data and all that we can do with it.  Here at CC, we planned and executed a community-supported event to build open learning resources around the topic of Open Science, done in a hackathon-style sprint event that gathered people with diverse backgrounds and experience levels. An undergraduate student and a post-doc researcher, both from Stanford.  An instructional designer from Los Angeles and an associate professor from Auburn University, plus a handful more of very talented people. Oh, and a mother and high school-aged daughter duo that simply wanted to see what “open” is about.  We all connected to help build an open course to teach others about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science">Open Science</a>.  Here’s how we did it.<br />
</p>
<h3>Open Content for Learning</h3>
<p>It’s worth mentioning that the course materials that were produced during the sprint will be openly licensed <a href="/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a> and shared so that their benefit to Open Education and Open Science are not restricted by legal boundaries.  The material is being curated and will undergo a review process over the next couple weeks before being ported to the <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a>, a collaborative project by Creative Commons, P2PU, and a strong volunteer community of “open” experts and organizations.  Though fitting the content to P2PU’s <a href="https://p2pu.org/">online course platform</a> was in the back of our minds, time and consideration were largely placed on identifying important ideas that explain what Open Access, Open Research, and Open Data mean for Open Science, and how we can engage more “young scientists” (this is an ever-broadening term) in the ways of <a href="http://creativecommons.org/videos/wanna-work-together">Open</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/8508188948/sizes/z/in/set-72157632858124602/"><img src="media/3418e679.4hdkSi7-e1361993446664.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/4hdkSi7-e1361993446664.jpg" alt="Course Sprinters" width="500" height="375" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-37063" /><br /><small>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/8508188948/in/set-72157632858124602//">Billy Meinke</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/">CC-BY</a></small></a><br />
</p>
<h3>The Net Works Effect*</h3>
<p>Adding a layer on top of open content itself, which is elastic in nature, our approach to this hackathon-style event focused on being very lean, the type of event that can be run by anyone, anywhere, and requiring very few resources.  We created a Google Drive folder and a set of publicly-editable documents to collect openly-licensed resources, map out a tentative module/lesson plan, coordinate communications between participants, and generally provide a single place to collaborate on Open Science learning materials.  Connecting with other event organizers at the <a href="http://www.okfn.org">OKFN</a> and <a href="http://www.plos.org">PLOS</a>, mailing lists, Twitter hashtags, and other forms of communication were established so that there was a support network for those who were organizing events and those who were interested in participating in Open Data Day events on some level.  <a href="https://twitter.com/daeaves">David Eaves</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rufuspollock">Rufus Pollock</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rmounce">Ross Mounce</a>, and many others were loud and clear on the Open Data Day mailing list, making sure news about each event was passed around.</p>
<div align="center">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Dozens of <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23opendataday">#opendataday</a> events taking place tomorrow, all over the world. <a href="http://t.co/rO1jvUdmNy" title="http://bit.ly/13b0C91">bit.ly/13b0C91</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23opendata">#opendata</a></p>
<p>&mdash; creativecommons (@creativecommons) <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/305032465838399489">February 22, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<p>Before the event, a registration page was created for the course sprint.  We offered a handful of in-person tickets for folks to come down to our office in Mountain View, as well as a number of remote participant tickets for those who were in different geographical locations.  Google Hangout “rooms” were set up on laptop computers placed in physical conference rooms at the CC HQ, allowing remote participants to work in real-time with persons on the ground.  To see a more detailed description of the day’s event, see the schedule document <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iaSnS_wLV97onzYMRYFMimbJ3c4F0p1DRfOLzlBhT_I/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>.</p>
<h3>Deliverables</h3>
<p>So what did we make?  The sprinters involved in the project collected and organized resources that explain common aspects of Open Science.  The main sections (access, methods, data) were helpful in searching for content, but there was a great deal of overlap between sections, which highlighted the relationhips between them.  Beyond the collection of resources, sets of tasks were built that are meant to guide learners out beyond the course and into the communities of Open Science, interacting with the ideas, technical systems, and people who are opening up science.  The <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/5/open-science-an-introduction/">Introduction to Open Science course</a> on P2PU is still in a lightly-framed state, but the plan is to include the course in the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36913">launch of the School of Open</a> during <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/">Open Education Week</a>, March 11-15.  If you’re interested in helping make this transition or to help build or review other courses that we call “open,” come introduce yourself in the School of Open Google Group.  Or check out what else is happening on <a href="http://www.p2pu.org">P2PU</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/5/content/12/"><img src="media/289f638b.Screen-Shot-2013-02-27-at-11.42.58-AM-e1361994257552.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-Shot-2013-02-27-at-11.42.58-AM-e1361994257552.png" alt="Open Research Module of Course" width="500" height="316" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-37067" /></a></p>
<p>Beyond the course itself, we’re going to take a look at the sprint process we used, and work out some of the kinks. This rapid open-content creation technique is manageable, low-cost, and builds the Commons.  There’s enough openly-licensed content existing on the web to produce a range of learning experiences, so now it seems that it’s a matter of developing open technology tools to the point where we can build education on the web together, easily.  For more information about this and other Open Education projects being worked on by Creative Commons, see <a href="http://creativecommons.org/education">this page</a>.</p>
<h3>We Got Together for Open</h3>
<p>Thanks to those who were able to participate in the Open Science course, as well as those who contributed the planning documents leading up to the event.  We’ve done well.</p>
<h4>Related Posts</h4>
<p>PLOS Sci-Ed Blog, <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/scied/2013/02/21/guest-post-open-data-day-sprint-courses-and-hackathons/">Guest Post: Open Data Day, Course Sprints, and Hackathons!</a><br />
David Eaves’ Blog, <a href="http://eaves.ca/2013/02/13/international-opendataday-now-at-90-cities-and-the-white-house/">International #OpenDataDay: Now at 90 Cities (and… the White House)</a><br />
Debbie Morrison’s Blog, <a href="http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/a-course-design-sprint-my-experience-in-an-education-hackathon/">A Course Design ‘Sprint’: My Experience in an Education Hackathon</a></p>
<p>Also: The Flickr album from the event can be found <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/sets/72157632858124602/">here</a>.</p>
<p>*This phrase coined by P. Kishor <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36868" title="The Net Works Effect: Open Data Day 2013">here</a>, describing the interconnectedness of Open Data Day events.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37014
title: Join us in Buenos Aires for our Global Summit 2013
uri: Join-us-in-Buenos-Aires-for-our-Global-Summit-2013
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37014
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/2547592543/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/2547592543/"><img src="media/8ea6b604.buenosaires1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/buenosaires1.jpg" alt="Night over the bridge" width=500 height=285 border=0 /><br /><small> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/2547592543/">Night over the bridge</a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Luis Argerich</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></a></p>
<p>Finally the announcement you&#8217;ve all been waiting for &#8211; the Creative Commons Global Summit 2013 will be held from 21 to 24 August in beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina.</p>
<p>This biannual gathering of CC friends and family will be co-hosted by our local Creative Commons affiliates, <a href="http://www.vialibre.org.ar/">Fundación Vía Libre</a> and <a href="http://www.wikimedia.org.ar/">Wikimedia Argentina</a> and will take place at the <a href="http://www.centroculturalsanmartin.com/">San Martín Cultural Center</a>. We&#8217;re particularly excited by the choice of Buenos Aires as the host city &#8211; not only because it is a world-renowned cultural hub and the home to some fabulous open access projects, but also because this is the first time our global community will meet in a Spanish-speaking country. </p>
<p>The event will bring together Creative Commons affiliates from the around the world with the CC board, its staff, key stakeholders, local representatives, and others interested in the present and future of the commons. Attendees will discuss strategies to strengthen Creative Commons and its worldwide community, learn about the latest developments in the commons movement worldwide, and showcase local and international projects that use Creative Commons licenses. Topics covered will include the implementation of open policies in areas such as government, education, culture, business, science, data, and more, as well as related topics such as free software, license development, collecting societies, and copyright advocacy. Watch for a call for papers/workshops/events soon.</p>
<p>The event is free for all attendees, although registration is required, and will include a Spanish-language stream to highlight the expertise of the local community. You can find out more information at our wiki site <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013">here</a>.</p>
<p>We hope to see you in Buenos Aires in August.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37114
title: CC News: White House Supports Open Access
uri: CC-News-White-House-Supports-Open-Access
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37114
content:
<p align="center">
		<a href="/weblog/entry/37114?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Creative Commons" border="0" src="media/cfc4fd92.cclogo-450.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cclogo-450.png" width=450 height=108 /></a></p>
<p align="center">
		<em>Stay up to date with CC news by <a href="https://creativecommons.net/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">subscribing to our newsletter</a> and following us on <a href="http://twitter.com/creativecommons">Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p>
	<strong>Top stories:</strong></p>
<table cellpadding="10" width="700">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/numats/8444747015/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/36713?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Law Books" height="160" src="media/e71f697a.lawbooks-250.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/lawbooks-250.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/numats/8444747015/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Law Books</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Kolinio Niumataiwalu</span> / <a href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p>
We&#8217;re nearing the finish line for version 4.0 of the CC license suite. <a href="/weblog/entry/36713?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Find out what&#8217;s new in Draft 3</strong></a> and what issues are stil being discussed.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ioerror/335161549" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/36913?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="School of Open" height="160" src="media/d6b16d3c.201210-soo.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/201210-soo.png" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-open/">School of Open logo</a></small></p>
<p>
Join the School of Open! <a href="/weblog/entry/36913?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Our first classes are officially launching on March 11</strong></a>, as a part of the Open Education Week celebration.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47993455@N00/8246896348/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/35267?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Seal of the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy" height="160" src="media/4d9e2860.executiveseal-science-240.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/executiveseal-science-240.png" width="240" /></a><br /><a href="media/3bef1f9b.FileUS-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US-OfficeOfScienceAndTechnologyPolicy-Seal.svg" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">US Office of Science and Technology Policy</span></a><br /><a href="/publicdomain/mark/1.0/" rel="license">Public Domain</a></small></p>
<p>
The White House has issued a <a href="/weblog/entry/35267?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>groundbreaking directive</strong></a> supporting public access to publicly funded research.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/8139708904/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/37060?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Open Science Brainstorming" height="160" src="media/42fdb524.sciencesprint.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/sciencesprint.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67338640@N04/8508188948/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Open Science Brainstorming</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Billy Meinke</span> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>
Creative Commons, PLOS, and OKFN hosted a course sprint last weekend to <a href="/weblog/entry/37060?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>develop a new open science curriculum</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>
		<strong>In other news:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
We&#8217;ve just announced the location of the 2013 Creative Commons Global Summit. <strong><a href="/weblog/entry/37014?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Join us in Buenos Aires, Argentina</a></strong>, August 21-24!</li>
<p></p>
<li>
A new bill in the US congress would drastically expand public access to federally funded research. <strong><a href="/weblog/entry/36699?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Get the facts on FASTR</a></strong>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Remember the contest to find a <a href="/weblog/entry/35535?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>CC-licensed alternative to the Happy Birthday Song</strong></a>? <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/FMA/blog/Announcing_the_Happy_Birthday_Replacement_Songs"><strong>Listen to the winners!</strong></a>
</li>
<p></p>
<li>
<a href="/weblog/entry/36681?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>The CC Arab World community recently gathered</strong></a> to celebrate ten years of CC and discuss the future of the open Internet in the Middle East.
</li>
<p></p>
<li>A few weeks ago, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton unveiled the Open Book Project, <a href="/weblog/entry/36421?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>an initiative to expand access to free, high-quality educational materials in Arabic</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>
For the fifth year, Creative Commons is participating in the Google Policy Fellowship program. If you&#8217;re interested in working on CC&#8217;s education and advocacy initiatives, <a href="/weblog/entry/36675?utm_campaign=newsletter_1302&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>find out how to apply</strong></a>.</li>
<p></p>
<li>
<a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/voyaging-into-the-wonderland-of-expired-copyright-artwork"><strong>Vice ran a great interview</strong></a> with Adam Green, cofounder of the Public Domain Review.</li>
<p></p>
</ul>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37146
title: Why Open Science Training matters
uri: Why-Open-Science-Training-matters
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37146
content:
<div id="attachment_37147" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 810px"><a href="media/54a3ac3a.osti_cc.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/osti_cc.jpg"><img src="media/54a3ac3a.osti_cc.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/osti_cc.jpg" alt="Open Science Training" width="800" height="225" class="size-full wp-image-37147" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sophie Kershaw at CC HQ</p></div>
<p>Hanging around with our own kind, we in the open science community might get lulled into thinking that everyone out there thinks like us. In reality, most scientists actually <em>do</em> science instead of worrying about whether or not it is <em>open</em>. However, even though some of their practices align with open science objectives, there is much more that can be done proactively to engender an open commons of science.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/sophie.kershaw/" title="Sophie Kershaw" target="_blank">Sophie Kershaw</a>, doctoral student in computational biology at University of Oxford, came up with the idea of injecting <a href="http://opensciencetraining.com" title="Open Science Training Initiative" target="_blank">Open Science Training</a> in formal curriculum, and teaching young scientists about Open while they are still young and learning about the scientific method, as part of her <a href="http://okfn.org" title="OKF" target="_blank">Open Knowledge Foundation</a> supported <a href="http://blog.okfn.org/2012/03/30/introducing-our-panton-fellows/" title="Panton Fellowship" target="_blank">Panton Fellowship</a>. In Sophie&#8217;s words:</p>
<blockquote><p>
As the Open Science movement gathers pace, we are seeing developments in policy and infrastructure to support the transition of academia towards Open practices. Despite this, there is a considerable lag in awareness within the academic community itself &#8211; many researchers either haven&#8217;t heard about Open, or know the term but don&#8217;t know how to put it into practice! From a show of hands on the first day of my Open Science Training Initiative (OSTI), only ONE grad student out of 43 had heard of open science. It is now time for us all to step up our efforts in educating our academics in licensing, open access and data management, preferably through provision of pre-doctoral training. Our first research group plays a huge role in shaping our research outlook, but this leaves us with a huge variability in the level of awareness that students develop. Some will pitch up in a very forward-thinking group, where licensing, collaboration and data archiving is the order of the day, while others are left without this kind of information. Pre-doctoral training will ensure continuity of provision for ALL our science grads, enabling them to make their own decisions with confidence.
</p></blockquote>
<p>This kind of practical intervention delivered right to young scientists sounds like a great idea, and as Sophie says, reactions to the first edition of OSTI seem to confirm that:</p>
<blockquote><p>
Students from the inaugural OSTI came out strongly in favour of receiving training in licensing and engaging in debate on development of the publication process: furthermore, they&#8217;ve shown that while lectures are handy, hands-on experience is the best way to learn about how to license, how to release data, how to communicate science. We need to emphasize delivery of a coherent research story &#8211; comprising appropriately licensed data, code and writing &#8211; rather than merely the traditional written report. We need to make our young researchers see themselves as research users as much as research producers. Over time, this should help our newest grads deliver verifiable, reproducible research with vast potential for further development and scientific impact.
</p></blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://opensciencetraining.com" title="Open Science Training Initiative" target="_blank">Open Science Training Initiative</a> is not an idea with immediate returns. Instead, it is for bringing about long-term change so the next generation of scientists and beyond proactively default to open. There are challenges ahead, such as creating right formats for different conditions and audiences, finding right partners who would incorporate OSTI in their courses, and scaling to reach the next generation of scientists all over the world. But, it is an idea we consider worth supporting, because the potential returns are lasting in nature.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37134
title: Join us: Open Education Week (11-15 March)
uri: Join-us-Open-Education-Week-(11-15-March)
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37134
content:
<p><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/"><img src="media/5398ce90.562x252-oew-web-banner.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/562x252-oew-web-banner.jpg" alt="562x252-oew-web-banner" width="562" height="252" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-36267" /></a></p>
<p>It is time to celebrate and spread the dream that everyone in the world can access a high quality, affordable education if we collectively share our educational resources and spend our public resources wisely!</p>
<p>The second annual <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/">Open Education Week</a> will take place March 11-15, 2013 (see <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/events-webinars/">schedule</a>).  Open Education Week is a five-day celebration of the global Open Education movement, featuring online and local events around the world, video showcases of open education projects, and lots of information. The week is designed to raise awareness of both the movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. </p>
<p>Open Education refers to the growing set of practices that promote the sharing high quality, openly licensed educational resources (<a href="http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education-program/open-educational-resources">OER</a>) and support for learners to access education anywhere, anytime. Open Education incorporates educational networks, open teaching and learning materials, open textbooks, open data, open scholarship, and open-source educational tools.</p>
<p>As part of Open Education Week, Creative Commons and its affiliates are hosting and participating in local events and webinars on OER, <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/4.0">Version 4.0</a> of the CC licenses, the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Open_Policy_Network">Open Policy Network</a>, School of Open, and more. In addition, the <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> will officially launch its first set of courses next week, including courses on copyright and Creative Commons for educators. Courses will be free to take and free to reuse and remix under P2PU&#8217;s default <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> licensing policy. </p>
<p>And a special thanks to our friends at the <a href="http://www.ocwconsortium.org/">OpenCourseWare Consortium</a> for organizing the 2nd annual Open Education Week.</p>
<p>See you all next week!</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37179
title: Welcome to the School of Open, Class of 2013
uri: Welcome-to-the-School-of-Open-Class-of-2013
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37179
content:
<p>Happy <a href="http://openeducationweek.org/">Open Education Week</a>! We are happy to announce that the School of Open community has launched its <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">first set of courses</a>&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2242/2179890962_dbc2541761_z.jpg?zz=1"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179890962/in/photostream/"><img src="media/39b24f87.blimp.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/blimp.jpg" alt="" border=0 /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span> <span property="cc:attributionName">The Library of Congress</span> / <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html#noknown">No known copyright restrictions</a><br /></small></p>
<h3>Sign up for these facilitated courses</h3>
<p> this week (sign-up will remain open through Sunday, March 17). These courses will start the week of March 18 (next week!). To sign up, simply click the &#8220;Start Course&#8221; button under the course&#8217;s menu navigation on the left.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/147/copyright-for-educators-us/">Copyright 4 Educators (US)</a></strong> &#8211; <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/147/copyright-for-educators-us/">Sign up</a> if you&#8217;re an educator who wants to learn about US copyright law in the education context.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/111/copyright-4-educators-aus/">Copyright 4 Educators (AUS)</a></strong> &#8211; <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/111/copyright-4-educators-aus/">Sign up</a> if you&#8217;re an educator who wants to learn about Australian copyright, statutory licenses and open educational resources (OER).</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/9/creative-commons-for-k-12-educators/">Creative Commons for K-12 Educators</a></strong> &#8211; <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/9/creative-commons-for-k-12-educators/">Sign up</a> if you&#8217;re a K-12 educator (anywhere in the world) who wants to learn how to find and adapt free, useful resources for your classroom, and incorporate activities that teach your students digital world skills.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/49/writing-wikipedia-articles-the-basics-and-beyond/">Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond</a></strong> &#8211; <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/49/writing-wikipedia-articles-the-basics-and-beyond/">Sign up</a> if you want to learn how to edit Wikipedia or improve your editing skills &#8212; especially if you are interested in and knowledgeable about open educational resources (OER) (however, no background in this area is required).</li>
</ul>
<h3>All other courses are now ready for you to take</h3>
<p> at any time, with or without your peers. They include:</p>
<ul>
<li>    <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/3/get-a-cc-license-put-it-on-your-website/">Get a CC license. Put it on your website</a></strong> &#8211; This course is exactly what the title says: it will help you with the steps of getting a CC license and putting it on your work. It’s tailored to websites, although the same steps apply to most other works.</li>
<li>    <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/5/open-science-an-introduction/">Open Science: An Introduction</a></strong> &#8211; This course is a collaborative learning environment meant to introduce the idea of Open Science to young scientists, academics, and makers of all kinds. Open Science is a tricky thing to define, but we&#8217;ve designed this course to share what we know about it, working as a community to make this open resource better.</li>
<li>    <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/nl/groups/open-glam/">Open data for GLAMs</a></strong> (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) &#8211; This course is for professionals in cultural institutions who are interested in opening up their data as open culture data. It will guide you through the different steps towards open data and provide you with extensive background information on how to handle copyright and other possible issues.</li>
<li>    <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/140/intro-to-openness-in-education/">Intro to Openness in Education</a></strong> &#8211; This is an introductory course exploring the history and impacts of openness in education. The main goal of the course is to give you a broad but shallow grounding in the primary areas of work in the field of open education.</li>
<li>    <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/groups/a-look-at-open-video/">A Look at Open Video</a></strong> &#8211; This course will give you a quick overview of some of the issues, tools and areas of interest in the area of open video. It is aimed at students interested in developing software, video journalists, editors and all users of video who want to take their knowledge further.</li>
<li>    <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/groups/contributing-to-wikimedia-commons/">Contributing to Wikimedia Commons</a></strong> &#8211; A sister project of Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons is a repository of openly licensed images that people all over the world use and contribute to. This challenge gets you acquainted with uploading your works to the commons.</li>
<li>    <strong><a href="http://beta.p2pu.org/en/courses/8/open-detective/">Open Detective</a></strong> &#8211; This course will help you explore the scale of open to non-open content and how to tell the difference.</li>
</ul>
<p>And more&#8230; check out all the courses at <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">http://schoolofopen.org/</a>.</p>
<h3>Join a launch event this week</h3>
<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/2013/03/first-class-of-2013-v2.jpg"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/p2puniversity/8550419058/in/set-72157632976395960/"><img src="media/311dd359.first-class-of-2013-v3.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/first-class-of-2013-v3.jpg" alt="" border=0 /></a><br /><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/p2puniversity/8550419058/in/set-72157632976395960/"><span property="dc:title">School of Open at the Citizen Science Workshop</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Levi Simons</span> / <a rel="license" href="="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a><br /></small></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="http://openeducationweek2013.sched.org/event/f2c34fd5507ea38a9d794e0af8a7bd51?iframe=no&#038;w=900&#038;sidebar=no&#038;bg=no#.UT42HtHfZR5">P2PU: A Showcase of Open Peer Learning</a> (Wednesday, March 13)</strong> &#8211; Join this webinar to see a showcase of some of P2PU&#8217;s best learning groups spanning topics from education to open content to programming to Spanish and more, and learn how you can participate.</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.xmlab.org/events/workshops/openvideosudan/">Open Video Sudan</a> (all week, March 10-17)</strong> &#8211; Join the Open Video Forum in improving &#8220;<a href="https://p2pu.org/en/groups/a-look-at-open-video/">A Look at Open Video</a>&#8221; and creating new courses and resources on open video in Sudan.</li>
</ul>
<p>And more events as part of Open Education Week at <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/events-webinars/">http://www.openeducationweek.org/events-webinars/</a>. </p>
<h3>Spread the word</h3>
<p>Just do these 3 things and call it a day.</p>
<ul>
<ol>1. Tweet this: </p>
<blockquote><p>#SchoolofOpen has launched! Take free courses on #copyright, #OER, #openscience &#038; more: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37179</p></blockquote>
</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>2. Blog and email this:</p>
<blockquote><p>The School of Open has launched! Take a free online course on copyright, CC licenses, Wikipedia, open science, open culture, open video formats, and more at <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">http://schoolofopen.org/</a>. Especially check out this course: [link to course of your choice here]. Read more about the launch at <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37179">http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37179</a>.</p></blockquote>
</ol>
<ol>3. Print out a copy of <a href="media/bf9cdfdc.School_of_Open_One_pager.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/2/26/School_of_Open_One_pager.pdf">this pdf</a> and pin it to the bulletin board at your work, school, or local coffee shop.</ol>
</ul>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37155
title: Want to work in open? Intern with CC!
uri: Want-to-work-in-open-Intern-with-CC
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37155
content:
<div id="attachment_37255" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="media/4868b382.CameraAwesomePhoto_3.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CameraAwesomePhoto_3.jpg"><img src="media/8f70164e.CameraAwesomePhoto_3-300x225.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CameraAwesomePhoto_3-300x225.jpg" alt="Current intern Billy (right) models swag with other CC staff" width="400" height="" class="size-medium wp-image-37255" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><small> Recent intern Billy (right) models swag with other CC staff / Meryl Mohan / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p></div>
<p>CC is once again opening its doors up to interns this US summer, offering opportunities to those with an interest in community development. </p>
<p>The 2013 Community Support Intern will work with our staff to facilitate CC’s global volunteer network and provide general support for our international activities. This means everything from assisting with coordinating collaborative projects to writing information resources and planning community events. This year will be particularly exciting, as the intern will be helping with preparation for our Global Summit in Buenos Aires, our bi-annual community meeting and single largest outreach event. </p>
<p>The position, which is open to enrolled students of any discipline or level, runs for 10 weeks over June-August here in our Mountain View office. International applicants are strongly encouraged and overseas experience is a plus, although you need to be eligible to work abroad through your university and/or a third-party work-study program. Creative Commons believes strongly in the skills development benefits of internships, and work tasks can be tailored to meet the intern&#8217;s interests and experience.</p>
<p>For more information and instructions on how to apply, see our <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#commsupp">Opportunities</a> page.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37278
title: California Unveils Bill to Provide Openly Licensed, Online College Courses for Credit
uri: California-Unveils-Bill-to-Provide-Openly-Licensed-Online-College-Cou
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37278
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headingtonmedia/7016773541/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headingtonmedia/7016773541/"><img width="300" height="225" src="media/ae58a4bc.ca-assembly.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ca-assembly.jpg" alt="California Seal of the Assembly" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headingtonmedia/7016773541/"><span property="dc:title">California Seal of the Assembly</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headingtonmedia/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Edward Headington</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Today California (CA) Senate President pro Tem <a href="http://sd06.senate.ca.gov/home">Darrell Steinberg</a> (author of the CA <a href="/weblog/entry/34288">open textbook legislation</a>) announced that <a href="http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0501-0550/sb_520_bill_20130221_introduced.html">SB 520</a> (<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/618025-california-sb-520-fact-sheet.html">fact sheet</a>) will be amended to provide open, online college courses for credit. In short, the bill will allow CA students, enrolled in CA public colleges and universities, to take online courses from a pool of 50 high enrollment, introductory courses, offered by 3rd parties, in which CA students cannot currently gain access from their public CA university or community college. Students must already be enrolled in the CA college or university in which they want to receive credit. The 50 courses and plans for their assessment will be reviewed and approved (or not) by a faculty committee prior to being admitted into this new online course marketplace.</p>
<p>See these articles for details about the initiative:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/education/california-bill-would-force-colleges-to-honor-online-classes.html">New York Times</a></li>
<li><a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/03/13/california-shifts-the-ground-under-higher-education/">Chronicle of Higher Education</a> (<a href="http://chronicle.com/article/A-Bold-Move-Toward-MOOCs-Sends/137903/">#2</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/13/california-bill-encourage-mooc-credit-public-colleges">Inside Higher Education</a> (<a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/14/california-educational-factions-eye-plan-offer-mooc-credit-public-colleges">#2</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/education/article/Calif-bill-would-permit-online-courses-for-credit-4351911.php">San Francisco Chronicle</a></li>
<li><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/03/steinberg-to-introduce-bill-to-get-college-credit-for-online-courses.html">Los Angeles Times</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-california-legislation-to-provide-mooc-courses-full-academic-credit-2013-03-13">Market Watch</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Why is this important?</h3>
<ol>
<li>400,000+ California students cannot get a space (in-class or online) in the general education courses they need to progress in their academic career. That&#8217;s a major problem. This is one part of the solution.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Creative Commons (CC) has been <a href="/weblog/entry/34852">actively working</a> with all of the major Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) providers, encouraging them to adopt CC licenses on their courses. These conversations continue, but they have been slowed by the MOOCs&#8217; need to explore revenue models. MOOCs licensing content to education institutions has been floated as one possible revenue model, which has slowed MOOCs&#8217; willingness to make it easy for contributing colleges and universities to CC license their courses.</li>
<p></p>
<li>CC has learned that this new CA online marketplace will require open licenses on all courses and textbooks as a condition for participation. That is, if Udacity, Coursera, edX, StraighterLine, Future Learn, or anyone else wants its courses to be considered for use in this initiative, the courses and textbooks will first need to be openly licensed. CC is pleased that Senator Steinberg plans to leverage California&#8217;s existing open textbook investment (all textbooks will be licensed under CC BY).</li>
</ol>
<p>CC has recommended the marketplace only allow courses and textbooks openly licensed with any of the CC licenses that allow derivatives (or <a href="/about/cc0">CC0</a>) or similar open copyright licenses. Specifically, CC recommended that these <a href="/licenses/">licenses</a> be allowed:</p>
<ul>
<li>BY</li>
<li>BY SA</li>
<li>BY NC</li>
<li>BY NC-SA</li>
</ul>
<p>Conversely, CC recommended <em><strong>not</strong></em> allowing courses into the marketplace if they are licensed:</p>
<ul>
<li>all rights reserved</li>
<li>BY ND</li>
<li>BY NC-ND</li>
<li>with any other restrictive licenses that do not comply with the <a href="http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education-program/open-educational-resources">Hewlett OER Definition</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The text discussing &#8220;open&#8221; in <a href="http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0501-0550/sb_520_bill_20130221_introduced.html">SB 520</a> reads:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>(b) For purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings:(1) &#8220;Online courses of study&#8221; means any of the following: (A) Online teaching, learning, and research resources, including, but not necessarily limited to, books, course materials, video materials, interactive lessons, tests, or software, the copyrights of which have expired, or have been released with an intellectual property license that permits their free use or repurposing by others without the permission of the original authors or creators of the learning materials or resources.</em></p></blockquote>
<p>Like the CA open textbook bills, this project is being staffed by Dean Florez (former CA Senate President pro Tem) and the staff at the <a href="http://www.20mm.org/">20MM Foundation</a>. They have done amazing open policy work in CA and should be congratulated! CC worked closely with 20MM on the open textbooks project and will again on this initiative.</p>
<h3>Bottom line</h3>
<ol>
<li>This could be the market demand for openly licensed courses and textbooks that will provide incentives for MOOCs to adopt open licenses.</li>
<li>If this model is successful in California, it could be adopted in other states, provinces and nations. What if all governments made the following promise to their citizens?</li>
</ol>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;No college student in [X] will be denied the right to move through their education because they couldn&#8217;t get a seat in the course they needed.&#8221;</em> &#8211; Steinberg, &#8220;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/education/california-bill-would-force-colleges-to-honor-online-classes.html">California Bill Seeks Campus Credit for Online Study</a>&#8221; (New York Times) </p></blockquote>
<p>And as governments innovate and create new education marketplaces for their citizens, to ensure affordable access and academic progress, what if they (like Steinberg) required those education spaces to use openly licensed courses and textbooks?</p>
<p>Senator Steinberg continues to leverage 21st-century technologies, open licensing, and the collective strength of the academy and innovative entrepreneurs to ensure that students can access a high quality, affordable education.  That&#8217;s leadership.  <strong>Well done, Senator.</strong></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37360
title: CC News: Enroll in the School of Open
uri: CC-News-Enroll-in-the-School-of-Open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37360
content:
<p align="center">
		<a href="/weblog/entry/37360?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Creative Commons" border="0" src="media/cfc4fd92.cclogo-450.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cclogo-450.png" width=450 height=108 /></a></p>
<p align="center">
		<em>Stay up to date with CC news by <a href="https://creativecommons.net/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">subscribing to our newsletter</a> and following us on <a href="http://twitter.com/creativecommons">Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<p>
	<strong>Top stories:</strong></p>
<table cellpadding="10" width="700">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ioerror/335161549" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/37179?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="School of Open" height="160" src="media/d6b16d3c.201210-soo.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/201210-soo.png" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-open/">School of Open logo</a></small></p>
<p>
<br />The wait is over. <a href="/weblog/entry/37179?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>The School of Open is now in session</strong></a>. Enroll now in a facilitated course or learn at your own pace.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headingtonmedia/7016773541/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/37278?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="California Seal of the Assembly" height="160" src="media/3201f57c.ca-assembly-250.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ca-assembly-250.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/headingtonmedia/7016773541/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">California Seal of the Assembly</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Edward Headington</span> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>
Big news from California: a new bill in the legislature would allow university students to <strong><a href="/weblog/entry/37278?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter">take CC-licensed, online classes for credit</a></strong>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/" style="text-align:center" xmlns:cc="/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/37362?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Bassel" height="160" src="media/b9c6379c.201301-bassel.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/201301-bassel.jpg" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/" rel="cc:attributionURL"><span property="dc:title">Bassel</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Joi Ito</span> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>
As of this Friday, CC Syria lead Bassel Khartabil has been imprisoned for one year. <a href="/weblog/entry/37362?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>Join us in urging that Bassel be freed</strong></a>.</p>
</td>
<td style="border:1px solid gray" valign="top" width="350">
<p about="http://www.openeducationweek.org/" style="text-align:center">
					<small><a href="/weblog/entry/37060?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><img alt="Open Education Week logo" height="160" src="media/0074f3f9.oew-250.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/oew-250.png" width="250" /></a><br /><a href="http://openeducationweek.org/" rel="cc:attributionURL">Open Education Week logo</a></small></p>
<p>
<br />It&#8217;s Open Education Week! Join us all week for webinars, events, and resources to <strong><a href="/weblog/entry/37134?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter">celebrate the future of education</a></strong>.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>
		<strong>In other news:</strong></p>
<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #dddddd; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 1.5em;">
<ul>
<li>
This month, we close out our annual fundraising campaign, and <a href="/weblog/entry/37356?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter"><strong>say thank you</strong></a> to our amazing, worldwide community of commoners.
	</li>
<p></p>
<li>
Want to work in open? <strong><a href="/weblog/entry/37155?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Intern at Creative Commons!</a></strong>
	</li>
<p></p>
<li>
<strong><a href="/weblog/entry/37146?utm_campaign=newsletter_1303&#038;utm_medium=blog&#038;utm_source=newsletter">Will the next generation of scientists default to open practices?</a></strong> Learn how the Open Science Training Initiative seeks to equip young researchers now.
	</li>
<p></p>
<li>
Open access to government-funded research is finally becoming an international hot topic. <strong><a href="http://edtechfrontier.com/2013/03/10/open-access/">CC&#8217;s Paul Stacey reports</a></strong> on the progress we&#8217;ve made and the hurdles remaining.
	</li>
<p></p>
</ul>
</div>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37356
title: A Big Thank You from Creative Commons
uri: A-Big-Thank-You-from-Creative-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37356
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/8258511545/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/8258511545/"><img src="media/f1f525fd.8258511545_eb044c79d5.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8216/8258511545_eb044c79d5.jpg" alt="Larry Lessig and guest toast CC10" width="500" height="333" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/8258511545/"><span property="dc:title">Larry Lessig and guest toast CC10</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">David Kindler</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></a></p>
<p>This month marks the end of <a href="https://creativecommons.net/donate/">Creative Commons&#8217; annual fundraising campaign</a>. Thank you so much to everyone who donated or helped spread the word about the campaign.</p>
<p>The past few months have really been a whirlwind for the CC community. We <a href="http://10.creativecommons.org/">celebrated CC&#8217;s tenth anniversary around the world</a>, <a href="/weblog/entry/35906">even in Antarctica (!)</a>. We&#8217;ve seen <a href="/weblog/entry/36699">major open legislation</a> introduced in Congress, and a <a href="/weblog/entry/35267">White House directive</a> to get more serious about open access. The community <a href="/weblog/entry/37179">built a new online school</a> where anyone can learn about open. We&#8217;ve <a href="/weblog/entry/36713">entered the final stretch</a> in developing Version 4.0 of the CC licenses. We&#8217;ve <a href="/weblog/entry/36298">mourned the loss of a friend</a>, and <a href="/weblog/entry/37362">are calling for the release of another</a>. And we&#8217;ve done it all hand-in-hand with the global community of commoners.</p>
<p>From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support. Thank you for being a diverse, engaged community. Full steam ahead into the second decade.</p>
<p><em>PS: If you haven&#8217;t gotten your &#8220;Create Share Remix&#8221; T-shirt yet, <a href="https://creativecommons.net/donate/">there are still a few left</a>.</em></p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37362
title: FREEBASSEL with us this Friday
uri: FREEBASSEL-with-us-this-Friday
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37362
content:
<p><div id="attachment_37374" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 510px"><a href="media/ba39463c.FREEBASSEL-incarceration.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/FREEBASSEL-incarceration.jpg"><img src="media/3773ae78.FREEBASSEL-incarceration-300x225.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/FREEBASSEL-incarceration-300x225.jpg" alt="FREEBASSEL Amsterdam / Jackie Slowtremor" align="aligncenter" width="600" height="" class="size-medium wp-image-37374" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><small> <a href="http://twitpic.com/cbbx88">FREEBASSEL Amsterdam</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/jackislowtremor">Jackie Slowtremor</a></p></div> </small></p>
<p>This Friday, 15 March, is the one-year anniversary of the detainment of CC Syria lead Bassel Khartibil by the Syrian government. It&#8217;s also the second anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria. </p>
<p>Bassel is a software engineer who has been an important open web advocate and a big part of the CC community for many years. For the past year, CC has been supporting the <a href="http://freebassel.org/">FREEBASSEL project</a>, which aims to draw attention to his detainment and ultimately secure Bassel&#8217;s release.</p>
<p>This Friday, FREEBASSEL is planning a day of global solidarity, inviting everyone to host events, demonstrations, and parties in honor of Bassel. You can do anything &#8211; make posters, release software, translate his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil">Wikipedia entry</a>, throw a party at a local bar. Have a cheers for #FREEBASSEL and tweet the picture of your group in your local language. It&#8217;s a day to remember Bassel and spread the word. </p>
<p>You can find out about events already being organised for Free Bassel Day, or post about your own, at <a href="http://freebasselday.org/">freebasselday.org</a>. Some of the great events already being organised by the CC community include:</p>
<ul>
<li>CC France and OKFN are organising a Syrian dinner in Paris;</li>
<li>CC Netherlands and Kennisland have created a poster with information and are placing it behind metal bars throughout Amsterdam, to mimic Bassel&#8217;s incarceration;</li>
<li>CC HQ is teaming with Wikimedia and EFF to hold a FreeBassel event in San Francisco, with activities and a FREEBASSEL photo shoot.</li>
</ul>
<p>Or, most simple of all, show your support by sharing this <a href="http://vimeo.com/58531287">video </a>with your friends and <a href="http://freebassel.org/">sign the letter</a>.  </p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37414
title: Free Bassel, Free Culture
uri: Free-Bassel-Free-Culture
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37414
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kl/8559443284/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kl/8559443284/"><img src="media/822a48d2.basselposter-500.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/basselposter-500.jpg" alt="#FREEBASSEL" width="375" height="500" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kl/8559443284/"><span property="dc:title">#FREEBASSEL</span></a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/kl/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Kennisland</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></a></p>
<p>Creative Commons CEO Catherine Casserly wrote a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine-m-casserly-phd/free-bassel-free-culture_b_2867250.html">blog post for the Huffington Post</a> for the one-year anniversary of Bassel Khartabil&#8217;s arrest.</p>
<blockquote><p>Since March 15, 2012, our colleague and friend Bassel Khartabil has been in prison in Syria, held without charges and not allowed legal representation. Bassel is an open-source coder and leader of the Syrian Creative Commons program. He believes in the open Internet, and has spent the last ten years using open technologies to improve the lives of Syrians. Not only did Bassel build the CC program in his country; he worked tirelessly to build knowledge of digital literacy, educating people about online media and open-source tools.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Our work requires us to spend a lot of time looking at nuanced details &#8212; whether a certain piece of legislation supports open access to research, for example, or how to mark creative works for easier search and filtering. Bassel&#8217;s imprisonment has been a stark reminder that our work is part of a larger, global ecosystem. For Bassel and others around the world who fight for open, a free internet is not a theoretical matter. Real lives hang in the balance.</p></blockquote>
<p>Today, there are demonstrations and getherings happening all over the world in honor of Bassel. Learn more at <a href="http://freebasselday.org/">freebasselday.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=36917
title: CC Filmmakers and Festivals Change the Rules
uri: CC-Filmmakers-and-Festivals-Change-the-Rules
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36917
content:
<p>During the Academy Awards a few weeks ago, we were reminded of an interesting piece of Creative Commons history:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" align="center"><p>Who can tell us what the first Oscar-winning film to be shared under a CC license was? <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23ccfilm">#ccfilm</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23oscars">#oscars</a></p>
<p>&mdash; creativecommons (@creativecommons) <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/305859226725666817">February 25, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" align="center"><p>And the Oscar goes to&#8230; RT @<a href="https://twitter.com/alanthall">alanthall</a>: @<a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons">creativecommons</a> Was it &#8220;A story of healing&#8221;? (More info: <a href="http://t.co/GLiV3u5uDM" title="http://bit.ly/UIhDxL">bit.ly/UIhDxL</a>)</p>
<p>&mdash; creativecommons (@creativecommons) <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/305863446786891776">February 25, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>In 2007, Donna Dewey&#8217;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Story_of_Healing"><em>A Story of Healing</em></a> became <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/7402">the first Academy Award&#8211;winning film to be released under a Creative Commons license</a>. The film follows plastic surgeons from Interplast, an organization that provides free reconstructive surgery to people with injuries and congenital deformities. Interplast (which produced the film and is now known as <a href="http://www.resurge.org/">ReSurge International</a>), recognized that sharing it under a CC license could allow its message to reach more people.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/"><a href="http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/"><img width="300" height="169" src="media/0f17685a.sita-300.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/sita-300.jpg" alt="Sita Sings the Blues" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/"><span property="dc:title"><em>Sita Sings the Blues</em></span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Nina Paley</span> / <a rel="license" href="/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></small></p>
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<p>Six years later, filmmakers all around the world are using Creative Commons licenses to bring their films to new audiences. And in the process, many of them are redefining how film production and distribution can work. No, CC-licensed films aren&#8217;t sweeping the Oscars, but maybe they&#8217;ve become a part of something even more exciting.</p>
<p>For example, take Nina Paley&#8217;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sita_Sings_the_Blues"><em>Sita Sings the Blues</em></a>. Most people reading this blog post have probably seen Paley&#8217;s amazing film. (If you haven&#8217;t, <a href="http://archive.org/details/Sita_Sings_the_Blues">watch it right now</a>. We&#8217;ll be here when you get back.) But you might not know that as of 2013, Paley has placed her film in the public domain. <a href="http://blog.ninapaley.com/2013/01/18/ahimsa-sita-sings-the-blues-now-cc-0-public-domain/">Paley explains why she made the unorthodox decision</a> to waive her copyright under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0 Public Domain Declaration</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8230; I still believe in all the reasons for BY-SA, but the reality is I would never, ever sue anyone over SSTB or any cultural work. I will still publicly condemn abuses like enclosure and willful misattribution, but why point a loaded gun at everyone when I’d never fire it? CC0 is an acknowledgement I’ll never go legal on anyone, no matter how abusive and evil they are.</p></blockquote>
<div style="float:left; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.tpbafk.tv/press-kit/"><a href="http://www.tpbafk.tv/press-kit/"><img width="300" height="198" src="media/f006e945.tpb-300.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/tpb-300.jpg" alt="Gottfrid Svartholm" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.tpbafk.tv/press-kit/"><span property="dc:title">Gottfrid Svartholm</span></a> (from <em>TPB AFK</em>) / <span property="cc:attributionName">Simon Klose</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
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<p>A few weeks ago, Simon Klose released <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TPB_AFK"><em>TPB AFK</em></a>, the long-awaited, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1674066716/tpb-afk-the-pirate-bay-away-from-keyboard">Kickstarter-funded</a> documentary about the lives and legal difficulties of the founders of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay">The Pirate Bay</a>. Klose released two versions of the documentary, one licensed <a href="/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">BY-NC-ND</a> and one <a href="/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">BY-NC-SA</a>. <a href="http://www.tpbafk.tv/2013/01/why-i-chose-creative-commons-for-tpb-afk/">According to Klose</a>, the film includes six minutes of footage from a television network that wouldn&#8217;t allow adaptations, so he chose to release a remix-friendly version omitting that footage alongside the NoDerivs version. Both in Klose&#8217;s case and in Paley&#8217;s, the licenses invite types of reuse and creative participation that can get really problematic under traditional, All Rights Reserved film distribution.</p>
<p>This summer, members of the Nordic CC community are organizing the first <a href="http://www.nordicfilmfestival.cc/">Nordic Creative Commons Film Festival</a>. Organizers are inviting anyone in the region to host a screening. Venues will range from full-size theatres to small gatherings in people&#8217;s homes. (The organizers are currently looking both for volunteer organizers and for film submissions. <a href="http://www.nordicfilmfestival.cc/">Visit their website for more information</a>.)</p>
<p>The Nordic festival is the latest in a growing movement of CC film festivals that began with the <a href="http://bccn.cc/">Barcelona Creative Commons Film Festival</a>. The BccN launched in 2010 with the slogan &#8220;COPY THIS FESTIVAL.&#8221; And copy it people did, with &#8220;copies&#8221; appearing in <a href="http://www.ccbue.com.ar/festival-ccbue/">Buenos Aires</a>, <a href="http://eleconomista.com.mx/entretenimiento/2012/07/08/inicia-festival-cine-creative-commons">Mexico City</a>, <a href="http://www.livinginperu.com/eguide-638-Limas-1st-Creative-Commons-Film-Festival/">Lima</a>, <a href="http://okfestival.org/cc-hki/">Helsinki</a>, and beyond.</p>
<p>In a video message to the organizers of the Nordic CC Film Festival, CC cofounder Lawrence Lessig suggests that the film culture of the future will look less like today&#8217;s film industry and more like this festival:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JqDAzzKx2XE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Another new direction in filmmaking &#8212; which, interestingly, also originated in Spain &#8212; is Pablo Maqueda and Haizea Viana&#8217;s <a href="http://littlesecretfilm.com/">#littlesecretfilm</a>. Anyone can create a &#8220;#littlesecretfilm,&#8221; as long as her film follows a list of minimalistic rules (finish shooting in 24 hours, ad-libbed dialogue). It&#8217;s hard not to make comparisons to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_95">Dogme 95</a>, but #littlesecretfilm&#8217;s organizers stress that <a href="http://www.notodo.com/cine/plataforma/4385_littlesecretfilm_el_nuevo_dogma_95.html">they&#8217;re not trying to build a new movement</a> (interview in Spanish). The project&#8217;s manifesto describes it simply as &#8220;an act of love for the cinema,&#8221; which could also describe the global spread of CC film festivals. And of course, #littlesecretfilms must be licensed under Creative Commons.</p>
<p>Around the world, CC filmmakers and festival organizers are changing the rules of every step in the process of filmmaking, from writing and shooting to editing, distribution, and monetization. At a time when the mainstream film industry is struggling to redefine and modernize itself, the CC community isn&#8217;t waiting up.</p>
<p><em><strong>Attention CC filmmakers:</strong> Please add your projects to our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies">Case Studies</a> and post upcoming screenings to our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Events">Events</a> page. We&#8217;d love to help promote your work!</em></p>
<p><strong>Related</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://info.p2pu.org/2013/01/23/open-video-course-sprint-in-berlin-for-school-of-open/">Open Video Course Sprint in Berlin for School of Open</a></li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35503">Interview: Global Lives Project</a></li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35505">Featured platform: Vimeo</a></li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35323">CC-Licensed Documentary Explores Personality Rights Issues</a></li>
<li>Find more films on our <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/creativecommons">curated Kickstarter page</a>.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=37424
title: School of Open Kenya Initiative
uri: School-of-Open-Kenya-Initiative
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37424
content:
<p><em>This is a guest post by Kasyoka Mutunga, Precious Blood Secondary School Alumna and Executive Director of <a href="http://jamlab.co.ke">Jamlab</a>, a community of former high school students providing peer mentorship, learning through the use of open educational resources, and using the Internet to objectively achieve their goals and actualize their ideas &#8212; while actively solving issues in their communities. Kasyoka is leading the <a href="http://cipitlawstrath.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/creative-commons-kenya-school-of-open-launch/">School of Open Kenya Initiative</a> as part of the volunteer CC Kenya community.</em> </p>
<p>Young girls are teamed up in the heart of Nairobi. They are as hyperactive as any teenager would be. They have their aspirations, their goals, and their fears. From their chatter, they are afraid of the same things as I was. They are afraid of the upcoming exams, they are afraid to stay out late, they are afraid to miss the tickets to the upcoming concert, they are afraid that the pizza I ordered will be less than what they can enjoy, they are even afraid that their boyfriends are seeing other girls. However, today, sitting here I realize that there is one a major fear sparking off.</p>
<p style="text-align:none" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-in-Kenya-1.jpg"><img src="media/6ab98043.SOO-in-Kenya-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-in-Kenya-1.jpg" alt="School of Open at the Precious Blood School" border=0 /><br /><small><span property="dc:title">School of Open at the Precious Blood School</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">jamlab</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Two weeks before, Jamlab rolled out to introduce <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> ideals to young girls in the Precious Blood School. The response was overwhelming. The girls came out in huge numbers. We cheerfully <a href="http://jamlab.co.ke/blog/school-of-open-initiative-kenya/">introduced Creative Commons to them</a>. It was so intriguing that they went out and scavenged the rest of the Internet world for themselves. Soon, we were discussing the value of open in a world where &#8220;withheld&#8221; is what feels secure. We had to see the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzsjRuRO9As">James Boyle video</a> to understand exactly what we were all so afraid of when the concept of &#8220;Open&#8221; initially repelled us. The Initiative was at the end of that week launched formally at the School by the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Information and Communications, Dr Bitange Ndemo.</p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/b4771630.SOO-in-Kenya-2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-in-Kenya-2.jpg" alt="" title="Students at Precious Blood School" width="" height="" /></span><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Students at Precious Blood School</span><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">jamlab</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 70px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/f89cdb4c.SOO-in-Kenya-3.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-in-Kenya-3.jpg" alt="Dr Bitange Ndemo" title="" width="" height="" /></span><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Dr Bitange Ndemo</span><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">jamlab</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Two weeks later, we sat in a balcony to proactively decide what the students would do with the knowledge they had acquired. They wanted to start companies, they wanted to build organizations, they wanted to make solar panels for their communities, and maybe even create a library system. They had all these ambitions building gradually in them and now maybe, they had the hope of actualizing them irrespective of their age or background. &#8220;You know&#8230;&#8221; I heard one say, &#8220;Big people everywhere are fighting for the Internet to remain open and accessible as it was set out to be. We have joined that fight&#8230; because for us, we are fighting for a life we can better!&#8221; There were giggles and murmurs but those words have stuck with me since.</p>
<p style="text-align:none" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-in-Kenya-1.jpg"><img src="media/3185857f.SOO-in-Kenya-4.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-in-Kenya-4.jpg" alt="Making CC videos" border=0 /><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Making CC videos</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">jamlab</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Finally, we decided on the project to take on together. It was something that resonated with everyone present. Today, they are bundled up behind cameras, behind computers and on the Internet, on YouTube actually. They are working on releasing short videos of their teachers teaching various subjects, licensing them under Creative Commons, and uploading them to YouTube. They are doing this for the thousands of young people who don&#8217;t get a chance to go to high school in Kenya.</p>
<p>Looking at their determination, I know that their major fear is that the world will leave them behind&#8230; that at the end of their time, they will simply have existed. I am excited about the videos and will send a link as soon as the girls learn how to edit them. However, I know that they ought not be afraid. Creative Commons has given them a reason to be extraordinary&#8230; and a reason to make others extraordinary too.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37537
title: Bassel Khartabil Nominated for Digital Freedom Award
uri: Bassel-Khartabil-Nominated-for-Digital-Freedom-Award
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37537
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37537"><a href="media/a77e4db3.bassel_sf.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bassel_sf.jpg"><img src="media/38734f52.bassel-sf-600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bassel-sf-600.jpg" alt="#freebasselday San Francisco" width="600" height="299" border=0 /><br /><small><a href="media/a77e4db3.bassel_sf.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bassel_sf.jpg"><span property="dc:title">#FREEBASSELDAY San Francisco</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Niki Korth</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></a></p>
<p>If you read Creative Commons&#8217; blog or follow our various social media channels, you&#8217;re no doubt already familiar with the story of Bassel Khartabil, the long-time Creative Commons volunteer who&#8217;s been detained in Syria for over a year. Last Friday, we participated in <a href="/weblog/entry/37362">a global day of solidarity</a> in honor of Bassel.</p>
<p>Bassel has been nominated for the Index on Censorship&#8217;s <a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/index-awards-2013/digital-freedom/">Digital Freedom Award</a>. The award ceremony will take place <a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/index-awards-2013/">this Thursday, March 21, in London</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/index-awards-2013/digital-freedom/">From the Index&#8217;s nomination</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Software engineer Bassel Khartabil has been held in detention since his arrest in Damascus on 15 March 2012. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights believes his arrest is related to his work as a computer engineer, specialising in the development of open source software.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Khartabil, a Palestinian-born Syrian, spent his career advancing open source and related technologies to ensure a freer internet. Internationally, he is known for his voluntary work with open source projects such as Creative Commons and Mozilla Firefox. In 2012, Foreign Policy magazine named him in its list of the top 100 global thinkers.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>As yet, authorities have failed to provide an official statement about his arrest, the charges he is facing or his whereabouts. Just weeks before he was jailed, Khartabil tweeted: &#8220;The people who are in real danger never leave their countries. They are in danger for a reason and for that they don’t leave.&#8221; Khartabil’s arrest was part of the Syrian government’s crackdown against the popular uprising, which has resulted in at least 60,000 deaths since March 2011.</p></blockquote>
<p>For more information, visit <a href="http://freebassel.org/">freebassel.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37576
title: Pallante’s Push for U.S. Copyright Reform
uri: Pallante-s-Push-for-U-S-Copyright-Reform
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37576
content:
<p>Today, U.S. Register of Copyright Maria Pallante stood before Congress to say: we need a new copyright law. Pallante&#8217;s <a href="media/58e6b621.Pallante20032013.pdf" data-original-source="http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/113th/03202013/Pallante%20032013.pdf">prepared remarks</a> (127 KB PDF) to the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet called for &#8220;bold adjustments&#8221; to U.S. copyright law.</p>
<p>This is a most welcome aspiration. A strong push for copyright reform is currently occurring around the world through domestic reviews and in international fora like <a href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/topic.jsp?group_id=62">WIPO</a> &#8212; coming both from those wanting increased recognition of user rights and those calling for tighter author controls. With the United States one of the leading nations advocating for stronger copyright protection through treaties such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement">ACTA</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Strategic_Economic_Partnership">TPP</a>, the international community will be closely observing any movement in U.S. domestic law.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/US-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg"><a href="media/fdfa2d40.US-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg" data-original-source="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/US-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg"><img width="300" height="300" src="media/6d5529dc.600px-US-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg_.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/600px-US-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg_.jpg" alt="Seal of the United States Copyright Office" /></a>
<p align="center"><small><a href="media/23c64f27.FileUS-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US-CopyrightOffice-Seal.svg"><span property="dc:title">Seal of the United States Copyright Office</span></a> / Public Domain</small></p>
</div>
<p>In addition to several meaningful reform ideas &#8212; including shortening the copyright term itself, alterations to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act">Digital Millennium Copyright Act</a>, and making revisions to exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives &#8212; we&#8217;re happy to see that the Register is highlighting the crucial need to expand and protect the public domain. Some of the most compelling work undertaken by Creative Commons and others in the open community has to do with increasing the accessibility and value of the public domain. We hope a more positive public domain agenda can become ingrained into the foundations of U.S. copyright policy. The central question: Can the United States devise a better system for both authors and the public interest in an environment where technology and social norms are increasingly disconnected from an aging copyright law?</p>
<p>Pallante said, &#8220;[A]uthors do not have effective protections, good faith businesses do not have clear roadmaps, courts do not have sufficient direction, and consumers and other private citizens are increasingly frustrated.&#8221; However, there is no doubt that public copyright licenses are offering a substantial and effective counter to some of these pains &#8212; even noted by Ms. Pallante in her longer lecture at Columbia University titled <a href="media/bf3f9f96.pallante-the-next-great-copyright-act-manges.pdf" data-original-source="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/623865/pallante-the-next-great-copyright-act-manges.pdf"><em>The Next Great Copyright Act</em></a> (337 KB PDF), &#8220;[S]ome [authors] embrace the philosophy and methodology of Creative Commons, where authors may provide advance permission to users or even divest themselves of rights.&#8221; CC licenses and public domain instruments are right now helping alleviate frustration with copyright for all &#8212; individuals, businesses, institutions, governments &#8212; who opt in to using public licenses and licensed works.</p>
<p>Indeed, public licenses are easy-to-use tools for communities that wish to share their creativity on more flexible terms. And when millions of motivated creators share under public copyright licenses like CC, they create great and lasting things (hello Wikipedia). Public copyright licenses shine brightly in the light of Pallante&#8217;s telling reflection: &#8220;If one needs an army of lawyers to understand the precepts of the law, then it is time for a new law.&#8221;</p>
<p>At the same time, the existence of open copyright licenses shouldn&#8217;t be interpreted as a substitute for robust copyright reform. Quite the contrary. The decrease in transaction costs, increase in collaboration, and massive growth of the commons of legally reusable content spurred on by existence of public licenses should drastically reinforce the need for fundamental change, and not serve as a bandage for a broken copyright system. If anything, the increase in adoption of public licenses is a bellwether for legislative reform &#8212; a signal pointing toward a larger problem in need of a durable solution.</p>
<p>We and the rest of the international community are looking forward to seeing what Pallante and Congress have in mind when they continue the discussion after today. In her oral testimony, Ms. Pallante said, &#8220;Copyright is about the public interest.&#8221; We hope that the public interest has a seat at the table, with room both for open content licensing and positive legislative reform. The existence of CC licenses does not limit the need for reform. Open licenses help forward-thinking people and institutions to live and thrive in the digital age now, and illuminate the roadmap for beneficial reform to come. Let us begin.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37471
title: Help Build the School of Open in German
uri: Help-Build-the-School-of-Open-in-German
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37471
content:
<p>On the first weekend of March, Wikimedia Germany and CC Germany <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36835">hosted a workshop</a> around the School of Open&#8217;s <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37179">official launch</a>. Attending were professionals and enthusiasts from various fields, some lawyers but mostly teachers and education managers as well as activists of the <a href="http://okfn.org/">Open Knowledge Foundation</a> and the <a href="http://en.collaboratory.de/w/Main_Page">Internet &#038; Society Co:llaboratory</a> in Berlin.</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://blog.wikimedia.de/wp-content/uploads/IMAG2227-1.jpg"><a href="media/f1d989ff.IMAG2227-1.jpg" data-original-source="http://blog.wikimedia.de/wp-content/uploads/IMAG2227-1.jpg"><img src="media/e08aae63.SOO-wikimedia-berlin-workshop.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SOO-wikimedia-berlin-workshop.jpg" alt="School-Of-Open-Workshop WMDE" border=0 /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title">School Of Open Workshop WMDE</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Elly Köpf</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>After a quick introduction, we checked out the existing <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open course program</a> and all features of the P2PU user interface. The mission then was to get a first set of courses in German off the ground by either translating existing courses and/or developing new ones &#8212; and that&#8217;s what we did:</p>
<p>Work on three courses began, partly translating the content, partly enhancing it. <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/133/freie-lernmaterialien-in-der-schule-oer-f%C3%BCr-lehrkr%C3%A4fte/">One course</a> was envisioned from scratch, aiming at giving educators an idea of how OER work, why they matter and how. Here are the courses that are in development:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/124/bilder-auf-wikimedia-commons-hochladen/">Bilder auf Wikimedia Commons hochladen</a> &#8211; In diesem Kurs kannst du lernen, wie einfach es ist, Inhalte auf Wikimedia Commons hochzuladen und damit die große Datenbank freier Bilder weiter zu ergänzen. <br /><em>English translation: Upload images to Wikimedia Commons &#8211; In this course you will learn how easy it is to upload content on Wikimedia Commons, and thus complement the large database of free images.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/132/wie-erstelle-ich-einen-kurs-auf-p2pu/">Wie erstelle ich einen Kurs auf P2PU?</a>- Du möchtest einen Kurs anlegen und mit anderen dein Wissen teilen? Hier findest du in wenigen Schritten eine Anleitung. <br /><em>English translation: How to create a course on P2PU &#8211; You want to create a course and share your knowledge? Here you can find a tutorial in a few steps.</em></li>
<li><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/133/freie-lernmaterialien-in-der-schule-oer-f%C3%BCr-lehrkr%C3%A4fte/">Freie Lernmaterialien in der Schule &#8211; OER für Lehrkräfte</a> &#8211; Mit diesem Kurs lernen Sie die Bedeutung von Open Educational Resources, kurz OER, den freien Lehr- und Lernmaterialien, kennen. <br /> <em>English translation: Free learning materials in schools &#8211; OER for teachers &#8211; This course will teach you the importance of open educational resources (OER) and the freedom of teaching and learning materials.</em></li>
</ul>
<p>At the end of the day, a start had been made and the participants collected a lot of ideas about how to improve and develop the School of Open program. A network began to emerge of interested experts and enthusiasts, many of whom will join the <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open">School of Open discussion list (Google Group)</a> in order to get involved.</p>
<p>If you would like to help us develop the courses above, or create new ones in German, please email legal@creativecommons.de or join the <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open">School of Open discussion list</a> and introduce yourself and your interest!</p>
<p>For the German summary of the event, see the <a href="http://blog.wikimedia.de/2013/03/06/wikimedia-traf-die-school-of-open/">Wikimedia Germany blog</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37612
title: Imprisoned internet pioneer Bassel Khartabil wins Index on Censorship Digital Freedom Award
uri: Imprisoned-internet-pioneer-Bassel-Khartabil-wins-Index-on-Censorship
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37612
content:
<p align="center"><a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/index-awards-2013/"><img src="media/1eb2d1bf.indexawards.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/indexawards.png" width=640 height=282/></a></p>
<div style="float:left; padding-right:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4116204699/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4116204699/"><img width="320" height="213" src="media/7ef16856.4116204699_2eae0e15e4_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2591/4116204699_2eae0e15e4_n.jpg" alt="Bassel" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4116204699/"><span property="dc:title">Bassel</span></a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Joi Ito</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p><strong><a href="media/397e134d.bassel-index-on-censorship-press-release.pdf" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bassel-index-on-censorship-press-release.pdf">Download press release (36 KB PDF)</a></strong></p>
<p>Palestinian-born Syrian software engineer Bassel Khartabil is the winner of this year&#8217;s Index on Censorship Digital Freedom Award, sponsored by Google. Khartabil is a free internet pioneer who has spent his career advancing open source technologies. On March 15, 2012, he was illegally imprisoned in Syria. His family were given no official information about why or where he was detained but have since learnt that he is being held at the security branch of Kafer Sousa, Damascus.</p>
<p>Index CEO Kirsty Hughes said, &#8220;Following courageous and peaceful protests in 2011, Syria descended into violence with appalling attacks on civilians across the country&#160;&#8212; and with over 60,000 people killed over the last two years. Up until his arrest last March, Bassel Khartabil bravely continued to work for a cause he passionately believes in&#160;&#8212; an open and free internet that is available to all. In a country torn apart by violence, he is a brave advocate for peaceful change.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bassel&#8217;s friend Dana Trometer, who is collecting the Index award on his behalf said, &#8220;Bassel deserves to be out of jail celebrating his real freedom and digital freedom. On this Mother&#8217;s day in most of the Arab World, and as a mother myself, my heart goes out to Bassel&#8217;s Mom. Bassel is a kind and gentle friend. A loving husband and son. He did not fear being targeted as he knew his love for Syria would save him from being persecuted by the authorities. Bassel is aware of this award and he would like to thank the judges and audience for trusting him with such an honour. He would also like to pay respect to all the victims of the struggle for freedom of speech, and, especially for those non-violent youths who refused to carry arms and deserve all the credit for this award.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another close friend of Bassel&#8217;s, Jon Phillips, stated, &#8220;Lock-up, Lock-out fails. Locking-up Bassel, only locks-out his personal freedom. By locking-up Bassel, his Syrian captors are accidentally locking-out themselves from the future. From launching Creative Commons Syria, building the Arabic Wikipedia and bringing internet leaders to Syria, he knew that his free participation in global web communities required concrete contributions locally. For these acts would make Syria a better place. One year later, Bassel is under harsh lock-down. Now, thousands of people that Bassel&#8217;s work helped, now help him by spreading the message <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23freebassel">#FREEBASSEL</a>. This is what truly builds Syria and connects it to the global connected future. This award proves that his lock-up, is NOT a lock-out of his digital freedom.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bassel is known worldwide for his strong commitment to the open web, teaching others about technology, and contributing his experience freely to help the world. Bassel is the inventor of an open source software that powers the Open Clip Art Library. He is an original contributor to the Arabic Wikipedia and launched Creative Commons Syria. He is well known in online technical communities as a dedicated volunteer to major Internet projects like Creative Commons, Mozilla Firefox, Wikipedia, Open Clip Art Library, and Fabricatorz.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37647
title: Math instructor releases 2,600 videos under Creative Commons Attribution
uri: Math-instructor-releases-2-600-videos-under-Creative-Commons-Attribut
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37647
content:
<p>Arizona Phoenix College math instructor James Sousa has been teaching math for 15 years at both the community college and K-12 levels. Over the years, he has developed more than 2,600 video tutorials on topics from arithmetic to calculus, and made these videos available on YouTube, originally under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a> license. His website and videos, entitled, <a href="http://mathispower4u.yolasite.com/">Mathispower4u</a>, feature both math lessons and examples, and many of the videos have been incorporated into online homework questions available at <a href="http://www.myopenmath.com/">MyOpenMath.com</a>.</p>
<p>Recently, James decided to change the license on his videos from CC BY-NC-SA to <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>, or Creative Commons Attribution. He writes,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Originally, the videos were licensed CC BY-NC-SA. However, the reason for creating these videos was to help students be more successful in mathematics. To increase student access and more easily share this resource with others, I decided to make the videos more open and change the license to CC BY. I hope the videos will provide a quality math tutorial resource to many.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Mathispower4u videos may be accessed in several ways, including through James&#8217; <a href="http://mathispower4u.yolasite.com/">website</a>, <a href="http://mathispower4u.wordpress.com/">blog</a>, <a href="http://youtube.com/user/bullcleo1">YouTube account</a>, and Phoenix College&#8217;s <a href="http://phoenixcollege.edu/mathvideos">video database</a>. Thanks to James for his great contribution to open education and the field of mathematics!</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u51daM89wjA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37670
title: Now Hiring: Senior Software Engineer
uri: Now-Hiring-Senior-Software-Engineer
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37670
content:
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/2101576419/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/2101576419/"><img width="320" height="240" src="media/1dd6dce3.2101576419_2a593aa844_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2245/2101576419_2a593aa844_n.jpg" alt="CC swag IV" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/2101576419/"><span property="dc:title">CC swag IV</span></a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/botheredbybees/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Peter Shanks</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Creative Commons is looking for a senior software engineer. This hire will play a key role in building the next generation of Creative Commons technology. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#srsofteng">From the job description</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>We&#8217;re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join us in creating next generation products and services that enable sharing, curating, remixing, and collaborating on open content.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>The Senior Software Engineer is a full-time position reporting to the Director of Product Strategy, and works closely with the rest of the Products &#038; Technology team, including other developers and user experience designers, as well as Creative Commons staff and community volunteers.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>This is a rare opportunity to join a brand new team at the ground level. Bring a start-up mentality and lots of energy to build delightful product experiences and help shape the commons to the benefit of everyone.</p></blockquote>
<p>If that sounds exciting to you, we&#8217;d love to hear from you. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#srsofteng">Check out the full job listing</a> for more information.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37684
title: CC Global Summit 2013 – Call for Papers
uri: CC-Global-Summit-2013-Call-for-Papers
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37684
content:
<p><span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiaki/6164545341/" title="Listening to Larry's keynote by chiaki0808, on Flickr"><img src="media/358a1806.6164545341_3689ce6a6d.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6165/6164545341_3689ce6a6d.jpg" width="600" height="" alt="Listening to Larry's keynote"/></a><br />
<small><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiaki/6164545341/in/pool-1750970@N20/" property="dc:title">Listening to Larry&#8217;s Keynote [at the Global Summit 2011]</a> / <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiaki/">Chiaki Hayashi</a></span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">CC BY NC SA</a></small></span></p>
<p>We are proud to officially launch the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013/Call_for_Papers">call for papers</a> for CC&#8217;s <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013">Global Summit 2013</a>.</p>
<p>The Global Summit is Creative Commons&#8217; biannual gathering of CC friends and family. In 2013 it will be held from 21-24 August in Buenos Aires, co-hosted by our local Creative Commons affiliates, <a href="http://www.vialibre.org.ar/">Fundación Vía Libre</a> and <a href="http://www.wikimedia.org.ar/">Wikimedia Argentina</a>.</p>
<p>Attendees to the Summit will discuss strategies to strengthen Creative Commons and its worldwide community, learn about the latest developments in the commons movement worldwide, and showcase local and international projects that use Creative Commons licenses. It&#8217;s a great place to meet and present your ideas to the broader Creative Commons and open community. Most importantly, this will be our first ever Summit with a dedicated Spanish-language program.</p>
<p>We encourage anyone with something interesting to say about the present and future of the commons to apply. A Programming Committee consisting of members of the CC community will make the final decision on the program. </p>
<p>You have until 24 May to submit a session for the Summit. Submission forms and a more detailed explanation of the process can be found on our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013/Call_for_Papers">Global Summit wiki</a>.</p>
<p>__________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>Estamos orgullosos de lanzar oficialmente la <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Cumbre_Mundial_2013/Convocatoria_a_charlas">convocatoria a charlas</a> para la <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Cumbre_Global_2013">Cumbre Mundial de Creative Commons de 2013</a>.</p>
<p>La Cumbre Mundial es la reunión de bianual de la comunidad de Creative Commons. En 2013 se llevará a cabo del 21 a 24 de agosto en Buenos Aires, co-organizado por nuestros afiliados locales de Creative Commons, <a href="http://vialibre.org.ar">Fundación Vía Libre</a> y <a href="http://wikimedia.org.ar">Wikimedia Argentina</a>.</p>
<p>Los asistentes a la cumbre discutirán las estrategias para fortalecer Creative Commons y su comunidad en todo el mundo, aprender sobre los últimos acontecimientos en el movimiento mundial de bienes comunes, y mostrar los proyectos locales e internacionales que utilizan las licencias Creative Commons. Es un lugar ideal para reunirse y presentar sus ideas a la comunidad más amplia de Creative Commons. Más importante aún, esta será nuestra primera Cumbre con un apartado en español en el programa.</p>
<p>Animamos a aplicar a cualquier persona que tenga algo interesante para decir sobre el presente y el futuro de los bienes comunes. Un comité de programación integrado por miembros de la comunidad de Creative Commons tomará la decisión final sobre el diseño del programa.</p>
<p>La fecha límite para la presentación de sesiones y charlas es el 24 de mayo. En <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Cumbre_Mundial_2013/Convocatoria_a_charlas">nuestro wiki</a> se puede encontrar información más detallada sobre el proceso y formas de presentación, así como un espacio abierto a propuestas para la Cumbre.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37708
title: Open Education Around the World – A 2013 Open Education Week Summary
uri: Open-Education-Around-the-World-A-2013-Open-Education-Week-Summar
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37708
content:
<p><a href="media/b6373edb.OpenEdWk.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/OpenEdWk.png"><img src="media/cc729bc8.OpenEdWk-300x138.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/OpenEdWk-300x138.png" alt="OpenEdWk" width="300" height="138" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-37709" /></a></p>
<p>Creative Commons congratulates all those who participated in the second annual Open Education Week March 11-15, 2013. It&#8217;s impressive to see how global open education has become with contributors from over 30 different countries showcasing their work and more than 20,000 people from over 130 countries visiting the <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/" target="_blank">Open Education Week website</a> during the week. Open Education Week featured over 60 webinars open to participation from anyone and numerous local events and workshops around the world.</p>
<p>We thought we&#8217;d highlight a few Creative Commons global affiliate events from Open Education Week and share a list of urls for Open Education Week webinar recordings the Open Courseware Consortium has published.</p>
<p>The Creative Commons China Mainland team successfully held an Open Education Forum on the afternoon of March 16th at Renmin University of China, Beijing. One highlight of this salon worth special attention is the <a href="http://toyhouse.cc/" target="_blank">Toyhouse</a> team from Tsinghua University led by Prof. Benjamin Koo, and their recent project eXtreme Learning Process (XLP). This team is a inspiring example of innovative learning, and a user of CC licenses and OER.</p>
<p>Tobias Schonwetter, Creative Commons regional coordinator for Africa gave an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRq31auQpgQ&amp;feature=g-user-u" target="_blank">Open Education for Africa</a> presentation explaining why Creative Commons is so important for Open Educational Resources.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-open/" target="_blank">School of Open</a> launched with:</p>
<ul>
<li>17 courses, including 4 facilitated courses and 13 stand-alone courses (for participants to take at their own pace).</li>
<li>~15 course organizers, affiliated with several organizations/initiatives, including: the National Copyright Office of Australia; University of Michigan&#8217;s Open.Michigan; Kennisland/CC Netherlands; Communicate OER, a Wikipedia initiative; Open Video Forum (xm:lab, Academy of Fine Arts Saar); Jamlab (a high school mentorship program in Kenya); Wikimedia Germany and CC Germany</li>
</ul>
<p>These are just the tip of the rich global discourse that took place during Open Education Week. All webinars during Open Education Week were recorded, with links listed below. You can also view the videos directly on the Open Education Week <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/openeducationweek?feature=watch" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">YouTube channel</a> and on the Open Education Week website, under <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/events-webinars/" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">events and webinars</a>.</p>
<p><strong><u>Webinar recordings</u></strong></p>
<p><strong>Monday</strong>, March 11</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOdVGwsUm4" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Building Research Profile and Culture with Open Access&nbsp;</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV9cvYWrNsc" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Learners orchestrating their own learning</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF5jL6gFhyg" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Learning Innovations and Learning Quality: The future of open education and </a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF5jL6gFhyg" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">free digital resources</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WmfHNzOuwo" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">N&auml;in k&auml;yt&auml;t ja teet avoimia sis&auml;lt&ouml;j&auml; /How to use and create open content</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://connect.le.ac.uk/p7m07drv20r/" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">New global open educational trends: policy, learning design and mobile</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=xiuv4VoS6tc" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">The multiple facets of Openness in #udsnf12 &nbsp;</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxZ4RFUPu7E" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Licencias Creative Commons para recursos educativos, &iquest;que son? &iquest;como usarlas?</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oU03xtIUr" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal"> </a><a href="http://youtu.be/cpFSugzreMg" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Designing OER with Diversity In Mind</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyPx9fM20r8&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=1s" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">وسائل تعليمية تشاركية : تطوير الوسائل التعليمية تشاركيًا باستخدام أداة الابتكار ومنصة&nbsp; سكراتش البرمجية</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oU03xtIUrs" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Driving Adoptions of OER Through Communities of Practice</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzFs8RIs_g4" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Khan Academy: Personalized learning experiences</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/KLWSZrrxLdg" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Good practices on open content licensing</a><br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Tuesday</strong>, March 12<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/YqdPjpEDwDY" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">OCW in the European Higher Education Context: How to make use of its full</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/YqdPjpEDwDY" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">potential for virtual mobility</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=L65EmspADos" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">OLDS MOOC Grand finale (final convergence session) &nbsp;</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/LQFIIEQ-mBY" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">&Auml;idinkielest&auml; riippumaton suomen kielen opetus</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPBSy1-9AFg&amp;feature=youtube_gdata" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Opening Up Education</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/MDK3kbAiI9s" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">CourseSites by Blackboard: A Free, Hosted, Scalable Platform for Open</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/MDK3kbAiI9s" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Education Initiatives</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/qzZVq4HhvyM" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Xpert Search Engine and the Xpert Image Attribution Service</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdz9PGbyn04&amp;feature=youtu.be" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Capacitaci&oacute;n para la educaci&oacute;n abierta: OportUnidad en Latinoam&eacute;rica</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjV-UwC40J4" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Language learning independent of mother language</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/VSxkA-wz4Cg" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Interactive Learning with Wolfram Technologies</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/xf8sF7NfupY" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Collaborative Boldly Confronts Licensing Issues</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/L-9HV4UDrMc" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Buenas pr&aacute;cticas en el uso de licencias para contenidos abiertos</a><br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Wednesday</strong>, March 13</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/murckDn_u7U" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">是&ldquo;誰&rdquo;在使用你的開放式課程網站呢?</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl8C2XQ3k8A" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">The interaction, co-construction and sharing of Netease Open Courses</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl8C2XQ3k8A" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">网易公开课的互动、共建和分享</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://webcast.tmu.edu.tw/p59888972/" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Who is using your OCW site?</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/9DCf8LtQI2I" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Pol&iacute;ticas nacionales de Acceso Abierto en Argentina</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/PnrFSna1uj8" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Open Policy Network: seeking community input</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/JOZtWyQc_Ew" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">OER Commons Green: A Unique Lens on Open Environmental Education</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/WYX3be6_lzc" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Creative Commons 4.0 Licenses: What&#039;s New for Education?</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b8eDlmZeBg" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">How Community Colleges are Innovating with Open Educational Resources</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/uqM-qMUKXMs" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">P2PU: A Showcase of Open Peer Learning</a><br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Thursday</strong>, March 14</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbCmSfAXjFE&amp;feature=youtu.be" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Open Access policy development at the University of Pretoria: the why, what</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbCmSfAXjFE&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">and how?</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/vMhUSWL3FQU" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">What you can learn from the UKOER experience</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/xMDBl6fQlvo" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Why Open Access is Right for the World Bank</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/pcucoxLpg84" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">What&#039;s behind Open Education? A philosophical insight</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/NzMBk-zrRBU" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Utilizing OER to Create a Pathway Towards an Affordable Degree &nbsp;</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/bK2mRboX-FE" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Toolkit Working Group: Tools to help users discover the content they need (1)</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByaAq8cec6I&amp;feature=youtu.be" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Learning toys for free: Collaborative educational tools development using</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByaAq8cec6I&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">MakeyMakey and SCRATCH platforms</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvGYbyPkDLU" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Teach Syria: The Impact of Teaching Global to Today&#039;s Youth</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/Vb8q6eSFXcM" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Re-Creative Commons</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYSz-RibCGA" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Validating the Learning Obtained through Open Educational Resources</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/scaXUH1gNM0" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">OER and Alternative Certification Models: An Analysis Framework</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHXrvfutcE" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">The Open Educational Resources in Brazil as an Instrument to Get Access to</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHXrvfutcE" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Qualification, The Government Role at OERs Creation &amp; FGV and</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXHXrvfutcE" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">S&atilde;o Paulo State Case Studies </a><br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Friday</strong>, March 15</p>
<p>&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRq31auQpgQ&amp;feature=g-user-u" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Open Education for Africa</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/QbfxL0cw0rM" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">National policies of Open Access to scientific outputs in Argentina</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/uVB0LAApFMU" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Re-thinking Developmental Education: Creating a STEM Bridge in the National</a><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/uVB0LAApFMU" target="_self" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">STEM Consortium </a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK2mRboX-FE" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Toolkit Working Group: Tools to aid and encourage use of OERs in teaching</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/2okum7fg3wc" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Crowd-sourced Open Courseware Authoring with SlideWiki.org</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcrYYRcbD3o" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">Using OER to reduce student cost and increase student learning</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odl2XDUV3u0" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">What&#039;s next? An open discussion about open education </a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/QL01sqUwVuQ" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">OpenStax College Textbooks: Remixable by Design</a><br />
&middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://youtu.be/1UgFaO-4pZU" style="color: #800000;text-decoration: underline;font-weight: normal">An OER Editor for the Rest of Us</a><br />
&nbsp;</p>
<p>Kudos to the OCW Consortium for organizing this event. We look forward to next years.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37737
title: Free Culture Conference hits NYC April 20-21
uri: Free-Culture-Conference-hits-NYC-April-20-21
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37737
content:
<p>The <a href="http://fcx2013.org/">Students for Free Culture conference</a> will take place in New York City April 20-21. The conference&#8211;dubbed FCX 2013&#8211;will be held at New York Law School. </p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" <a href="media/820b9a68.fcx13.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/fcx13.png"><img src="media/820b9a68.fcx13.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/fcx13.png" alt="fcx13" width="328" height="191" class="alignright size-full wp-image-37740" /></div>
<blockquote><p>The Students for Free Culture Conference is an annual gathering of student and non-student activists, thinkers, and innovators who are dedicated to advancing discussions on technology, law, and public policy. Through panels and keynote speakers, FCX 2013 will focus on current issues in intellectual property law, open access to educational resources, maker culture, and technology policy. Through workshops, the conference will revisit the core pillars of the free culture movement, examine the success stories from our movement, and identify new ways in which Students for Free Culture can advocate for a more free, open, and participatory digital environment.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Longtime SFC member Benjamin Mako Hill (who will be giving the opening keynote) <a href="http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/students-for-free-culture-conference-fcx2013">says</a>: &#8220;If previous years are any indication, the conference can serve as an incredible introduction to free culture, free software, wikis, remixing, copyright, patent and trademark reform, and participatory culture. For folks that are already deeply involved, FCX is among the best places I know to connect with other passionate, creative, people working on free culture issues.&#8221;</p>
<p>The event is open to all, with a suggested $15 donation to help defray costs. <a href="http://fcx2013.org/fcxregistration.html">Registration is open</a>, and some <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1j-C-jfuhKYmVpP0gNQMFKbKaeLP0SIsOA7Pz35XoRbY/viewform">limited travel assistance</a> may be available for students of active SFC chapters. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37753
title: CC Talks With: David Liao: Open Courseware and CC Licenses
uri: CC-Talks-With-David-Liao-Open-Courseware-and-CC-Licenses
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37753
content:
<p>Last week a researcher and educator by the name of <a href="http://qbio.lookatphysics.com/about.php#author">David Liao</a> contacted our team at Creative Commons about open courseware he had created, which we tweeted:</p>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" width="500"><p>&#8220;A mathematical way to think about biology.&#8221; Really well put-together CC BY-SA course. <a href="http://t.co/U1GrsUywer" title="http://qbio.lookatphysics.com/">qbio.lookatphysics.com</a> @<a href="https://twitter.com/lookatphysics">lookatphysics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23oer">#oer</a></p>
<p>&mdash; creativecommons (@creativecommons) <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/316279868461576195">March 25, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p></p>
<p>I sat down last Wednesday to speak with David about his course, motivations for using a CC-license, and about other challenges in scholarly communication and education that are being changed by new ways of “open.”  He’s created a set of videos and curriculum titled <em><a href="https://www.udemy.com/lookatphysics">A Mathematical Way to Think about Biology</a></em>, released under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license.  David, an Analyst with the <a href="http://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California, SF</a> and a member of the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/psoc/ps-oc-network-1/">Princeton Physical Sciences-Oncology Network</a>, recognized that quantitative research is fundamental to hard science disciplines, but there are few openly licensed training resources on these methods that can translate to Biology as well as other non-scientific fields.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://www.udemy.com/lookatphysics"><img src="media/42660114.udemy_screenshot_math-bio.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/udemy_screenshot_math-bio.jpg" alt="Udemy Screenshot of Math-Bio Course" width="640" height="166" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-37755" /></a><br />
<small>Screenshot from David’s Udemy course</small><br />
</p>
<p>Already a <a href="http://qbio.lookatphysics.com/oa.php">proponent</a> of Open Access (OA) to research publications, David sums up his view on how principles of OA can be applied to education:</p>
<blockquote><p>”Speaking loosely along the same lines of sentiment [of Open Access], it is likewise preferable to release, as free cultural works, both scientific literature and the instructional materials by virtue of which that literature becomes readable.”</p></blockquote>
<p>As David explained, there is a gap between the highly-technical aspects of training future researchers and the practical resources available; one that he hopes to begin to fill by making his materials available online.  He has developed more than ten learning modules ranging from fundamental mathematical concepts of algebra and geometry to more complex areas of spatially-resolved models and cellular automata, all described in ways that apply to the biological sciences.  The slide decks and tutorial videos have all been released under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license, which allows reuse and remixing the content, so long as any adapted content carries the same copyleft  license.  David’s content has been structured as a course, is available on the Udemy online learning platform and has had nearly one thousand participants use the material.</p>
<p>An advocate of many things Open for some time, our conversation shifted from OER to OA.  David offered his take on Open Access and how scholarly communication has reached a point where tools like CC licenses are needed to maintain progress in a digital age.</p>
<blockquote><p>“Ten years ago, when it came to negotiating legal matters around copyright and intellectual property, we would need to be able to do some serious Jiu-Jitsu, and likely involve a team of lawyers. Creative Commons [licenses] makes this communication so much easier.”</p></blockquote>
<p><img src="media/2f120136.boxer.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/boxer.jpg" alt="Fort Worth MMA and BJJ_5896 by inronsidemma" width="640" height="188" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-37760" /><br />
<small><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironsidemma/6293618684/" property="dc:title">Fort Worth MMA and BJJ_5896</a> / <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironsidemma/">ironsidemma</a></span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a></small></p>
<p>By making his content available on the web <i>and</i> applying a CC license to his work, David has taken steps to not only make his educational media openly accessible, but also explicitly describe how others can reuse his work.  A longstanding <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Creative_Commons_and_Open_Access#Ongoing_challenges">problem</a> in defining the core characteristics of “open”, digital media  that is freely accessible but does not allow for reuse or remixing is often confused with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_content">open content</a>.   David has been pleased to see learners using the materials in his course, as well as having had fellow college professors contact him about using his content to supplement their own teaching.  When asked about his thoughts on others who likely will be remixing and building upon his learning content, David welcomed it fully, and is interested to have others to contact with links to derivative works.</p>
<p>A case study on the CC Wiki for <i>A Mathematical Approach to Biology</i> can be found <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies/A_mathematical_way_to_think_about_biology">here</a>.</p>
<p>David’s course can be found on Udemy <a href="https://www.udemy.com/lookatphysics">here</a>, and his personal website is <a href="http://www.davidliao.com/">here</a>.<br />
You can also follow David on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/lookatphysics">here</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37662
title: DRM in HTML5 Is a Bad Idea
uri: DRM-in-HTML5-Is-a-Bad-Idea
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37662
content:
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/yukop/7594555062/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/yukop/7594555062/"><img width="240" height="320" src="media/9e0b79ed.7594555062_0047ca781f_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7246/7594555062_0047ca781f_n.jpg" alt="Today's latte, HTML5" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/yukop/7594555062/"><span property="dc:title">Today&#8217;s latte, HTML5</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/yukop/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Yuko Honda</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Creative Commons strongly believes in the respect of copyright and the wishes of content creators. That&#8217;s why CC has created a range of legal tools that rely in part on copyright to enable our vision of a shared commons of creative and intellectual works.</p>
<p>But when creators&#8217; rights come at the expense of a usable internet, everyone suffers for it. Over the past 15 years, various companies have started using mechanisms to limit the ways in which users can use their content. These <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management">digital rights management (DRM)</a> techniques make the internet less usable for everyone. CC believes that no DRM system is able to account for the full complexity of the law, since they create black-and-white situations where legally there is wiggle room (such as for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use">fair use</a>, for example). This failing causes DRM to limit consumer freedoms that would otherwise be permitted, and that can create very real harm to consumers. Examples abound, but a recent one can be seen in <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/03/dmca_copyright_reform_u_s_law_makes_digital_media_inaccessible.single.html">this report</a> on how DRM and the DMCA have seriously limited the ability of the visually impaired to have access to e-books they can use over the past 15 years.</p>
<p>The W3C recently published a draft proposal that would <a href="https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/html-media/raw-file/tip/encrypted-media/encrypted-media.html">make DRM a part of HTML5</a>. While CC applauds efforts to get more content distributed on the web, DRM does more harm than good. In addition to limiting consumer freedoms, it&#8217;s not at all clear this proposal would even be effective in curbing piracy. Given the proposal&#8217;s architecture, it will cause dependence on outside components which will not be a part of the standardized web. A standardized web is essential to allow anyone to participate in it without locking them into giving any one player a say on what proprietary device, software, or technology they need to use. The proposal opens up exactly such a dependency: it allows web pages to require specific proprietary software or hardware to be installed. That a dangerous direction for the web, because it means that for many real-life uses it will be impossible to build end-to-end open systems to render web content.</p>
<p>Read EFF&#8217;s post on <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/defend-open-web-keep-drm-out-w3c-standards">defending the open web from DRM</a> for more details on the proposal, history, threat. Get the facts and, if you&#8217;re interested, sign the <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5">Free Software Foundation&#8217;s petition</a> to oppose DRM in web standards.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37786
title: Open Textbook Summit
uri: Open-Textbook-Summit
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37786
content:
<p><a href="media/a4095ce4.OpenTextbookSummit2.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/OpenTextbookSummit2.png"><img src="media/a4095ce4.OpenTextbookSummit2.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/OpenTextbookSummit2.png" alt="OpenTextbookSummit2" width="432" height="323" class="alignnone wp-image-37794" /></a></p>
<p>On April 8 &amp; 9, 2013 BCcampus hosted, and Creative Commons facilitated, an Open Textbook Summit in Vancouver British Columbia Canada. The Open Textbook Summit brought together government representatives, student groups, and open textbook developers in an effort to coordinate and leverage open textbook initiatives. </p>
<p>Participants included:</p>
<p><a href="http://open.bccampus.ca" target="_blank">BCcampus</a><br />
<a href="http://www.gov.bc.ca/aeit/" target="_blank">BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology (AEIT)</a><br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ecampusalberta.ca" target="_blank">eCampus Alberta</a><br />
<a href="http://eae.alberta.ca/" target="_blank">Alberta Enterprise &amp; Advanced Education</a><br />
<a href="http://www.20mm.org/" target="_blank">The 20 Million Minds Foundation</a><br />
<a href="http://opencourselibrary.org/" target="_blank">Washington Open Course Library</a><br />
<a href="https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/" target="_blank">University of Minnesota Open Textbook Catalogue</a><br />
<a href="http://www.lumenlearning.com/" target="_blank">Lumen Learning</a><br />
<a href="http://projects.siyavula.com/" target="_blank">Siyavula</a><br />
<a href="http://ocwconsortium.org/" target="_blank">Open Courseware Consortium</a><br />
<a href="http://openstaxcollege.org/" target="_blank">OpenStax/Connexions</a><br />
<a href="http://studentpirgs.org/textbooks" target="_blank">Student Public Interest Research Groups</a><br />
<a href="http://www.righttoresearch.org/" target="_blank">Right to Research Coalition</a><br />
<a href="http://www.casa-acae.com/" target="_blank">Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA)</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34288" target="_blank">California</a> and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34566" target="_blank">British Columbia</a> recently announced initiatives to create open textbooks for high enrollment courses. Susan Brown in her welcoming remarks on behalf of the Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology noted the Open Textbook Summit was &#8220;a unique opportunity to share information about the work underway in our respective jurisdictions and organizations to capitalize on lessons learned; to identify common areas of interest; and to discover potential opportunities for collaboration. The real power of a project like this is only realized by working together.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the summit&#8217;s first day the BC government announced it was &#8220;<a href="http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/04/moving-to-the-next-chapter-on-free-online-textbooks.html" target="_blank">Moving to the next chapter on free online textbooks</a>&#8221; releasing a list of the 40 most highly enrolled first and second-year subject areas in the provincial post-secondary system. </p>
<p>Over the course of the summit participants identified existing open textbooks that could be used for BC&#8217;s high enrollment courses. Development plans for creating additional open textbooks were mapped out. Strategies for academic use of open textbooks were discussed ranging from open textbooks for high enrollment courses to zero textbook degree programs where every course in a credential has an open textbook.</p>
<p>Open textbook developers described the tools they are using for authoring, editing, remixing, repository storage, access, and distribution. Participants discussed the potential for creating synergy between initiatives through use of common tools and processes.</p>
<p>Measures of success, including saving students money and improved learning outcomes, were shared and potential for a joint open textbook research agenda explored. The summit concluded with suggestions from all participants on ways to collaborate going forward. David Porters recommendation of an ongoing Open Textbook Federation was enthusiastically endorsed.</p>
<p>Mary Burgess created a Google group called <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!forum/the-open-textbook-federation" target="_blank">The Open Textbook Federation</a> for further conversations and collaborations. This group is open to anyone currently working on, or thinking of working on, an Open Textbook Project. Notes from the Open Textbook Summit are posted <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L8CQcQ6uHfcPSU6_2XIfT_jbBYM--poB7XEEDjoNOug/edit?pli=1" target="_blank">online</a>. Clint Lalonde created a Storify of the <a href="http://storify.com/clintlalonde/bc-open-textbook-summit" target="_blank">Twitter conversation</a> captured during the summit.</p>
<p>The Open Textbook Summit was an incredible day and a half of learning. The sharing of insights, experiences, hopes, and ideas left everyone energized with a commitment to join together in a cross-border federation that collaborates on open textbooks.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37853
title: Free Music Archive Launches Public Domain Music Contest
uri: Free-Music-Archive-Launches-Public-Domain-Music-Contest
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37853
content:
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/WFMU/blog/The_Revitalize_Music_Contest"><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/WFMU/blog/The_Revitalize_Music_Contest"><img width="231" height="300" src="media/f7e809f0.dreamer-300.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/dreamer-300.jpg" alt="Beautiful Dreamer" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/WFMU/blog/The_Revitalize_Music_Contest"><span property="dc:title">Beautiful Dreamer</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Stephen Foster</span> / <a rel="license" href="/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">Public Domain</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Remember the <a href="/weblog/entry/35535">Happy Birthday song contest</a>? Our friends at the Free Music Archive and WFMU are running another challenge to bring more music into the commons. But this time, it&#8217;s all about <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Revitalize_Music_Contest/Revitalize_Music_Contest/">creating new, public domain recordings of public domain compositions.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/WFMU/blog/The_Revitalize_Music_Contest">From FMA</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Bring the public domain into the future! This April, <a href="http://www.wfmu.org/">WFMU</a> and the <a href="http://www.freemusicarchive.org/">Free Music Archive</a> are challenging artists everywhere to create new recordings and contemporary arrangements of historic compositions available in the public domain. We&#8217;re calling this our <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Revitalize_Music_Contest/Revitalize_Music_Contest/">Revitalize Music Contest</a>.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Every song (except for perhaps &#8220;<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Happy_Birthday_Song_Contest/The_New_Birthday_Song_Contest/">Happy Birthday</a>&#8220;) will someday fall out of copyright. Archives such as the <a href="http://imslp.org/">IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library</a> and <a href="http://www.pdinfo.com/">Public Domain Information Project</a> chart the vast and ever-expanding troves of public domain music. Participants in our <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Revitalize_Music_Contest/Revitalize_Music_Contest/">Revitalize Music Contest</a> will help bring these works to life by creating new recordings, and feeding them back into the public domain.</p></blockquote>
<p>To enter the contest, participants must release their recordings into the public domain via the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0 Public Domain Waiver</a>. The Free Music Archive will hire a director to create a music video of the winning recording.</p>
<p>Submissions are due April 28, so get started on your recording. For inspiration, check out this early entry, <a href="http://noelbush.info/">Noel Bush</a>&#8216;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response">ASMR</a>-inducing rendition of &#8220;<a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Noel_Bush/Revitalize_Music_Contest/05_1818">Beautiful Dreamer</a>&#8220;:</p>
<p><object width="300" height="50"><param name="movie" value="http://freemusicarchive.org/swf/trackplayer.swf"/><param name="flashvars" value="track=http://freemusicarchive.org/services/playlists/embed/track/82606.xml"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="sameDomain"/><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://freemusicarchive.org/swf/trackplayer.swf" width="300" height="50" flashvars="track=http://freemusicarchive.org/services/playlists/embed/track/82606.xml" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" /></object></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37830
title: U.S. States considering public access policies
uri: U-S-States-considering-public-access-policies
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37830
content:
<p><a href="media/a0e0e891.oa-state-seals.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/oa-state-seals.jpg"><img src="media/a0e0e891.oa-state-seals.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/oa-state-seals.jpg" alt="oa state seals" width="600" height="166" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-37839" /></a></p>
<p>With the introduction at the federal level of both the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36699">Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR)</a> and the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35267">White House public access directive</a>, several states have begun to think about supporting public access to publicly funded research. Like the proposed federal legislation and White House policy, the state-level bills aim to support the notion that the taxpaying public should have access to the research it funds. The Illinois legislation is particularly interesting in that it has included a reuse rights provision whereby the articles developed as a result of state funds would be shared under an open license such as CC BY. </p>
<h3><a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB609">California</a></h3>
<blockquote><p>Notwithstanding any other law, each state agency that provides funding in the form of a research grant to a grantee for direct research shall develop a public access policy that shall do the following:
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(1) Include a requirement that electronic versions of the author’s final manuscripts, or a link to an electronic version of the author’s final manuscript in an open access digital repository of original research papers that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and result from research supported from state agency funding, be submitted to the funding state agency and the California State Library.
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(2) Provide free online public access to such final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but not later than six months after publication in peer-reviewed journals. [...]
</p></blockquote>
<h3><a href="http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?sh=printbill&#038;bn=A00180&#038;term=2013">New York</a><br />
</h3>
<blockquote><p>Each agency that provides funding for direct research shall develop a public access policy that shall:
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(i) Include a requirement that electronic versions of the author&#8217;s final manuscripts of original research papers that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and result from research supported from funding by the state of New York, be submitted to such funding agency;
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(ii) Provide free online public access to such final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable but not later than six months after publication in peer-reviewed journals; [...]
</p></blockquote>
<h3><a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/98/SB/09800SB1900.htm">Illinios</a></h3>
<blockquote><p>(a) No later than 12 months after the effective date of this Act, each public institution of higher education shall develop an open access to research articles policy.
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(b) All public institutions of higher education shall develop policies that provide for the following:
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(1) the submission, by all faculty employed by the public institution of higher education, to the employing institution (or to an institution designated by the employing institution) of an electronic version of the author&#8217;s final manuscript of original research papers upon acceptance by a scholarly research journal, including peer-reviewed journals and related publications used by researchers to disseminate the results of their institution-affiliated research; [...]
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(4) free online public access to the final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions immediately upon publication in a peer-reviewed journal;
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>(5) an irrevocable, worldwide copyright license granted by the author to the public that permits any use of an article on condition that the author and original publisher are attributed as such and that any such attribution is not made in a way that implies endorsement of the use by the author or original publisher. [...] </p></blockquote>
<p><small><a href="media/39af64d8.FileSeal_of_New_York.svg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_New_York.svg">New York state seal</a> is in the public domain.</small></p>
<p><small><a href="media/b8012479.FileSeal_of_California.svg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_California.svg">California state seal</a> licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a>.</small></p>
<p><small><a href="media/05a9abac.FileSeal_of_Illinois.svg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_Illinois.svg">Illinois state seal</a> is in the public domain.</small></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37866
title: Digital Public Library of America Launches
uri: Digital-Public-Library-of-America-Launches
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37866
content:
<p align="center"><a href="http://dp.la"><img src="media/f2c234b7.logo.png" data-original-source="http://dp.la/assets/logo.png" width=290 height=35 border=0/></a></p>
<p>Creative Commons would like to congratulate the <a href="http://dp.la/">Digital Public Library of America</a> on its official launch today. The DPLA, which has been in planning since 2010, brings together millions of digital resources from numerous libraries, archives, and museums.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/dplaalpha/2013/04/18/dpla-coming-soon/">From DPLA</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The Digital Public Library of America will launch a beta of its discovery portal and open platform at noon ET today. The portal will deliver millions of materials found in American archives, libraries, museums, and cultural heritage institutions to students, teachers, scholars, and the public. Far more than a search engine, the portal will provide innovative ways to search and scan through its united collection of distributed resources. Special features will include a dynamic map, a timeline that allow users to visually browse by year or decade, and an app library that provides access to applications and tools created by external developers using DPLA’s open data.</p></blockquote>
<p>In January, <a href="http://dp.la/2013/01/21/press-digital-public-library-of-america-recommends-cc0/">DPLA announced</a> that all of its metadata would be in the public domain under the <a href="/about/cc0">CC0 Public Domain Declaration</a>. The Open Knowledge Foundation&#8217;s Joris Pekel <a href="http://openglam.org/2013/01/21/digital-public-library-of-america-recommends-cc0/">applauded that announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The decision to apply the <a href="/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain waiver</a> to the metadata will greatly improve interoperability with Europeana, Europe’s equivalent of the DPLA. Now that more different initiatives start publishing digitised heritage and its metadata, interoperability becomes more and more important in order to create a linked web of cultural heritage data, instead of new data silos. By both choosing the CC0 Public Domain waiver, Europeana and the DPLA take a great a step forward in achieving their goal.</p></blockquote>
<p>We applaud DPLA&#8217;s commitment to open data and are excited about the launch of such an important resource.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37882
title: California Pushes for Public Access to Taxpayer Funded Research
uri: California-Pushes-for-Public-Access-to-Taxpayer-Funded-Research
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37882
content:
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" <a href="media/56c6fcdf.ca-oa.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ca-oa.png"><img src="media/56c6fcdf.ca-oa.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ca-oa.png" alt="ca oa" width="300" height="223" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-37897" /></div>
<p>As we <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37830">mentioned last week</a>, California has introduced <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB609">AB 609</a>, the California Taxpayer Access to Publicly Funded Research Act. The bill, sponsored by Assembly Member Brian Nestande, would require that research articles funded through California tax dollars be made available online for free no later than 12 months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. A <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/state/legislation/php-app/read_doc.php?id=2092">letter</a> from the University of California may have prompted the Assembly to modify the text of the draft bill to extend the embargo to 12 months (instead of six), and to include a provision exempting the University of California and California State University from the state agencies that must comply with the legislation, if enacted. </p>
<p>A group of organizations (including Creative Commons) sent a <a href="media/f1cfb1e8.CAletteronab690HJ-2.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/4/45/CAletteronab690HJ-2.pdf">letter</a> to Assembly Member Nestande thanking him for introducing the bill. The letter urged the Assembly to considering strengthening the proposed law by including reuse rights language, such as through the adoption of open licenses: </p>
<blockquote><p>We encourage you to consider strengthening this legislation by including a provision to ensure that manuscripts reporting on state-funded research be made fully usable by the public. To fully unlock the value of the information contained in these digital articles, they should be made available in formats and under licensing terms that permit users to read, downloaded, search, compute on, data mine or analyze for any lawful purpose.
</p></blockquote>
<p>It also asked for the original 6 month embargo to be reinstated: </p>
<blockquote><p>Additionally, while we would strongly prefer that these articles be made available to the public immediately upon publication, we would support the inclusion of an embargo period as originally proposed of no longer than six months. </p></blockquote>
<p>A hearing in the <a href="http://aaar.assembly.ca.gov/hearings">Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review</a> is scheduled for May 1 in Sacramento. </p>
<p>California residents can support the legislation by sending a message to representatives at the <a href="http://www.congressweb.com/SPARC/19">Alliance for Taxpayer Access</a> site. More information on the bill is available on the <a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/media/california-considers-state-level-public-access-pol.shtml">SPARC website</a>. </p>
<p><small><a href="http://thenounproject.com/noun/california/#icon-No9098">California icon</a> by <a href="http://thenounproject.com/christopherjs">Christopher Scott</a>, from the <a href="http://thenounproject.com/">Noun Project</a>, under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>.<br />
<a href="http://thenounproject.com/noun/unlock/#icon-No13480">Unlock icon</a> by <a href="http://thenounproject.com/Eb0la">J. Ali</a>, from the <a href="http://thenounproject.com/">Noun Project</a>, Public Domain.</small>   </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37938
title: Third Round of TAACCCT Grants Announced by US Department of Labor
uri: Third-Round-of-TAACCCT-Grants-Announced-by-US-Department-of-Labor
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37938
content:
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/applicantinfo.cfm"><img src="media/4d6c7da7.TAACCCTRd3-1024x456.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/TAACCCTRd3-1024x456.png" alt="TAACCCTRd3" width="717" height="319" class="alignnone wp-image-37947" /></a><br />
</p>
<p>On April 19, 2013 US Acting Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris announced the third annual round of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Program (TAACCCT) grant program. The <a href="media/9d47c56e.PR04192013.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/pdf/PR04192013.pdf" target="_blank">press release</a> states that the current round of grants available is $474.5 million bringing the total 2011-13 program investment to nearly $1.5 billion. A fourth round is planned for 2014. Information on all the rounds is available <a href="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/applicantinfo.cfm" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>Funding is targeted at expanding innovative partnerships between community colleges and employers. All education and career training program strategies developed through grant funds have employer engagement and use labor market information to focus training on local economic needs. This years <a href="media/9caa168d.taaccct_sga_dfa_py_12_10.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/taaccct_sga_dfa_py_12_10.pdf" target="_blank">Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA)</a> says the TAACCCT programs aim is to help &#8220;adults acquire the skills, degrees, and credentials needed for high-wage, high-skill employment while ensuring needs of employers for skilled workers are met&#8221;.</p>
<p>In addition to partnerships TAACCCT stimulates innovation by requiring applicants to build five core elements into their initiatives:<br />
1. Evidence-Based Design<br />
2. Stacked and Latticed Credentials<br />
3. Transferability and Articulation of Credit<br />
4. Advanced Online and Technology Enabled Learning<br />
5. Strategic Alignment</p>
<p>This years SGA even encourages the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).</p>
<p>Another innovation, which DOL has maintained in all three rounds of the TAACCCT program, is the requirement for TAACCCT grantees to make all grant funded curricula and training materials Open Educational Resources (OER) by licensing them with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY). </p>
<p>This year&#8217;s <a href="media/9caa168d.taaccct_sga_dfa_py_12_10.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/taaccct_sga_dfa_py_12_10.pdf" target="_blank">SGA</a> states: </p>
<ul>
<li>&#8220;The purpose of the CC BY licensing requirement is to ensure that materials developed with funds provided by these grants result in Work that can be freely reused and improved by others.&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;To ensure that the Federal investment of these funds has as broad an impact as possible and to encourage innovation in the development of new learning materials, as a condition of the receipt of a TAACCCT grant, the grantee will be required to license to the public all work (except for computer software source code, discussed below) created with the support of the grant under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CCBY) license. Work that must be licensed under the CCBY includes both new content created with the grant funds and modifications made to pre-existing, grantee-owned content using grant funds.&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;This license allows subsequent users to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the copyrighted Work and requires such users to attribute the Work in the manner specified by the grantee. Notice of the license shall be affixed to the Work. For general information on CCBY, please visit <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0</a>&#8220;</li>
</ul>
<p>TAACCCT academic resources developed by the first round of grantees for industry sectors such as health, manufacturing, energy, transportation, and information technology, will become available for reuse in 2014 followed by additional resources from subsequent rounds. What a boon to education and the economy.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the Department of Labor and the Department of Education for their leadership and foresight in requiring publicly funded educational resources be openly licensed in a way that allows them to be reused and continuously improved. This innovation will benefit students, educators, and industry. </p>
<p>Creative Commons remains committed to supporting TAACCCT grantees in deploying and leveraging the CC BY requirement. See <a href="http://open4us.org/" target="_blank">OPEN4us.org</a> for a current list of TAACCCT grantee services Creative Commons offers in partnership with <a href="https://oli.cmu.edu/" target="_blank">Carnegie Mellon University Open Learning Initiative</a>, <a href="http://www.cast.org/" target="_blank">Center for Applied Special Technology</a>, and the <a href="http://opencourselibrary.org/" target="_blank">Washington State Board for Community &amp; Technical Colleges</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37920
title: Open Course Library releases 39 more high-enrollment courses
uri: Open-Course-Library-releases-39-more-high-enrollment-courses
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37920
content:
<p><span><a href="http://opencourselibrary.org/download-edit-and-get-started-teaching/" title="Listening to Larry's keynote by chiaki0808, on Flickr"><img src="media/6701cc0a.OCLHowto1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/OCLHowto1.jpg" alt="OCLHowto1" width="600" height="374" /></a><br />
<small><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://opencourselibrary.org/download-edit-and-get-started-teaching/" property="dc:title">OCL How-to Guide</a> / <span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.sbctc.edu/">SBCTC</a></span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></span></p>
<p>A year and a half ago, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/30201">released</a> the <a href="http://opencourselibrary.org/course/">first 42</a> of Washington state’s 81 high-enrollment courses under the Creative Commons Attribution license (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>). Now they have released the remaining 39 under the same terms, which means that anyone, anywhere, including the state&#8217;s 34 public community and technical colleges and four-year colleges and universities, can use, customize, and distribute the course materials. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://opencourselibrary.org/">Open Course Library</a> project is funded by the Washington State Legislature and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It adheres to SBCTC’s <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/SBCTC_Open_Policy_Open_Licensing_on_Competitive_Grants">open policy</a>, which requires that all materials created through system grants be openly licensed for the public to freely use, adapt, and distribute under CC BY. </p>
<p>For further background on the project, read our <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/20828">2010 feature</a> about the project when it was just beginning. All 81 courses are available at the recently redesigned <a href="http://opencourselibrary.org/course/">Open Course Library website</a> where each individual course is marked with the CC BY license to enable discovery through Google and other search services on the web. </p>
<div id="update">
<h3>Update</h3>
</div>
<p>The SBCTC held a press call today bringing to light a new Cost Analysis report on savings for students where Open Course Library courses have been used in lieu of traditional course materials. For more info, please see:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/updated-cost-analysis-open-course-library">Affordable Textbooks For Washington Students: An Updated Cost Analysis of the Open Course Library</a> &#8211; Among other findings, &#8220;The Open Course Library has saved students $5.5 million in textbook costs to date, including $2.9 million during the 2012-2013 academic year alone.&#8221;</li>
<li><a href="media/5eee7eef.OpenCourseLibrary_FINAL_04302013.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.sbctc.edu/general/documents/OpenCourseLibrary_FINAL_04302013.pdf">Official SBCTC press release announcing Phase 2 courses (pdf)</a></li>
<li><a href="media/749a1500.Conf_recorded_on_Apr_30_2013_12-11PM.mp3" data-original-source="http://168.156.9.142/general/Conf_recorded_on_Apr_30_2013_12-11PM.mp3">Audio of the Open Course Library media conference call with Q&#038;A (mp3)</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38011
title: PLOS launches open access science award program
uri: PLOS-Wellcome-Trust-Google-launch-open-access-science-award-program
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38011
content:
<p><a href="http://asap.plos.org/"><img src="media/58d373f5.asap-banner.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/asap-banner.jpg" alt="asap banner" width="650" height="80" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-38034" /></a></p>
<p>Today the Public Library of Science announced the <a href="http://asap.plos.org/">Accelerating Science Award Program</a> (ASAP). The award program seeks nominations of individuals who have used, applied, or remixed scientific research &#8212; published through open access &#8212; in order to realize innovations in science, medicine, and technology. The goal of ASAP is to build awareness of and encourage the use of scientific research published through open access. Major sponsors include the Wellcome Trust and Google.</p>
<p>Three winners will each receive $30,000. The nomination period opens today and runs through June 15, 2013. Potential nominees may include individuals, teams, or groups of collaborators -– such as scientists, researchers, educators, social services, technology leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers, patient advocates, public health workers, and students -– who have used scientific research in transformative ways. The winners will be announced in Washington, DC, in October 2013 at an Open Access Week event hosted by SPARC and the World Bank.  </p>
<p>Creative Commons is a <a href="http://asap.plos.org/sponsors/">supporter</a> of ASAP, along with several other library organizations, publishers, and research organizations. </p>
<p>For more information, including the full details of the ASAP program, nomination process, and the award specifics, go to <a href="http://asap.plos.org/">http://asap.plos.org/</a>. For program rules visit <a href="http://asap.plos.org/nominate/rules/">http://asap.plos.org/nominate/rules/</a>. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38235
title: Now Hiring: LRMI Project Manager
uri: Now-Hiring-LRMI-Project-Manager
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38235
content:
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/2101576419/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/2101576419/"><img width="320" height="240" src="media/1dd6dce3.2101576419_2a593aa844_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2245/2101576419_2a593aa844_n.jpg" alt="CC swag IV" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/2101576419/"><span property="dc:title">CC swag IV</span></a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/botheredbybees/"><span property="cc:attributionName">Peter Shanks</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Creative Commons is looking for a LRMI Project Manager. This person will play a key role in leading the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34236">LRMI project</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#lrmi">From the job description</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>We are looking for a Project Manager to lead the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI), a project co-led by Creative Commons and the Association of Educational Publishers to build a common metadata vocabulary for educational resources.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>The LRMI Project Manager will provide general oversight of the internal project staff and subcontractors, and ensure LRMI work plans are clearly articulated and timelines adhered to.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>This position:</p>
<ul>
<li>project manages all CC LRMI grants and deliverables;</li>
<li>serves as the primary contact for all LRMI subcontractors and external stakeholders;</li>
<li>leads the LRMI technical working group listserv and meetings;</li>
<li>liaises with open communities, OER repositories / referatories, institutions, standards bodies, and vendors that are integrating LRMI and/or increasing the value of CC’s legal and technology tools;</li>
<li>is the key player in CC’s outreach to open education organizations and broadening awareness about LRMI and CC among states and school districts;</li>
<li>represents LRMI and CC at private meetings and selected conferences and events;</li>
<li>reports progress on the project to CC, the open community and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and</li>
<li>serves as an education expert on technology aspects of CC internally and externally.</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>If this sounds exciting to you, we&#8217;d love to hear from you. <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#lrmi">Check out the full job listing</a> for more information.</p>


feed_id: https://creativecommons.org/?p=34236
title: LRMI Accepted into Schema.org
uri: LRMI-Accepted-into-Schema-org
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34236
content:
<p><a href="http://lrmi.net"><img src="media/91363296.logo_lrmiMain-300x74.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/logo_lrmiMain-300x74.png" width=300 height=74/></a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://lrmi.net">Learning Resource Metadata Initiative</a> (LRMI) specification (<a href="http://www.lrmi.net/the-specification">14 properties</a>) has been accepted and published as a part of <a href="http://schema.org">Schema.org</a>, the collaboration between major search engines Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex (<a href="http://www.lrmi.net/worlds-leading-search-engines-recognize-lrmi-as-education-metadata-standard">press release</a>). This marks the culmination of a year&#8217;s worth of open collaboration with the LRMI Technical Working Group and the wider education publishing community. To view the LRMI properties within the context of the full Schema.org hierarchy, visit <a href="http://schema.org/CreativeWork">schema.org/CreativeWork</a>. See this <a href="http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/philb/2013/04/24/lrmi-in-schema/">post</a> by Phil Barker for additional detail.</p>
<p>The LRMI, a simple tagging schema that draws from and maps easily to existing metadata frameworks (e.g., IEEE, LOM and Dublin Core), is intended to be an easy way for open and proprietary content publishers to standardize the way they describe the education specific characteristics of their resources.</p>
<p>This is wonderful news as the LRMI specification will be a piece of the future of education, especially as it pertains to Open Educational Resources (OER). Some of the features of LRMI will allow next generation learning systems based on personalized guided learning. To get a better idea of what kinds of things are possible with LRMI, watch this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKcZ8ozCah0">OSCON keynote by Danny Hillis</a> describing the concept of a Learning Map.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wKcZ8ozCah0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Creative Commons is currently working with 10 different OER platforms and repositories to implement LRMI support and we hope to announce the first few complete implementations in the coming months.</p>
<p>To join the ongoing discussions around LRMI support and implementation, please join the <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/lrmi">public mailing list</a>.</p>
<p>And&#8230; Creative Commons is hiring a new <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38235">LRMI Project Manager</a>. Please send us the best and brightest to lead this important project!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38075
title: Free Wikipedia course offered through the School of Open
uri: Free-Wikipedia-course-offered-through-the-School-of-Open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38075
content:
<p>Have you ever looked at an article on Wikipedia and thought, &#8220;this could really use some work&#8221;? With the free online course “<a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/49/writing-wikipedia-articles-the-basics-and-beyond/">Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond</a>,” offered through the <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a>, you have the opportunity to take the next step. </p>
<p>In the course, you will learn about both the technical and social underpinnings of this worldwide, volunteer-built resource, and how you can most effectively contribute to its vision to freely share knowledge. The six-week course will start its second round on <strong>14 May</strong> (for those in the Americas) or <strong>15 May</strong> (Asia/Australia).* Sign up <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/49/writing-wikipedia-articles-the-basics-and-beyond/">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Sara_and_Pete%2C_Communicate_OER.JPG"><a href="media/fd153bfc.FileSara_and_Pete_Communicate_OER.JPG" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sara_and_Pete,_Communicate_OER.JPG"><img src="media/41bf5deb.Sara_and_Pete_Communicate_OER.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sara_and_Pete_Communicate_OER.jpg" alt="Sara_and_Pete%2C_Communicate_OER" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Sara and Pete, Communicate OER</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Pete Forsyth</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>While the course is free and open to everyone, it focuses on the topic of open educational resources (OER), and students work to improve relevant Wikipedia articles as part of their coursework. The <a href="http://wikistrategies.net/wikisoo-1">first round of the course</a> concluded last week. The course organizers, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/27552">Pete Forsyth</a> and Sara Frank Bristow of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Communicate_OER">Communicate OER</a>, had so much fun that they are diving right back in to facilitate a second round. Pete says,  </p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;We learned a great deal in our first run: we were surprised by how few of our students knew about OER, but also how fully they embraced the topic. We hope you will agree, their efforts to improve the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Educational_Resources">OER article</a> have been successful: while there will always be room for improvement, today’s version of the article is much improved from the version prior to the start of our class.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Several members of the CC community were proud to support this effort. In the first round, CC CEO Cathy Casserly participated in a panel discussion and CC Senior Project Manager Paul Stacey provided a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Open_educational_resources#Re-working_Structure_of_Main_OER_article">review of the OER article</a> around which the course participants shaped their improvements.</p>
<p>Creative Commons encourages you to take advantage of this opportunity to contribute to the world’s understanding of open educational resources and the open licenses that make them possible. <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/49/writing-wikipedia-articles-the-basics-and-beyond/">Sign up for the upcoming course today</a>. You can also participate in a future course or engage in other ways by reaching out to the course organizers at the <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/49/writing-wikipedia-articles-the-basics-and-beyond/">same link</a>.</p>
<p>If you would like to be notified when other &#8220;open&#8221; courses launch their second rounds, make sure you&#8217;re subscribed to the <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open-announce">School of Open announcements list</a>.</p>
<p><small>*If you’re in Europe or Africa, the synchronous course sessions will be in the middle of the night. You are welcome to enroll and watch the archived sessions each week; join the third round of the course, expected to launch in July; or watch for the self-paced version of the course, to be announced in early June.</small></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38269
title: Obama issues Executive Order in support of open data
uri: Obama-issues-Executive-Order-in-support-of-open-data
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38269
content:
<div style="float:right; padding-left:10px" <a href="media/ea368ea9.exec-order-logo-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/exec-order-logo-small.jpg"><img src="media/ea368ea9.exec-order-logo-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/exec-order-logo-small.jpg" alt="exec order logo small" width="300" height="356" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-38291" /></p>
<p align="center"><small><a href="media/52b3bf20.FileSeal_Of_The_Executive_Office_Of_The_President.jpg" data-original-source="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_Of_The_Executive_Office_Of_The_President.jpg"><span property="dc:title">Seal Of The Executive Office Of The President</span></a> / Public Domain</small></p>
</div>
<p>Yesterday President Barack Obama issued an <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/09/executive-order-making-open-and-machine-readable-new-default-government-">Executive Order</a> requiring federal government information to be open and machine-readable by default. This Order is the latest in a series of actions going back to 2009 in support of increasing access to and transparency of government information.</p>
<p>In addition to the Executive Order, the White House released a <a href="media/bc51bc9f.m-13-13.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf">Memorandum</a> (PDF) explaining how federal government agencies will comply with the new open data policy.</p>
<blockquote><p>This Memorandum requires agencies to collect or create information in a way that supports downstream information processing and dissemination activities. This includes using machine­ readable and open formats, data standards, and common core and extensible metadata for all new information creation and collection efforts. It also includes agencies ensuring information stewardship through the use of open licenses and review of information for privacy, confidentiality, security, or other restrictions to release.</p></blockquote>
<p>It provides a forward-thinking set of guidelines for open data to be released by U.S. federal agencies:</p>
<p>Open data: For the purposes of this Memorandum, the term &#8220;open data&#8221; refers to publicly available data structured in a way that enables the data to be fully discoverable and usable by end users. In general, open data will be consistent with the following principles:</p>
<ul>
<li>Public. Consistent with OMB&#8217;s Open Government Directive, agencies must adopt a presumption in favor of openness to the extent permitted by law and subject to privacy, confidentiality, security, or other valid restrictions.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Accessible. Open data are made available in convenient, modifiable, and open formats that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, and searched. Formats should be machine-readable (i.e., data are reasonably structured to allow automated processing). Open data structures do not discriminate against any person or group of persons and should be made available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes, often by providing the data in multiple formats for consumption. To the extent permitted by law, these formats should be non-proprietary, publicly available, and no restrictions should be placed upon their use.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Described. Open data are described fully so that consumers of the data have sufficient information to understand their strengths, weaknesses, analytical limitations, security requirements, as well as how to process them. This involves the use of robust, granular metadata (i.e., fields or elements that describe data), thorough documentation of data elements, data dictionaries, and, if applicable, additional descriptions of the purpose of the collection, the population of interest, the characteristics of the sample, and the method of data collection.</li>
<p></p>
<li><strong>Reusable. Open data are made available under an open license that places no restrictions on their use.<br />
</strong></li>
<p></p>
<li>Complete. Open data are published in primary forms (i.e., as collected at the source), with the finest possible level of granularity that is practicable and permitted by law and other requirements. Derived or aggregate open data should also be published but must reference the primary data.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Timely. Open data are made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data. Frequency of release should account for key audiences and downstream needs.</li>
<p></p>
<li>Managed Post-Release. A point of contact must be designated to assist with data use and to respond to complaints about adherence to these open data requirements.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Memorandum provides some more information about how U.S. government information will be made reusable: </p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Ensure information stewardship through the use of open licenses &#8211; Agencies must apply open licenses, in consultation with the best practices found in Project Open Data, to information as it is collected or created so that if data are made public there are no restrictions on copying, publishing, distributing, transmitting, adapting, or otherwise using the information for non-commercial or for commercial purposes.</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>Depending on the exact implementation details, this could be a fantastic move that would remove any legal confusion about using federal government data. By leveraging open licenses, the U.S. federal government would be doing a great service to reusers by communicating those rights available in advance. And, if the U.S. truly wishes to make federal government information available without restriction, it could consider using a tool such as the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a>. CC0 is used by <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_use_for_data">many data providers</a> to place open data directly in the public domain. We’ve already <a href="media/fbfea963.NASFederalAgencieshearingonopendata.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/c/c1/NASFederalAgencieshearingonopendata.pdf">suggested this</a> (PDF) as an option for sharing federally funded research data.</p>
<p>The White House should be commended for taking another positive step forward to ensure that U.S. government data is made legally and technically accessible and useable. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38316
title: Deciphering licensing in Project Open Data
uri: Deciphering-licensing-in-Project-Open-Data
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38316
content:
<p>Two weeks ago <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38269">we wrote about</a> the U.S. Executive Order and announcement of <a href="http://project-open-data.github.io/">Project Open Data</a>, an open source project (managed on Github) that lays out the implementation details behind behind the President’s Executive Order and memo. The project offers more information on open licenses, and gives examples of acceptable licenses for U.S. federal data. Some of this information is clear, while other pieces require more clarification. Below we&#8217;ve provided some commentary and notes on the licensing parts of Project Open Data. </p>
<h3>Open Licenses</h3>
<p>The <a href="http://project-open-data.github.io/open-licenses/">Open Licenses</a> page on Project Open Data says that a license will be considered “open” if the following conditions are met: </p>
<blockquote><p>Reuse. The license must allow for reproductions, modifications and derivative works and permit their distribution under the terms of the original work.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Users can copy and make adaptations of the data. The government may use a copyleft license, thus requiring that adapted works be shared under the same license as the original. In our view, the reference to the government using a license is confusing. Works created by federal government employees in the in the public domain, and a license is not appropriate&#8211;at least as a matter of U.S. copyright law. More on this below.  </p>
<blockquote><p>The rights attached to the work must not depend on the work being part of a particular package. If the work is extracted from that package and used or distributed within the terms of the work’s license, all parties to whom the work is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original package.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Everyone is offered the work under the same public license. </p>
<blockquote><p>Redistribution. The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the work either on its own or as part of a package made from works from many different sources.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Third parties can sell the data verbatim or produce adaptations of the data and sell those. </p>
<blockquote><p>The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale or distribution.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Users don’t have to pay to use the licensed data. </p>
<blockquote><p>The license may require as a condition for the work being distributed in modified form that the resulting work carry a different name or version number from the original work.
</p></blockquote>
<p>When the data gets remixed the licensor can require that the remixer note that their remixed version is different from the original. </p>
<blockquote><p>The rights attached to the work must apply to all to whom it is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Public licenses must be used, which means that everyone gets offered the data under the same terms, without the need to negotiation individual licenses. </p>
<blockquote><p>The license must not place restrictions on other works that are distributed along with the licensed work. For example, the license must not insist that all other works distributed on the same medium are open.
</p></blockquote>
<p>The license doesn’t infect other data or content that is distributed alongside the openly licensed data. It’s important that the open data is marked as such; the same goes for marking of the the non-open data. </p>
<blockquote><p>If adaptations of the work are made publicly available, these must be under the same license terms as the original work.
</p></blockquote>
<p>This is a confusing statement, because it seems to require that all data be licensed under a copyleft license. This does not align with the licensing options listed in the Open License Examples page. </p>
<blockquote><p>No Discrimination against Persons, Groups, or Fields of Endeavor. The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons. The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the work in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the work from being used in a business, or from being used for research.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Anyone may use the licensed data for any reason. </p>
<h3>Open License Examples</h3>
<p>The <a href="http://project-open-data.github.io/license-examples/">Open License Examples</a> page offers a helpful guide as to which open licenses will be accepted for government data released by federal agencies. As we noted in our earlier post, there is some confusion in that the Open Data Policy <a href="media/bc51bc9f.m-13-13.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-13.pdf">Memo</a> says, “open data are made available under an open license that places no restrictions on their use.” Saying that data should be placed under a license with no restrictions doesn’t make sense, since even the most “open” license (such as CC BY) makes attribution to the author a condition on using the license. If the United States truly wishes to make federal government data available without restriction, it could consider mandating only those tools that accomplish this, for example the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a> or the <a href="http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/">Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License</a>. </p>
<blockquote><p>Data and content created by government employees within the scope of their employment are not subject to domestic copyright protection under 17 U.S.C. § 105.
</p></blockquote>
<p>The fact that data and content created by federal government employees is not subject to copyright protection in the United States is a longstanding positive feature of the US code. But as noted here, this copyright-free zone only applies when talking about domestic protection, e.g. inside the United States. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:H.R._Rep._No._94-1476_(1976)_Page_059.djvu">Outside its borders</a>, the United States government could assert that, for example, one of its works is protected under French copyright law, and then enforce its copyright in France. It’s unclear how much this legal nuance is leveraged outside of the United States. But it does seem to create a challenge for the U.S. federal agencies in utilizing public domain dedication tools like CC0. This is because CC0 puts content into the worldwide public domain, whereas under Section 105 works created by federal government employees are only in the public domain in the United States. So, while it’s useful that works created by U.S. federal government employees is in the public domain in the United States, it’s a shame that this seems to preclude federal agencies from utilizing public domain tools like CC0, which would help communicate broad reuse rights easily and in machine-readable form. This begs the larger question, if information created by federal government employees is in the public domain in the United States, then is it inappropriate to license this data and content under one of the licenses noted below? And, if that is true, then what content will be licensed under the conformant licenses? Third party content? </p>
<blockquote><p>When purchasing data or content from third-party vendors, however care must be taken to ensure the information is not hindered by a restrictive, non-open license. In general, such licenses should comply with the open knowledge definition of an open license. Several examples of common open licenses are listed below:
</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Content Licenses: </p>
<ul>
<li>Creative Commons BY, BY-SA, or CC0</li>
<li>GNU Free Documentation License</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Data Licenses</p>
<ul>
<li>Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL)</li>
<li>Open Data Commons Attribution License</li>
<li>Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL)</li>
<li>Creative Commons CC0</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Notwithstanding the questions above about licensing options for the work produced by federal government employees, the Administration is taking a great step in recommending that licenses should align with the <a href="http://opendefinition.org/">Open Definition</a>. In addition, the Administration might include information about appropriate software licenses, should those come into play when they release data. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38304
title: Lawrence Lessig to keynote CC Global Summit
uri: Lawrence-Lessig-to-keynote-CC-Global-Summit
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38304
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/6155457139/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/6155457139/"><img width="256" height="320" src="media/05dfc708.6155457139_ce674692af_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6072/6155457139_ce674692af_n.jpg" alt="Larry Lessig at #ccsummit2011" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/6155457139/"><span property="dc:title">Larry Lessig at #ccsummit2011</span></a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/"><span property="cc:attributionName">David Kindler</span></a><br /><a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>This week we have two exciting announcements about our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013">Global Summit</a>, the bi-annual gathering of our community which will be held in Buenos Aires in August 2013.</p>
<p>First &#8211; we are pleased to confirm that Professor Lawrence Lessig, <a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10519/Lessig">Roy L. Furman Professor of Law</a> at Harvard Law School, and one of Creative Commons&#8217; founders and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/board#lawrencelessig">current Board members</a>, will be presenting a keynote at this year&#8217;s Summit. Anyone familiar with Creative Commons is likely to be familiar with Professor Lessig, who for the last decade has been one of the leading advocates for a more open copyright system worldwide and a popular public face of CC. If you are one of the few people who are unfamiliar with Professor Lessig&#8217;s work, you can see an example of his inspirational speaking style in his TED talk from 2007, <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html">Laws that choke creativity</a> (he also spoke on <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim.html">reform of US political funding</a> in 2013). Details of the time and subject of Professor Lessig&#8217;s talk will be distributed closer to the event.</p>
<p>Second &#8211; registration for the Global Summit is officially open. You can find the <a href="https://creativecommons.net/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&#038;id=9">registration form here</a>. The event is free, but places are limited, so early registration is essential if you want to ensure your place at this meeting of CC commmunity, board, staff, and key stakeholders interested in the present and future of the commons.</p>
<p>Finally, while we have you, we&#8217;d also like to remind you that the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013/Call_for_Papers">call for papers</a> for the Summit closes this week. Have you papers in by 24 May if you want to be on the main program (lightning talks and unconference sessions can be submitted later).</p>
<p>See you all in Buenos Aires in August!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38347
title: Bassel Khartabil’s Second Birthday in Prison
uri: Bassel-Khartabil-s-Second-Birthday-in-Prison
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38347
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/8570312584/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/8570312584/"><img width="320" height="213" src="media/e71e5a07.8570312584_02a312778d_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8525/8570312584_02a312778d_n.jpg" alt="#FreeBassel" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/8570312584/"><span property="dc:title">#FreeBassel</span></a> / <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtkindler/"><span property="cc:attributionName">David Kindler</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>If you <a href="https://creativecommons.net/civicrm/mailing/subscribe">subscribe to Creative Commons&#8217; newsletter</a> or follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/creativecommons">Facebook</a>, you&#8217;re likely familiar with the story of <a href="/tag/freebassel">Bassel Khartabil</a>, our friend and longtime CC volunteer who&#8217;s been in prison in Syria since March 2012. Today, on the second birthday that Bassel has spent in prison, friends of Bassel and members of the open community are taking a moment to reflect on his situation and call for his release.</p>
<p>The Index on Censorship, which <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37612">honored Bassel in March with the Digital Freedom Award</a>, has compiled <a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/05/happy-birthday-bassel-khartabil/">a collection of birthday wishes for Bassel:</a></p>
<blockquote><p>I just want him free, I pray for him to be free and I pray for all his friends who believe and work on Bassel&#8217;s freedom. &#8211; Bassel&#8217;s mother</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>It is your birthday. It is not a day of happiness — yet. But when justice is done, and you are released from your wrongful imprisonment, all of us will celebrate with enormous happiness both this day, and every day that you have given us as an inspiration for hope across the world. &#8211; Larry Lessig, founder of Creative Commons</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/05/happy-birthday-bassel-khartabil/">Read more</a></p>
<p>Our friend Jon Phillips, organizer of the <a href="http://freebassel.org/">#freebassel campaign</a>, has launched a project called <a href="https://fabricatorz.com/2013/05/freebassel-sunlight-celebrate-bassels-birthday-today-may-22-2013/">FREEBASSEL SUNLIGHT</a>. In Jon&#8217;s words, &#8220;Please help shine some sunlight on Bassel by doing some novel research on his situation, where he is located, and help connect the dots of his situation and life.&#8221;</p>
<p>Artist and filmmaker <a href="https://twitter.com/KikiSurvives">Niki Korth</a> recently developed a game that <a href="http://vimeo.com/65991186">uses quotations from Bassel</a> to start conversations about free and open communication, the conflict in Syria, and other topics. Niki has been <a href="http://freebasselconversation.tumblr.com/">publishing the playing cards online</a> as well as <a href="http://vimeo.com/thebigconversationspace/videos">videos of people playing the game.</a></p>
<p>Earlier this week, Niki led a few of us at CC in the game. You can watch <a href="http://vimeo.com/thebigconversationspace/videos">our responses</a> to several of her questions on her Vimeo page.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/66714768" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></p>
<p>In this video, CC CEO Cathy Casserly voices our shared hope that we&#8217;ll see Bassel soon:</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/66717740" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Read more</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/weblog/entry/37414">Free Bassel, Free Culture</a></li>
<li><a href="/weblog/entry/36271">Lawrence Lessig&#8217;s WSJ Article on Bassel Khartabil</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38384
title: California public access bill moves to Assembly floor vote
uri: California-public-access-bill-moves-to-Assembly-floor-vote
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38384
content:
<p><a href="https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9220"><img src="media/9d419cc1.ab609_468x60s600x600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ab609_468x60s600x600.jpg" alt="ab609_468x60~s600x600" width="468" height="60" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-38393" /></a></p>
<p>After passing through the Assembly Appropriations Committee last week (with bipartisan support), California&#8217;s <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB609">Taxpayer Access to Publicly Funded Research Act (AB 609)</a> will now reach the Assembly floor for a vote this week. If the proposed bill passes the Assembly, it will move to the California State Senate. </p>
<p>To recap, AB 609 would require that the final peer-reviewed manuscript of research funded through California tax dollars be made publicly available within 12 months of publication. If passed, AB 609 would be the first state-level bill requiring free public access to publicly funded research. </p>
<p>The Association of American Publishes attempted to scuttle the bill by <a href="media/4384aadf.AAP_Opposition_AB609.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AAP_Opposition_AB609.pdf">sending a letter</a> filled with inaccurate, misleading information. However, public access advocates <a href="media/fdb7a95f.Eisen_AB609_AAP_Response.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Eisen_AB609_AAP_Response.pdf">made their voices heard</a> to appropriations committee members, <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/state/legislation/php-app/read_doc.php?id=2245">again correcting the FUD</a> spread by entrenched publishing interests. </p>
<p>If you&#8217;re a California resident, <a href="https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9220">you can contact your Assembly member now</a> to ask that they support AB 609.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38371
title: New Annual Report and Strategy Document
uri: New-Annual-Report-and-Strategy-Document
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38371
content:
<p><a href="media/940980e9.Future-of-creative-commons.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/c/ce/Future-of-creative-commons.pdf"><img src="media/39d67628.future-of-cc-cover-300.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/future-of-cc-cover-300.png" width=300 height=353 align="right" border=0 /></a>Creative Commons has grown tremendously since we started. As we approached the milestone of our <a href="http://10.creativecommons.org/">10th birthday</a>, and with a new CEO on board, we began an intensive review of our progress and priorities. Sometimes you need to use big milestones to stop and see where you are, and occasionally you find that decisions made to meet immediate demands don&#8217;t always hold up against long-term ambitions. The world is changing pretty quickly, and to remain effective, CC needs to do more than just keep up.</p>
<p>During our review, we spent a lot of time asking questions and listening to our Affiliate Network members around the world. We hired some consultants to help run a process and to talk to people outside of the organization about how they viewed the role of Creative Commons. As navel-gazing goes, we gave it a solid effort. We also realized how important it is to declare our mission, vision, and priorities for action. The resulting publication, <a href="media/940980e9.Future-of-creative-commons.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/c/ce/Future-of-creative-commons.pdf"><em>The Future of Creative Commons</em></a> (2.7 MB PDF), lays out priorities for each area in which we work. These overall priorities are already guiding staff in how they use their time and set targets for each program area. They also give us a good base to measure how well we are doing.</p>
<p>As a companion piece, we offer this annual report, <a href="http://dispatches.creativecommons.org/"><em>Dispatches from the Commons</em></a>. In it, we call out some of the big accomplishments of the past year and highlight organizations and people who are doing powerful and innovative things with our licenses.</p>
<p>The whole process of evaluating our place in the world and projecting our ambitions for the future repeatedly reminded us of how much we rely on supporters, allies, and friends. Creative Commons is a small staff connected to the whole world through our affiliates and a global community of open advocates, volunteers and creators. Only together are we Creative Commons. You are a powerful engine for change that seems to run on an endless supply of renewable energy!</p>
<p>We hope that this strategy document and annual report help you understand where CC is headed and where you can play a role. Thanks for your sharing. Thanks for your support. Thanks for coming along on this amazing ride.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=37862
title: Guest Blog Post: Crowdfunding the Commons
uri: Guest-Blog-Post-Crowdfunding-the-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37862
content:
<p><em>This guest blog post was written by <a href="http://nic.suzor.net/">Nic Suzor</a>.</em></p>
<p>What do Amanda Palmer, a book on storytelling in Africa, and particle physics have in common? That&#8217;s what I&#8217;d like to find out.</p>
<p>My name is <a href="http://nic.suzor.net/">Nic Suzor</a>, and I am a researcher at <a href="http://www.law.qut.edu.au">QUT School of Law</a> and the <a href="http://cci.edu.au/">Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation</a> in Brisbane, Australia. I have just spent two weeks in the Creative Commons offices in Silicon Valley, kicking off a research project that seeks to understand the role of voluntary collective action in funding and coordinating free cultural works.</p>
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://amandapalmer.net/products/theatre-is-evil-digital/"><a href="http://amandapalmer.net/products/theatre-is-evil-digital/"><img width="300" height="300" src="media/59be9ce2.theatre-is-evil-300x300.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/theatre-is-evil-300x300.jpg" alt="Theatre is Evil" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://amandapalmer.net/products/theatre-is-evil-digital/"><span property="dc:title"><em>Theatre is Evil</em> cover</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Amanda Palmer</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Crowdfunding platforms like <a href="http://kickstarter.com">Kickstarter</a> and <a href="http://indiegogo.com">Indiegogo</a> allow creators to turn directly to their audience to support their next project. Sometimes, crowdfunding looks similar to traditional business models, except consumers pay up-front. Other times, though, crowdfunding gets really interesting. Some people are using these new models in ways that shake the very foundations of copyright and our assumptions about how society can fund free cultural works in a way that is both fair and sustainable.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour">highly publicised campaign</a>, <a href="http://amandapalmer.net/">Amanda Palmer</a> raised nearly $1.2 million for her new album and tour last year. The album, <em>Theatre is Evil</em>, is now available <a href="http://amandapalmer.net/producttypes/featured/">on her website</a> under a <a href="/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA license</a>. </p>
<div style="float:left; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://archive.org/details/OralLiteratureInAfrica"><a href="http://archive.org/details/OralLiteratureInAfrica"><img width="160" height="241" src="media/3f85b6b0.OLACover.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/OLACover.jpg" alt="Oral Literature in Africa" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://archive.org/details/OralLiteratureInAfrica"><span property="dc:title"><em>Oral Literature in Africa</em> cover</span></a><br /><span property="cc:attributionName">Ruth Finnegan</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
</div>
<p>Also last year, <a href="http://unglue.it/work/81834/">257 people came together</a> to publish a new, free version of an important research book, Ruth Finnegan&#8217;s <em>Oral Literature in Africa</em>. The book was out of print, and its high original retail price meant that it was not available to research communities in Africa who needed access. This is a rapidly growing problem &#8211; the costs of research books now average around $100, and many books only sell around 300 copies. There is an awful lot of academic knowledge that has become inaccessible because it has gone out of print or been priced too high for libraries, individual researchers, and the public. <a href="http://unglue.it">Unglue.it</a> provides a crowdfunding platform to tackle part of this problem, by providing a way for people around the world to contribute to the costs of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access">open access</a> publishing. Donors from around the world raised $7,500 to &#8220;unglue&#8221; Ruth Finnegan&#8217;s classic book, which is <a href="http://archive.org/details/OralLiteratureInAfrica">now available</a> under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a> license.</p>
<p>CERN, the organization behind the <a href="http://home.web.cern.ch/about/accelerators/large-hadron-collider">Large Hadron Collider</a>, is now tackling open access on a much larger scale. The <a href="http://scoap3.org/">SCOAP<sup>3</sup></a> project, led by CERN, has brought together over a thousand research libraries and funding bodies in particle physics to flip the entire field of particle physics journal publishing to an open access <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY license</a>. By redirecting existing library budgets, the consortium provides an opportunity to sustainably fund the costs of publishing while, at the same time, making the research journals available to the world at no cost.</p>
<p>These &mdash; and many more &mdash; experiments are examples of what Peter Suber calls &#8220;<a href="https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/hoap/Open_Access_%28the_book%29">peaceful revolutions</a>&#8221; in publishing. In traditional models, the costs of production are met by publishers who then need to recoup their costs by selling copies of the finished work to consumers. These models invert that process by securing the required funds in advance, which then enables the authors to make the final work freely available for all to use and remix.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s particularly fascinating about these experiments is that conventional copyright wisdom suggests that they shouldn&#8217;t work. Copyright exists because we believe that users are generally <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem">free-riders</a> &mdash; without the ability to restrict access to paying customers, publishers would not be able to recoup their costs. These models show that there are circumstances where people (and organisations) are willing to pay to support the production of new works and new knowledge, even when they don&#8217;t have to.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s now time to start trying to collect all of these experiments in new models of free and open cultural production together, to examine them within a <a href="#framework">common framework*</a>. While there are many, many individual projects, we still don&#8217;t really understand how they all work. We do not yet have enough good data about how communities come together to create large projects. We don&#8217;t really understand what conditions make cooperation possible, and when it doesn&#8217;t work. We know little about the complex processes of negotiation, the development of social norms, that allow people to work together. And most importantly for my work, we don&#8217;t understand what fairness means in these types of relationships. Fairness in a traditional copyright market is relatively straightforward &mdash; people are paid according to the amount of copies they sell (even if the copyright system achieves fairness only on average). Fairness without exclusivity, though, is much more complicated &mdash; when do fans, creators, producers, patrons, consumers all feel like they have reached a good deal? When do people feel exploited? What is it, in all of these relationships, that limits free-riding, and how generalizable are any of the answers to these questions?</p>
<p>I am always looking for collaborators on these questions. If you want to help, have suggestions about new case studies, or comments about any of this, please let me know by posting below or contacting me directly at <a href="mailto:n.suzor@qut.edu.au">n.suzor@qut.edu.au</a>. For more information, I also have a paper that explains the theory and beginnings of this research project: Nicolas Suzor, &#8220;<em><a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/50021/">Access, progress, and fairness: rethinking exclusivity in copyright</a></em>&#8221; 15(2) Vand. J. of Ent. &#038; Tech. L. 297 (2013) (<a href="media/fc62f093.50021.pdf" data-original-source="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/50021/9/50021.pdf">PDF</a>).</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll leave you with one of my favourite new examples: <a href="http://commonly.cc">commonly.cc</a>, a fascinating project by Nick Liow which aims to provide a general crowdfunding platform to release art and music into the public domain (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a>). In its first trial a few weeks ago, Commonly.cc raised $1000 in just a few days to release a bundle of game art assets, and I am really looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://commonly.cc/"><img src="media/ac920ad0.commonly-gamedev-600.jpg" data-original-source="http://nic.suzor.net/slides/2013/images/commonly-gamedev-600.jpg" width="600" height="346" alt="Commonly.cc game dev garage sale" /></a></p>
<p id="framework"><strong>*</strong> The framework I am adopting for this research is based on the work of Elinor Ostrom and others in examining natural resource commons. The Institutional Analysis and Design framework, as adapted for &#8220;<a href="http://legalworkshop.org/2010/05/17/cornell-post">constructed cultural commons</a>,&#8221; provides a useful tool through which to examine a wide range of unique case studies.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38443
title: New Regional Coordinators for CC in Europe
uri: New-Regional-Coordinators-for-CC-in-Europe
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38443
content:
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><a href="media/f4d843a3.pixel.gif" data-original-source="http://dtkindlerphoto.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/953197a4.lrrkpjkkn6k2ana_8yrUghmCWSfCCITW2013-9012-compressed-cropped.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/www.dropbox.com_sh_lrrkpjkkn6k2ana_8yrUghmCWSfCCITW2013-9012-compressed-cropped.jpg" alt="John Weitzmann" title="John Weitzmann" width="" height="340" /></span></a><br /><small><a href="media/f4d843a3.pixel.gif" data-original-source="http://dtkindlerphoto.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif"><span property="dc:title">John Weitzmann</span></a> / <a href="http://dtkindlerphoto.photoshelter.com/"><span property="cc:attributionName">DTKindler</span></a> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><a href="media/6193aa34.gwen_franck.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/images/people/gwen_franck.jpg"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/1a77eebd.293164_10151094843757384_1483635558_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BsbdwH3S02M/UaZFMQ55E7I/AAAAAAAAACQ/_CujyFbOSS8/s358-no/293164_10151094843757384_1483635558_n.jpg" alt="Gwen Franck" title="Gwen Franck" width="" height="340" /></span></a><br /><small><a href="media/6193aa34.gwen_franck.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/images/people/gwen_franck.jpg"><span property="dc:title">Gwen Franck</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Gwen Franck</span> / All Rights Reserved</small></p>
<p>I am very happy to introduce our two new European Regional Coordinators &#8211; <a href="http://creativecommons.org/staff#johnweitzmann" target="_blank">John Weitzmann</a> and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/staff#gwenfranck" target="_blank">Gwen Franck</a>.</p>
<p>Creative Commons has volunteer teams <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/affiliates">in over 70 countries</a>, including 35 in Europe, all of whom work to support and promote the adoption of CC in their local jurisdictions and advise CC’s work globally. The role of the Regional Coordinators is to support and foster these communities in their regions. We&#8217;ve had a Regional Coordinator in Europe for a few years, but this will be the first time we have two for the region, significantly increasing their capacity. </p>
<p>John is not new to the CC community, and in fact has been a leader in Europe for many years as the Legal Lead of CC Germany. Based in Berlin, he is also a Partner of iRights.Law, an IP and media law firm, and is a well known writer and speaker on open issues as part of <a href="http://www.irights-lab.de/">iRights.Lab</a>.</p>
<p>Gwen is newer to Creative Commons, but is still known to our community through her work with the <a href="http://www.openaire.eu/">OpenAIRE</a> project, providing access to research across Europe. She has also worked on <a href="http://openaccess.be/">Open Access Belgium</a> and <a href="http://tedxghent.be/">TEDxGhent</a>. Her background is in community management, international relations and research.</p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/ab1555a3.jonas-oberg1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/jonas-oberg1.jpg" alt="Jonas Oberg" title="Jonas Oberg" width="" height="200" /></span><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Jonas Oberg</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">Mathias Klang</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">CC BY ND</a></small></p>
<p>With this announcement, I also bid a sad farewell to Jonas Oberg, who has been our European Regional Coordinator for almost two years now. Jonas has done a great job of supporting our European community, organizing multiple regional meetings, working with individual teams and taking a lead in everything from grant applications to collaborative activities. We are extremely grateful for Jonas&#8217; time with us, and very glad that he will continue to be part of our broader community in his new Shuttleworth Fellowship looking at automated attribution for open objects.</p>
<p>Join me in farewelling Jonas, and welcoming John and Gwen to their new roles.  </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38357
title: CC Board Meeting: New Directions and Opportunities
uri: CC-Board-Meeting-New-Directions-and-Opportunities
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38357
content:
<p>On Saturday, April 27, the Creative Commons Board of Directors met at the Safra Center at Harvard. We discussed the accomplishments of the past 12 months, both in the organization and in the broader open movement, and the new opportunities on the horizon, including creating an Advisory Council to complement the Board itself.</p>
<h2>The State of CC: 2012-13 in review</h2>
<p>CC CEO Cathy Casserly gave an upbeat review of CC&#8217;s past 12 months. Some key takeaways:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>CC&#8217;s international network of affiliates and champions continues to grow and strengthen</strong>. Affiliates and other volunteers organized over 30 celebrations around the world for <a href="http://10.creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons&#8217; tenth anniversary</a> as well as events, salons, and conferences year-round. Regional CC networks are becoming more energized, with regional gatherings taking place around the globe.</li>
<li><strong>Creative Commons continues to serve as a voice for open.</strong> Through new initiatives like the <a href="/weblog/entry/37179">School of Open</a> and the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Open_Policy_Network">Open Policy Network</a>, CC is helping to teach everyone from world governments to individuals about the value of open licensing.</li>
<li><strong>The open education movement is stronger than it&#8217;s ever been.</strong> In the past year, the governments of <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34566">British Columbia</a>, <a href="http://projects.siyavula.com/blog/2013/01/16/the-year-in-review-highlights-for-siyavula-in-2012/">South Africa</a>, the <a href="/weblog/entry/34328">United States</a>, and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34288">California</a> have made major investments in OER (open educational resources). UNESCO member states <a href="/weblog/entry/33089">unanimously approved a resolution</a> calling for the development of quality OER.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Opportunities and Challenges Ahead: The next 12 months</h2>
<p>The discussion then turned to the next 12 months at Creative Commons.</p>
<p>CC&#8217;s expanded global team will create new opportunities for collaboration and development in the CC Affiliate Network. Cathy outlined a plan to engage with the CC Affiliate Network in developing instructional resources for license users, and announced a new grant that will provide critical support for affiliate collaborations.</p>
<p>CC General Counsel <a href="/staff#dianepeters">Diane Peters</a> led a discussion about the forthcoming <a href="/weblog/entry/36713">version 4.0 of the license suite</a>, explaining how the new licenses will address several important issues in interoperability and internationalization.</p>
<p>CC Director of Product Strategy <a href="/staff#danmills">Dan Mills</a> laid out his plan to develop a new set of products that will make it easier for users to mark and attribute CC-licensed content, while letting licensors interact with people who reuse their works. <a href="/board#glenn">Glenn Brown</a> and <a href="/board#lawrencelessig">Lawrence Lessig</a> agreed to serve as advisors to the project development pipeline.</p>
<h2>New Directions for CC&#8217;s Board</h2>
<p>Finally, we discussed the future of CC&#8217;s Board of Directors. As the program areas in which CC works have grown and shifted, the demands on the Board have changed too. We agreed on a plan to establish an Advisory Council that would advise and critique the overall CC strategy, complementing and expanding the Board. We will conduct a search for new Board and Advisory Council nominees with key expertise and skill sets. Part of the search process will include an upcoming open call for nominations for our Board of Directors and for our new-to-be-formed, Advisory Council. We hope you&#8217;ll actively put forward candidates.</p>
<p>This was my second in-person Creative Commons Board meeting, and it reaffirmed my pride in being chair for an organization that is shaping the future. I speak for everyone on the Board when I see we&#8217;re excited about the changes and challenges to come in the next few years.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38491
title: Doubling down on Markdown for science
uri: Doubling-down-on-Markdown-for-science
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38491
content:
<p><img src="media/4bed34de.thread-275x300.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/thread-275x300.png" alt="email thread with attachments" width="137" height="150" align="left" style="padding: 10px" /> Scientific authoring workflow is a beast. You keep notes on paper (hopefully, a notebook, and not just loose pages), in word-processing documents unhelpfully named &#8220;notes&#8221; followed by &#8220;notes1,&#8221; &#8220;notes2&#8243; or worse, &#8220;notes_old,&#8221; &#8220;notes_old1.&#8221; You manage your bibliography on your desktop or on the web, you have a directory folder full of images, charts, photos and other media, and you collaborate with your co-authors by emailing attachments back and forth. </p>
<p>Sooner or later you start doubting your sanity but you soldier on. Finally you publish your paper, heave a sigh of relief, and move on, thereby ensuring your data can&#8217;t be reused and your work can&#8217;t be reproduced easily.</p>
<p>Several <a href="https://github.com/scholmd/markdown_science/wiki/people-attending">coders, designers, scientists, and publishers</a> met at PLOS to brainstorm toward a better, more modern way. The <a href="https://github.com/scholmd/markdown_science/wiki">Markdown for Science workshop</a> was organized by <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/mfenner/2012/12/13/a-call-for-scholarly-markdown/">Martin Fenner</a> and <a href="http://reganmian.net/wiki/researchr:start">Stian Håklev</a> and supported by a <a href="http://www.force11.org/node/4358">1K Challenge Grant from FORCE11</a>.</p>
<p><img src="media/b0cac149.mdsci.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mdsci.jpg" alt="mdsci13 group" width="300" height="168" class="size-medium wp-image-38494" /><img src="media/b3a4499f.ideas.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ideas.jpg" alt="ideas" width="269" height="168" class="size-medium wp-image-38493" /> <br />Photos by Puneet Kishor, CC0 PD Dedication</p>
<p>While a lot of good ideas were generated, we have a long way to go. <a href="https://github.com/scholmd/markdown_science/wiki">Keep an eye on this project</a>, and better yet, pitch in with your ideas and code. Together we can tame this beast.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38528
title: Lumen Learning launches open course frameworks for teaching
uri: Lumen-Learning-launches-open-course-frameworks-for-teaching
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38528
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3082/2823432918_72e7277927.jpg"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonedaddy/2823432918/in/photostream/"><img src="media/b156bd85.course-framework.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/course-framework.jpg" alt="course framework" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">Ryan</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p><a href="http://www.lumenlearning.com">Lumen Learning</a>, a company founded to help institutions adopt open educational resources (OER) more effectively, just launched its first set of course frameworks for educators to use as-is or to adapt to their own needs. The <a href="http://www.lumenlearning.com/courses">six course frameworks</a> cover general education topics spanning English composition, reading, writing, algebra, and college success, and are openly licensed for reuse under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)</a>.</p>
<p>The course frameworks were developed by the Lumen Learning team in concert with faculty members at nine institutions who worked to align the content with defined learning objectives and quality standards. By providing openly licensed course frameworks developed and vetted by experts, Lumen Learning hopes to make it easier for educators and institutions to use OER. From the <a href="http://www.lumenlearning.com/pr052213_courseframeworks">press release</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Our ultimate goal is to provide sustainable open textbook alternatives for an entire general education curriculum and even entire OER-based degree programs,&#8221; said Kim Thanos, CEO and co-founder of Lumen Learning. &#8220;We are thrilled with the interest and momentum we are seeing around OER today. It is definitely a rising tide, benefitting students, instructors and institutions alike.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>You can browse the CC BY-licensed course frameworks at <a href="http://www.lumenlearning.com/courses">http://www.lumenlearning.com/courses</a>. Lumen Learning will also offer additional course frameworks in business management, psychology, chemistry, biology, and geography in the coming months. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38514
title: State of the Map is alive and well
uri: State-of-the-Map-is-alive-and-well
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38514
content:
<div id="attachment_38531" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1034px"><a href="media/733302c1.sotmus_mikel.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sotmus_mikel.jpg"><img src="media/74118e1f.sotmus_mikel-1024x524.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sotmus_mikel-1024x524.jpg" alt="sotmus_mikel" width="730" height="358" class="alignright size-large wp-image-38531" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://groundtruth.in">Mikel Maron</a> talking about social functions in OSM. Photo by Puneet Kishor, released under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 PD Dedication</a></p></div>
<p>About <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/openstreetmapus/">400 map makers, coders, cartographers, designers, business services providers and data mungers of chiefly spatial persuasion</a> gathered in San Francisco to &#8220;talk OpenStreetMap, learn from each other, and move the project forward.&#8221; These conference attendees are a tip of an iceberg composed of 1.1 million registered users who have collectively gathered 3.2 billion GPS points around the world since <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org">OpenStreetMap</a> was launched in 2004 as  a free, editable map of the whole world. Unlike proprietary datasets, OpenStreetMap allows free access to the full map dataset. About 28 GB of data representing the entire planet can be <a href="http://planet.openstreetmap.org">downloaded in full</a>, but also is available in immediately-useful forms like maps and commercial services. OpenStreetMap is <i>open data</i> licensed under the <a href="http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/">Open Data Commons Open Database License</a> (ODbL) with the cartography in its tiles and its documentation licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA 2.0 license</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_38523" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 1034px"><img src="media/6ded9cb3.sotmus_prog-1024x658.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sotmus_prog-1024x658.jpg" alt="SOTMUS Program" width="512" height="329" class="size-large wp-image-38523" /><p class="wp-caption-text">SOTMUS Program. Photo by Puneet Kishor, released under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 PD Dedication</a></p></div>
<p>The program ranged from <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/sunday.html#schedule/sunday/huddling-around-data-driving-local-communities-on-3-7-million-square-miles">building</a> and <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/saturday.html#schedule/saturday/all-i-want-for-openstreetmap-is-social-and-attention">nurturing</a> OSM <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/sunday.html#schedule/sunday/you-are-not-the-crowd">communities</a>, to <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/saturday.html#schedule/saturday/walkshed.js-client-side-raster-processing-with-osm-data-tiles">technical</a><a> </a><a href="http://stateofthemap.us/sunday.html#schedule/sunday/topojson-a-smaller-geojson-with-some-neat-tricks">wizardry</a>, to <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/saturday.html#schedule/saturday/vector-tiles-for-distributed-high-performance-rendering-of-osm">improving</a> <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/saturday.html#schedule/saturday/osm-core-architecture-and-devops">infrastructure</a>. <a href="http://oegeo.wordpress.com">Martijn van Exel</a> provided an insight into the OSM community in the United States (see table below). Big countries and large areas pose challenges <a href="http://stateofthemap.us/sunday.html#schedule/sunday/huddling-around-data-driving-local-communities-on-3-7-million-square-miles">already in the queue to be tackled</a>.</p>
<table>
<tr>
<th>population</th>
<td>310 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>land area</th>
<td>3.7 million sq miles</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>mappers</th>
<td>27,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>casual (&lt; 100 edits)</th>
<td>71.0%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>active (&gt;100 edits, active in last 3M)</th>
<td>6.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>power (&gt;1000 edits, active in last 3M, active for &gt;1Y</th>
<td>2.6%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>total edits, all time</th>
<td>723,000,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>edits by top 10 mappers (incl bots and import accounts)</th>
<td>69.8%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>edits by power mappers (excl most bots and import accounts)</th>
<td>57.3%</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><img src="media/da5020d3.sotmus_badge1-679x1024.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sotmus_badge1-679x1024.jpg" alt="SOTMUS badge" width="339" height="512" class="alignleft size-large wp-image-38522" align="left" /> As a <a href="http://earth-base.org">spatial data munger and environmental scientist</a>, I am proud to be a part of this community. As a believer in <a href="http://thepowerofopen.org">the power of open</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/science">collaborative science</a> and <a href="http://osgeo.org">geospatial</a>, I am inspired by it.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38562
title: University proposal supports U.S. public access directive
uri: University-proposal-supports-U-S-public-access-directive
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38562
content:
<p>Last week the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) released a draft plan on how they’d support public access to federally funded research aligned with the February 22 <a href="media/652d6d11.ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf">White House public access directive</a>. The <a href="media/c2e02600.share-proposal-07june13.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/publications/share-proposal-07june13.pdf"><strong>SH</strong>ared <strong>A</strong>ccess <strong>R</strong>esearch <strong>E</strong>cosystem</a>, or SHARE, is a plan that would draw upon existing university infrastructure in order to ensure public access to publicly funded research. SHARE works through a federated system of university repositories. Participating universities would adopt a common set of metadata fields for publicly funded research articles. The metadata will communicate specific information so the article may be easily discovered through common search engines. Minimum metadata will include author name, title, journal, abstract, and award number. The university-focused SHARE plan was announced in the same week as <a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/06/04/joining-a-chorus-publishers-offer-the-ostp-a-proactive-modern-and-cost-saving-public-access-solution/">CHORUS</a>, an effort championed by a coalition of commercial publishers.</p>
<p>In order to promote broad access and reuse of publicly funded research outputs, the SHARE proposal says that federal agencies need to be granted permissions that enable them to make the deposit system work. Therefore, universities and principal investigators need to retain sufficient rights to in turn grant those permissions (access, reuse, archiving) to the federal agencies. From the plan:</p>
<blockquote><p>Copyright licenses to allow public access uses of publications resulting from federal awards need to be awarded on a non-exclusive basis to the funding agency responsible for deposit in order for that system of public deposit to work [...] Federal funding agencies need to receive sufficient copyright licenses to peer-reviewed scholarly publications (either final accepted manuscripts or preferably final published articles) resulting from their grants to enable them to carry out their roles in the national public access scheme. Such licenses would enable the placement of peer-reviewed content in publicly accessible repositories capable of preservation, discovery, sharing, and machine-based services such as text mining, once an embargo has expired.</p></blockquote>
<p>The need for universities and researchers to maintain rights to make their research available under open licenses is aligned with the recommendations that Creative Commons made to the federal government in our testimony during the public hearings at the National Academies. In our <a href="media/7318be47.NASFederalAgencieshearingonopenaccessarticles.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/9/93/NASFederalAgencieshearingonopenaccessarticles.pdf">comments</a>, we urged agencies to allow authors to deposit articles immediately in a repository under a worldwide, royalty-free copyright license that allows the research to be used for any purpose as long as attribution is given to the authors. By making it possible for authors to make their research articles available immediately as open access, federal agencies will be clarifying reuse rights so the downstream users know the legal rights and responsibilities in using that research. This would include important reuse permissions noted in the SHARE proposal.</p>
<p>We also suggested that federal agencies require that authors deposit their manuscripts into a public repository immediately upon publication in a peer reviewed journal. This is also in line with the SHARE plan. If an embargo is present, the SHARE repository will link to the commercial publisher’s website. And once the embargo period expires, the repository would be able to “flip on” access to the article which would then made available under the open license. </p>
<p>The SHARE proposal also notes, “licensing arrangements should ensure that no single entity or group secures exclusive rights to publications resulting from federally funded research.” It is important that universities and scholarly authors properly manage copyrights from the get-go in order to make sure that the final manuscript is made publicly available under the requirements set out by the White House public access directive. This important consideration <a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/advocacy/nih/copyright.shtml">has been widely discussed</a> at the federal level when the NIH Public Access Policy went into effect. In addition, <a href="http://roarmap.eprints.org/">universities have passed open access policies</a> that reserve the legal rights to archive research conducted by their faculty. And <a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/author/completeonline.shtml">author-level copyright tools</a> have proved to be useful for faculty to preserve some rights to the articles to which they submit to commercial publishers. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38602
title: CC Launches Affiliate Project Grants
uri: CC-Launches-Affiliate-Project-Grants
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38602
content:
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/judy-van-der-velden/6700513557/in/photostream/"><img src="media/ffb64e00.6700513557_680366e27a_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6700513557_680366e27a_n.jpg"/></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/judy-van-der-velden/6700513557/in/photostream/" title="Judy van der Velden">Judy van der Velden</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" title="CC BY-NC-ND">CC BY-NC-ND</a></p>
<p>CC is excited to announce the launch of our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Affiliate_Project_Grants" title="Affiliate Project Grants Wiki">Affiliate Project Grants</a>. These project grants will be used to support and expand the work of CC’s Global community of volunteers.</p>
<p>The goal of the grant program, which is enabled by sponsorship from Google, is to increase the capacity of CC Affiliates and community members working towards <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about" title="About CC">our mission</a>, by providing support for local events and projects. Projects that might be covered by the grants include everything from OER workshops to film and music festivals to publications to research – anything, in fact, you can imagine that expands knowledge and adoption of open policies and practices around the world.</p>
<p>Proposals submitted by CC affiliates and community members will be selected to receive up to $20,000 USD towards their project(s). We are hoping to distribute these globally, with at least one project in each of the major geographical regions, and to cover projects small (eg writing and printing factsheets) and large (eg running a region wide series of workshops).</p>
<p>The application deadline is July 8. You can find out more about how to apply, eligibility, timeline, example projects, and the selection process <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Affiliate_Project_Grants" title="Affiliate Project Grants Wiki">here</a>. Only those working with CC’s local community teams are eligible to apply &#8211; so if you have a good idea, find out how to contact your local CC team <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network" title="CC Affiliate Network">here</a>.</p>
<p>We are looking forward to reviewing all the exciting project ideas that come from our affiliate community!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38569
title: Report Released by U.S. GAO Demonstrates the Need for Open Textbooks
uri: Report-Released-by-U-S-GAO-Demonstrates-the-Need-for-Open-Textbooks
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38569
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8047705@N02/5530819321/in/faves-67338640@N04/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8047705@N02/5530819321/in/faves-67338640@N04/"><img src="media/986ee420.5530819321_e7d1deb527.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/5530819321_e7d1deb527.jpg" alt="picture of textbooks" width="500" height="332" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-38572" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Books /</span><span property="cc:attributionName">John Liu</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>A report issued by the United States Government Accountability Office on June 6th confirms a trend of the educational publishing industry: textbook costs to students at higher education institutions are rising 6% per year on average, and have risen 82% over the last decade.    The <a href="media/b7ac257b.655067.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/655067.pdf">study</a>, ordered by Congress, looks at the efforts of publishers and colleges to increase the availability of textbook price information and &#8220;unbundled&#8221; buying options as required under <a href="http://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/textbook-price-disclosure-law">provisions</a> in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA). The GAO also interviewed faculty regarding benefits of this transparency and offering of new options for students purchasing course materials.  </p>
<h3>What they found</h3>
<p>Findings of the study indicated that faculty are more aware of textbook affordability issues than they used to be, though they see the appropriateness of materials as the most important factor when it comes to choosing resources to use in a course.  HEOA requires publishers to include information about textbook prices when marketing to faculty, including wholesale prices and copyright dates of previous versions.  While the report finds that publishers have passively made this information available through their websites and other materials, the GAO did not investigate whether publishers are actively providing the information to faculty as required by law.  Making this information not only available, but highly visible, is the best way to support and equip faculty to consider textbook costs and potentially explore more affordable and flexible textbook options.</p>
<p>The study also finds that textbook price transparency helped students save money, particularly because of the information colleges and universities posted in course catalogs. Of the 150 institutions the GAO reviewed, 81 percent provided textbook information online during the months leading up to the fall 2012 semester. This allowed students the opportunity to consider the costs associated with each course and the time to seek cost-cutting alternatives like used books and renting.  But even with this relief, textbook prices continue to reach into the $200-and-more range for high-enrollment courses.  The end goal of the HEOA price transparency provisions is to pressure publishers into lowering their prices for good.</p>
<h3>What this means</h3>
<p>As Nicole Allen, Affordable Textbooks Advocate for the <a href="http://www.studentpirgs.org/">Student Public Interest Research Groups</a> (Student PIRGs) explained, “Overall, the report shows that the HEOA requirements have helped students and professors become more aware of textbook costs, and this awareness builds market pressure that will eventually lead to fairer prices and more affordable alternatives.  Although right now publishers stubbornly continue driving prices skyward, they can only ignore the call for affordability for so long.”</p>
<p>The report mentions other textbook affordability efforts that colleges and universities explored alongside providing textbook price information.  About two-thirds of the schools that the GAO interviewed offered an institutional rental program, and many offered price information for alternate formats, such as e-textbooks.  For example, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges’ <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37920">Open Course Library</a>, which offers <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/What_is_OER%3F">Open Educational Resources</a> (OER) and other low cost materials for the system’s 81 largest courses, has <a href="http://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/updated-cost-analysis-open-course-library">saved students</a> $5.5 million to date — about three times as much as the program cost.  As the shift of resources towards efforts that provide more options to students and faculty is seen across the US and in other areas around the world, we anticipate more participation in communities around OER.  Which is a great thing.</p>
<h3>Next steps towards affordable textbooks</h3>
<p>The HEOA requirements for textbook price transparency were a good first step, but there’s more work to do to solve rising textbook costs and lack of flexibility in choosing learning materials for courses.  OER, like those created, revised, and shared in the Open Course Library have the potential to significantly offset these costs while at the same time providing more options for faculty and students to customize textbooks and other courseware to their needs.  CC believes that OER is the next step in providing affordable, flexible, and truly open educational opportunities for students and faculty, allowing global citizens to better choose their own learning pathways.</p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5755763574/in/faves-67338640@N04/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5755763574/in/faves-67338640@N04/"><img src="media/dd6cdfbd.5755763574_95ac67b5b8_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/5755763574_95ac67b5b8_z.jpg" alt="picture of textbook" width="590" height="292" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-38573" /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"></span><span property="cc:attributionName">opensourceway</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>A <a href="http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/press-release/gao-students-need-more-affordable-textbook-options-keep-college-costs-low">joint statement</a> issued by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on June 7th affirms the potential for OER as a solution: “As the GAO report suggests, transparency alone isn’t enough. Students need more access to high-quality, affordable options that challenge the current price structure set by a handful of publishers.  Open Educational Resources, which include high-quality open textbooks that are free for faculty to adopt and students to use, offer a promising step forward.  With many recent technology advancements it will be important for Congress to continue to learn more about the textbook sector to ensure that there are accountability mechanisms in place to protect students and taxpayers.” </p>
<p>The Student PIRGs announcement about the study is <a href="http://studentpirgs.org/news/gao-report-finds-textbook-prices-continue-skyrocket">here</a><br />
The full report of the GAO’s study can be found <a href="media/ab336c6e.655066.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/655066.pdf">here</a><br />
And lastly, a podcast with a member of GAO’s staff that led this study is <a href="http://www.gao.gov/multimedia/podcasts/654840">here</a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38648
title: CC Summer Interns 2013
uri: CC-Summer-Interns-2013
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38648
content:
<p>We&#8217;re happy to have two interns this summer: Pei-Yi Wang (Google Policy Fellow) and Teresa Sempere Garcia (Community Support Intern). </p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/94d0e120.Peiyi-Wang.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Peiyi-Wang.png" alt="Pei-Yi Wang" title="Pei-Yi Wang" width="169" height="190" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-38652" /></span><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Pei-Yi Wang</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><img src="media/f2fd9643.teresa_sempere_2013.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/teresa_sempere_2013.jpg" alt="Teresa Sempere Garcia" title="Teresa Sempere Garcia" width="" height="190" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-38652" /></span><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Teresa Sempere Garcia</span> <br /> <span property="cc:attributionName"> by Christian H. Paleari</span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>Pei-Yi has been with CC Taiwan via Academia Sinica part-time since 2006. As a graduate student at the Law School of National Taiwan University, she helped conduct research about open licenses, porting and translating the CC 3.0 licenses and the CC0 text, assisting governments, academic institutions, libraries and museums to apply CC licenses, and analyzing copyright and other legal issues. More recently, Pei-Yi received her LL.M. degrees from New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center, with focuses on IP, corporate and international business. Before joining CC as a Google Policy Fellow, she practiced law in Taiwan National Digital Archive Project, a leading law firm, and served as in-house counsel in a multinational electronics contract manufacturing company in Taiwan. In her free time, she loves food tasting, music, and traveling. </p>
<p>Teresa is a free culture and free software activist who has been working in the field for many years. She was one of the creators and organizers of the highly successful <a href="http://librebus.org/">Librebus </a>Project in both 2011 and 2012, which took open advocates on a tour of Central and Southern America, running workshops and seminars. Teresa has earned degrees in Advertising and Public Relations (University of Alicante, Spain), Specialist in Design and Communication (Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain), Specialist in International Cooperation for Development (University of Alicante, Spain), and Cultural Management focusing on Culture, Communication and Politics (Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina). She has worked in educational and cultural projects around the world, including in Belgium, Sweden, Italy, and Slovenia (working as Assistant Project Coordinator of Europe WAGGGS), in addition to Argentina and Costa Rica (working for AECID, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development). Teresa enjoys traveling, photography, swimming, and cycling.</p>
<p>Teresa is based remotely in Cordoba, Argentina and will be working with Jessica Coates, the Affiliate Network Coordinator, as well as the Regional Coordinators, to facilitate collaborative projects among CC’s global volunteer network, particularly focused on the <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Global_Summit_2013">Global Summit</a> and a new project for the production of CC toolkits. Pei-Yi will be based in Mountain View and will help with the development of the <a href="openpolicynetwork.org">Open Policy Network</a>. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38704
title: Open Call for Creative Commons Board of Directors & Advisory Council Candidates
uri: Open-Call-for-Creative-Commons-Board-of-Directors-Advisory-Council
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38704
content:
<p>*<a href="http://creativecommons.org/board">Board of directors</a>:<em> Hal Abelson, Paul Brest, Glenn Brown, Michael Carroll, Catherine Casserly, Caterina Fake, Brian Fitzgerald, Davis Guggenheim, Joi Ito, Lawrence Lessig, Laurie Racine, Eric Saltzman, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, Annette Thomas, Jimmy Wales, and Esther Wojcicki.<br />
</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathancolquhoun/2133542347/"><img src="media/92637a42.suggestionbox5.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/suggestionbox5.jpg" alt="suggestionbox" width="349" height="302" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-38715" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathancolquhoun/2133542347/" title="Nathan Colquhoun">Nathan Colquhoun</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" title="CC BY-NC-SA">CC BY-NC-SA</a></p>
<p>The Creative Commons Board of Directors is seeking recommendations from the Creative Commons community for potential candidates to serve on the board of directors and a new, to-be-formed advisory council. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to Creative Commons and advance our mission of maximizing digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.</p>
<h2>Why we are doing this</h2>
<p>Creative Commons Board of Directors is making structural adjustments and engaging in succession planning. As part of this process, during the April 2013 Creative Commons Board of Directors meeting, the board agreed to form a Creative Commons Advisory Council for which it is also seeking members. The advisory council is distinct from the board. While it will not have decision-making authority, its role is to provide depth of experience and knowledge for the board to tap.</p>
<p>This open call for board and advisory council nominations is designed to engage the entire Creative Commons community in identifying candidates who will ensure Creative Commons continues to have the resources, leadership, and oversight necessary to carry out its vision and mission, and does so in a way that is inclusive of our global community.</p>
<h2>What the Creative Commons Board of Directors is looking for</h2>
<p>The board seeks candidates who have a passion and enthusiasm for Creative Commons and can act as ambassadors, fundraisers, and experts.</p>
<p>Creative Commons has developed a <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsIKbRz-8utNdDFaNjRqVFBRNmx2TlVtdkJZY1JXN1E#gid=0" title="CC Board Matrix of Key Skills">matrix of key skills</a> needed on the board and advisory council. In making your nomination for board or advisory council please reference this skills matrix and describe the skills you believe your nominee would bring to Creative Commons. </p>
<h2>Nomination process</h2>
<p>To nominate yourself or someone else, please <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/forms/d/1TudOc2dztjX2yFpU7hc_jivuQ60NjVkKc6VE6Xz1-A4/viewform" title="Creative Commons Board of Directors &#038; Advisory Council Candidate Application">complete this web form</a> by <strong>July 15, 5pm PDT (GMT -7)</strong>. Please share this form with your networks and anyone you think may be interested in serving. There is no limit to the number of candidates you may nominate. </p>
<p>Nominations will be accepted on a rolling basis through <strong>July 15, 5pm PDT (GMT -7)</strong> and reviewed by the board of directors Executive Committee. Potential candidates will be contacted in late July to early August.</p>
<h2>Contact</h2>
<p>For any questions contact <a href="meryl@creativecommons.org">meryl@creativecommons.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38727
title: Blackboard xpLor officially released with OER and CC license options
uri: Blackboard-xpLor-officially-released-with-OER-and-CC-license-options
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38727
content:
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NUOjgax8VO4?list=PLontYaReEU1vfksF-R5C5yCgPZ37oSsEL" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>In January I <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35378">blogged</a> about Blackboard xpLor &#8212; a new cloud-based learning object repository that was being piloted at 70 institutions. Blackboard officially <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/About-Bb/News-Center/Press-Releases.aspx?releaseid=122700">released</a> it today, giving educators the ability to discover, create, and share resources across learning management systems (LMS). As part of its launch, xpLor has integrated support for CC license options for creators of content as well as the search and discovery of existing OER under CC licenses, such as the Khan Academy&#8217;s rich collection of videos and exercises. xpLor currently offers four CC license options for course creators (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA) in addition to the CC0 public domain waiver, which allows you to waive all copyrights to your work should you choose to do so. </p>
<p>From the <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/About-Bb/News-Center/Press-Releases.aspx?releaseid=122700">press release</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>Users can create and store materials in xpLor, and then extend their content by sharing and making it discoverable to instructors across working groups, courses and institutions. Content is delivered through the cloud to users&#8217; LMS; xpLor currently supports Blackboard Learn™, ANGEL, Joule® from Moodlerooms and Sakai. Users can tag and rate content, making it easy to find items their peers found to be valuable.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>
Content can be adapted over time by multiple users. Content authors can control who can see and change their content, and can apply to their work a variety of rights and permissions from All Rights Reserved to Creative Commons open sharing, to enable crowdsourcing collaboration and remixing of content.</p></blockquote>
<p>For details with screenshots of the CC license implementation, see my <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35378">earlier post</a>. If you want to check it out yourself, you can via <a href="http://coursesites.com/">CourseSites</a> or an existing LMS account with your institution (as named above). If you use a different LMS, xpLor may work with it if your LMS employs IMS standards &#8212; since xpLor is cloud-based and built to work across systems. To find out more, see the form at <a href="http://www.blackboard.com/sites/xplor/">http://www.blackboard.com/sites/xplor/</a>. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38767
title: KA Lite: an offline version of the Khan Academy
uri: KA-Lite-an-offline-version-of-the-Khan-Academy
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38767
content:
<p><a href="http://kalite.learningequality.org/"><img src="media/fa1c722c.kalite-logo.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/kalite-logo.png" alt="kalite-logo" width="300" height="107" class="alignright size-full wp-image-38773" /></a></p>
<p>We&#8217;d like to draw your attention to <a href="http://kalite.learningequality.org/">KA Lite</a>, an offline version of the <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/">Khan Academy</a> developed by a team of volunteers from around the world in collaboration with the <a href="http://learningequality.org/">Foundation for Learning Equality</a>. KA Lite was developed with the aim of furthering universal access to education, especially those without an Internet connection &#8212; or those with a very slow Internet connection. This <a href="http://learningequality.org/map/">map</a> shows all registered users of KA Lite around the world. </p>
<p>KA Lite is an independent project, not associated with the Khan Academy, though as the KA Lite FAQ <a href="http://kalite.learningequality.org/faq/general/affiliation/">states</a>, Khan Academy is unofficially supportive of the project. The great thing is that the folks behind KA Lite didn&#8217;t have to ask for permission because permission was already granted thanks to the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA license</a> on Khan Academy materials. This allowed KA Lite volunteers to build an open source application that would support and make available Khan Academy&#8217;s 4,200+ high quality educational videos and exercises in an offline setting. </p>
<p>Dylan Barth, one of the creators behind KA Lite, says,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Through KA Lite, we distribute Khan Academy videos and exercises which are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.<br />
<br />
The KA Lite sourcecode itself is open-source MIT licensed, and the other included software and content is licensed as described in the <a href="https://raw.github.com/learningequality/ka-lite/master/LICENSE">LICENSE file</a> (it&#8217;s all open-source, it&#8217;s just different licenses for different packages we use).<br />
<br />
The only potential cost to the end user would be hardware to run KA Lite on (it can run on all types of hardware bundles, from old Windows computers to the $35 Raspberry Pi) and the electricity to run the hardware.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Check out, download for free, and volunteer for the project at <a href="http://kalite.learningequality.org/">http://kalite.learningequality.org/</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38818
title: OPEN Partners Host U.S. Department of Labor TAACCCT Grantee Kick-Off Conference
uri: OPEN-Partners-Host-U-S-Department-of-Labor-TAACCCT-Grantee-Kick-Off
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38818
content:
<p><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/9094358708/in/set-72157634241936529/"><img src="media/b8d93819.9094358708_3f506cc986.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5489/9094358708_3f506cc986.jpg" alt="OPEN Partner Keynote from Cable Green, visualized by Giulia Forsyth" class="alignnone" /></a></span><br /><span><small><span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/9094358708/in/set-72157634241936529/">Giulia Forsyth</a></span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small></span></p>
<h3>Wave 2 Kick-off Event, Minneapolis MN</h3>
<p>Round 2 Grantees from the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) <a href="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/">Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College &#038; Career Training</a> (TAACCCT) program were invited to attend last week’s Kick-off Conference, hosted by <a href="http://www.open4us.org">OPEN Partners</a>: CC, CMU’s OLI, CAST, and SBCTC.  This was a unique opportunity for the Gates-funded OPEN Partners to explain services made available to grantees at no cost, supporting the building of Open Educational Resources (OER) that meet current standards of accessibility, pedagogically-sound and technology-supported design, as well as legal openness.  Creative Commons is leading the OPEN Partner services and support, lending expertise in legal and technical aspects of open education to the project.  Representatives from forty seven Round 2 TAACCCT projects attended workshops to understand service basics, and a showcase to hear from select Round 1 Grantee projects that made use of the complementary services offered to all grantees.</p>
</p>
<p style="float:right; padding-left: 10px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" about="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3737/9098227972_9ae11c207b_n.jpg"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/9098227972"><img alt="OPEN Conference Attendee" src="media/a3b50890.9098227972_9ae11c207b_n.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3737/9098227972_9ae11c207b_n.jpg" /></a><br /><small><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/9098227972/sizes/n/in/photostream/" property="dc:title">Photo</a> by <span property="cc:attributionName"><a ref="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/">Cable Green</a></span> / <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></small></span></p>
<p>Highlighted Round 1 <a href="http://open4us.org/about/grantee-showcase/">Grantees</a> included <a href="http://www.nationalstem.org/">The National Stem Consortium</a> (NSC), the <a href="https://secure.collegeincolorado.org/Career_Planning/Explore_Careers/Energy/Whats_the_Deal.aspx">Colorado Online Energy Training Consortium</a> (COETC), and the <a href="http://mccatoday.org/mohealthwins/">Missouri Online HealthWINs</a> program, sharing their experiences in the program thus far.  All grantees are funded to support the building of community college-level and technical training courses that will provide opportunities for unemployed and under-employed adults to gain certificates and degrees in high-skilled industries.  The OPEN partners offer expertise to grantees around accessibility frameworks, open-licensing and technical interoperability, and quality standards for online education.  All of the courses and learning materials created in this four year $2 billion DOL grant program are being licensed for reuse with a Creative Commons (CC BY) license, making this the largest <a href="https://creativecommons.org/education#OER">OER</a> production effort to date.  The pool of courseware will include lessons, videos, images, and interactive content for learners in health care, information technology (IT), advanced manufacturing, and other industries that need high-skilled workforce support.  It’s a big deal.</p>
<h3>Keynote and Plenary Sessions</h3>
<p>CC’s Director of Global Learning, Cable Green, provided the opening keynote for the conference titled Online Technology, Open Licenses, and Open Educational Resources &#8211; <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cgreen/open-dol-talk-round-2-kickoff-2013">The Opportunity for DOL TAACCCT Grantees</a>.  The <a href="http://www.cast.org/">Center for Accessibility Supportive Technology</a>’s (CAST) Samantha Johnston provided an overview of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, and spoke about accessibility in distance education, which most TAACCCT courses are being developed for.  <a href="http://www.sbctc.edu/">Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges</a> (SBCTC) Boyoung Chae offered a session about creating and managing OER, targeted at new grantees that will likely be collaborating on content in the coming year.  CC, CAST, and the Washington State Board of Community &#038; Technical Colleges (SBCTC) offered multiple hands-on sessions to familiarize grantees with DOL-mandated aspects of their course design, and describe how the OPEN Partners are offering continue support.  CC’s Jane Park led  <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/janeatcc/using-the-cc-by-license-workshop-for-2013-open-kickoff">sessions</a> on the CC-BY license and best practices for applying CC licenses to work.</p>
<p>As a special service to grantees, <a href="http://gforsythe.ca/about-2/">Giulia Forsythe</a> joined the OPEN Partners to provide visual recording (see image above) for the major talks.  The creation of visual notes offered another way for participants to understand the big ideas of the speakers’ messages, using sketch-based keywords and symbols to describe connections.  During a lightning around for new grantees, participants from over forty of the funded college and consortia spoke briefly about their projects and plans. Visual representations of these descriptions will soon be posted to the <a href="http://open4us.org">OPEN4us.org</a> site.</p>
<p style="float:left; padding-right: 10px;"><span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/9096007719/in/set-72157634237158061"><img src="media/ce038fba.F6WJS2I.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/F6WJS2I.jpg" alt="OPEN Kickoff Conference Attendee" class /></a><br /><small><span property="cc:attributionURL"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/9096007719/in/set-72157634237158061">Photo</a> by </span><span property="cc:attributionName"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/9096007719/in/set-72157634237158061">Cable Green / </a><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a></span></small></span></p>
<h3>OPEN Supporting TAACCCT Grantees</h3>
<p>Creative Commons and the OPEN Partners will continue to support TAACCCT Grantees in the upcoming months, maximizing the value and reusability of this amazing pool of OER.  Handouts, visuals, webinar recordings, and additional grantee information can be found on the OPEN Partner website, <a href="http://open4us.org">Open4Us.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38785
title: OpenChem, Open Curriculum, and the Value of Openness
uri: OpenChem-Open-Curriculum-and-the-Value-of-Openness
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38785
content:
<p>I recently spoke with <a href="http://ocw.uci.edu/info/cooperman.aspx">Larry Cooperman</a>, director of <a href="http://ocw.uci.edu/Welcome.aspx">OpenCourseWare at the University of California, Irvine</a> (UCI). Larry also serves on the boards of the OpenCourseWare Consortium and the African Virtual University. I asked Larry about UC Irvine&#8217;s new <a href="http://media.learn.uci.edu/openchem/">OpenChem project</a>.</p>
<p>Why, in the middle of such excitement over MOOCs, would the Department of Chemistry and the OpenCourseWare project at the UCI unveil their <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a>&#8211;licensed <a href="http://media.learn.uci.edu/openchem/">OpenChem project</a>, a set of video lectures equivalent to four years of classes? Because they&#8217;ve designed OpenChem to focus on building out an extensive path to learning chemistry via an open curriculum rather than offering highly designed intensive course experiences like Coursera and EdX.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6JGQH-olv3M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>OpenChem is designed to be reused, revised, and remixed&#160;&#8212; by institutions, departments and instructors. This differs in the most fundamental way from the fixed-path, single-instructor model of most MOOCs. OpenCourseWare and MOOCs aspire to provide access to high quality, higher education learning to those unable, for a variety of reasons, to attend either an &#8220;elite&#8221; institution or any college or university at all.</p>
<p>For some time, Larry has been arguing that we are falling short of this vision. <a href="https://twitter.com/cristobalcobo/status/295959703492624384/photo/1">80% of Coursera users are college graduates</a> and most of the rest are advanced high school and current university students. There is no doubt that others, for lack of access to a basic internet connection, much less the bandwidth required for high-resolution video streaming, won&#8217;t share in these benefits. But there is a second reason, even more troubling than the bandwidth problem, which should concern us. The design of university-level courses, when they come from &#8220;elite&#8221; institutions, is for that audience&#160;&#8212; namely, &#8220;elite&#8221; students. Courses aren&#8217;t designed for students whose secondary institutions have left them with gaps in their education.</p>
<p>And that gets me back to the design of OpenChem&#160;&#8212; or openly licensed curriculum in general. If there is one thing that we can do to use open education to improve higher education, it is to allow existing colleges and universities that serve these students to improve their educational offerings through adoption and adaptation. <strong>That means that those who best know a specific cohort of students must be free to choose from easily integrated, openly licensed materials that match their curricular needs and objectives.</strong> The very first use of OpenChem occurred locally at Saddleback College, when an instructor used ten minutes of a UCI video lecture that offered an explanation of a very specific topic to use in his flipped classroom. And that&#8217;s really the point. An instructor may find ten minutes useful. A department may adopt a course that had not previously been offered. An institution may adapt an entire curriculum. <strong>Further, if the content is not exactly what an instructor wants, the open license allows her to change it to meet local needs.</strong></p>
<p style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 565px; border-radius: 5px; padding: 1em; border: 5px solid #98c807;">MOOCs could also <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34852">enable these opportunities</a>, though they will need to <a href="http://www.educause.edu/blogs/cheverij/moocs-and-intellectual-property-ownership-and-use-rights">make it simple</a> for their course authors and their contributing colleges and universities to add a Creative Commons license to their course content. CC stands ready to help them do so.</p>
<p>Of course, chemistry is a lab science. Allowing students to virtually sit in UCI lecture halls for four years via OpenChem could never substitute for a local institution offering a complete education. By creating a full pathway from a course designed for those without adequate high school chemistry preparation to graduate electives, UCI is making its chemistry education visible. But the goal of OpenChem isn&#8217;t substitution&#160;&#8212; it is to enable both educators and students to collaborate with others. Just as UCI hopes to support science education, they also hope others will adapt and improve OpenChem courses, translate them into other languages, and distribute them far and wide.</p>
<p style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 565px; border-radius: 5px; padding: 1em; border: 5px solid #98c807;">Kenneth Janda, Dean of the School of Physical Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at UCI, invites institutions to use &#8220;a whole lecture or a series of lectures, free of charge, and without asking permission to advance your educational mission.&#8221; That&#8217;s a fairly good itemization of the key benefits of openly licensed resources versus public but read-only copyrighted resources; it is the difference between open and free.</p>
<p>UCI also anticipates important learner benefits that are derived from having an open curriculum, including the ability to go forwards and backwards at will. For instance, looking ahead, an advanced high school student can go past the level of AP Chemistry. An entering college freshman could study Preparation for General Chemistry to ensure their readiness. Or an enrolled student can view the typical coursework and decide whether to become a chemistry major. Just as important, a student having trouble with a class can review the prior knowledge&#160;&#8212; the building blocks that are required to succeed in their current class.</p>
<p>This last point is perhaps the most crucial. Openness in education is about visibility. UCI uses an entire open curriculum to let learners and instructors alike see how it all hangs together. UCI has a lot of work left to do to optimize OpenChem for learning, but is excited to point its university and other institutions in a new direction that brings us all a little closer to the goal of universal access to higher education.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38768
title: Commonly: Refreshing the Public Domain
uri: Commonly-Refreshing-the-Public-Domain
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38768
content:
<p>Last week, indie videogame designer <a href="http://www.ncase.me/">Nick Liow</a> launched the <a href="http://open.commonly.cc/">Open Game Art Bundle</a>. It&#8217;s a simple idea: independent videogame designers contribute game assets &#8211; animations, soundtracks, character designs &#8211; and customers can pay any price they want to access them. Nick describes it as a sort of cross between <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> and <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/">Humble Bundle</a>, and like Humble Indie Bundle, the income is split between the developers themselves and charities (including Creative Commons). But there&#8217;s one big twist: if the bundle reaches its goal of $10,000 by July 15, all assets will become public domain under the <a href="/about/cc0">CC0 public domain declaration</a>.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4Cv2SCVoY4g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>This is actually the third bundle Nick has put out under the brand <a href="http://commonly.cc/">Commonly</a>. It&#8217;s the most ambitious bundle to date, but it&#8217;s really just the beginning. What Nick&#8217;s really interested in isn&#8217;t just about videogames; it&#8217;s about changing how people think about the public domain. I met up with him a few days ago to chat about videogames, public domain, and the open source movement.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DF0VwENYU-c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>We also talked about the increasing rift in the videogame world between the indie developers like himself and the high-budget, &#8220;Triple A&#8221; games of the big-name studios. <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/129284/How-about-you-just-decide-how-not-to-repel-the-women">There&#8217;s been a lot of talk recently</a> about the videogame industry&#8217;s occasional tone-deafness to issues like race and sexuality. Nick told me that he sees a parallel conflict over issues like intellectual property and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management">digital rights management (DRM)</a>. While many young developers like Nick share his opinions, some big-name developers are sticking to what he sees as a more old-fashioned view.</p>
<p>&#8220;The triple-A industry has to reach out to as massive an audience as possible,&#8221; Nick said. &#8220;They close things off because they can&#8217;t afford the risk. You notice that indie games tend to be for a more a more open ecosystem. With the Humble Indie Bundle, &#8220;DRM-Free&#8221; is a part of their tag line. Indie games go with the more open ecosystems&#8230; while triple-A&#8217;s create their own walled gardens with game consoles.&#8221; And, he was quick to add, &#8220;The iPhone counts as a [closed] console.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nick recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area &#8211; <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682017/this-years-thiel-fellows-include-a-fashion-designer-a-poet-and-a-harvard-dropout#1">he&#8217;ll be here for the next two years</a> as a part of the <a href="http://www.thielfellowship.org/">Thiel Fellowship</a>. &#8220;You have to have a big vision [for the fellowship],&#8221; he told me, &#8220;and my big vision was a thriving public domain.&#8221;</p>
<p>He originally applied for the fellowship with his project <a href="http://www.craftyy.com/">Craftyy</a>, an open source game-development platform and social network. Although the Thiel judges liked Nick&#8217;s ideas, &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t clear to them how Craftyy would lead to a thriving public domain.&#8221; That was when Nick started to shift to the idea of crowdfunding for public domain creative works. He told me that his plan for the next two years is to expand the Commonly concept beyond the world of videogame developers into the broader creative community. I can&#8217;t wait to see where Commonly goes next and what awesome stuff it brings into the public domain with it.</p>
<p><strong>Related:</strong> <a href="/weblog/entry/37862">Guest Blog Post: Crowdfunding the Commons</a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38971
title: New Education Highway uses OER to make education accessible in Myanmar
uri: New-Education-Highway-uses-OER-to-make-education-accessible-in-Myanma
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38971
content:
<div style="float:right; padding:10px" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="/ns#" about="http://www.neweducationhighway.org/uploads/1/5/8/5/15852008/__1356124308.png"><a href="http://www.neweducationhighway.org/neh-center.html"><img width="" height="" src="media/3ec658a3.neh-iamge.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/neh-iamge.jpg" alt="NEH center" /></a>
<p><small><a href="http://www.neweducationhighway.org/neh-center.html"><span property="dc:title">ICE-Youth members</span></a> / <span property="cc:attributionName">NEH</span> / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en_US">CC BY-NC-ND</a></small></p>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.neweducationhighway.org/">New Education Highway</a> (NEH) is a nonprofit project that could not exist without open educational resources (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/education#OER">OER</a>). Launched this year in Myanmar, NEH leverages new and existing OER to provide remote and rural communities &#8212; often with no Internet connection &#8212; with access to a quality education.</p>
<p>NEH partners with existing organizations in local communities to open free learning centers with tablets or laptops installed with an offline, easily navigable learning interface. Resources are preloaded and span all manner of subjects, including comprehensive K-12 education, standardized test preparation, vocational skills, health/HIV education, sanitation, critical thinking, community development, foreign language training, and environmental and agricultural science. All resources are available under CC licenses, developed by NEH or other organizations. Because permissions have already been granted for reuse, NEH, as well as its communities, can adapt and redistribute the resources as needed.</p>
<p>NEH works with each community it serves to customize the offline interface and OER to that particular community. NEH is always seeking new and existing materials to incorporate, currently in the environmental and agricultural sciences. If you have suggestions for OER, materials that might be adapted and released as OER, or are interested in getting involved as a volunteer, visit <a href="http://www.neweducationhighway.org/">http://www.neweducationhighway.org/</a> or email <a href="mailto:info@neweducationhighway.org">info@neweducationhighway.org</a>.</p>
<p>Informational content on NEH&#8217;s website is defaulted under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US">CC BY license</a>. The OER used within the NEH Learning Interface is licensed under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a> licenses and will be made available on the site in the coming months.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=39047
title: Free! Music! Contest accepting submissions
uri: Free-Music-Contest-accepting-submissions
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39047
content:
<p align="center"><a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2013-en"><img src="media/82b4bd5b.fmc2013.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/fmc2013.jpg" width=640 height=459 border=0/></a></p>
<p>Once again, our friends at <a href="http://bandcamp.musikpiraten-ev.de/">Musikpiraten e.V.</a> are hosting the annual <a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2013-en">Free! Music! Contest</a> to find the best Creative Commons&#8211;licensed music of the year. CC is proud to serve as a partner in this year&#8217;s F!M!C.</p>
<p><a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2013-en">From Musikpiraten e.V.</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Patron of this year&#8217;s contest is Victor Love, lead singer of the Italian cyperpunk band <a href="http://www.dopestarsinc.com/">Dope Stars Inc.</a>. In 2011, DSI separated from their label and released their album <em>Ultrawired</em> as a free download via <a href="http://thepiratebay.org/">The Pirate Bay</a>. They had been the first band that had ever been featured with a &#8220;Doodle&#8221; on the BitTorrent search engine&#8217;s landing page. Since that release they have been playing worldwide on various festivals.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>As in the last years, a double-CD packed to the brim with the best songs of the contest is going to be produced. A jury chooses the best tracks and takes care that the best of every genre is featured &#8211; from Trash Metal to Hip Hop and Blues, whatever the artists submit. Moreover, vouchers worth 100€ will be raffled among all participants &#8211; even the willingness to make one&#8217;s music free shall be rewarded! Last but not least, there will be a gig near Heidelberg to win. Due to travelling costs, this one is very likely to go to a band from Germany.</p></blockquote>
<p>Read the full contest rules in <a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2013-en">English</a> or <a href="http://musik.klarmachen-zum-aendern.de/free-music-contest-2013">German</a>. Entries are due July 31.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38890
title: The Impact of Open Textbooks at OpenStax College
uri: The-Impact-of-Open-Textbooks-at-OpenStax-College
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38890
content:
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XgeA9h2c7ag" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://openstaxcollege.org/">OpenStax College</a>, an initiative of <a href="http://cnx.org/">Connexions</a>, the open educational resources (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/education#OER">OER</a>) authoring project at Rice University, is creating high-quality, peer-reviewed open textbooks. All of OpenStax College&#8217;s books, including the art and illustrations, are available under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution license</a> (CC BY), allowing anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the books.</p>
<p>The first two OpenStax College books were published in June of 2012, and since then <a href="http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/introduction-to-sociology"><em>Introduction to Sociology</em></a> and <a href="http://openstaxcollege.org/textbooks/college-physics"><em>College Physics</em></a> have been downloaded over 110,000 times, used by more than 1.5 million unique online learners, and adopted at over 200 schools. These adoptions represent real savings for over 30,000 students in classes around the world. OpenStax College estimates that it has saved these students more than $3 million (USD) so far.</p>
<p>OpenStax isn&#8217;t stopping there. <em>Biology</em> and its corresponding book for non-majors, <em>Concepts of Biology</em>, and <em>Anatomy &#038; Physiology</em> have now been released and are ready for use in classes in the fourth quarter of 2013. </p>
<p>OpenStax College recently received grants to complete six more books from several major foundations, including the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Kanzanjian Foundation and Lowenstein Foundation. The next phase will feature <em>Introduction to Statistics</em>, <em>Pre-Calculus</em>, <em>Principles of Economics</em>, <em>U.S. History</em>, <em>Psychology</em>, and <em>Chemistry</em>. These books are entering production now and are scheduled to be released by the end of 2014.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=38900
title: Saylor Foundation launches open online K-12 courses
uri: Saylor-Foundation-launches-open-online-K-12-courses
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/38900
content:
<div style="border:1px solid #eee; padding: 5px; display:inline-block; margin: 20px auto;"><a href="http://www.saylor.org/majors/english-language-arts/"><img src="media/c9b12f76.saylork12languagearts.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/saylork12languagearts.png" style="vertical-align:middle;"/></a> <a href="http://www.saylor.org/majors/math/"><img src="media/21f70888.saylork12math.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/saylork12math.png" style="vertical-align:middle;"/></a> <a href="http://www.saylor.org/majors/k12-electives/"><img src="media/19d103af.Saylorelectives.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Saylorelectives.jpg" style="vertical-align:middle;"/></a></div>
<p><small><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.saylor.org/educationlevels/k-12/">Saylor K-12 Beta</a> by The Saylor Foundation / <a rel="license" href="/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a></small><br />
<br />
The Saylor Foundation recently <a href="http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/05/15/547492/10032944/en/Saylor-Foundation-Launches-Open-Online-K-12-Courses.html">launched</a> a new K-12 program on <a href="http://saylor.org/">Saylor.org</a>, debuting courses for grades 6-12 in English language arts and mathematics. A team of experienced educators and staff are developing courses fully aligned to the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">US Common Core State Standards</a>. Like Saylor&#8217;s college-level courses, the K-12 program incorporates open educational resources (<a href="/education#OER">OER</a>), making the courses, as well as their contents, widely reusable by students, teachers, and parents nationwide. The course frameworks and instructions are available under a <a href="/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license</a>. Thus, while the courses are ready for use as-is, anyone may also reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute their courses to meet local needs.</p>
<p>Following its higher education model, Saylor&#8217;s K-12 team focused on reviewing and vetting an existing pool of OER, selecting the best OER to develop instructions and learning outcomes. With Common Core standards providing a framework for each course, Saylor aims to make K-12 OER easy to find and use. Saylor is currently working on 18 additional courses which will be rolled out as they are completed.</p>
<h4>How can you use K-12 courses on <a href="http://saylor.org/">Saylor.org</a>?</h4>
<p>Teachers:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching">Flip your classroom</a> without shooting your own videos. Saylor provides recommendations on their site.</li>
<li>Incorporate more engaging digital content in your class.</li>
</ul>
<p>Schools:</p>
<ul>
<li>Get current, openly licensed, Common Core&#8211;aligned materials for free.</li>
</ul>
<p>Parents:</p>
<ul>
<li>Provide extra resources to supplement what your kids learn in school. </li>
<li>Use self-contained curriculum for home-schooling families.</li>
<li>Accelerate or review subjects with your kids.</li>
</ul>
<p>Students:</p>
<ul>
<li>Do more challenging work. Your school might not offer calculus, but <a href="http://saylor.org/">Saylor.org</a> does!</li>
<li>Learn subjects in a different way and acclimate to an online learning environment.</li>
<li>Review material you learned in school.</li>
<li>Go further and prepare for your SATs/college (more on that on the site).</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=39060
title: School of Open, Round 2: Courses open for sign-up
uri: School-of-Open-Round-2-Courses-open-for-sign-up
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39060
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2724/4363303445_8bf9906325_b.jpg"><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/uaarchives/4363303445/in/photostream/"><img src="media/83fd4da2.soo-round-2-kindergarten.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/soo-round-2-kindergarten.jpg" alt="Miss Boyer's Kindergarten Class, 1917" border=0 /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title"><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/uaarchives/4363303445/in/photostream/">Miss Boyer&#8217;s Kindergarten Class, 1917</a> /</span> <span property="cc:attributionName">UA Archives | Upper Arlington History</span> / <a href="https://secure.flickr.com/commons/usage/">No known copyright restrictions</a><br /></small></p>
<p>The <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">School of Open</a> is offering its second round of facilitated courses! Starting today, you can sign up for 7 courses during a two week period; sign-up closes <strong>4 August</strong> (Sunday) and courses start on or after <strong>5 August</strong> (Monday). All courses are free to take and open to reuse under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license.</p>
<p>The School of Open is a community of volunteers from around the world passionate about peer learning, openness, and the intersection of the two. These volunteers helped <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/37179">launch the School of Open</a> in March. And now they invite you to join them in the following courses.</p>
<p><em>To sign up for any of these courses, simply go to the course page and click &#8216;Start Course&#8217; under its left Navigation column.*</em></p>
<ul>
<p>1. <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/632/">Copyright 4 Educators (AUS)</a></strong> (7 weeks) &#8211; This course is open to anyone in the world, but will focus on Australian copyright law as pertains to education. This course will equip Australian educators with the copyright knowledge to confidently use copyright material in the classroom. It will also introduce OER and teach you how to find and adapt free, useful resources for your classes. Facilitators: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/Delia%20Browne/">Delia Browne</a> and <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/Jessica_Smith/">Jessica Smith</a></p>
<p>2. <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/667/">Copyright 4 Educators (US)</a></strong> (6 weeks) &#8211; This course is open to anyone in the world, but will focus on US copyright law as pertains to education. The course is taught around practical case scenarios faced by teachers when using copyright material in their day-to-day teaching. Facilitator: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/lquilter/">Laura Quilter</a></p>
<p>3. <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/620/">Creative Commons for K-12 Educators</a></strong> (7 weeks) &#8211; This course will help K-12 educators find and adapt free, useful resources for their classes. It will also help them incorporate activities that teach their students digital world skills &#8212; such as finding, remixing, and sharing digital media and materials on the web. Facilitator: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/janepark/">Jane Park</a></p>
<p>4. <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/77/">Designing Collaborative Workshops</a></strong> (4 weeks) &#8211; This course brings together case studies of some great collaborative workshops that have been run in the past with an open invitation for you to share your own experiences with either running or participating in a workshop that worked well (or didn&#8217;t). Facilitators: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/mickfuzz/">Mick Fuzz</a> and <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/janepark/">Jane Park</a></p>
<p>5. <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:School_of_Open_course">Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond</a></strong> (6 weeks) &#8211; If you can read Wikipedia, you can learn to build it! In this course, you will learn about the software, the rules, and the cultural values that drive and support this ubiquitous and community-built online encyclopedia. It will focus on articles about openness in education. Facilitators: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/Peteforsyth/">Pete Forsyth</a> and <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/sara_fb/">Sara Frank Bristow</a> <em>*This course runs on Wikipedia; follow instructions to sign up at the course page</em></p>
<p>6. <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/5/">Open Science: An Introduction</a></strong> (4 weeks) &#8211; This course is a collaborative learning environment meant to introduce the idea of Open Science to young scientists, academics, and makers of all kinds. Facilitator: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/billymeinke/">Billy Meinke</a></p>
<p>7. <strong><a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/588/">Why Open?</a></strong> (4 weeks) &#8211; This course will facilitate discussion on the different meanings of openness, how openness applies to different domains, as well as participants&#8217; views of what it means to do things openly. Participants will engage in open activities, and examine the benefits and potential issues with openness. Facilitators: <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/clhendricksbc/">Christina Hendricks</a>, <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/mtotowajirani/">Simeon Oriko</a>, <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/Jeannette/">Jeanette Lee</a>, <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/peteforsyth/">Pete Forsyth</a>, and <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/janepark/">Jane Park</a>
</ul>
<p>Too busy to take a course this time around? Don&#8217;t worry, we&#8217;re around for a while. <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open-announce">Sign up to be notified</a> when we launch our next round of facilitated courses, or take a <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-open/#stand-alone">stand-alone course</a> at your own pace, at anytime. </p>
<p>Don&#8217;t see a course you want to take but are full of good ideas? Help us build the courses you want to see with others. <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/school-of-open">Join the School of Open discussion list</a> and introduce yourself and your &#8220;open&#8221; interest.</p>
<h3>Forward this to your friends</h3>
<p>Want to take a course with your friends? Do these 3 things and call it a day.</p>
<ul>
<ol>1. Tweet this: </p>
<blockquote><p>Open for sign-up: free facilitated #schoolofopen courses on #OER #openscience #wikipedia #copyright #whyopen <a href="http://creativecommons.org/?p=39060">http://creativecommons.org/?p=39060</a></p></blockquote>
</ol>
<p></p>
<ol>2. Blog/forward this:</p>
<blockquote><p>School of Open, Round 2 is open for sign-up! Take a free, facilitated online course on open science, collaborative workshop design, open educational resources, copyright for educators, Wikipedia, CC licenses, why open? &#8212; and more! at <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">http://schoolofopen.org/</a>. Take this course with me: [link to course of your choice here]. Read more about the launch at <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39060">http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39060</a>.</p></blockquote>
</ol>
<ol>3. Print out a copy of <a href="media/bf9cdfdc.School_of_Open_One_pager.pdf" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/2/26/School_of_Open_One_pager.pdf">this pdf</a> and pin it to the bulletin board at your work, school, or local coffee shop.</ol>
</ul>
<h3>What is the School of Open?</h3>
<p><a href="http://schoolofopen.org/"><img src="media/72879227.school-of-open-logo.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/school-of-open-logo.png" alt="school of open logo" width="270" height="213" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-39074" /></a></p>
<p><strong>School of Open</strong><br />
<a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">http://schoolofopen.org/</a><br />
<em>The School of Open is a 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, research, and more. Volunteers develop and run online courses and offline workshops on topics such as Creative Commons licenses, open educational resources, and sharing creative works. The School of Open is coordinated by <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> and <a href="http://p2pu.org/">P2PU</a>, an active peer learning platform and community for developing and running free online courses.</em></p>
<hr />
<p><small>School of Open logo incorporates &#8220;<a href="http://thenounproject.com/noun/unlock/#icon-No300">Unlock</a>&#8221; icon from <a href="http://thenounproject.com/">The Noun Project</a> collection under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY</a>.</small></p>


