# articles

feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44631
title: Public access to research language retained in U.S. spending bill
uri: Public-access-to-research-language-retained-in-U-S-spending-bill
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44631
content:
<p>Last year, the U.S. Congress included a provision in its appropriations legislation that would ensure that some research conducted through federal spending would be made accessible online, for free. It mandated that a subset of federal agencies with research budgets of at least $100 million per year would be required provide the public with free online access to scholarly articles generated with federal funds no later than 12 months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The agencies affected by the public access provision of the appropriations bill included the Department of Labor, Department of Education, and Department of Health and Human Services. Of particular note is the Department of Health and Human Services, which encompasses research-intensive agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/">SPARC</a> reports that the public access language has been included in the <a href="media/5c56d100.CPRT-113-HPRT-RU00-HR83sa.pdf" data-original-source="http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20141208/CPRT-113-HPRT-RU00-HR83sa.pdf">fiscal year 2015 spending bill</a> (PDF), which appears on p. 961-962:</p>
<blockquote><p>SEC. 525. Each Federal agency, or in the case of an agency with multiple bureaus, each bureau (or operating division) funded under this Act that has research and development expenditures in excess of $100,000,000 per year shall develop a Federal research public access policy that provides for— 1) the submission to the agency, agency bureau, or designated entity acting on behalf of the agency, a machine-readable version of the author’s final peer-reviewed manuscripts that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals describing research supported, in whole or in part, from funding by the Federal Government; (2) free online public access to such final peer reviewed manuscripts or published versions not later than 12 months after the official date of publication.</p></blockquote>
<p>Alongside the federal spending legislation, there were references included in accompanying reports (see <a href="media/144d3d3a.113-HR83sa-ES-B.pdf" data-original-source="http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20141208/113-HR83sa-ES-B.pdf">Departments of Commerce, Justice, Science report</a> at p. 30 and <a href="media/8d2e5a56.113-HR83sa-ES-F.pdf" data-original-source="http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20141208/113-HR83sa-ES-F.pdf">Department of Interior report</a> at p. 32) that point to President Obama&#8217;s Directive requiring agencies to <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35267">increase access to the results of federally funded scientific research</a>. The appropriations language passed for 2014 and 2015 echoes the language of the White House Directive, issued in February 2013. It directs “Federal agencies with more than $100M in R&amp;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.” The agency plans were due in August 2013, and according to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), all agencies <a href="media/4f515166.OpenAccess_March-2014.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/OpenAccess_March-2014.pdf">have submitted at least a draft plan</a> (PDF). Those plans are now being reviewed by OSTP.</p>
<p>Progress has been slow, but public access to publicly funded research remains on the table in the United States.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44594
title: What School of Open volunteers accomplished in 2014
uri: What-School-of-Open-volunteers-accomplished-in-2014
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44594
content:
<p>Another End of Year list, but one which I hope you&#8217;ll take to heart: the amazing accomplishments of the volunteers running School of Open programs around the world, comprised of the Creative Commons, P2PU, Mozilla, and related open communities. </p>
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SOO-wreath.jpg"><img src="media/6ae49a36.SOO-wreath.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SOO-wreath.jpg" alt="SOO wreath" /><br /><small><a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/about/">SOO logo</a> on <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/span112/3133882832"><span property="dc:title">Holiday Wreath</span></a> by <span property="cc:attributionName">Kelly Teague</span> under <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>This year, our community:</p>
<ul>
<li>Gave School of Open a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43030">facelift</a></li>
<li>Established a <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/category/news/">community blog</a></li>
<li>Tried out a new community discussion forum called <a href="http://community.p2pu.org/category/school-of-open">Discourse</a></li>
<li>Developed and ran online courses on <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2314/why-open/">Why Open?</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43536">Open Research</a>, <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/2553/copyright-4-educators-aus/">Copyright 4 Educators</a>, <a href="https://p2pu.org/en/courses/1283/creative-commons-for-k-12-educators/">Creative Commons for K-12 Educators</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WIKISOO">Writing Wikipedia Articles</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42977">ABC of Copyright for Librarians in Latin America</a>, and <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/courses/">more</a></li>
<li>Launched <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43856">School of Open Africa</a> with nine programs in four countries</li>
<li>Ran a second <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43575">Open Educational Resources (OER) Summer Camp</a> on Luxi Island in China</li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43767">Celebrated the Web We Want</a> through a day of awareness, learning and practice for open licensing and its relationship to free culture in Colombia</li>
<li>Hosted <a href="http://creativecommons.org/tag/maker-party">Maker Parties</a> across Africa and combined CC and Mozilla communities to further open education work at <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44443">Mozfest</a></li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43295">Teamed up with Wikipedians</a> to bolster articles about all things related to open education</li>
<li>Launched a series of <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42311">OER awareness workshops for librarians and academics</a> in Romania</li>
<li>Developed <a href="http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami_School/CC/Course">Creative Commons for Kids</a> in South Africa</li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42167">Activated</a> the next generation of open advocates in Africa through the Kumusha bus</li>
<li>All the while bolstering each other up in our meta-community full of <a href="http://schoolofopen.p2pu.org/#community">beautiful faces</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>For 2015</strong>: Some changes are on the horizon. Mainly, we&#8217;ll be working to revamp our <a href="http://schoolofopen.org/">website</a> to better support our volunteers wherever they are based, streamline the process for volunteers who want to run their own online courses, and re-strategize around what it means to develop and run a School of Open program. Above all, we want to increase our impact by combining forces with all open web and education advocates who are being leaders in their regions. Stay tuned&#8230;</p>
<p>On behalf of our intersecting communities, CC wishes you a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! </p>
<p>See how far we&#8217;ve come:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/41423">What we did in 2013</a></li>
<li><a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36078">Highlights from the Class of 2012</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44644
title: The world Creative Commons is fighting for
uri: The-world-Creative-Commons-is-fighting-for
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44644
content:
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<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog8&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/e1b333db.mountains-600.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mountains-600.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
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<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog8&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #5783a5; "><strong>Be a voice for sharing. Support CC.</strong></a></p>
<p>2014 was a big year in the open movement. Both the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Bill &#038; Melinda Gates Foundation approved open policies requiring grantees to publish their content under CC BY, the most open Creative Commons license. That means that for any content funded by either foundation, anyone can reuse it for any purpose, so long as they give attribution.</p>
<p>Being former president of the Hewlett Foundation and the current board chair at CC, I had a unique perspective on Hewlett&#8217;s open policy, and got to watch closely as it came together.</p>
<p>In many ways, the Hewlett Foundation&#8217;s decision was exactly what you would expect from them. After all, it was Hewlett that helped start the open education movement, and it has been Hewlett&#8217;s policy to require CC BY for educational resources for years. And yet, before the decision was finalized, it met a fair amount of uncertainty, both internally and from grantees. And the organization that was consistently there to encourage and assist the foundation was Creative Commons.</p>
<p>After 12 years, it&#8217;s easy to see Creative Commons&#8217; impact on the world. 14 countries have made national commitments to open education. Here in the U.S., the Department of Labor is spending two billion dollars on open educational resources. The idea that openly licensed resources can do more good for the world than closed ones is becoming mainstream, and that&#8217;s largely thanks to CC and its supporters.</p>
<p>But the fight isn&#8217;t over. Governments, foundations, institutions, and even corporations need someone pushing them in the direction of sharing. And CC has stepped up to lead.</p>
<p>Please take a moment to think about why Creative Commons is important to you. CC is a very small nonprofit funded only by donations and grants. Your gift supports the licenses, our ongoing advocacy, and a global network in 79 countries. I know that you&#8217;re inundated with fundraising letters at this time of year, but <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog8&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #5783a5; "><strong>I hope you will consider making a donation to CC</strong></a>.</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog8&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/5210033e.heart-email-mountain.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/heart-email-mountain.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
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feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44602
title: Norwegian translation of 4.0 published
uri: Norwegian-translation-of-4-0-published
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44602
content:
<p>Congratulations to CC Norway on the Norwegian translation of 4.0! This is the second published official translation of the license suite.</p>
<p><center><img class="alignnone wp-image-44603 size-full" src="media/de22dfdd.screenshot-norwegian-small.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/screenshot-norwegian-small.png" alt="screenshot-norwegian-small" width="400" height="137" /></center>The translation effort was led by longtime CC affiliate and noted internet scholar Gisle Hannemyr, of the University of Oslo. We are particularly grateful to this early team for working with us as we developed the <a title="CC translation policy" href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Code_Translation_Policy">translation process</a> (as did CC Finland, whose 4.0 translation <a href="http://creativecommons.org/?p=44223">was recently published</a>).</p>
<p>We&#8217;re excited to see this work progressing as more people are able to use the CC licenses in their own language. Look for a few translations from outside the Nordic region—including some involving teams from several continents!—in the near future.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44653
title: Sharing is our path forward
uri: Sharing-is-our-path-forward
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44653
content:
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<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog9&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #15456d; "><strong>Invest in a more open culture. Support CC.</strong></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m writing on behalf of the Creative Commons Affiliate Network, a community of over 100 affiliate teams in 79 countries. El Salvador joined CC&#8217;s global network this year, and I am its first public lead. I work every day to preserve and protect cultural heritage, under CC&#8217;s model of open sharing for everyone.</p>
<p>Creative Commons is a global movement, but our work requires a local touch. We donate our time to bring the joy of sharing to educators, lawmakers, and artists. And we do it all because we believe in CC.</p>
<p>Sometimes when I tell people about my work with CC, they ask why I spend my time on something so complicated and academic, especially in a world of urgent need and important causes.</p>
<p>I disagree. Creative Commons makes access to knowledge possible in a concrete, tangible way. And access to knowledge is essential. It has a real and immediate impact on all fundamental rights, from self-determination to participation in cultural life. <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog9&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #15456d; "><strong>Your donation to CC is an investment in a more open culture</strong></a> and an active CC community in every country on the planet.</p>
<p>There are many organizations and groups fighting to improve people&#8217;s quality of life. The changes we&#8217;re fighting for at Creative Commons benefit the work of those organizations too. Sharing is our path forward, both for El Salvador and for the world.</p>
<p>If you believe that everyone should have access to the world&#8217;s knowledge and culture, I&#8217;m proud to be on your side. <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog9&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #15456d; "><strong>Will you help us by making a donation to Creative Commons today?</strong></a></p>
<p>Sincerely,<br />Claudia</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog9&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/f8894f13.heart-email-15456d.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/heart-email-15456d.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/98330467@N02/15924639035">Claudia Cristiani de Creative Commons El Salvador en el #CPSLV1</a> / Sara Fratti / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44661
title: A year-end message from our CEO
uri: A-year-end-message-from-our-CEO
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44661
content:
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<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog10&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4a5e8e; "><strong>There&#8217;s still time. Support Creative Commons in 2014.</strong></a></p>
<p>This is the fundraising message where the CEO writes and tells you about how important your donation is. And without question, your donation is important. Earlier this month, you heard from our board chair, and a member of our legal team, and a volunteer leading our chapter in El Salvador. My message today is the last of a series of messages that we hope has inspired you to give to Creative Commons before the end of the year.</p>
<p>The year-end campaign is the most important fundraiser for any nonprofit. Most charities will raise half their funds between November 1 and December 31. And almost half of that&#160;&#8212; a quarter of total annual fundraising&#160;&#8212; will happen in the final two weeks.</p>
<p>Right now.</p>
<p>So first of all, let me say I&#8217;m sorry for all those messages. From everyone, not just us. It&#8217;s a lot of email to get, all with the same punchline: please give.</p>
<p>But I wouldn&#8217;t do it if it weren&#8217;t so important.</p>
<p>Of all the organizations that fundraise to help create a more open web, CC&#8217;s budget is tiny.</p>
<p>We have fewer than 20 full-time staff, but we have a large community: over 100 volunteer chapters in 79 countries. <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog10&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4a5e8e; "><strong>We set an ambitious goal this year, with higher targets, and we&#8217;re almost there. Your donation today could help us meet our annual goal.</strong></a></p>
<p>Despite our small stature, we&#8217;re a big deal on the web.</p>
<p>Wikipedia, Flickr, SoundCloud, and YouTube, and 9 million other websites all rely on our licenses to provide legal sharing options. We&#8217;re the global standard that powers free culture, open access in science and academia, open textbooks, and open data. Every day, our small team works as part of a number of global movements that rely on CC licenses.</p>
<p>This year, CC licenses were endorsed by both the White House and the European Commission for open government. Both the Gates and Hewlett Foundations adopted policies that will require the money they grant to create freely licensed content and research. Just a few examples of our team creating a more open world for all of us.</p>
<p>The commons now contains almost 1 billion works. And they are viewed tens of millions of times a day. All that content is free&#160;&#8212; both to those who share and to those who enjoy what is shared.</p>
<p>I expect you give to a few charities every year. Most people do. My hope is that this year, you&#8217;ll choose Creative Commons as one of them. <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog10&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4a5e8e; "><strong>Donations of $5 or $10 really add up, and mean a lot to CC and to our global community. Will you support Creative Commons today?</strong></a></p>
<p>The commons is a huge collaborative project that spans centuries, and CC is creating enormous and lasting value&#160;&#8212; every dollar helps ensure that more free content makes it online: data, academic research, educational curriculum, videos, music, pictures, and more.</p>
<p>And once it&#8217;s there, it&#8217;s there forever. For anyone to use.</p>
<p>This is an important year for Creative Commons. Our 12th anniversary was earlier this month, and while we are well known and vital to the web, we&#8217;re not sustainable without your help. We rely on a small and very dedicated base of annual donors who help ensure we keep doing our work, and a number of very generous foundations.</p>
<p>But to continue to meet our goals, we need to grow our donor network. That means we need to earn your support, and that of your friends, and your friends&#8217; friends.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a big undertaking, and you&#8217;ll hear more from us over the coming year about it, along with some really exciting new projects, like a mobile photo app, tools for searching the commons, and more.</p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog10&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4a5e8e; "><strong>But for now, I&#8217;m hoping you&#8217;ll make a donation as part of your year-end giving that will directly support the kind of internet we all love: free, open, transparent, vital, and even a little silly.</strong></a></p>
<p>Thank you for listening, and thank you for your support.</p>
<p>Best,<br />Ryan</p>
<p><strong>PS: If you make a donation, your gift will count as double thanks to a grant we received from the Brin Wojcicki Foundation. <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog10&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #4a5e8e; ">Please give today</a>.</strong></p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog10&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/de1289dd.heart-email-navyblue.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/heart-email-navyblue.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
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feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44672
title: Institute for Open Leadership kicks off next week
uri: Institute-for-Open-Leadership-kicks-off-next-week
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44672
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindus/3686504988"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44684" src="media/8d4e87b3.presidio1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/presidio1.jpg" alt="presidio1" width="550" height="412" /></a><a href="media/bd199eb5.presidio.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/presidio.jpg"><br />
</a><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindus/3686504988">The Presidio</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindus/">Mindus</a> under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-NC-SA</a></small></p>
<p>It’s a new year, and Creative Commons and the <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/">Open Policy Network</a> are excited to work with the inaugural group of fellows at the <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/iol/">Institute for Open Leadership</a>. The Institute for Open Leadership&#8211;or IOL&#8211;is an effort  to cultivate new leaders in open education, science, public policy, and other fields on the values and implementation of openness in licensing, policies and practices. The rationale for the Institute is to educate and empower potential open advocates within existing institutional structures in order to expand and promote the values and practices of the idea that publicly funded resources should be openly licensed.</p>
<p>We received nearly 100  high quality applications and selected <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43566">14 fellows for the first Institute</a>. The fellows come from around the world (12 countries), and reflect a wide range of institutions&#8211;from community colleges to government ministries  to public radio.</p>
<p>We’re hosting the in-person portion of the Institute in California next week. It’s important that the Institute help fellows move from theory to reality: a major component of the program requires fellows to develop, refine, and implement a capstone open policy project within their home institution. Creative Commons and the open community will provide mentorship and guidance throughout this process. As the fellows build and eventually implement their policy projects, we’ll ask them to share their progress, challenges, and successes. We also plan on running a second Institute for Open Leadership outside of North America &#8211; in late 2015.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44676
title: Boston Children’s Hospital OPENPediatrics Launches Open Multimedia Library
uri: Boston-Children-s-Hospital-OPENPediatrics-Launches-Open-Multimedia
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44676
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4899337322/in/photostream/"><img src="media/bb8969c4.boston.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/boston.jpg" alt="boston children's hospital" border="0" /></a><br />
<small>Children&#8217;s Hospital, Boston, Mass. [front] / Boston Public LIbrary / <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/4899337322/in/photostream/">No known copyright restrictions</a><br />
</small></p>
<p>The <a href="http://openpediatrics.org">OPENPediatrics</a> program at Boston Children’s Hospital announced the <a href="http://openpediatrics.org/openpediatrics-launches-library-of-free-multimedia-educational-resources">launch</a> today of a new open educational resource (OER), a <a href="http://openpediatrics.org/resources/multimedia-library/">multimedia library</a><wbr></wbr> that presents animations and illustrations from OPENPediatrics instructional videos under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a> for use by clinicians and academics in their own instructional materials.  OPENPediatrics provides online learning opportunities for pediatric clinicians worldwide on a website specifically for medical professionals, but some of the resources created for that site—including those in the new multimedia library—are now being made available to the general public as well.</p>
<blockquote><p>“An important part of our production process is the addition of high quality animations and illustrations to our didactic and procedural videos,” said Steve Carson, Director of Operations for the program.  “Until now these resources have been embedded in our videos and only accessible to clinicians.  Now, inspired by MIT OpenCourseWare and other OER projects, we are making the animations and illustrations available under open licenses and in downloadable formats to encourage wide usage.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The initial 48 animations and illustrations are among the hundreds that will eventually be made available. The first set of resources illustrates key concepts of airway management, respiratory care, neurology, clinical procedures and other areas of pediatric care. The animations and illustrations have all been peer reviewed for accuracy.  In the coming months, OPENPediatrics will continue publishing animations and illustrations from its back catalog as well as from newly released videos and other resources. The multimedia library is the second publicly available resource from OPENPediatrics, joining a collection of World Shared Practice Forum videos, which share global perspectives on key aspects of pediatric care.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44702
title: Thank you
uri: Thank-you
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44702
content:
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<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog11&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/da16f93b.cc-gears.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/cc-gears.png" style="width: 100%; " /></a>
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<p style="text-align: center; "><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog11&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #5fc48c; "><strong>Creative Commons would not exist without you.</strong></a></p>
<p>As we wrap up our winter fundraising campaign, it&#8217;s time for our most important message: thanks.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CuA7p1RbLKo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog11&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #5fc48c; "><strong>Thank you for your donations to support the work of our staff, affiliates, and volunteers around the world</strong></a>. We met and exceeded our goals. <strong>Without your support, Creative Commons simply wouldn&#8217;t exist.</strong></p>
<p>Donating is one important contribution, and we thank you for it. But we also thank you for using Creative Commons licenses to share, remix, and collaborate. Without people like you using them, CC licenses would be meaningless. Because of you, CC is a growing, evolving movement that&#8217;s redefining how knowledge, culture, and information are shared.</p>
<p>Thank you for being a voice for open in your schools, businesses, organizations, and governments. Over the past 12 years, you&#8217;ve shown the world that sometimes sharing content freely makes it <em>more</em> valuable, not less.</p>
<p>Thank you for wearing those CC T-Shirts, uploading those CC-licensed photos, and displaying those license badges on your blogs.</p>
<p>2015 is going to be a big year for Creative Commons. We&#8217;ll be back in touch soon to talk with you about some big projects we&#8217;re working on and how you can get involved.</p>
<p>But for now, <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog11&#038;utm_medium=web" style="color: #5fc48c; "><strong>thank you for supporting Creative Commons</strong></a>. We&#8217;re proud to be fighting together with you.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s to more sharing in 2015.</p>
<p>Sincerely,<br />Creative Commons</p>
<p align="right"><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/?utm_campaign=2014fund&#038;utm_source=blog11&#038;utm_medium=web"><img src="media/5a1e9b5f.heart-email-5fc48c.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/heart-email-5fc48c.png" width=114 height=100 alt="Support Creative Commons" /></a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44712
title: Global Affiliate Network releases CC Affiliates Mixtape #1
uri: Global-Affiliate-Network-releases-CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44712
content:
<p style="text-align: center; "><img src="media/31bcd65d.ccmixtape-500.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ccmixtape-500.jpg" width=500 height=500 /><br />Download album: <a href="https://archive.org/details/nwscomp006">Internet Archive</a> / <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Creative_Commons/Creative_Commons_The_2015_Unofficial_Mixtape/">Free Music Archive</a> / <a href="https://soundcloud.com/cc-europe/sets/cc-affiliates-mixtape-1">SoundCloud</a><br />
<a href="media/09149ead.CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1-Infosheet.pdf" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1-Infosheet.pdf">Download album notes</a> (PDF)<br />Download album art: <a href="media/f8e7abf8.CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1-Artwork_FrontCover.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1-Artwork_FrontCover.jpg">Front</a> / <a href="media/4f0492c3.CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1-Artwork_BackCover.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/CC-Affiliates-Mixtape-1-Artwork_BackCover.jpg">Back</a></p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="450" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/71861754&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;visual=true"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Guest blog post by Teresa Nobre, Legal Project Lead Creative Commons Portugal</em></p>
<p>We didn&#8217;t need much. It was the release date of the <a href="https://stateof.creativecommons.org/">State of the Commons report</a> and on the CC affiliates mailing list, the discussion was centred on the <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/">annual fundraising campaign</a>. <a href="http://creativecommons.fi/">CC Finland</a> mentioned that we could celebrate <a href="/weblog/entry/44566">CC&#8217;s 12th birthday</a> with music and <a href="http://www.creativecommons.dk/">CC Denmark</a> immediately proposed a new <a href="/weblog/entry/35877">CC Birthday Mixtape</a>. On the other side of the Atlantic, <a href="/staff#elliotharmon">Elliot Harmon</a> replied: &#8220;The mixtape was awesome. I think it would be a great project.&#8221;</p>
<p>I was on a train on my way to Porto to attend an <a href="http://oerpolicy.eu/postcard-from-the-oer-workshop-in-porto/">OER policy project workshop</a>. That activity and the follow-up to it were the things where I had to focus my attention on in the next few days. Composed exclusively by volunteers, most of the affiliate teams struggle with time management. We want to participate in as many activities as possible, but we have to be cautious. Before I could censor myself, I let the crew know that I &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t mind&#8221; organizing it again. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/cc-europe/sets/cc-europe-mixtape-side-a">Jewel by Zoe Leela</a> was already playing in my media player, filling me with pride for our first adventure in the CC music world.</p>
<p>A couple of weeks more passed before someone asked if we were still going to do it. Of course we are! Time runs fast and if we were really going to do it, this had to be a quick community action. Limiting the mixtape to CC Europe was out of the question. This time we wanted to feel the European multiplicity, but we also wanted to get lost in Asian sounds, get African vibes, and go clubbing in the Americas. We sent an email around to the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network">affiliates global network</a> and in a little bit more than 1 week we had received over 60 nominations from 25 countries.</p>
<p>We are certain that had the deadline been longer, we would have received many more suggestions. But we couldn&#8217;t be happier with the astounding response of the affiliates and with the involvement of the regional coordinators in the action. And the final result couldn&#8217;t be better: the CC Affiliates Mixtape #1 not only showcases new music talent but also includes artists which are huge names in their own countries, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Combo">Dead Combo</a> (Portugal), the <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-mendes-brothers-mn0000421170/biography">Mendes Brothers</a> (Cape Verde), the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_National_Symphony_Orchestra">Danish National Symphony Orchestra</a>, or <a href="http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNeg%C3%A3o">BNegão</a> and the <a href="http://bnegaoseletores.com.br/">Seletores de Frequências</a> (Brazil). Yep, it seems that the music world is turning CC!</p>
<p>The CC Affiliates Mixtape #1, comprising 25 CC-licensed tracks from 25 different countries, is available for download under various Creative Commons licenses <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Creative_Commons/Creative_Commons_The_2015_Unofficial_Mixtape/">Free Music Archive</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/nwscomp006">Internet Archive</a>. Enjoy your listening!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44737
title: Using CC music in video: Free webinar tomorrow!
uri: Using-CC-music-in-video-Free-webinar-tomorrow
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44737
content:
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rmmkkGJB2sQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>On January 21, I&#8217;ll be joining Free Music Archive&#8217;s Cheyenne Hohman for a <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/member/cheyenne_h/blog/Webinar_for_Video_Makers_TOMORROW">free webinar on how to find and use CC-licensed music in your video projects</a>. Join us for a great discussion.</p>
<p><a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/member/cheyenne_h/blog/Webinar_for_Video_Makers_TOMORROW">From FMA&#8217;s announcement</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>If you make videos, or you make music for videos, or you just like learning new stuff, tune in tomorrow to our webinar! We&#8217;ll be allowing a few guests in to our Hangout and then broadcasting for everyone else.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>The webinar will begin at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmmkkGJB2sQ">3PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, January 21st</a>.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Special guest and <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> expert Elliot Harmon will be co-hosting with Cheyenne. We&#8217;ll show you around the Free Music Archive (including where to find license and contact info for artists), run through the basics of Creative Commons licenses and how to use CC tracks in videos, and show you how you can license your work under Creative Commons (spoiler: it&#8217;s easy!).</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>We&#8217;re looking forward to seeing you there! If you can&#8217;t make it, we&#8217;ll be archiving the webinars (slides and videos) to our site in the FAQ section.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Next week, we&#8217;ll host one for K-12 teachers, and in early February we&#8217;ll have one for you musical types.</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Hooray!</p></blockquote>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44748
title: The Limits of Copyright: Text and Data Mining
uri: The-Limits-of-Copyright-Text-and-Data-Mining
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44748
content:
<p><a href="https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek"><img style="float: right; padding: 0 0 10px 10px;" src="media/1048f472.copyright-square-1.png" data-original-source="http://www.eff.org/files/2014/01/12/copyright-square-1.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a></p>
<p><i>We&#8217;re taking part in <a href="https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek">Copyright Week</a>, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what&#8217;s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.</i></p>
<p>Today’s topic is about supporting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use">fair use</a>, a legal doctrine in the United States and a few other countries that permits some uses of copyrighted works without the author’s permission for purposes such as parody, criticism, teaching, and news reporting. Fair use is an important check on the exclusive bundle of rights granted to authors under copyright law. Fair use is considered a “limitation and exception” to copyright.</p>
<p>One area of particular importance within limitations and exceptions to copyright is the practice of text and data mining. Text and data mining typically consists of computers analyzing huge amounts of text or data, and has the potential to unlock huge swaths of interesting connections between textual and other types of content. Understanding these new connections can enable new research capabilities that result in novel scholarly discoveries and critical scientific breakthroughs. Because of this, text and data mining is increasingly important for scholarly research.</p>
<p>Recently the United Kingdom enacted <a href="https://www.gov.uk/exceptions-to-copyright">legislation</a> specifically excepting noncommercial text and data mining from copyright. And as the European Commission conducts their <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2013/copyright-rules/index_en.htm">review of EU copyright rules</a>, some groups have called for the addition of a specific text and data mining exception. Copyright for Creativity’s <a href="http://copyright4creativity.eu/2015/01/19/c4ccopyrightmanifesto/">manifesto</a>, released Monday, urges the European Commission to add a new exception for text and data mining, in order to support new uses of technology and user needs.</p>
<p>Another view holds that text and data mining activities should be considered outside the purview of copyright altogether. The <a href="media/e349708c.140305communia_response_simple.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.communia-association.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/140305communia_response_simple.pdf">response</a> from the Communia Association to the EU copyright consultation takes this approach, saying “if text and data mining would be authorized by a copyright exception, it would constitute a de facto recognition that text and data mining are not legitimate usages. We believe that mining texts and data for facts is an activity that is not and should not be protected by copyright and therefore introducing a legislative solution that takes the form of an exception should be avoided.” Similarly, there have been several actions advocating that <a href="http://blog.okfn.org/2012/06/01/the-right-to-read-is-the-right-to-mine/">“The right to read should be the right to mine.”</a></p>
<p>Whether text and data mining falls under a copyright exception or outside the scope of copyright, it is clearly an activity that should <i>not</i> be able to be controlled by the copyright owner. But unfortunately, that is exactly what some incumbent publishing gatekeepers are trying to do by setting up restrictive contractual agreements. One example we’ve seen of this practice is with the deployment of a set of <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43450">“open access” licenses</a> from the International Association of Scientific, Technical &amp; Medical Publishers (STM), many of which attempt to restrict text and data mining of the licensed publications. In jurisdictions such as the United States, users do not need to ask permission (or be granted permission through a license) to conduct text and data mining because the activity either falls outside of the scope of copyright or is squarely covered by fair use.</p>
<p>Ensuring that licenses give copyright owners no more control over their content than they have under copyright law is a fundamental principle of CC licensing. That’s why the licenses explicitly state that they in no way restrict uses that are under a limitation or exception to copyright. This means that users do not have to comply with the license for uses of the material permitted by an applicable limitation or exception (such as fair use) or uses that are otherwise unrestricted by copyright law, such as text and data mining in many jurisdictions.</p>
<p>Today’s topic of <a href="https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek">fair use rights</a> reminds us that “for copyright to achieve its purpose of encouraging creativity and innovation, it must preserve and promote ample breathing space for unexpected and innovative uses.” To liberate the massive potential for innovation made possible by existing and future types of text and data mining, we need user-focused copyright policy that enables these new activities.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44734
title: For Faithful Digital Reproductions of Public Domain Works Use CC0
uri: For-Faithful-Digital-Reproductions-of-Public-Domain-Works-Use-CC0
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44734
content:
<p><a href="https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek"><img style="float: right; padding: 0 0 10px 10px;" src="media/1048f472.copyright-square-1.png" data-original-source="http://www.eff.org/files/2014/01/12/copyright-square-1.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></a></p>
<p><i>We&#8217;re taking part in <a href="https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek">Copyright Week</a>, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of the law, and addressing what&#8217;s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. </p>
<p>Today&#8217;s topic is the &#8220;Public Domain.&#8221; The public domain is our cultural commons and a public trust. Copyright policy should seek to promote, and not diminish, this crucial resource.</i></p>
<hr />
<p>Creative Commons has long upheld that faithful digital reproductions of works in the public domain are also in the public domain, adhering to the U.S. District Court ruling of <em>Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.</em> that &#8220;exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright in the United States because the copies lack originality&#8221; <sup><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Corel_Corp.">1</a></sup>. Though this ruling is not a binding precedent, it remains highly influential as a legal ruling in the U.S. and elsewhere. Its real world applicability is less well-known. This is why, where possible, we recommend that institutions, especially those curating and providing access to public domain works of cultural heritage, use the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0 public domain dedication</a> for their digital reproductions where there might be any element of originality that might give rise to doubt. </p>
<p>Creative Commons currently offers two public domain tools, CC0 and the Public Domain Mark, which can be confused with each other but are very different tools. CC0, like the CC licenses, is a legally operable tool backed by a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode">legal document</a> that we like to call the legal code layer of our tools. Because it is legally operable, copyright owners may use it to relinquish their copyright and related rights in a work, effectively placing that work into the public domain. Where it is not legally possible to relinquish copyright, the tool defaults to <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a> without attribution or any other conditions (CC BY is the most liberal license on the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/examples">spectrum of CC licenses</a>). The Public Domain Mark, on the other hand, is not a legally operable tool, but merely a standard label that one may place on a work to indicate that its copyright has expired or is otherwise in the public domain worldwide. You can read more about both of these tools <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/">here</a>.</p>
<p>We recommend using CC0 for digital reproductions of public domain works where there is reason for users to be concerned that the reproduction itself is subject to copyright. If nothing else, it clearly signals to users that the institution is proactively relinquishing any copyrights they may have in a digital reproduction, furthering its mission to provide greater public access to works of cultural heritage. From the institution&#8217;s standpoint, they are not making any guarantees about the public domain work itself, but removing any doubt for the user around any element of originality they may have in the digital reproduction.</p>
<p>Here are a few great cases of institutions committed to strengthening and growing our public domain.</p>
<h4>Rijksmuseum</h4>
<p>The Rijskmuseum is the Dutch National Museum in the The Netherlands, founded in 1800, that contains many of the original artworks of European masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer, in addition to high resolution images of these original artworks. For 10 years, from 2003-2013, much of the physical museum &#8212; including 1 million physical items &#8212; was closed for renovations. During this period, the museum&#8217;s marketing department pushed for the release of its high resolution images of public domain works in order to keep the public engaged throughout the renovation period and as a way to extend the reach of the museum beyond its limited physical showcase. They released 150,000 high resolution images (each as large as 200 MB) into the public domain using CC0. They abided by the principle of unrestricted access to the digital public domain; as in the U.S., faithful digital reproductions of public domain works are <a href="http://www.communia-association.org/recommendations-2/">considered public domain in Europe</a>. After the release, the museum saw many benefits, including international exposure for the museum, especially during a time when much of the physical museum was closed; new audiences with developers, designers, and related creative industries; and an increase in revenue made from public domain image sales. For more details, see <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43381">Tim&#8217;s post</a> which links to the in-depth case study.</p>
<h4>Statens Museum for Kunst</h4>
<p>The Statens Museum for Kunst, aka the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, joined the Google Art Project in 2011. At this point, they realized they were giving use rights of images to a private company and could no longer justify charging the public for the same rights. As part of a pilot project, they initially released 100 educational videos and 160 high resolution image files (each as large as 440 MB) of Danish, Nordic and European public domain art under CC BY. Afterwards, they moved to CC0 for their images. Since their release, SMK&#8217;s images and videos have been featured on Wikipedia. SMK staff found that their understanding of quality and control changed significantly after releasing the images: &#8220;[Our public domain collections] don’t belong to us; they belong to the public. Free access ensures that our collections continue to be relevant to users now and in the future. We’re here to look after them and make them available and useful to the public. Use = value.&#8221; Read the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies/Highlights_from_SMK,_The_National_Gallery_of_Denmark">case study</a> contributed directly by museum staff.</p>
<h4>New York Public Library</h4>
<p>The New York Public Library has long been the haven of researchers and bibliophiles alike. Map lovers can join the group with NYPL&#8217;s open access maps initiative which has digitized and released more than 20,000 digital reproductions of cartographic works in the public domain. In the Lionel Pincus &#038; Princess Firyal Map Division&#8217;s own words, &#8220;To the extent that some jurisdictions grant NYPL an additional copyright in the digital reproductions of these maps, NYPL is distributing these images under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.&#8221; In addition to <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2014/03/28/open-access-maps">public domain maps</a>, NYPL has also used CC0 to dedicate <a href="http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/legal-notices/repository-api">1 million of its bibliographic metadata records</a> into the public domain.</p>
<h4>Europeana</h4>
<p>We want to end the post on Europeana, the digital library for all of Europe and a model for libraries in rights information mark-up. Europeana has identified more than 16.5 million digital objects as being in the public domain (via CC0 or the Public Domain Mark) or under one of the CC licenses, in addition to dedicating 30 million metadata records to the public domain using CC0. Users can browse and search by re-use rights &#8212; including all six CC licenses and both public domain tools.</p>
<p>These four cases exemplify only a few institutions that are working to preserve our public domain. For uses of CC0 specific to data, see and add to our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC0_use_for_data">wiki page</a>. For more great uses of CC tools and licenses by cultural heritage institutions, check out <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/janeatcc/cc-cultural-heritage">these slides</a> and add to our <a href="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/GLAM">wiki page</a> tracking uses by GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums).</p>
<p>Have a great use case to share about the public domain? Leave us a note in the comments.</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/42660048" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen> </iframe>
<div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/janeatcc/cc-cultural-heritage" title="Creative Commons &amp; Cultural Heritage" target="_blank">Creative Commons &amp; Cultural Heritage</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="//www.slideshare.net/janeatcc" target="_blank">Jane Park</a></strong> </div>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44802
title: New job at CC: Software developer
uri: New-job-at-CC-Software-developer
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44802
content:
<div id="post-43130" class="row">
<p>Today, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#software">we’re opening up a new job posting</a>, for a developer. This person will work with our education team and existing technical lead to develop tools that facilitate the discovery, curation, use and re-use of freely available online content.</p>
<p>The job will involve leading an overhaul of CC’s Open Education Resources (OER) Policy Registry and <span class="im">combine it with other catalogs to create a one-stop, global Open Policy Registry hosted under the umbrella of the Open Policy Network.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#software">From the job description</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="c2">Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization focused on enabling the open commons of knowledge to grow and flourish. Our work crosses multiple sectors of creativity and knowledge — from photography, to music, to open educational resources, copyright reform, and open data. Today the commons includes over 880 million CC-licensed works, and we expect to pass 1 billion works in 2015.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Are you excited about powering the technical infrastructure of Creative Commons? <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities#software">Learn more and apply</a>.</p>
</div>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44792
title: Finnish translation of CC0 published
uri: Finnish-translation-of-CC0-published
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44792
content:
<p>Congratulations to the <a title="CC Finland" href="http://creativecommons.fi">CC Finland</a> team for the <a title="CC0 Finnish" href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.fi">Finnish translation of CC0</a>!</p>
<p>If it seems like you just saw them featured here, you&#8217;re not mistaken; they published the first official translation of the 4.0 suite <a title="Finnish translation of 4.0 published" href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44223">just a few months ago</a>, and now they are the first to have the complete set of CC legal tools available in their language.</p>
<p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.fi"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-44793 size-full" src="media/11178e7e.cc0image.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/cc0image.png" alt="CC0 Finnish header screenshot" width="551" height="239" /></a></p>
<p>Our thanks and congratulations again to the team of Maria Rehbinder of Aalto University, legal counsel and license translation coordinator of CC Finland; Martin von Willebrand, Attorney-at-Law and Partner, HH Partners, Attorneys-at-law Ltd: for translation supervision; Tarmo Toikkanen, Aalto University, general coordinator of CC Finland; Henri Tanskanen, Associate, HH Partners, Attorneys-at-law Ltd: main translator, and Liisa Laakso-Tammisto, translator, with thanks to <a title="Aalto University" href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/">Aalto University</a>, <a title="HH Partners" href="http://www.hhpartners.fi/en/front-page.php">HH Partners</a>, and the <a title="Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture" href="http://minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=en">Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture</a> for their support.</p>
<p>Update: <a href="http://creativecommons.fi/2015/01/cc0-suomennettu/">CC Finland&#8217;s announcement</a> (in Finnish). </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44819
title: Creative Commons DIY Salon: February 13th in San Francisco
uri: Creative-Commons-DIY-Salon-February-13th-in-San-Francisco
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44819
content:
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-44820" src="media/9de05cd0.DIY-Salon_with-CC.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DIY-Salon_with-CC.jpg" alt="DIY Salon_with CC" width="612" height="792" /></p>
<p>Join us in San Francisco at <a href="http://parklifegallery.com/contact.html">Park Life Gallery</a> on 13 February 2015 for a <a href="http://www.thebigconversationspace.org/diy-salon-i-can-do-anything-badly/">Creative Commons DIY Salon</a>. This salon features local artists who celebrate inexperience, sharing culture, and self-taught expertise in projects ranging from publishing and printmaking, to web-based collaborative music communities, to building open source libraries and visualizations.</p>
<p>This event also celebrates the San Francisco launch of <a href="http://www.thebigconversationspace.org/diy-salon-i-can-do-anything-badly/">I Can Do Anything Badly 2: Learning By Doing is a Shared Responsibility</a>, a Creative Commons licensed artist&#8217;s book by <a href="http://www.hoelduret.com/fr.php?page=0">Hoël Duret</a> &amp; The Big Conversation Space, designed by <a href="http://www.fredericteschner.com/">Frédéric Teschner</a>, which features conversational interviews in English and French about DIY culture &#8211; from computer programming and independent publishing, to Wikipedia and furniture design.</p>
<p>Talks will be interspersed with ambient music performances from musicians from the <a href="https://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto">Disquiet Junto</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Event Details:</strong></p>
<p>Friday February 13th<br />
5:00 &#8211; 8:00 PM<br />
Park Life Gallery<br />
3049 22nd Street<br />
San Francisco, CA</p>
<p>Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/695901290531478/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&amp;sid_reminder=2389012057308528640">event page</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44817
title: Fifteen Seconds of Fame: Free Music Archive Launches microSong Challenge
uri: Fifteen-Seconds-of-Fame-Free-Music-Archive-Launches-microSong-Challe
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44817
content:
<p>On January 26th, 2015, the Free Music Archive put out a call for entries for their ‘microSong Challenge.’ The first of three consecutive contests the Free Music Archive will run through spring of 2015, the microSong Challenge requires participants to pack a whole song into 15 seconds or less – the maximum length for most video-sharing app platforms (some are even shorter).</p>
<p>The Free Music Archive is a repository for curated tracks (currently almost 80,000) that are licensed under Creative Commons, Public Domain and FMA-only licenses that allow for the tracks to be streamed, downloaded and shared for free. Some content may be used in videos or remixes, depending on how it’s licensed.</p>
<p>From <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_517748383"><span class="aQJ">January 26th until February 20th, 2015</span></span>, any registered FMA user can submit their miniscule composition(s) to the Free Music Archive. It’s free to sign up for an FMA account, and anyone 13 or older can enter the running. There will be a link to the contest on the homepage.</p>
<p>After the last day of the contest, a panel of judges will determine the top three! Our judges include composer Chris Zabriskie, Creative Commons CEO Ryan Merkley, and WFMU DJ Jim Price. They will judge entries based on originality, creativity, artistic merit, adherence to the time limit, and general musical appeal. The first prize winner<br />
will receive a 3-D printer and runners-up will get prizes from Creative Commons and the Free Music Archive’s BFF radio station, WFMU.</p>
<p>Each microSong must be submitted in MP3 format. Every microSong will be licensed under a Creative Commons Zero license so that it can be freely used by anyone in a video, remix, extraordinarily brief performance art piece, miniature karaoke competition, or anything else they can come up with.</p>
<p>For more information about the microSong Challenge, email <a href="mailto:contact@freemusicarchive.org">contact@freemusicarchive.org</a> or visit <a href="http://www.freemusicarchive.org" target="_blank">www.freemusicarchive.org</a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44832
title: A step toward compatibility with GPLv3
uri: A-step-toward-compatibility-with-GPLv3
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44832
content:
<p><div id="attachment_44841" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="media/52422e40.Free-Software-Foundation-Bulletin.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Free-Software-Foundation-Bulletin.jpg"><img src="media/52422e40.Free-Software-Foundation-Bulletin.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Free-Software-Foundation-Bulletin.jpg" alt="Free Software Foundation Bulletin by Osama Khalid under BY-SA 2.0." width="500" height="333" class="size-full wp-image-44841" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/osama_khalid/3801230519/in/photolist-4jiXsu-6MUipe-69PYkV-4LFUQs-7EbFjt-jnxHQK-2ZCt4n-qEW6oz-7EWnyx-92CNga-6SU44s-51bmyk-eHPUdd-7nMKs1-4zoqL6-oRfejP-cpmXrN-7VdStQ-dunMkr-65uHAr-ioYMh7-4xDc7L-4E3Td1-6ZCNgJ-iSvQ2b-ioZmzt-ioYH9Z-ioZpnc-ioYAXR-ioYJFN-eeo5gB-9nMzdm-8hGzjb-6hNLsy-6ZDMy7-6ZDMaY-beWsDt-jt8R6G-coDxhf/">Free Software Foundation Bulletin</a> by Osama Khalid under BY-SA 2.0.</p></div>Together with the Free Software Foundation, Creative Commons has officially proposed the GNU General Public License version 3 as a candidate for compatibility with CC BY-SA version 4.0. The <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/cc-licenses/2015-January/007635.html" target="_blank">announcement</a> was made on the CC license development mailing list on January 29th, kicking off what will be at least a month-long discussion period before a final compatibility determination is made. </p>
<p>This proposal is significant because it would bridge a gap between two of the most widely-used copyleft licenses for code and content. Currently, developers are sometimes reluctant to integrate BY-SA content into GPL projects because of uncertainty about how the two licenses work together. Eliminating obstacles to remix between licenses so similar in aim and spirit is precisely <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5709" target="_blank">what the compatibility mechanism in BY-SA was designed to do</a>.</p>
<p>However, there are differences between the two licenses that pose issues for the CC and FSF communities to consider before declaring compatibility. Over the next several weeks, we will be leading a public discussion about those topics, ensuring the final decision will be informed by community input. We encourage anyone interested to join the discussion by signing up <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-licenses" target="_blank">here</a>.  </p>
<p>GPLv3 is the second candidate for ShareAlike compatibility considered by Creative Commons. The Free Art License version 1.3 was considered under CC’s <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/ShareAlike_compatibility_process_and_criteria" target="_blank">established compatibility process and criteria</a> and was <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/ShareAlike_compatibility:_FAL" target="_blank">declared compatible</a> in October 2014. </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44865
title: Ford Foundation to require CC BY for all grant-funded projects
uri: Ford-Foundation-to-require-CC-BY-for-all-grant-funded-projects
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44865
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/"><img class=" size-full wp-image-44867 aligncenter" src="media/39ef7e3b.FordFoundationLogo.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FordFoundationLogo.jpg" alt="FordFoundationLogo" width="500" height="100" /></a></p>
<p>Today the Ford Foundation <a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/newsroom/news-from-ford/934">announced an open licensing policy</a> for all of their grant-funded projects and research. The new arrangement came into effect February 1, 2015 and covers most grant-funded work, as well as the outputs of consultants. The Ford Foundation has chosen to adopt the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0 license</a> as the default for these materials. Grant agreements will now include a paragraph requiring the grant recipient to broadly share all copyrightable products (such as research reports, photographs, videos, etc.) funded by the grant under CC BY. And the Ford Foundation is leading by example by adopting CC BY for all materials not subject to third-party ownership on their own <a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/terms">website</a>.</p>
<p>Darren Walker, president of the <a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/">Ford Foundation</a>, said, “This policy change will help grantees and the public more easily connect with us and build upon our work, ensure our grant dollars go further and are more impactful, and – most importantly – increase our ability to advance social justice worldwide.”</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re incredibly pleased to see the Ford Foundation adopting a Creative Commons licensing policy for a wide range of grant-funded works, promoting openness and re-use of content produced through its philanthropic grantmaking,” said Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons. “The Ford Foundation joins a growing movement of foundations and governments adopting policies that increase access to and re-use of digital education materials, research articles, and data using Creative Commons.”</p>
<p>The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization created in 1936. Its <a href="http://www.fordfoundation.org/about-us/mission">mission</a> is “to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement.” In 2013 the Ford Foundation <a href="media/657cc79f.Grant-making_Snapshot_2013.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.fordfoundation.org/pdfs/about/Grant-making_Snapshot_2013.pdf">granted</a> almost $570,000,000 to projects and organizations around the world.</p>
<p>The Ford Foundation joins several other philanthropic grantmaking organizations who have adopted Creative Commons licensing policies for the outputs of their charitable giving. We’ve highlighted several over the last few months, including the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43768">William and Flora Hewlett Foundation</a> (who also now require CC BY for all their project-based grantmaking) and the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44365">Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation</a> (who adopted a CC BY open access policy for published grant-funded research and data). Releasing grant-funded content under permissive open licenses like CC BY means that these materials can be more easily shared and re-used by the public. And they can be combined with other resources that are also published under an open license.</p>
<p>Congratulations to the Ford Foundation on adopting an open licensing policy that will encourage the sharing of rich content and data in the digital global commons. Creative Commons continues to urge other foundations and funding bodies to emulate the ongoing leadership of the Ford Foundation by making open licensing an essential component of their grantmaking strategy.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44900
title: Report back: Institute for Open Leadership meeting
uri: Report-back-Institute-for-Open-Leadership-meeting
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44900
content:
<p>Creative Commons and the Open Policy Network hosted the first <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/iol/">Institute for Open Leadership</a> meeting in San Francisco 12-16 January 2015. The Institute for Open Leadership (IOL for short) is a training program to identify and cultivate new leaders in open education, science, public policy, research, data and other fields on the values and implementation of openness in licensing, policies and practices. The rationale for the IOL is to educate and empower potential open advocates within existing institutional structures in order to expand and promote the values and practices of the idea that publicly funded resources should be openly licensed.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/16103079369/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44904" src="media/d5e83d7d.iol-group-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/iol-group-small.jpg" alt="iol group small" width="600" height="336" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/16103079369">IOL group shot</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/42511880@N03/">Cable Green</a> under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>There was significant interest in the first iteration of the IOL program: we received over 95 applications and selected 14 fellows for the first Institute. The <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/iol/#2015fellows">fellows</a> came from around the world (Bangladesh, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Somalia, United States ), and reflect a wide range of institutions&#8211;from community colleges to government sector to public radio.</p>
<p>The central component of the IOL program requires fellows to develop, refine, and implement a capstone open policy project within their home institution. Creative Commons staff and other selected mentors provided guidance throughout this process.</p>
<p><strong>Week’s activities</strong><br />
The week was deliberately structured with the fellows at the center of the conversation, with a specific focus on providing them with the information and tools to develop and successfully implement their open policy project in their institution. We constructed the week’s activities to cover a wide range of topics, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Overview of Creative Commons and open licensing, as this is a key aspect to all open policies.</li>
<li>Deep dive into open policy, including identifying existing real world examples, sharing lessons learned, discussing the value proposition, sharing typical opposition arguments.</li>
<li>Discussion of practical development of policy roadmaps and roll-out strategies across different sectors/institutions.</li>
<li>Campaign planning and advice/best practices about how to communicate with decision makers about open policy.</li>
<li>Identification of resources in support of open policy development and implementation, including presentations, reports, videos, informational and promotional materials.</li>
<li>Sharing of best methods for educating and informing decision makers about open policy, including workshops, courses, hackathons.</li>
<li>Testing fellow’s open policy knowledge and expected challenges through an open policy “shark tank.”</li>
<li>Hewlett Foundation communication team interviewed multiple IOL fellows for a Hewlett story on the power of CC licensing.</li>
</ul>
<p>Mentors included Cable Green, Paul Stacey, Timothy Vollmer and Puneet Kishor from Creative Commons and Nicole Allen and Nick Shockey from SPARC. Each of these persons had specific subject-area expertise and acted as a “mentor” for two or more of the fellows. We grouped the fellows based on their project ideas with a mentor in the following categories: Open Educational Resources, Open Access, Open Data, Open GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, museums), and Open Business Models. During the week, we provided time for fellows to work individually, with other fellows, and with their mentors.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/txtbks/16296723495/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44905" src="media/dcd7905a.iol-conference-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/iol-conference-small.jpg" alt="iol conference small" width="600" height="450" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/txtbks/16296723495/">IOL session</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/txtbks/">txtbks</a> under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>On the final day of the in-person Institute we asked each fellow to report back on their progress from during the week, and asked each to answer <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rvqf8GCjbeoo0f12Tg_1-WAw5hSR2tkJjYKvAQvq0lc/edit">common questions</a>, such as talking about their open policy project objectives, planned activities to meet those objectives, identification of challenges they expect to face, partners they plan on working with, and metrics for success.</p>
<p>In addition to the whole group discussions, mentor breakouts, and individual work, we included informational and motivational speakers to talk with the fellows over our lunch breaks. These talks were given by individuals with experience working in open policy across a variety of sectors, including Hal Plotkin (former Senior Policy Advisor within the U.S. Department of Education), Abel Caine (OER Program Specialist at UNESCO), Heather Joseph (Executive Director at SPARC), Laura Manley (Project Manager at Open Data 500) and Romain Lacombe (Plume).</p>
<p><strong>Next steps</strong><br />
With the successful completion of the in-person portion of the IOL, the fellows have now returned to their home countries and will begin the process of implementing their open policies. The mentors are committed to continue working with their respective fellows, including providing advice and assistance. Fellows and mentors will meet to discuss progress over webinars planned for the following months. The goal is for the fellows to have implemented their open policy at the institution within a year. The fellows will be able to share more information about the implementation of their capstone policy projects in the coming months.</p>
<p>We’ve already solicited feedback from fellows and are currently evaluating the activities and structure of the just-completed IOL. There are already several improvements we’d like to see as we begin to develop the second round of the IOL, to be held outside of North America in January 2016. We plan to open the application process for round two in mid-2015. The demand for IOL is large and additional funding is being sought to support additional ones beyond the first two.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasir-khan/16097295758/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-44906" src="media/10666d30.yodasmall.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/yodasmall.jpg" alt="yodasmall" width="600" height="450" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasir-khan/16097295758">Yoda Fountain</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasir-khan/">Nasir Khan</a> under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a><br />Note: Lucasfilm has offices inside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_San_Francisco">The Presidio</a>, where the IOL took place. Thus, Yoda.</small></p>
<p>One of the aims of the Institute For Open Leadership is to link participants together into a global network. Participants from this inaugural Institute for Open Leadership, and all future ones, become part of a peer-to-peer network providing support for each other, asking and answering questions, and getting ongoing help with open policy development and implementation. This network helps participants overcome barriers and ensure open policy opportunities come to fruition.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45175
title: Are commercial publishers wrongly selling access to openly licensed scholarly articles?
uri: Are-commercial-publishers-wrongly-selling-access-to-openly-licensed-sc
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45175
content:
<p>Ross Mounce, a postdoc at the University of Bath, recently <a href="http://rossmounce.co.uk/2015/03/07/another-day-another-elsevier-website-illegally-selling-articles/">wrote about</a> how Elsevier charged him $31.50 for an “open access” research article licensed under a Creative Commons <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (BY-NC-ND)</a> license. Mounce was understandably upset, because the article was originally published by another publisher &#8211; John Wiley  &#8211; and was made available <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1469-0691.12807/abstract">freely on their website</a>. Elsevier’s act of charging for access initially appeared improper because of Wiley’s use of a noncommercial license.</p>
<p><strong> </strong>This situation has sparked a debate among supporters of Open Access about whether or not Elsevier violated the terms of the BY-NC-ND license, and whether articles that are intended to be distributed freely can end up locked behind paywalls. This isn’t the first time this has happened; Peter Murray-Rust <a href="http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2014/03/26/elseviergate-elsevier-is-still-charging-for-open-access-even-after-i-have-told-them-wellcome-should-take-them-to-court/">documented</a> another instance of it last year. This kind of situation can leave researchers questioning why they should invest in ensuring that their research is distributed for free if another publisher can simply turn around and sell it &#8211; especially if the article carries a Creative Commons license that is supposed to restrict commercial use. Mounce complained to Elsevier about the arrangement, and as of March 9, they’ve <a href="http://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(15)60028-3/abstract">removed</a> the pay from the article and promised Mounce a refund. A representative from Elsevier <a href="http://rossmounce.co.uk/2015/03/07/another-day-another-elsevier-website-illegally-selling-articles/#comment-1896353751">claimed</a> “there was some missing metadata for some of the OA articles,” thus apparently allowing for users to be charged for access to those openly licensed articles. Elsevier said it will investigate and reimburse others who purchased access to those articles on the Elsevier site during the time that the paywall was up. At the same time, Elsevier <a href="http://rossmounce.co.uk/2015/03/06/elsevier-illegally-sold-me-a-creative-commons-non-commercial-licensed-article/#comment-1896335265">has hinted</a> that it has the right to sell access to BY-NC-ND articles it holds because of a separate license they get from the author.</p>
<p><b>So, what is really going on here?</b></p>
<p>A fundamental feature of copyright law is that authors hold the copyright in any work they create. Authors have control over the permissions they grant beyond “all rights reserved” copyright. For example, an author could grant certain permissions by offering the work under a Creative Commons license (some rights reserved), or even place the work in the public domain (no rights reserved) using the CC0 Public Domain Dedication. And since the CC licenses are non-exclusive, an author can both share a work with a CC license, and also enter into a separate agreement that would allow a publisher to sell it.</p>
<p>It is common for an author to sign a publication agreement with a publisher that may grant additional rights to the publisher independent of a CC license. And if an author agrees to a particular set of separate permissions for the publisher, then the publisher could offer the author’s article on those terms&#8211;for example, the ability to sell access to a work&#8211;even if the work was originally made available under a noncommercial open license. The authors of the article in question may have signed an agreement like this when the article was originally accepted for publication with Wiley. If this is the case, then Wiley would likely have been able to transfer or sell those rights to Elsevier when Elsevier acquired the article. However, there is no way to know for sure that this is what happened without seeing the publication agreement the authors signed with the publisher.</p>
<p><b>The question really boils down to: Who owns the copyright to the article? And did the copyright holder grant permission to Elsevier for commercial use?</b></p>
<p>According to the copyright notice in the <a href="http://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(15)60028-3/pdf">article</a>, the copyright belongs to the authors. Mounce contacted the lead author earlier this week. The author said he was not aware that Elsevier was selling the article, and had not granted Elsevier permission to do so. If Elsevier was relying solely on the BY-NC-ND license for its use of the article, it seems likely that their action would have violated the noncommercial restriction by charging for access to the work on the Elsevier site.</p>
<p>Elsevier’s own policies raise one additional question. For the majority of articles they publish, Elsevier retains “the exclusive right to publish and distribute an article, and to grant rights to others, including for commercial purposes.” But their <a href="http://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/author-agreement#rights-granted-to-elsevier">copyright terms state</a> that for open access articles, “Elsevier will apply the relevant third party user license where Elsevier publishes the article on its online platforms.” Since the Wiley article came to Elsevier already as “open access” (let’s set aside for a moment the fact that many do not consider BY-NC-ND to qualify as “open access”), you would think that Elsevier would retain the existing CC license from Wiley. Therefore, Elsevier would not be in a position to charge for access to the article because of the noncommercial condition in the CC license. But it’s not clear whether Elsevier applies this reasoning to articles they acquire versus articles originally published on their platform.</p>
<p>So where does all this leave us in understanding what is going on with how these sorts of publishing agreements intersect with open licenses? There still seems to be some outstanding questions that perhaps Elsevier could help answer. Elsevier should share publicly its author’s publishing agreement so that prospective authors and the public can better understand the terms of Elsevier’s license (and as Mounce <a href="http://rossmounce.co.uk/2015/03/11/wrongly-paywalled-articles-a-recap-of-what-we-now-know/">suggests</a>, publishers should “print the terms and conditions of the author-publisher contract within each publication itself…”). In addition, Elsevier should clarify its copyright policy with regard to when they hold an exclusive right to publish and distribute and when they will adhere to the open license provided with an article.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44924
title: Reboot: Creative Commons in Australia and New Zealand
uri: Reboot-Creative-Commons-in-Australia-and-New-Zealand
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44924
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://flic.kr/p/oVy3g"><img src="media/6ea91097.259411627_a46a55cbec.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm1.staticflickr.com/90/259411627_a46a55cbec.jpg" alt="3d Globe at Seattle Central Library" width="500" height="333" border="0" /><br />
<small></small></a><small><a href="https://flic.kr/p/oVy3g">3d Globe at Seattle Central Library</a> / <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/">J Brew</a> / <a href="/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>CC is very pleased to announce the reboot of two of our longest running and most prolific teams &#8211; <a href="http://creativecommons.org.au/">Creative Commons Australia</a> and <a href="http://creativecommons.org.nz/">Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand</a>.</p>
<p>The new CC Australia team was launched at the recent <a href="http://digital.org.au">Australian Digital Alliance</a>&#8216;s <a href="http://digital.org.au/content/last-chance-buy-tickets-copyright-forum-2015">Copyright Forum 2015</a>. Those who have followed CC for a while are no doubt familiar with CC Australia. Since 2006, the team has been operating out of the <a href="http://qut.edu.au">Queensland University of Technology</a> (QUT) initially under the direction of Brian Fitzgerald and Tom Cochrane, and more recently under Professor Cochrane, Nic Suzor and Nerida Quatermass. Over its tenure at QUT CC Australia has achieved some amazing things, from launching the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_studies">CC Case Studies project</a> to having CC BY adopted as the <a href="http://creativecommons.org.au/blog/2014/05/budget-papers-are-free-to-share-thanks-to-creative-commons/">default licensing policy for the Australian Federal government</a>.</p>
<p>The new CC Australia team keeps QUT as its Creative Sector, GLAM, Private Sector and Legal Lead but adds two new groups to expand its expertise:</p>
<ul>
<li> the <a href="http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/footer-menu/about-us">National Copyright Unit</a> (NCU) lead by Delia Browne, who will be the new Education Lead</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ausgoal.gov.au/">AusGOAL</a> lead by Baden Appleyard, who will be the Publicly Funded Information Lead.</li>
</ul>
<p>Both these organisations are already extremely prominent in the open community locally and internationally, and have been two of the strongest advocates for CC in Australia for many years. They have both already undertaken collaborative projects with Creative Commons, from the NCU&#8217;s <a href="http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/">Smartcopying</a> website (<a href="http://creativecommons.org.au/blog/2015/03/smartcopying-unveils-revamped-oer-and-cc-information-for-open-education-week-9-13-march-2015/">updated </a>to celebrate the launch) to an exciting IT project soon to be released by AusGOAL. It&#8217;s long overdue that they are recognised by welcoming them into the CC family officially. Together the new team of QUT, NCU and AusGOAL combines years of experience and expertise.  </p>
<p>In a similar vein, a few months ago CC New Zealand changed its official host organisation from the <a href="http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/">Royal Society of New Zealand</a> to the <a href="http://wikieducator.org/OERF:Home">Open Education Resources Foundation</a>. While hosted by the Royal Society of New Zealand, CC Aotearoa New Zealand has consistently been one of CC&#8217;s strongest and most impactful affiliates, a great example to our whole community. It has particularly excelled in the education and cultural sectors, and New Zealand remains a world leader in the take up of CC by educational and GLAM institutions. At the same time we welcome the Open Education Resources Foundation to CC, and can&#8217;t wait to see where they lead us. We expect great things.  </p>
<p>Welcome to CC!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45165
title: This is not a protest! Edit for #FreeBassel
uri: This-is-not-a-protest-Edit-for-FreeBassel
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45165
content:
<p><img class="  wp-image-45166 aligncenter" src="media/1a4a982e.FreeBasselEdit-a-thon.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FreeBasselEdit-a-thon.jpg" alt="FreeBasselEdit-a-thon" width="612" height="429" /></p>
<p>In support of the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45042" target="_blank">#FreeBassel Day Wikipedia Edit-a-thon</a> at the EFF, the Creative Commons Arab World will organize a virtual Arabic Wikipedia Edit-a-thon to translate and expand pages that cover topics of interest to him.</p>
<ul>
<li>Updating <a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%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" target="_blank">Arabic Creative Commons Wikipedia Page </a></li>
<li>Updating <a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D8%AE%D8%B5_%D8%A7%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" target="_blank">Arabic Creative Commons Licenses Wikipedia Page</a></li>
<li>Creating a Wikipedia Page about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Law_of_Syria" target="_blank">Copyright law of Syria</a></li>
<li>Creating an Arabic Wikipedia Page for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil" target="_blank">Bassel</a></li>
<li>Add resources to <a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%89_%D9%85%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AD" target="_blank">Arabic Open Content Wikipedia Page</a></li>
<li>Create an Arabic Wikipedia Page for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll" target="_blank">Patent Troll</a></li>
<li>Enhance <a href="http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%85%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9" target="_blank">Arabic Wikipedia Page for EFF</a></li>
<li>Create an Arabic Wikipedia page for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Music_Model" target="_blank">Open Music Model</a></li>
<li>Create an Arabic Wikipedia page for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Music_Model" target="_blank">Smart Contract </a></li>
</ul>
<p>The virtual Edit-a-thon will take place on Sunday the 15th of March from 5pm to 8pm GMT. The list of topics can be viewed in Arabic on this <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J01iR3evRs81eO9RxLHqjMiJvqJFp-YN6_-IQYGq2ZY/edit" target="_blank">Google Doc</a></p>
<p>The activity will be coordinated through the <a href="http://twitter.com/ccarabworld" target="_blank">@ccArabWorld</a> twitter</p>
<div dir="rtl">باسل الصفدي مهندس حاسوب، وناشط في مجال برمجيات المصادر المفتوحة والثقافة المفتوحة، ورئيس مبادرة المشاع الإبداعي في سوريا. أختير من قبل مجلة فورين بوليسي الأمريكية ضمن قائمة أهم المفكرين في العالم لعام ٢٠١٢م، وهو الآن معتقل في سوريا منذ ١٥ مارس ٢٠١٢م.</div>
<div dir="rtl"></div>
<div dir="rtl">بمناسبة الذكرى الثالثة لاعتقاله، وكمشاركة ضمن فعاليات اليوم العالمي للمطالبة بتحرير باسل، سوف تتظم مبادرة المشاع الإبداعي في العالم العربي فعالية على الإنترنت بهذه المناسبة وذلك من خلال تحرير صفحات جديدة على ويكيبيديا تتعلق بالمواضيع التي يهتم بها باسل والمرتبطة بالثقافة المفتوحة والتقنية، وذلك يوم الأحد ١٥ مارس من الساعة ٥ مساء إلى ٨ مساء بتوقيت جرينيتش.</div>
<div dir="rtl"></div>
<div dir="rtl">يمكنكم الاطلاع على المواضيع المقترح كتابة مقالات ويكيبيديا بشأنها عبر <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J01iR3evRs81eO9RxLHqjMiJvqJFp-YN6_-IQYGq2ZY/edit" target="_blank">جوجل دوكس</a></div>
<div dir="rtl">سوف يتم تنسيق الفعالية من خلال حساب <a href="http://twitter.com/ccarabworld" target="_blank">المشاع الإبداعي في العالم العربي على تويتر</a></div>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45110
title: TAACCCT Standout Vignettes
uri: TAACCCT-Standout-Vignettes
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45110
content:
<p><a href="media/63ea5cf7.TAACCCTStandouts2.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TAACCCTStandouts2.png"><img src="media/63ea5cf7.TAACCCTStandouts2.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TAACCCTStandouts2.png" alt="TAACCCT Standouts" width="500" height="302" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-45112" /></a></p>
<p>Starting with the first round of grants in 2011 Creative Commons and a team of partners have been actively supporting US Department of Labor (DOL), Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grantees. This multi-year, nearly $2 billion grant program provides funds to US community colleges who in partnership with industry, employers, and public workforce systems create stackable/latticed credentials that can be completed in two years or less. The goal of TAACCCT is to expand targeted training programs for unemployed workers, especially those impacted by foreign trade and to move unemployed workers into high wage, high skill jobs in high growth industry sectors.</p>
<p>There are many unique aspects to the TAACCCT program. Creative Commons involvement stems from the DOL requirement that grantees allow broad access for others to use and enhance project products and offerings by licensing newly developed materials produced with grant funds with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). DOL is the first US department to require this in such a large grant program. Its size makes TAACCCT the largest Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative in the world.</p>
<p>There is a high interest in seeing curricula and course materials coming out of TAACCCT. This is partly due to the high level of investment but also due to the high growth industry sectors for which curricula is being created including health, IT, energy, transportation, and advanced manufacturing &#8211; areas where little prior OER exists. However, grantees get 3-4 years for development so examples of work are only now emerging. </p>
<p><a href="media/1fdac10e.TAACCCTSectors.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TAACCCTSectors.png"><img src="media/1fdac10e.TAACCCTSectors.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TAACCCTSectors.png" alt="TAACCCT Sectors" width="500" height="270" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-45114" /></a></p>
<p>In Oct-2014 at the <a href="http://www.trac7.org/taaccct-on-2014/" target="_blank">TAACCCT-ON</a> convening in Topeka Kansas, Creative Commons hosted a round 1 TAACCCT grantee showcase fair. All round 1 grantees were invited to showcase, share, and describe some of the best work coming out of their projects. </p>
<p>Using a participatory process all the other grantees attending were invited to visit round 1 TAACCCT grantees at their showcase table to see and learn more about the work they are doing. To make it interactive and fun we asked grantees to put stickers on round 1 TAACCCT projects that were standouts for them. We sought standouts noteworthy for the way they fulfill TAACCCT grant priorities and standouts by industry sector.</p>
<p><a href="media/c9fe3bb9.TAACCCTPriorities.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TAACCCTPriorities.png"><img src="media/c9fe3bb9.TAACCCTPriorities.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TAACCCTPriorities.png" alt="TAACCCT Priorities" width="500" height="115" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-45116" /></a></p>
<p>From that process, based on grantee selection, nine round one TAACCT grantee projects emerged as standouts. For each of the nine standouts we created a vignette with a video interview, a written story, and a graphic visualization of the project. </p>
<p>We&#8217;re pleased to share the results with all of you &#8211; see <a href="http://profiles.open4us.org/taaccct/" target="_blank">TAACCCT Standout Profiles</a>. These nine round 1 TAACCCT vignettes are a small, early sampling of the work coming out of the TAACCCT program. All TAACCCT grant projects are standouts in their own way. We hope these early examples satisfy some of the interest around seeing TAACCCT work and wet your appetite for seeing even more. </p>
<p>Special thanks to all the grantees for agreeing to be interviewed and profiled in this way. Special thanks to Giulia Forsythe for the visuals she created to graphically illustrate each project, to Hal Plotkin for writing the stories, and to Billy Meinke for managing the whole production process. And most of all special thanks to the Bill &#038; Melinda Gates Foundation for funding our support of TAACCCT grantees.</p>
<p>We hope to see similar vignettes for rounds 2, 3 and 4.</p>
<p>More information on the support Creative Commons and its team of partners provide to TAACCCT can be found at <a href="https://open4us.org/" target="_blank">Open4us.org</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45000
title: Open Education Week: 9-13 March 2015
uri: Open-Education-Week-9-13-March-2015
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45000
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="media/5fba6b36.562x252-oew-web-banner.gif" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/562x252-oew-web-banner.gif" alt="562x252-oew-web-banner" width="562" height="252" /><br />
<small><a href="https://drive.google.com/a/creativecommons.org/folderview?id=0B-2iwGe3GdicMVg5VjRGOUhkbUU&amp;usp=sharing&amp;tid=0B-2iwGe3GdicWGl4Vk1tMFVLcUk">Banner</a> by Open Education Consortium / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p><span class="il">Open</span> <span class="il">Education</span> <span class="il">Week</span> is an annual convening of the global o<span class="il">pen</span> e<span class="il">ducation</span> movement to share ideas, new open education projects and to raise awareness about <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/what-is-open-education/"><span class="il">open</span> <span class="il">education</span></a> and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. <span class="il">Open</span> <span class="il">education</span> encompasses resources, tools and practices that employ a framework of <span class="il">open</span> sharing to improve education access, affordability and effectiveness. Participation in all events and use of all resources are free and <span class="il">open</span> to everyone.</p>
<p>There are many ways to participate:</p>
<ul>
<li>Connect with fellow Open Education Week participants on social media with:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/openeducationwk?src=hash">#openeducationwk</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl18p8qJBciDUTJ4PaYpG6A">YouTube/openeducationweek</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/openeducationwk">FaceBook/openeducationwk</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Check out and participate in <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/">events throughout the week</a> (most are online, some are in-person)</li>
<li>Review shared open education <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/resource/">resources</a> and <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/project/">projects</a></li>
<li>Teach someone at your university, college, school, government or company about open education and CC <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">licenses</a></li>
</ul>
<p>While all of the events are worthy of your attendance, here is a quick preview of events to be hosted by Creative Commons <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/CC_Affiliate_Network">affiliates</a> and staff:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/oer-and-creative-commons-in-brno/">OER and Creative Commons in Brno</a> (CC Czech Republic)</li>
<li><a href="http://ibu.edu.mk/?p=4074">OER Student Conference</a> and <a href="http://metamorphosis.org.mk/en/aktivnosti/video-why-are-open-educational-resources-important/">video on the importance of OER</a> organized by <a href="http://oer.mk/">Alliance for OER in Macedonia </a>(CC Macedonia)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/open-educational-resources-in-the-arab-world/">OER in the Arab World</a> (CC Arab World)</li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org.nz/2014/12/announcing-our-march-events/">Creative Commons Road Trip</a> (including open education) (CC Aotearoa New Zealand)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/education-innovations-with-creative-commons-from-oer-to-pedagogy-to-policy/">Education Innovations with Creative Commons &#8211; from OER, to Pedagogy, to Policy</a> (CC staff)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/open-policy-network-launched/">Open Policy Network: Launched!</a> (CC staff)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/institute-for-open-leadership/">Institute for Open Leadership</a> (CC staff)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/sustainability-strategies-for-open-educational-resources/">Sustainability Strategies For Open Educational Resources</a> (CC staff<span data-sheets-value="[null,2,&quot;Paul Stacey&quot;]" data-sheets-userformat="[null,null,8321,[null,0],null,null,null,null,null,null,2,null,null,null,null,null,10]">)</span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/event/k12-oer-collaborative/">K12 OER Collaborative</a> (CC staff)</li>
<li>24-hour twitter event: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllAboutOpen?src=hash"><em>#AllAboutOpen</em></a> on Wednesday, 11 March (CC staff)</li>
</ul>
<p>We look forward to seeing you online!</p>
<div>
<div>Special thanks and congratulations to the <a href="http://www.oeconsortium.org/">Open Education Consortium</a> for coordinating Open Education Week!</div>
<div></div>
</div>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45022
title: Open Business Models – Call For Participation
uri: Open-Business-Models-Call-For-Participation
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45022
content:
<p>Creative Commons has long celebrated everyone who uses our licenses. <a href="http://teamopen.cc/all/" target="_blank">TeamOpen</a> profiles give a good sense of the diversity of use and purpose. The creative ways individuals, not-for-profits, governments, and businesses use our licenses is inspiring.</p>
<p>For every TeamOpen example there are many others who want to move in that direction but don&#8217;t know how. The question we frequently hear is, “How do I earn a living, pay the bills, and keep the lights on if I openly license my work and give it away for free?” This question is asked not just by entrepreneurs but by people in non-profits and government too.</p>
<p>We are pleased to announce, through gracious funding from the Hewlett Foundation, that we’re launching a Creative Commons open business models initiative aiming squarely at showing how our licenses can, and are, used by businesses, non-profits, and governments.</p>
<p><a href="media/60f5cc0d.4427310974_04ea7a9448_o-1.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4427310974_04ea7a9448_o-1.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-45036" src="media/60f5cc0d.4427310974_04ea7a9448_o-1.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4427310974_04ea7a9448_o-1.png" alt="Open for business sign" width="520" height="292" /></a><br />
<em><a href="https://flic.kr/p/7Ke8iQ" target="_blank">Building an open source business</a> by <a href="http://blog.libbylevi.com/" target="_blank">Libby Levi</a> licensed <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank">CC BY-SA</a></em></p>
<p>We aim to help businesses see how to use and contribute to the commons in a way that aligns with the norms and values of the commons, while at the same time operating as a business. We want to show what sustainability models look like. We’re planning to generate designs for how to move from closed to open. We want to provide models for businesses whose aim is to provide products and services that have both economic and social value. We aim to make visible how open business models work and provide tools and strategies for designing and developing your own.</p>
<p>We want to do this work in a community-based way with all of you. So this blog post is an open call for participation.</p>
<p>The Creative Commons open business models initiative provides you with a set of interactive tools which you can use to design your own open business models. You can use the tools to model anything from a new startup open business to an existing open business, or something in between.</p>
<p>The Creative Commons open business models initiative asks you to share the models you come up with including your analysis of your own models and provide suggestions for improvement of the open business model tools themselves.</p>
<p>Creative Commons invites you to participate in these open business model activities:</p>
<ol>
<li>Join us in designing, developing, and iterating a set of interactive Creative Commons open business model tools that anyone can use to design an open business model.</li>
<li>Use these open business model tools yourself to generate your own open business model(s).</li>
<li>Share the results of your participation including the open business models you generate.</li>
<li>Provide feedback and recommendations for improving the Creative Commons open business model tools and process.</li>
<li>Partner directly with Creative Commons on developing an open business model for your specific initiative.</li>
<li>Participate in a Creative Commons workshop on generating open business models.</li>
<li>Contribute to a Creative Commons open business models report.</li>
</ol>
<p>See our <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/16XMIIvy_cz191l6KosgUMFtUK7lTdlzKme3WskwiuSA/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Creative Commons Open Business Models Participation Activities</a> document for further details on each of these activities, including specifics for participation, and links to the tools.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re excited about doing this work with all of you and growing the commons through open business models.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45042
title: #FreeBassel Day 2015: Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at EFF
uri: FreeBassel-Day-2015-Wikipedia-Edit-a-thon-at-EFF
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45042
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/"><img src="media/90059f07.4670781482_d072301ef0.jpg" data-original-source="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4018/4670781482_d072301ef0.jpg" alt="Bassel" width="500" height="333" border="0" /><br />
<small></small></a><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482/">Bassel</a> / Joi Ito / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil">Bassel Khartabil</a> (also known as Bassel Safadi) is a computer engineer who, through his innovations in social media, digital education, and open-source web software, played a huge role in opening the Internet in Syria and bringing online access and knowledge to the Syrian people. Many people reading this blog know Bassel through his work as lead for CC Syria.</p>
<p>Sunday, March 15, 2015 marks the third anniversary of Bassel&#8217;s arrest and imprisonment in Syria, as well as the fourth anniversary of the Syrian uprising.</p>
<p>In San Francisco, <a href="http://freebassel.org/">#FreeBassel</a> supporters, artists, and members of the open community are gathering at the <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> for a community-building event organized around a Wikipedia edit-a-thon in Bassel&#8217;s honor. We&#8217;ll be working to improve and add articles and media content related to Bassel and articles of interest to him. We’ll also be discussing his case and brainstorming about new projects and ideas to help bring awareness to his case. Here are the details:</p>
<p><strong>March 15, 2015 </strong><br />
<strong>2:00pm &#8212; 6:00pm</strong><br />
<strong> EFF HQ: 815 Eddy St., San Francisco</strong></p>
<p>No prior Wikipedia editing experience is necessary, we’ll have experienced editors present to help you get set up and make your first edit. Artists and activists interested in freedom of expression are encouraged to come contribute to the discussion. Experienced Wikipedians also welcome to come learn more about Bassel, contribute to Wikipedia, and help others to become involved.</p>
<p>For more details on the #FreeBassel Day event, click <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco/FreeBassel_Day_2015">here</a>.</p>
<p><small>This entry is remixed from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco/FreeBassel_Day_2015">Wikipedia:Meetup/San Francisco/FreeBassel Day 2015</a>, available under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a>.</small></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45008
title: Creative Commons logo acquired by MoMA and featured in new exhibit
uri: Creative-Commons-logo-acquired-by-MoMA-and-featured-in-new-exhibit
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45008
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads/"><img src="media/bd0704bf.cc.large.png" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/cc.large.png"/></a></p>
<p>The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) <a href="http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/03/04/is-this-for-everyone-new-design-acquisitions-at-moma">announced</a> today its acquisition* of the Creative Commons logo and license icons into its permanent collection, currently featured as part of a new exhibit called, &#8220;<a href="http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1555">This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good</a>.&#8221; The Creative Commons logo (double C in a circle) and license icons for Attribution, ShareAlike, Noncommercial, and NoDerivatives are featured alongside universal designs such as the <em><strong>@</strong></em> symbol and the International Symbol for Recycling. </p>
<p>From the <a href="http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/03/04/is-this-for-everyone-new-design-acquisitions-at-moma">MoMA blog</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The exhibition takes its title from British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, who lit up the stadium at the 2012 London Summer Olympics opening ceremony with a simple tweet: “This Is for Everyone.” His buoyant message highlighted how the Internet—perhaps the most radical social design experiment of the last quarter century—has created seemingly limitless possibilities for discovering, sharing, and expanding knowledge and information.</p></blockquote>
<p>The Creative Commons logos, and the organization and movement for the commons they represent, fit solidly within this narrative of imagining a better world through design &#8212; and Creative Commons is honored to be featured in this new exhibit and acquired as part of MoMA&#8217;s permanent collection. We&#8217;d especially like to highlight the designers: Ryan Junell of the original and now standardized CC logos, Alex Roberts of the re-conceived Attribution icon.</p>
<p>Read more about the acquisition at the <a href="http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/03/04/is-this-for-everyone-new-design-acquisitions-at-moma">MoMA blog</a> and <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/02/inspiring-objects-designed-everyone-arduino-soy-sauce-bottle/">Wired&#8217;s coverage</a> of the exhibit. Also stay tuned for a more detailed post on the origin story of the CC logos.</p>
<p><small>* Different museums have different criteria for acquiring objects into their collection. Here&#8217;s <a href="http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/03/24/in-context-criteria-for-an-acquisition">MoMA&#8217;s criteria</a> in context of its @ symbol acquisition. To acquire doesn&#8217;t mean to own, but to obtain permission for reproducing the work as a matter of copyright. Our logos are still our <a href="https://creativecommons.org/policies">trademarks</a>!</small></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44878
title: CC Malaysia, where are we now? A mixtape, open data and more
uri: CC-Malaysia-where-are-we-now-A-mixtape-open-data-and-more
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44878
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/23107695/CC-Malaysia-Mixtape-2015"><img src="media/7d71a6c8.CC-Malaysia-Album-Art.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CC-Malaysia-Album-Art.jpg" alt="CC Malaysia Album Cover Art" width="500" height="" align="center" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://www.behance.net/gallery/23107695/CC-Malaysia-Mixtape-2015">CC Malaysia Mixtape 2015</a> by <a href="https://www.behance.net/muidlatif">Muid Latif</a> under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/" rel="license">CC BY NC ND</a></small></p>
<p><em>A guest post by CC Malaysia Lead, Muid Latif.</em></p>
<p>In the recent years, Malaysia has been more active in adopting open culture. Local mainstream media has provided a continuous platform for <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Malaysia">Creative Commons Malaysia</a> to reach out to Malaysians in promoting CC, and both government and the community have been proactive in spearheading interesting online projects for everyone’s benefit.</p>
<p>For example, last December I had the chance to approach several local musicians and producers who are familiar with Creative Commons licenses on <a href="https://soundcloud.com/">SoundCloud</a> to find out if they were keen to have their music under a CC license. It was great to see that local musicians are very supportive of CC and how it empowers their works. This resulted in the release of CC Malaysia&#8217;s very own <a href="http://soundcloud.com/muidlatif/sets/creative-commons-malaysia">Creative Commons Malaysia Mixtape 2015.</a> Inspired by this year’s <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44712">World CC Mixtape</a>, the Malaysia collection features 12 tracks from eight artists: the notable <a href="https://soundcloud.com/rezabudculture">DJ Rezabudculture</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/spacegambusexperiment">Space Gambus Experiment</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/metahingaq">Metahingaq</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/fukarinka">NERO ONE</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/l_1z">Z-1</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/zamnayan">Zam Nayan</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ugendran">Ugendran</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/mohammadyazid">Mohammad Yazid</a>. The tracks are mostly uptempo or experimental. Listen to it <a href="http://soundcloud.com/muidlatif/sets/creative-commons-malaysia">here</a>.</p>
<p>Our community also wants to play a greater role in open data. One of the biggest outcomes from this is <a href="http://sinarproject.org/">Sinar Project</a>, a mainly volunteer-run organisation which uses open technology and applications to make government information&#8211;such as budget expenditure and assets of those holding political office and parliamentary bills&#8211;public and more accessible to the Malaysian people. The Sinar project won a <a href="http://isif.asia/Awards2014">2014 Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF Asia) Award</a>, under the “Rights” category (see more <a href="http://www.themalaymailonline.com/tech-gadgets/article/malaysias-sinar-project-wins-regional-award-seeks-to-level-up">here</a>). The Malaysian government has also taken the initiative to progress open data by setting up <a href="http://www.data.gov.my">www.data.gov.my</a> as well as adopting Big Data Analytics (BDA) mandates to the Ministry of Communication, the Multimedia, Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAMPU">MAMPU</a>) and <a href="http://www.mdec.my/">Multimedia Development Corporate</a> (MDeC).</p>
<p>In this context, I have recently had the chance to contact the founder of the <a href="https://bitly.com/bundles/o_687rf1hni/3">Big Data Malaysia</a> network, Tirath Ramdas, about his view on open data here in Malaysia and concerns about citizen engagement. He thinks that open data is not a one way street. Any investment into open data from government will be a waste of taxpayer funds if the Malaysians do not make productive use of the data released. Raising general awareness of open data is therefore be highly important at this point in time. With this in mind, MDeC and <a href="http://www.tentspark.com/">Tentspark</a>, an IT solutions provider, recently launched the <a href="https://www.bigapp.my/">National Big App Challenge</a> to stress the importance of big data analytics in solving Malaysia’s challenges related to national issues and societal well-being.</p>
<p>In the near future, we would love to see Malaysia join the<a href="http://www.opengovpartnership.org/"> Open Government Partnership</a> (OGP), following the Big Data Analytics Framework goal to have the framework ready by the end of this year and in line with the Digital Malaysia 354 Roadmap (DM354 Roadmap). With increased focus on sharing by both the government and private citizens, there seems to be a good chance for this to happen.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=44945
title: Creative Commons celebrates Fair Use Week
uri: Creative-Commons-celebrates-Fair-Use-Week
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44945
content:
<div id="attachment_44950" style="width: 495px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="media/fac998cc.Screen-shot-2015-02-25-at-8.46.42-PM1.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-shot-2015-02-25-at-8.46.42-PM1.png"><img src="media/fac998cc.Screen-shot-2015-02-25-at-8.46.42-PM1.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-shot-2015-02-25-at-8.46.42-PM1.png" alt="&quot;Niagara&quot; by Jeff Koons, famously held to be a fair use of a photograph in Allure magazine. (Screenshot of image used under fair use.)" width="485" height="354" class="size-full wp-image-44950" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">&#8220;Niagara&#8221; by Jeff Koons, famously held to be a fair use of a photograph in Allure magazine. (Screenshot of image used under fair use.)</p></div>
<p>Today we commemorate <a href="http://fairuseweek.org/">Fair Use Week</a>, a week-long celebration of the doctrines of fair use and fair dealing.</p>
<p>Creative Commons is proud of how its licenses respect fair use and other exceptions and limitations to copyright. CC licenses end where copyright ends, which means you don&#8217;t need to comply with a CC license if you don&#8217;t need permission under copyright. You will hear us repeat this fundamental design principle about our licenses often because it is important in practice, but even more so as policy. Anything that claims to grant “permission” to do things allowed under fair use is problematic because it promotes “permission culture” and increases FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about fair use. This maxim goes for open licensing just as it does anything else, which is what makes the treatment of fair use in our licenses so important. </p>
<p>Even so, there remains some potential tension between open licensing and fair use. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that relying on fair use to include content in an otherwise openly-licensed work can make it difficult for people around the globe to reuse your work. While most countries have some form of fair-use-like rights, those rights are not harmonized internationally. That means it is possible that the portion of your work used under fair use would have to be carved out before it is reused in some jurisdictions. <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Marking/Creators/Marking_third_party_content">Proper marking</a> of what content falls outside the scope of the license can help minimize this problem. </p>
<p>The other potential tension results from the gray area around where fair use begins and ends. Thanks in no small part to <a href="http://www.cmsimpact.org/fair-use">the work of Peter Jaszi and Patricia Aufderheide</a>, the public has a much better idea of how fair use plays out in practice than it used to. But inevitably, some challenging fair use questions remain. When reusers are faced with those close cases, some opt to use CC-licensed work instead of relying on fair use of an all rights reserved work. By providing a licensed alternative, CC licenses provide a nice cushion for fair use in those situations. But in other contexts, reusers have to decide whether to rely on fair use when reusing a CC-licensed work. While it is common practice to give attribution when using something under fair use, complying with other CC license restrictions is often impossible when relying on fair use. This is exactly how it should be. As we know, using a work under fair use means the CC license is irrelevant and the license terms do not apply.</p>
<p>Creative Commons never discourages reusers from relying on fair use or other exceptions or limitations to copyright, even when that means not complying with a CC license. Respect for fair use was written into the code of our licenses from the start, and that has not changed. We recognize <a href="media/3721a7c7.012814-testimony---jaszi.pdf" data-original-source="http://judiciary.house.gov/_cache/files/496f0a48-1c95-4f88-aabf-9a98b0b22aa7/012814-testimony---jaszi.pdf">that fair use is a muscle</a>, and it needs to be exercised. Now go workout.  </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45184
title: Creative Commons seeks a new director of development
uri: Creative-Commons-seeks-a-new-director-of-development
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45184
content:
<p>Last year, Creative Commons posted a position for a Director of Development &#8212; someone to develop and lead our revenue strategy for 2015 and beyond. We knew it was urgent, but we weren&#8217;t ready. We had work to do on organizational strategy and budget before we could hire, so we pulled back. That work is now complete, and today, we&#8217;re re-posting this position with an <a title="Opportunities" href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities">updated job description</a>.</p>
<p>The right person has a strong track record of fundraising strategy and implementation to lead our development programs, and build a more sustainable Creative Commons.Working directly with the CEO, the successful candidate will have experience in US fundraising, particularly major gifts, corporate donations and individual donors, with the numbers to back it up. We&#8217;re about a $3M global non-profit, with plans to grow in the coming years. In 2014, we had a strong year-end campaign that increased revenue by over 55 percent, and increased our retention rates by 10 percent. This is the right time for someone to join our team in a leadership role to author and grow our new revenue strategy.</p>
<p>A strong fundraiser can make all the difference in an organization like ours &#8212; making sure we have the funds we need to do our work: maintaining the licenses, advocating for open policies, advancing the cause of open education and more. If you&#8217;re the right candidate, or know someone who&#8217;s looking for an opportunity to shape the future of open content and knowledge around the world, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/opportunities">please apply</a>, or help spread the word.</p>
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feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45190
title: Wikimedia adopts open licensing policy for foundation-funded research
uri: Wikimedia-adopts-open-licensing-policy-for-foundation-funded-research
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45190
content:
<p>Last week the Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/18/wikimedia-open-access-policy/">announced</a> it is adopting an open access policy for research works created using foundation funds. According to their blog post, the new open access policy “will ensure that all research the Wikimedia Foundation supports through grants, equipment, or research collaboration is made widely accessible and reusable. Research, data, and code developed through these collaborations will be made available in Open Access venues and under a free license, in keeping with the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission to support free knowledge.”</p>
<div style="float: right; padding-left: 10px;"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/"><img src="media/d1c49f4a.Wikimedia-logo.svg_.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Wikimedia-logo.svg_.png" alt="Wikimedia Foundation logo" width="200" height="200" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikimedia_trademarks#Wikimedia_Foundation">Logo of the Wikimedia Foundation</a><br />
by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:User:Neolux">User:Neolux</a><br />
<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a></small></div>
<p>The details of the open access policy can be found on the Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Open_access_policy">website</a>. There will be an expectation that researchers receiving funds from the foundation will provide “unrestricted access to and reuse of all their research output&#8230;”. Published materials, proposals, and supporting materials will be covered under the open access policy. The policy states that media files must be made available under the Creative Commons <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license</a> (the version currently used by Wikipedia), or any other <a href="http://freedomdefined.org/Licenses">free license</a>. In addition, the policy requires that data be made available under an <a href="http://opendefinition.org/licenses/">Open Definition-conformant license</a> (with the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a> preferred), and that any source code be licensed under the <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU General Public License version 2.0</a> or any other <a href="http://opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical">Open Source Initiative-approved license</a>.</p>
<p>The open access policy from the Wikimedia Foundation joins other institutions&#8211;including <a href="https://publicaccess.nih.gov/">governments</a>, <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/how-we-work/general-information/open-access-policy">philanthropic foundations</a>, <a href="http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/open-access-policy/">universities</a>, and <a href="http://en.unesco.org/open-access/">intergovernmental organizations</a> who have adopted policies to increase access to important and useful information and data for the public good. Thanks to Wikimedia for their continued leadership in support of free knowledge for all.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45228
title: A Masterwork in Simplicity: The Story of the CC Logo
uri: A-Masterwork-in-Simplicity-The-Story-of-the-CC-Logo
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45228
content:
<p><em>This story was researched and written in collaboration with Creative Commons staff. You can also read the story on <a href="https://medium.com/@creativecommons/a-masterwork-in-simplicity-the-story-of-the-cc-logo-7e2e231a26e7">Medium</a>.</em></p>
<hr />
<p>On February 14, 2015 New York’s Museum of Modern Art <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45008">welcomed</a> the public to a <a href="http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1555">new exhibit</a>, “This is For Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good.” Inspired by a short tweet made by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, “This is For Everyone” includes an array of fascinating objects, concepts, designs, and artworks that were conceived to serve the global public in sometimes unexpected or serendipitous ways. Winding through the exhibit, viewers will find curious and ubiquitous objects and technology that speak to the empowerment of individual creativity. Displayed on the white walls next to the internationally embraced symbols for the on/off button, recycling, and the @ symbol, one will find a mark of equally great significance: the “double-C in a circle,” or simply, the “CC,” Creative Commons mark.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="media/8ef8c6e4.Moma_tife_132.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Moma_tife_132.jpg" alt="Moma_tife_13" /><br />
<small><a href="media/662e3ce7.FileMoma_tife_13.JPG" data-original-source="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moma_tife_13.JPG">Creative Commons logo and installation view of “This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good”</a> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jim.henderson">Jim.Henderson</a><br />
Copyright and related rights waived via <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" rel="license">CC0</a></small></p>
<p>This most visible icon of the free culture movement is on view in the exhibit, but the MoMA took even further steps to recognize the impact and importance of the “CC” logo and its accompanying ShareAlike, NonCommercial, Attribution, and NoDerivatives icons. On March 4, 2015 MoMA Senior Curator Paolo Antonelli <a href="http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/03/04/is-this-for-everyone-new-design-acquisitions-at-moma">announced</a> that the Creative Commons logo had been formally acquired as part of the museum’s permanent collection. It is both a symbolic and very practical kind of acquisition. As part of the collection, the icons and their history will enjoy perpetual protection and recognition by MoMA. But their work is far from complete: like so many of the other instantly-recognizable icons in the MoMA collection, the “CC” logo will continue to be used and appreciated by millions of people in millions of situations, and for many years to come.</p>
<p>The logos have had an incredible influence on the Internet and global society, and far-reaching, future impacts are coalescing every day. The world knows a lot more about Creative Commons in 2015 than it did almost 14 years ago when the organization was founded, but few know how the logos came to be, who created them, and what informed their creation.</p>
<p>The Creative Commons logos are special and powerful symbols that speak to the origin and roots of the organization that created them. Creative Commons was founded in 2001 by law professor Lawrence Lessig, Hal Abelson, and Eric Eldred to address a problem created by antiquated copyright laws in the U.S. and around the world. In an era where it was becoming easier to share works via the Internet, copyright law seemed to be moving in the other direction by increasing term limits and restrictions on reuse. Amidst this tension, how could artists, researchers, and other creators share their works widely and freely online without infringing on each other’s copyright? At the time, there was no way for a creator to grant blanket permissions for reuse, other than to hire their own lawyer to write custom copyright terms. Creative Commons rose to tackle this challenge with its revolutionary, human- and machine-readable copyright licenses, which anyone could freely use. But with these powerful new licenses in hand, how would people be able to visibly indicate their preferences for reuse?</p>
<h3>A designer and a roomful of lawyers get to work</h3>
<p>Glenn Otis Brown joined as the second Executive Director of Creative Commons in 2002, taking over for Molly Shaffer Van Houweling to oversee the launch of the CC license suite. Along with Van Houweling, the organization’s founders, early staff and Board collaborators Neeru Paharia and Ben Adida, Brown played a key role in developing the first versions of the human- and machine-readable licenses, and would ultimately be presented with the challenge of building the visual identity system for Creative Commons.</p>
<p>It was a random encounter on a plane leaving SXSW in 2002 when Glenn bumped into designer/animator (and former classmate) Ryan Junell, that led to a graphic design and branding project which would ultimately bring about the Creative Commons logos. Ryan and Glenn were originally classmates at the University of Texas at Austin in the mid-90&#8217;s, sitting in on lectures that covered the early and optimistic days of the Internet, and gaining an advanced understanding of how the web would shift perspectives on sharing and copyright.</p>
<p>When Glenn and Ryan reconnected in 2001 Glenn had a big vision for Creative Commons and an amazing design problem to solve. Progress on the CC licenses was well underway. A legal team and the early staff, including Molly and Glenn, were working hard at Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society (founded by Lawrence Lessig in 2001) to craft these new, freely reusable licenses that were intended to be understood by both legal professionals in the world of IP law, and everyday creators and users with minimal legal experience or knowledge.</p>
<p>That early team already understood the importance of visual systems that could be used to convey simple but important information to the user, particularly to enhance the planned roll-out of a simple, web-based license chooser system. Color coding of yellow and green was used to express the level of openness for each specific license, with a strong urging for creators to go green and make their work as open as possible to maximize their contribution to the commons. But the question kept coming up &#8212; how do we visualize these powerful, new licenses? How could the license deeds be complemented with some kind of visualization or mark? What could be conveyed through those symbols? In the words of Larry Lessig, the Creative Commons identity “needed to be distinctive, yet teach through its design.”</p>
<p><span style="float: left; padding: 10px;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/examples"><img src="media/86d59783.spectrum-with0.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/spectrum-with0.png" alt="CC license spectrum" /></a></span></p>
<p>Molly, Glenn and the team knew they needed a strong mark to further convey what each unique license meant, as well as a grander identity to tie them altogether. An identity not unlike the prevailing symbol of copyright in the world, the unmistakable and seemingly indomitable ©. Ryan Junell, who had been working at a series of design leadership roles with startups and design firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, accepted the unusual and exciting offer to create the public face of Creative Commons.</p>
<h3>Two very busy weeks</h3>
<p>The original project didn’t come with a traditional and detailed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_brief">design brief</a>. Ryan was plunged into the process, working directly with legal staff to gain an understanding of the licenses and what they meant. The licenses were a quick study for Ryan, having been exposed to the transformative ideas of a young Internet in the late 90’s, in addition to previous gigs with branding and identity projects in silicon valley. He was already well-versed in the complex issues of sharing and copyright in the early days of the web, and understood the importance of a clear and simple way of conveying the spirit and detail of the licenses. He was also thrilled with the idea of working once again in a challenging, high-tempo academic setting.</p>
<p>Ryan and the CC team committed two weeks to the research and study of the new visual system, an ambitious schedule for any design project, much less one that would grow to have such a powerful and broad influence. Inherently, they knew the visuals needed to be simple and effective. They knew they needed a system of icons, and that this system would have to work as efficiently on the printed page as on a web page, video credit crawl, or signage. It should be possible to evoke the symbol with a keyboard [e.g. (CC)] or be easy to draw and recreate free-hand. Creative Commons was focused on global impact, so the system would also have to work across borders and cultures. It would also need to be bold and direct,not overly intricate or sophisticated.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="media/a544443b.CC-LOGO-PROTOTYPES-2002.800px1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CC-LOGO-PROTOTYPES-2002.800px1.jpg" alt="CC-LOGO-PROTOTYPES-2002.800px" width="700" height="875" /><br />
<small>Creative Commons logo development, 2002. courtesy Ryan Junell</small></p>
<p><span style="float: right; padding: 10px;"><img src="media/bd0704bf.cc.large.png" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/cc.large.png" alt="CC logo" width="200" height="200" /></span></p>
<p><big><strong>&#8220;If you create a question, you create<br />
a reason for people to try to listen.&#8221;</strong></big></p>
<p>Ryan worked through dozens of prototypes, studying the prevalent icons and systems at work at the time, and experimenting with riffs on typography, geometry, and unique letterforms. He shared iterations of early concepts, but the team was immediately drawn to the simple and clear form of the double-c letterforms in a circle. That concept came to Ryan early in the process, and it was idea that felt natural appropriate. He knew it echoed the classic copyright symbol, but it also felt simple, direct, and because of its deviation from the copyright symbol, more welcoming. As Larry later stated, “the multiple meanings of (c) doubled was important. If you create a question, you create a reason for people to try to listen.”</p>
<p>The early concept went through two brisk rounds of improvements but there were minimal changes or diversions from that simple original idea.</p>
<p>With the final “CC” concept clear, it was only a few more steps to build out the rest of the system. Other relevant symbols &#8211; the stroked dollar sign, circle-arrow, and originally the letterforms “BY” were suspended in the same bold circle and used to indicate the variants of the licenses: NonCommercial, ShareAlike, and Attribution. As a layered system, these icons were meant to reflect a spectrum of permissions, and would grow to present themselves in their most recognizable, rectangular button forms, set against grey, white, and black.</p>
<p><span style="float: left; padding: 10px;"><a href="media/baccda3a.FileAkzidenzGroteskspecAIB1.svg" data-original-source="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AkzidenzGroteskspecAIB1.svg"><img src="media/752d035c.396px-AkzidenzGroteskspecAIB1.svg_.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/396px-AkzidenzGroteskspecAIB1.svg_.png" alt="AkzidenzGroteskspecAIB1" /></a><br />
<small><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:public_domain" rel="license">Public Domain</a></small></span></p>
<h3>Akzidenz-Grotesk, a modern marvel</h3>
<p>It was a masterstroke of design simplicity, and a brilliant way to portray the sharing intent of the licenses. A playful but confident relationship with the traditional copyright logo gave the “CC” logo an instant recognizability, but also a truly unique identity.</p>
<p>Junell set the original “CC” and the subsequent, lowercase Creative Commons wordmark in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akzidenz-Grotesk">Akzidenz-Grotesk</a>, an elegant and bold typeface created in the 19th century by Günter Gerhard Lange. It is considered the first true sans-serif typeface, and became a precursor to hundreds, possibly thousands, of subsequent sans-serif typeface through the 20th century. Popular amongst design-thinking tech companies of the time, it also evokes a spirit of simple, clear, public-minded and modern typography. The typeface is instantly recognizable as a mainstay of environmental and way-finding graphics. It is the progenitor of its more recognizable sibling, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica">Helvetica</a> (created in the late 1950’s), and to this day it is still the official typeface of the International Red Cross and its global chapters.</p>
<h3>Animating the logo</h3>
<p>The Creative Commons team had the identity in place, but they also knew they wanted a more animated, multi-media approach to make a bigger splash. It was early days of internet video (and low bandwidths for average users) but Junell had experience as an animator and was able to develop an idea for a Flash-based video, the first of several videos Creative Commons would release to tell the story of Creative Commons, and to convince new users to take advantage of the new licenses and icons.</p>
<p><video controls="controls" width="700" height="500"><source src="media/c333ab82.GetCreative_360p.webm" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/movingimages/webm/GetCreative_360p.webm" type="video/webm" /><source src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Commonscreative-GetCreative181.ogv" type="video/ogg" /><source src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Commonscreative-GetCreative673.mov" type="video/quicktime" /><source src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Commonscreative-GetCreative679.flv" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><embed src="http://blip.tv/play/gpxS3pNvg9ky" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="700" height="500" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" /></video></p>
<p>“<a href="http://creativecommons.org/videos/get-creative">Get Creative</a>” was the first video in this effort, and featured a case study inspired by a real-world creative reuse situation about the White Stripes. Written by Glenn Otis Brown and directed and animated by Junell, the video set the stage for a new and vibrant outreach effort with artists, writers, academics and researchers that continues today. Junell and others often credit this video with being as critical a part of defining the visual story as the logos themselves. In the spirit of the video, digital <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Spectrumofrights_Comic1">comic stories</a> also appeared, illustrated by Junell, and written and designed by Neeru Paharia.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="media/b8e9f5b6.Spec4-2.gif" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/6c/Spec4-2.gif" alt="Spec4-2" /><br />
<small>From <a href="media/b8e9f5b6.Spec4-2.gif" data-original-source="http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/6c/Spec4-2.gif">“Spectrum of Rights”</a> by Neeru Paharia, Matt Haughey, and Ryan Junell / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>The initial reception to the release of the licenses and the new logos was incredibly positive. The story brought a breath of fresh air to the technology media, much of which was still reeling from the gloomy, post-bubble narrative. Early adopters of the CC licenses, including MIT, the Internet Archive, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sung the project’s praises and embraced the logos for their own CC licensed content. On t-shirts, stickers, pins and signs the logo grew and spread, quickly becoming one (if not ‘the’) prominent brand of the free culture movement. Evangelists, artists, coders and writers in the know proudly showed their support for CC by stickering their laptops, notebooks, and mobile phones. More zealous fans chiseled or <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/allaboutgeorge/110903135/">dyed the logo</a> into their hair during tech conferences, and more than a few <a href="http://www.leighgraveswolf.com/2012/06/10/the-story-behind-my-creativecommons-ink/">CC tattoos</a> found their way onto the most diehard supporters. The logo was well on its way to becoming the internationally recognizable symbol it is today.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="media/6278b751.cc-tattoo.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/cc-tattoo.jpg" alt="cc tattoo" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/allaboutgeorge/110903135/">The back of this man&#8217;s head has a Creative Commons license</a> by George Kelly / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY-NC-ND</a></small></p>
<h3>The logos grow and adapt</h3>
<p>The Creative Commons logos found themselves in an increasingly vast and complex Internet by 2005. The system was still simple enough to work in a wide variety of settings, and new platforms like Flickr and eventually Wikipedia and others would be able to incorporate the licenses and the logos in effective and visible ways. But as the logos became more popular and more global, it was evident that the original concepts would need to be updated. The use of the dollar symbol and the reliance on the ‘BY’ text were the two most prominent challenges. Both were conventional for western, English-speaking audiences but were impractical for use internationally.</p>
<p>Alex Roberts, who began working with Creative Commons in 2005 as its Senior Designer, was tasked with the sensitive job of updating and expanding the logos and looking at a variety of new use cases and scenarios. He introduced the simple stick figure as a replacement for ‘BY’ in the Attribution icon, created the new CC Zero icon, and created two new currency icons with the euro and yen symbols to show variation and internationalization of the NonCommercial logos.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="media/1e97fd5a.by.png" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/by.png" alt="" /> <img src="media/2ffc0fe3.nc-eu.png" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/nc-eu.png" alt="" /> <img src="media/08c711b3.nc-jp.png" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/nc-jp.png" alt="" /> <img src="media/f0d7c662.zero.png" data-original-source="http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/zero.png" alt="" /><br />
<small>Additions to the logo family, by Alex Roberts</small></p>
<p>Roberts also produced the now-standard slim, rectangular <a href="https://creativecommons.org/about/downloads/">license buttons</a> that are in use on millions of websites today, and worked to improve the readability, layout, and clarity of individual <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">license deeds</a>. Roberts is recognized by the MoMA alongside Ryan Junell as a collaborator in the creation and enhancement of the overall design system.</p>
<p>The new logos appeared in an updated Creative Commons <a href="http://creativecommons.org/videos/wanna-work-together">explainer video</a> in 2006. “Wanna Work Together?” was again animated by Ryan Junell, and by then Creative Director Eric Steuer.</p>
<p>Today, Ryan Junell is a creative producer working in the greater NYC area. CC’s first Executive Director, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, is a current CC Board member and Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Glenn Otis Brown was Executive Director of Creative Commons from 2002 to 2005 and is now an executive with Twitter based in New York City. Alex Roberts was Senior Designer at Creative Commons from 2005 to 2011 and is now a Software Engineer at Eventbrite.</p>
<h3>The CC logos today and beyond</h3>
<p>Since 2006 the Creative Commons logos have gone through no significant changes, and the CC 4.0 licenses and their representative logos are poised to continue their march towards ever greater visibility and prominence on the web. Their state as acquired by MoMA earlier this month is likely how they will remain for decades or centuries to come, an indicator of the simple elegance and effectiveness of the visuals and the lasting importance of the power of sharing.</p>
<p>In 2014 Creative Commons’ State of the Commons report counted the number of CC works at well over 882 million (with some estimates suggesting that number is well over 1 billion), coming from more than 10 million sites on the web. The majority of those works are available under one of the three most free licenses, ensuring their maximum benefit to the commons. Wikipedia and its sister projects provide virtually all of their media and knowledge under one form or another of the CC licenses, in addition to public domain. Flickr hosts hundreds of millions of CC images and videos alone, and Creative Commons videos and media thrive on Vimeo, YouTube, the Internet Archive and other major media platforms. Millions of students around the world are learning through freely reusable, Creative Commons licensed textbooks, curricula, and other teaching tools.</p>
<p>Creative Commons looks forward to shepherding the logos through the coming decades and centuries as they continue to grow in impact and use. The Internet and the world around it changes more every single day, and we look forward to envisioning how these symbols and the knowledge and media they accompany will continue to flourish and impact the world in yet unknown ways.</p>
<h3>Celebrating the CC logo with a specially designed t-shirt</h3>
<p>Today we are also excited to <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45224">announce</a> the availability of an awesome new Creative Commons t-shirt. Thanks to our talented friends at the Noun Project and Teespring, we are inviting fans and supporters to purchase this limited edition t-shirt that proudly celebrates the CC logo. You can read more about the campaign at this blog post, or head over to Teespring to <a href="http://teespring.com/creativecommons">claim your shirt right now</a> &#8211; this one-time campaign runs from March 24 to April 7, 2015.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://teespring.com/creativecommons"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45343" src="media/8c2253b2.teespring-shirts.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/teespring-shirts.jpg" alt="teespring shirts" width="600" height="368" /></a><br />
<strong><a href="http://teespring.com/creativecommons">http://teespring.com/creativecommons</a></strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45219
title: Press release: Creative Commons Launches Special Edition Commemorative Tee
uri: Press-release-Creative-Commons-Launches-Special-Edition-Commemorative
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45219
content:
<p><i><img class="alignnone wp-image-45220" src="media/930a1ae1.dl9HZe5IYJqVHx7lwOBiesnxiC7s36r__bXJLfA1dkVzekm1TQxgZf8s2048.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SaYx_vbbm3gxTKPBvoLzQX6kWtzX15zYMSyydl9HZe5IYJqVHx7lwOBiesnxiC7s36r__bXJLfA1dkVzekm1TQxgZf8s2048.png" alt="np-shirt-fitted.png" width="205" height="251" /><img class="alignnone wp-image-45221" src="media/8b0c6723.gS5U0y1unIW7z0g4VD6g2_ns8CqrrH3QmL8Y661rj5BluzeT_zBlmIgs2048.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/vECHTEOp97B1NeOx6fvca1R4diMb4AlL0zJhgS5U0y1unIW7z0g4VD6g2_ns8CqrrH3QmL8Y661rj5BluzeT_zBlmIgs2048.png" alt="np-shirt-reg.png" width="200" height="245" /><img class="alignnone wp-image-45222" src="media/d405f84f.unnamed.gif" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/unnamed.gif" alt="np-cc" width="251" height="251" /></i></p>
<p><i>Partners with Noun Project and Teespring to design and sell exclusive t-shirt celebrating “CC” logo acquisition by MoMA; Proceeds to support Creative Commons </i></p>
<p><b>SAN FRANCISCO – MARCH 25, 2015</b> – Creative Commons has partnered with crowdsourced visual dictionary Noun Project and commerce platform Teespring to release a custom t-shirt celebrating the “CC” logo’s acquisition into the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. The special edition t-shirt will be available for a limited time only. Proceeds will benefit Creative Commons to further their work in growing and protecting the commons.</p>
<p>Designed by the Noun Project, the commemorative t-shirt celebrates the lasting impact and international recognition of the Creative Commons “double-c in a circle” or “CC” logo. The logo, originally designed for Creative Commons in 2002 by designer Ryan Junell, is recognized as the global standard for creative sharing, remixing, and reuse. Creators, educators, and remixers use the logo to indicate their adoption of one or more variants of the Creative Commons license.</p>
<p>In March 2015 MoMA recognized the ubiquity and significance of the Creative Commons logo by including it in their permanent design collection. The logo can be viewed alongside other imminently recognizably marks such as the @ and recycling symbols as part of the MoMA exhibit “This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good,” organized by senior curator, Paola Antonelli.</p>
<p>“On behalf of the global Creative Commons community I want to thank Teespring and Noun Project for launching this collaboration to celebrate our beloved CC logo,” said Creative Commons CEO Ryan Merkley. “This commemorative design is a beautiful remix that represents what Creative Commons is all about: Noun Project’s freely reusable iconography depicting a range of sharing and remixing activities within the Commons. We know fans of Creative Commons will wear it with pride.”</p>
<p>Noun Project, a long-time supporter and proponent of Creative Commons, designed the limited edition t-shirt to celebrate this milestone using pictograms uploaded by their community. Each pictogram in the design represents an industry or type of media influenced by Creative Commons, which encompasses fields as broad as the arts, science, medicine, and law.</p>
<p>“When opening our platform to submissions from creatives around the world, we knew we wanted to offer a clear and easy license that would enable anyone to share their work. Creative Commons was the perfect solution for helping us build and share the world’s visual language,” said Sofya Polyakov, CEO and Co-Founder of the Noun Project.</p>
<p>To bring this special edition t-shirt to life, Creative Commons and Noun Project have partnered with Teespring, the leading commerce platform for custom apparel. Launched in 2012, Teespring empowers entrepreneurs, creatives, influencers, and nonprofits to create and sell high­-quality products people love, with no cost or risk.</p>
<p>“At Teespring we strive to remove the barriers to bringing great ideas to market, which is why we have a unique respect and admiration for Creative Commons and the impact they&#8217;ve made for creators all over the world,” said Teespring Co-Founder and CEO, Walker Williams. “It’s an honor for us to partner with Creative Commons and Noun Project and help the community show their support for this meaningful cause and movement.”</p>
<p>This special edition Creative Commons tee will be available until April 8, 2015 at <a href="http://www.teespring.com/creativecommons">www.teespring.com/creativecommons</a>.</p>
<p>You can read more about the history and origin of the Creative Commons logo at <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45228">http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45228</a>.</p>
<p>Image assets can also be <a href="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/cc-nounproject-pr.zip">downloaded via zip file</a>.</p>
<p><b>Press contacts</b></p>
<p>Creative Commons<br />
<a href="mailto:press@creativecommons.org">press@creativecommons.org</a></p>
<p>Noun Project<br />
<a href="mailto:info@thenounproject.com">info@thenounproject.com</a></p>
<p>Teespring<br />
<a href="mailto:press@teespring.com">press@teespring.com<br />
</a><br />
<b>About Creative Commons<br />
</b><a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> is a globally-focused nonprofit organization dedicated to making it easier for people to share their creative works, and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright. Creative Commons provides free licenses and other legal tools to give individuals and organizations a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative work, ensure proper attribution, and allow others to copy, distribute, and make use of those works. There are nearly 1 billion licensed works, hosted on some of the most popular content platforms in the world, and over 9 million individual websites.</p>
<p><b>About Noun Project<br />
</b><a href="http://thenounproject.com">Noun Project</a> is a crowdsourced visual dictionary of over 100,000 pictograms anyone can download and use. Their goal is to help people communicate ideas visually by building the world’s best resource for visual language.</p>
<p><b>About Teespring<br />
</b><a href="http://www.teespring.com">Teespring</a> is a commerce platform that enables anyone to create and sell products that people love, with no cost or risk. Teespring powers all aspects of bringing merchandise to life from production and manufacturing to supply chain, logistics, and customer service. By unlocking commerce for everyone, Teespring is creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs, influencers, community organizers, and anyone who rallies communities around specific causes or passions.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45224
title: Celebrate Creative Commons with a limited edition tee
uri: Celebrate-Creative-Commons-with-a-limited-edition-tee
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45224
content:
<p><img class=" size-full wp-image-45225 alignleft" src="media/a9c68c71.JNK6cFSPm-RRYpd0RjiT1EAQzk1cpjQqdcTeSUqLUMiT510-hsxB46gs2048.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/yHrkIMQuBwyTmDBJNK6cFSPm-RRYpd0RjiT1EAQzk1cpjQqdcTeSUqLUMiT510-hsxB46gs2048.png" alt="np-white" width="500" height="500" /></p>
<p>Today Creative Commons, the <a href="http://thenounproject.com/">Noun Project</a>, and <a href="http://teespring.com">Teespring.com</a> are <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45219">excited to announce</a> an awesome, limited edition commemorative t-shirt celebrating our wonderful logo.</p>
<p>The shirt is available at <a href="http://Teespring.com/CreativeCommons">Teespring.com/CreativeCommons</a>, with all 100% of the proceeds going to support Creative Commons. It will be available until April 8, 2015 and sales start right now. Help us spread the word in all of your channels <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/celebrateCC">#celebrateCC</a></p>
<p>The shirt is comprised of dozens of unique, freely reusable and Creative Commons (or PD) licensed icons from the Noun Project (see a list of designers/artists below) as well as each of our primary sharing logos. Noun Project staff designers created this special edition of the logo, which was originally conceived by designer/animator Ryan Junell or Creative Commons in 2002.</p>
<p>You can read more about the history of the Creative Commons logos, and their recent acquisition by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, over <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45228">here</a>.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone wp-image-45221" src="media/8b0c6723.gS5U0y1unIW7z0g4VD6g2_ns8CqrrH3QmL8Y661rj5BluzeT_zBlmIgs2048.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/vECHTEOp97B1NeOx6fvca1R4diMb4AlL0zJhgS5U0y1unIW7z0g4VD6g2_ns8CqrrH3QmL8Y661rj5BluzeT_zBlmIgs2048.png" alt="np-shirt-reg.png" width="275" height="337" /><img class="alignnone wp-image-45220" src="media/930a1ae1.dl9HZe5IYJqVHx7lwOBiesnxiC7s36r__bXJLfA1dkVzekm1TQxgZf8s2048.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SaYx_vbbm3gxTKPBvoLzQX6kWtzX15zYMSyydl9HZe5IYJqVHx7lwOBiesnxiC7s36r__bXJLfA1dkVzekm1TQxgZf8s2048.png" alt="np-shirt-fitted.png" width="310" height="372" /></p>
<p>Our huge thanks to Noun Project and Teespring for helping us with this great initiative. We know Creative Commons supporters love apparel, and we think this is one of the best we’ve ever seen.</p>
<p>We also want to proudly recognize the work of the following Noun Project artists, illustrators, and designers whose icons and symbols make up the special edition, commemorative CC logo:</p>
<ul>
<li>Edward Boatman</li>
<li>Stanislav Levin</li>
<li>Scott Lewis</li>
<li>Ryan Oksenhorn</li>
<li>Ethan Clark</li>
<li>Nathan Driskell</li>
<li>John Caserta</li>
<li>Thibault Geffroy</li>
<li>Jakub Ukrop</li>
<li>Travis Yunis</li>
<li>Hafizh</li>
<li>P.J. Onori</li>
<li>Alex Koplin</li>
<li>OCHA Visual Information Unit</li>
<li>Dmitry Baranovskiy</li>
<li>aartiraghu</li>
<li>Mateo Zlatar</li>
<li>Larissa Mancia</li>
<li>Megan Mitchell</li>
<li>Jardson Almeida</li>
<li>Lemon Liu</li>
<li>José Manuel de Laá</li>
<li>Iconathon</li>
<li>iconoci</li>
<li>Rémy Médard</li>
<li>Ricardo Moreira</li>
<li>Jeremy J Bristol</li>
<li>Sebastian Langer</li>
<li>Cole Townsend</li>
<li>Ken Messenger</li>
<li>Diego Naive</li>
<li>Clayton Meador</li>
<li>Weston Terrill</li>
<li>Martha Ormiston</li>
<li>Elves Sousa</li>
<li>Molly Bramlet</li>
<li>Joe Mortell</li>
<li>Hum</li>
<li>Stefan Parnarov</li>
<li>Brennan Novak</li>
<li>Dmitry Gennadyevich</li>
<li>Andrew Rockefeller</li>
<li>Natasha Fedorova</li>
<li>Icon Jungle</li>
<li>Roman J. Sokolov</li>
<li>Aimeê Ferreira</li>
<li>Duke Innovation Co-Lab</li>
<li>Eric Bird</li>
<li>Stephen Borengasser</li>
<li>Simple Icons</li>
<li>Ana Paula Tello</li>
<li>Alex Auda Samora</li>
<li>Cristiano Zoucas</li>
<li>Mister Pixel</li>
<li>Pham Thi Dieu Linh</li>
<li>SuperAtic LABS</li>
<li>useiconic.com</li>
<li>Björn Andersson</li>
<li>Guillermo Vera</li>
<li>Parker Foote</li>
<li>Andrew Nolte</li>
<li>Luis Prado</li>
<li>Cédric Villain</li>
<li>Digicoins Santiago</li>
<li>iconsmind.com</li>
<li>Mike Rowe</li>
<li>Haitham Almayman</li>
<li>Rohith M S</li>
<li>Alexander Romanov</li>
<li>Christopher T. Howlett</li>
<li>Nadir Balcikli</li>
<li>Eugen Belyakoff</li>
<li>Nico Tzogalis</li>
<li>Geovani Almeida</li>
<li>Mourad Mokrane</li>
<li>Greg Beck</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45355
title: Great news for the commons: Flickr now supports CC0 and the CC Public Domain Mark
uri: Great-news-for-the-commons-Flickr-now-supports-CC0-and-the-CC-Public
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45355
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="media/99bf9b86.PDMCC01.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PDMCC01.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-45364" src="media/99bf9b86.PDMCC01.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PDMCC01.png" alt="PDMCC0" width="550" height="258" /><br />
</a><small>( <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0</a> and <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">Public Domain Mark</a>)</small></p>
<p>Today we&#8217;re extremely pleased to announce that Flickr <a href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2015/03/30/flickr-now-offers-public-domain-and-cc0-designations/">now allows</a> its users to share images under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0">CC0</a>, Creative Commons’ international public domain dedication. Flickr also announced they will allow users to share work in the public domain using our <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">Public Domain Mark</a> (PDM). Flickr is the largest repository of CC-licensed photos on the web, and CC0 and the Public Domain Mark will give creators even more ways to share their works and those in the public domain to expand the commons.</p>
<p>Why is this big news for Flickr and Creative Commons? CC0 maximizes the potential creative use of works by dedicating them, without restrictions, to the commons. By doing so, creators enable others to freely and without condition build upon those works in ways that advance science, education, scholarship, and literature, sometimes in surprising and unexpected ways.</p>
<p>Many Creative Commons photographers on Flickr have been asking for CC0. With this announcement Flickr users will be able to choose from among our six standard licenses, our public domain dedication, and they will also be able to mark others’ works that are in the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/about/pdm">public domain</a>. Adding CC0 and PDM to Flickr is an unprecedented win for the commons and for free creativity and knowledge on the internet.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="media/6bb32f38.16699496805_3028d9bb46_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/16699496805_3028d9bb46_z.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-45367 aligncenter" src="media/6bb32f38.16699496805_3028d9bb46_z.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/16699496805_3028d9bb46_z.jpg" alt="16699496805_3028d9bb46_z" width="500" height="334" /><br />
</a><small>(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacexphotos/16699496805/">CRS-5 Falcon 9 rocket</a> / SpaceX / CC0)</small></p>
<p>The topic of awesome public domain and CC0 imagery was in the news about a week ago when SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/579197717970206720">announced</a> that all of SpaceX’s incredible photographs are dedicated to the worldwide public domain. SpaceX will be moving all of their <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacexphotos">images on Flickr</a> to CC0. Wikimedians have also helped SpaceX to <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photographs_by_SpaceX">declare a gallery</a> of images as CC0 on Wikimedia Commons.</p>
<p>For years, galleries, museums, and others to whom the the public has entrusted important cultural heritage works have leveraged CC0 as an internationally-recognized way to share digitized copies of works and the metadata that enables search. Europeana <a href="http://www.europeana.eu/portal/search.html?query=public+domain&amp;rows=24&amp;qt=false">now boasts</a> no fewer than 26,000 images under CC0, as well as more than 3.6 million works marked as public domain worldwide using our <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">Public Domain Mark</a>. The availability of CC0 as a means for digitizers of works in the public domain to eliminate any “thin” copyright on public domain works they digitize, or for individuals who wish to eliminate their own copyright, allows the global public to freely create and publish the next great thing. And the availability of the Public Domain Mark to signal a work is globally free of copyright restrictions further empowers creators to stand on the shoulders of those who created before them.</p>
<p><strong>What’s the difference?</strong><br />
Using CC0, a creator enables the public to freely reuse and remix a work without limitation. This is because the author/creator waives all conditions including attribution (although citation is supported) and encourages others to reuse the work in any way, including commercially. We know that Creative Commons supporters, including many photographers in the Flickr community, have been seeking the ability to use CC0 on Flickr since it was was <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/13304">published almost exactly 6 years ago today</a>. This also offers remixers clear and simple terms when seeking out a work to build upon. Many “no known copyright” images are too uncertain to build upon, while CC0 offers a clear dedication to free use and re-use. Once fully implemented, users will be able to move some or all of their works on Flickr to CC0.</p>
<p>The Public Domain Mark is used to denote works out of copyright or in the worldwide public domain. Developed with reference to “no known copyright” statements adopted by many leading cultural heritage institutions, including contributors to <a href="https://www.flickr.com/commons">Flickr Commons</a>, the PDM is the only mark of its kind, and the only widely-adopted and globally accepted mark that communicates a work’s public domain status worldwide.</p>
<p><strong>Flickr’s leadership</strong><br />
We are very happy to recognize Flickr’s longstanding commitment to the Creative Commons licenses, their community of CC photographers/videographers, and to the public good that is our shared commons and heritage.</p>
<p>Incorporating CC0 and PDM into Flickr has been a long term wish of ours, and we&#8217;re happy to see it happen today. There were many who helped along the way, but special thanks to CC General Counsel Diane Peters and also to Jane Park, who now leads CC&#8217;s platform engagement team.</p>
<p>We anticipate that Flickr’s stewardship of CC-licensed content and public domain materials will continue to grow now that users can take advantage of the full breadth of our legal tools.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45392
title: CC Global Summit 2015: Seoul, October 15-17
uri: CC-Global-Summit-2015-Seoul-October-15-17
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45392
content:
<p>After an exhaustive process, we’re proud to announce that the <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org">2015 CC Global Summit</a> will be in Seoul, South Korea. The CC Korea team put forward an exciting bid, and have proven their experience and skill at planning conferences. I have every confidence that they&#8217;ll be a great partner in producing the conference. In addition, this year marks their 10th anniversary, so we will be able to celebrate their accomplishments with our international community.</p>
<p>The conference will run from Thursday Oct. 15 to Saturday Oct. 17, 2015.</p>
<p>We will put out a public call for papers and workshops shortly. There will be more information soon, but for now, anyone interested can sign up for more information at <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org">https://summit.creativecommons.org</a>.</p>
<p>This year, we hope to not only build a conference that allows the CC family to come together to work on important issues, but also to expand our invitation list to include organizations and individuals who want to work with us on shared projects that advance the cause of the Commons, free culture and open knowledge. I’m confident that a “bigger tent” strategy will help strengthen CC and grow our community globally.</p>
<p>So if you’re active and engaged in the worlds of open content and knowledge — free software and free culture advocates, Wikipedians, Open Knowledge, galleries, libraries, museums, archives, governments and foundations, lawyers, and activists — we hope you’ll consider joining us this year to build a stronger, more vibrant commons together.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m really excited for this year&#8217;s event, and hope to see you there.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45399
title: 591 Celebrate CC shirts sold in two weeks!
uri: 591-Celebrate-CC-shirts-sold-in-two-weeks
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45399
content:
<p><a href="media/8c2253b2.teespring-shirts.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/teespring-shirts.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-45343" src="media/8c2253b2.teespring-shirts.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/teespring-shirts.jpg" alt="teespring shirts" width="600" height="368" /></a></p>
<p>Two weeks ago <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45224">we kicked off</a> a limited edition sale of a special t-shirt designed by our friends at <a href="https://thenounproject.com/">Noun Project</a>, and supported by the great folks at <a href="http://Teespring.com">Teespring.com</a>. Yesterday the <a href="http://teespring.com/creativecommons">campaign</a> wrapped up, and we&#8217;re pleased to say we blew past our goal and sold 591 t-shirts. With all proceeds going right back to Creative Commons, that means we&#8217;ve raised almost $9,000 to help grow and protect the commons.</p>
<p>Most t-shirt purchasers should expect to have their orders completely fulfilled by the end of April. International orders may take another week. When you get your please take a pic and show your Creative Commons pride. Make sure to tag any posts <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/celebrateCC">#celebrateCC</a>.</p>
<p>Our huge thanks to Noun Project for creating such an incredible design and to Teespring.com for providing the platform and making this campaign possible. And of course thanks to everyone who donated their hard-earned money and bought a shirt to show their support. I thank you for expressing your appreciation for <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45228">great design</a> and for such a worthy cause.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45394
title: Welcome: Rob Myers!
uri: Welcome-Rob-Myers
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45394
content:
<p><a href="media/d7ba605f.myers.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/myers.jpg"><img src="media/d7ba605f.myers.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/myers.jpg" alt="Rob Myers, yesterday" width="269" height="202" align="right" hspace="20" vspace="20" /></a>Please welcome the latest member of the <a href="/staff">Creative Commons Team</a>, our new software developer Rob Myers.</p>
<p>Rob will be familiar to many of you as an active member of the CC Community. In 2004, <a href="http://robmyers.org/2005/08/06/howto-report/">Rob&#8217;s art was the first exhibition of CC-licensed</a> art.</p>
<p>Rob has spent the last 8 years working in the free software community. He will be working closely with CC staff, partners, and the community on the myriad of technical solutions that the commons needs, but working especially closely with our education team on supporting the technical needs of the educational output of CC.</p>
<p>You&#8217;ll find Rob along with the rest of us in the usual places such as our <a href="/contact">IRC channel</a> and in GitHub, where he is `robmyers`.</p>
<p>Welcome Rob!</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/lists/cc-staff-on-twitter">Follow Rob and other CC staff on Twitter.</a></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45417
title: Open business models, open data, and the public interest
uri: Open-business-models-open-data-and-the-public-interest
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45417
content:
<p>Less than one month ago, Creative Commons <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45022" target="_blank">began a project</a> designed to explore and develop business models built on CC licensing. Starting from the methods in the best-selling <a href="http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/book" target="_blank">Business Model Generation handbook</a>, Creative Commons is developing new tools specifically tailored for ventures that utilize CC-licensed or public domain content as a central component of their strategies. We are also working one-on-one with a handful of companies and organizations to brainstorm new business models and paths to sustainability.</p>
<p>In this short span of time, we have seen there is a real desire for this sort of work, and Creative Commons is uniquely-suited to lead it. And in just these first few weeks of this project, we have learned an incredible amount about all of the fascinating ways nonprofits, universities, and businesses are leveraging CC licensing in what they do. One immediate observation about these ventures is how the public interest plays a role in all of them. Whether for-profit or not, the social good furthered by the product or service is an important part of the value proposition.</p>
<p><strong>Meet Openwords:</strong> A great example of that phenomenon is a young startup called <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/279739136/openwords-foreign-language-learning-app-with-open" target="_blank">Openwords</a>, a company CC has been fortunate to work with in our business models initiative. Openwords is a foreign language learning app with a social mission &#8211; to provide free and open language learning technology for languages that currently have little or no options for mobile language learning. The small startup is able to do this at low cost thanks to open data. Openwords mines the vast pools of existing open data on sites like Wiktionary and Apertium and transforms the data into language learning tools for a wide range of languages, large and small. Openwords&#8217; open data strategy has already been successful. Openwords has mined content for over 1000 languages.</p>
<p>While Openwords uses existing open data to fuel its product, it is also giving back new open data and content to the public. Everything Openwords creates &#8212; the modified data, software code, and educational content &#8211; is either dedicated to the public domain using CC0 or offered under an open license. This virtuous circle makes it possible for this for-profit venture to fulfill its social goals.</p>
<div id="attachment_45420" style="width: 710px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="media/bff98c5b.infographic_2_final.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/infographic_2_final.png"><img class="size-large wp-image-45420" src="media/bc4f6b41.infographic_2_final-1024x965.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/infographic_2_final-1024x965.png" alt="Created by Zachary Rozycki." width="531" height="500" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><em>Infographic created by</em> <a href="http://www.creativelittlecompany.com/" target="_blank"><em>Zachary Rozycki</em></a>.</p></div>
<p>In 2014, Openwords released a prototype of its mobile app. Now, it has launched a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/279739136/openwords-foreign-language-learning-app-with-open" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> to fund the development of a beta version of the app, and to involve the community in the Openwords app design.</p>
<p>Crowdfunding is just one avenue Openwords is pursuing to raise money, but it can be an effective way to generate funds and buzz simultaneously. In our business models work, we will be researching crowdfunding as a potential revenue model for ventures built on CC licensing. We even plan on trying it out ourselves by running a Kickstarter campaign this summer to write a book about CC business models.</p>
<p>Building sustainable models around open is important work. We encourage you to check out what Openwords is doing. If you are trying to determine how you can operate in a financially-sound manner while generating social good through the use of CC licenses, we encourage you to contact us and participate in our <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/16XMIIvy_cz191l6KosgUMFtUK7lTdlzKme3WskwiuSA/edit" target="_blank">Creative Commons open business models initiative</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45442
title: Japanese translation of CC0 published
uri: Japanese-translation-of-CC0-published
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45442
content:
<p>Congratulations to CC Japan for their tireless work on the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.ja">official translation of CC0 into Japanese</a>! This marks the first official translation of CC0 for the Asia-Pacific region, and the fourth official translation of CC0 overall.</p>
<p>CC0 is a tool that enables creators to dedicate work to the public domain. Its three-layer design includes a waiver of rights, a fallback license allowing use of the work for any purpose with no conditions, and an agreement not to assert rights in the work. Official language translations of CC0 are created in accordance with the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Legal_Code_Translation_Policy">CC Legal Code Translation Policy</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.ja"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-45443 size-full" src="media/c4af1f2a.Screen-Shot-2015-04-21-at-4.50.21-PM-e1429712215741.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-21-at-4.50.21-PM-e1429712215741.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-04-21 at 4.50.21 PM" width="600" height="344" /></a></p>
<p>This translation is the result of years of hard work by many in the CC community. Special thanks goes to Maki Higashikubo, Naoki Kanehisa, Kokoro Kobayashi, Yosuke Koike, Tasuku Mizuno, Yuko Noguchi, Masafumi Masuda, Asako Miyoshi, and Tomoaki Watanabe.</p>
<p>We are thrilled for this team and for the global commons!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45495
title: Medium embraces CC licenses
uri: Medium-embraces-CC-licenses
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45495
content:
<p><img class=" wp-image-45498 size-medium alignnone" src="media/99a58dbd.Medium-logo-dark500-300x300.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Medium-logo-dark500-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></p>
<p>Today Creative Commons is excited to announce that blogging and storytelling platform Medium now offers the entire suite of Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools. You can read more about this great news over at Medium, naturally, in stories by both <a href="https://medium.com/@creativecommons/94c926dd6aba">Creative Commons</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@majelbstoat/3aa1df783f8d">Medium</a>.</p>
<p>In just a few years Medium has grown a thriving community of highly engaged authors and storytellers, and it&#8217;s been home to some incredible pieces of journalism covering a wide range of interests. It&#8217;s no surprise that we <a href="https://medium.com/@jessevondoom/an-argument-for-extending-the-commons-to-medium-897c8d96702d">heard from</a> folks in the CC and Medium community asking for the licenses to be made available. The Medium community, and the folks behind Medium, really understand the power of CC and the opportunity for their stories to reach even more people.</p>
<p>Medium users can now share their stories under any of the CC licenses or CC0, and they can also import other CC-licensed or public domain work. Medium leverages the power of photography like few other platforms, making it an ideal way to showcase and share CC licensed images, illustrations, and other media.</p>
<p>We want to thank the team at Medium for their amazing work and dedication in making CC available to their users. From our kick-off conversations it was clear that Medium understood the importance of this decision, and it was a pleasure to help them bring it to life.</p>
<p>Please read more about this exciting news over at Medium!</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@creativecommons/94c926dd6aba">Medium welcomes the Creative Commons licenses</a> by Creative Commons</li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@majelbstoat/3aa1df783f8d">Explicit post licensing &#8212; &#8220;All rights reserved&#8221; is not the only option</a> by Medium</li>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@lessig/127b0ef02b03">Why I&#8217;m Excited for Medium&#8217;s Partnership with Creative Commons</a> by Lawrence Lessig</li>
</ul>
<p>Medium joins CC&#8217;s new <a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/platform-initiative">Platform Initiative</a>, which works to create easy, clear, and enjoyable ways for users to contribute to the commons on community-driven content platforms. If you are a platform that would like to join this movement for the commons, please <a href="mailto:janepark@creativecommons.org">get in touch</a>!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45468
title: Don’t mess with the right to link: Savethelink.org
uri: Don-t-mess-with-the-right-to-link-Savethelink-org
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45468
content:
<p><a href="https://savethelink.org/" rel="attachment wp-att-45480"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45480" src="media/a71ee21e.StL-banner-_800.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/StL-banner-_800.png" alt="StL banner _800" width="700" height="154" /></a></p>
<p>(Hyper)links are the fundamental building blocks of the web, but the practice of linking has come under attack over the last few years. If copyright holders are able to censor or control links to legitimate content, it could disrupt the free flow of information online and hurt access to crucial news and resources on the web.</p>
<p>In the U.S. and Canada we may take for granted that no one requires permission or is forced to pay a fee to link to another place online. But this isn&#8217;t the case everywhere. Copyrighted content holders (including news organizations, media, and entertainment sites) around the world are working to remove the right to free and open linking, and the threat is more present than you may think.</p>
<p>Today a coalition of over 50 organizations (including Creative Commons) from 21 countries are launching <a href="https://savethelink.org/">Savethelink.org</a>. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the issue and prompt action to urge decision makers to protect the practice of free and open linking online.</p>
<p>Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons, said, &#8220;At its core, the Internet is a network of links — connectivity is at the heart of the Web we love. Breaking that structure by giving some the ability to decide what links should work and what links should not undermines free expression, access to information, and the public commons.&#8221;</p>
<p>An example of how restricting access to links is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/31/spain-newspaper-google-tax">already in place</a> in Spain, where the Spanish government passed a law that “requires services which post links and excerpts of news articles to pay a fee to the organisation representing Spanish newspapers.” This type of pseudo-copyright law was intended to protect the revenue flows of Spanish media publishers. However, you have to question whether such a practice might have backfired for publishers who wanted to use the new rule as a means to monetize access to their content. It’s quite tell that Google News&#8211;which funnels significant traffic to media websites&#8211;shut down in Spain shortly after the law was passed, citing concerns that allowing rights holders to charge for access to links would have been an unworkable practice for them.</p>
<p>Last year’s public consultation on the <a href="media/fb98a09e.consultation-document_en.pdf" data-original-source="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2013/copyright-rules/docs/consultation-document_en.pdf">review of European copyright rules</a> also  contained a question on the right to link:</p>
<blockquote><p>Should the provision of a hyperlink leading to a work or other subject matter protected under copyright, either in general or under specific circumstances, be subject to the authorisation of the rightholder?</p></blockquote>
<p>Many groups, including Creative Commons, <a href="media/a80de1da.EU_Consultation_-_CC_Europe_response_final.pdf" data-original-source="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/1/12/EU_Consultation_-_CC_Europe_response_final.pdf">responded</a> that allowing rights holders to control access to links would be a terrible idea.</p>
<blockquote><p>Under no circumstance should hyperlinks be subject to protection under copyright. Sharing links without needing permission from the rightsholder is core to the operation of the internet. Changing this fundamental structural aspect of how the internet works would be detrimental to the free flow of information and commerce online.</p></blockquote>
<p>You can check out the <a href="https://savethelink.org/">Savethelink.org</a> website for examples from other areas around the world where the right to link is in danger. Read the press release <a href="https://openmedia.ca/news/international-network-organizations-launches-campaign-safeguard-right-link">here</a>.</p>
<p>If links can be censored by rights holders, it would be detrimental to access to information, free expression, and economic activity. It could fracture the longstanding mechanism underlying the sharing of information on the web. Let’s not let that happen.</p>
<p>You can sign the petition at <a href="https://savethelink.org/">Savethelink.org</a>. Organizations wishing to join the coalition can join <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1keXTOuino6ZC_21Y3i47owsD3exa_odcdZZTvm-Hcc4/viewform?width=500&amp;height=700&amp;iframe=true">here</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45456
title: Hague Declaration calls for IP reform to support access to knowledge in the digital age
uri: Hague-Declaration-calls-for-IP-reform-to-support-access-to-knowledge-i
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45456
content:
<p><a href="http://thehaguedeclaration.com/" rel="attachment wp-att-45465"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45465" src="media/b22a5f88.hague-logo.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/hague-logo.png" alt="hague logo" width="600" height="280" /></a></p>
<p>Today Creative Commons joins over 50 organizations in releasing the <a href="http://thehaguedeclaration.com/">Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age</a>. The <a href="http://thehaguedeclaration.com/the-hague-declaration-on-knowledge-discovery-in-the-digital-age/">declaration</a> is a collaboratively-created set of principles that outlines core legal and technical freedoms that are necessary for researchers to be able to take advantage of new technologies and practices in the pursuit of scholarly research, including activities such as text and data mining. The drafting of the declaration was led by <a href="http://libereurope.eu/">LIBER</a>, the Association of European Research Libraries. It was developed through contributions from dozens of organizations and individuals, including several experts from the CC community. Creative Commons is an original signatory to the declaration.</p>
<p>One of the key principles recognized in the declaration is that intellectual property law does not regulate the flow of facts, data, and ideas&#8211;and that licenses and contract terms should not regulate or restrict how an individual may analyze or use data. It supports the notion that <a href="http://blog.okfn.org/2012/06/01/the-right-to-read-is-the-right-to-mine/">“the right to read is the right to mine”</a>, and that facts, data, and ideas should never be considered to be under the protection of copyright. To realize the massive, positive potential for data and content analysis to help solve major scientific, medical, and environmental challenges, it’s important that intellectual property laws and private contracts&#8211;do not restrict practices such as text and data mining.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/118462366" width="600" height="337" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Hague Declaration also lays out a roadmap for action in support of these principles. The roadmap suggests the development of policies that provide legal clarity that content mining is not an infringement of copyright or related rights. It’s important for advocates to champion this notion, especially as there have been increasing suggestions from rights holders who are attempting to develop new legal arrangements and licenses that require users to ask permission to engage in practices such as text and data mining.</p>
<p>In addition to supporting the notion that the right to read is the right to mine&#8211;free from additional copyright-like rights, license, or contractual arrangements&#8211;the declaration also suggests that if funding bodies are considering adopting open licensing mandates as a component of receiving grant funds, they should aim to adopt policies that champion a liberal licensing approach. Specifically the declaration states that research articles created with grant funds should be published in the global commons under a liberal license such as <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>, and that research data should be shared in the worldwide public domain via the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a>.</p>
<p>The Hague Declaration is an important set of principles and recommended actions that can aid the speed and effectiveness of scholarly research and knowledge discovery today. You can read the LIBER press release <a href="media/55e7a0e0.TheHagueDeclaration-PressRelease-en.pdf" data-original-source="http://thehaguedeclaration.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/05/TheHagueDeclaration-PressRelease-en.pdf">here</a>. To show your support, you can <a href="http://thehaguedeclaration.com/the-hague-declaration-on-knowledge-discovery-in-the-digital-age/">sign the declaration</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45510
title: Vancouver Foundation announces first CC BY policy for a Canadian foundation
uri: Vancouver-Foundation-announces-first-CC-BY-policy-for-a-Canadian-foun
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45510
content:
<p><a href="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/" rel="attachment wp-att-45511"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45511" src="media/8699976a.vancouver-foundation-logo.png" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/vancouver-foundation-logo.png" alt="vancouver foundation logo" width="646" height="223" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/">Vancouver Foundation</a> has <a href="media/a2553133.er20Foundation20Open20Licensing20Announcement20-2005-07-2015.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/sites/default/files/documents/Vancouver%20Foundation%20Open%20Licensing%20Announcement%20-%2005-07-2015.pdf">announced</a> that it will adopt an open licensing policy by January 2017. The foundation will require that all projects and research funded through community advised grant programs be licensed and shared under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license</a> (CC BY). In addition, the foundation has pledged to license their own intellectual property&#8211;such as reports and publications&#8211;under CC BY.</p>
<p>Vancouver Foundation is one of the largest foundations in Canada, with over $1 billion in assets, and <a href="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/about-us">funds projects across British Columbia</a> in areas such as arts and culture, education, children and youth issues, environment, animal welfare, community health, and social development. With the new open licensing policy&#8211;which is the first for a Canadian foundation&#8211;the organization aims “to advance transparency and accessibility of materials to drive greater innovation and creativity in BC and beyond.”</p>
<p>The open licensing policy will take effect in January 2017, and in the interim the foundation will work on the development, testing and implementation of the policy to explore and address the needs of those grantees who have a persuasive reason to choose alternative licenses or conditions.</p>
<p>“Vancouver Foundation is excited to join a growing international movement among foundations to increase access to a wide range of content funded to create public benefits,” said Foundation President and CEO, Kevin McCort. “We do this not only to share the products of our own community investments, but to encourage and support other foundations who want to join us.”</p>
<p>Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons, said, “Vancouver Foundation joins several leading philanthropic grant making organizations who have adopted Creative Commons licensing policies for the outputs of their charitable giving, unlocking billions in resources for everything from research to digital education materials, and data.”</p>
<p>Read the press release of the announcement <a href="media/a2553133.er20Foundation20Open20Licensing20Announcement20-2005-07-2015.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/sites/default/files/documents/Vancouver%20Foundation%20Open%20Licensing%20Announcement%20-%2005-07-2015.pdf">here</a>. Congratulations to Vancouver Foundation for their leadership and commitment to sharing research, educational materials, and data for the public benefit in the global commons.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45517
title: U.S. K12 State Policy Recommendations for OER: Sign Letter of Support
uri: U-S-K12-State-Policy-Recommendations-for-OER-Sign-Letter-of-Support
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45517
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="" src="media/fa78a0a5.5073552229_5a8b9e966d_b-1024x6831.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/5073552229_5a8b9e966d_b-1024x6831.jpg" alt="second grade writing class" width="444" height="296" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/5073552229/">second grade writing class</a> / woodleywonderworks / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p><a href="http://www.achieve.org/"><br />
Achieve</a> (<i>a nonpartisan education reform organization widely known for its CC BY licensed </i><a href="http://www.achieve.org/oer-rubrics"><i>OER Rubrics</i></a>) has developed policy <a href="media/89f0d1ee.OERStatePolicyRecommendations0324.pdf" data-original-source="http://www.achieve.org/files/OERStatePolicyRecommendations0324.pdf">recommendations</a> with input from its OER Institute U.S. state partners for U.S. states to use OER as part of their college and career ready implementation plans.</p>
<p>These recommendations aim to provide helpful information and guidance for U.S. states that are interested in but have not yet begun an organized effort to use OER.</p>
<p>The OER policy recommendations center on:</p>
<ul>
<li>States and school districts using OER as part of their strategy to support the implementation of college and career ready standards.</li>
<li>Recommending when public funds are used, the instructional materials created should be openly licensed.</li>
<li>States and school districts should ensure all instructional materials being used, including OER, are high quality and aligned to college and career ready standards.</li>
</ul>
<p>To illustrate the broad array of audiences that support and have made <a href="http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3821">effective</a>, standards-aligned OER a priority, Achieve was recently joined by U.S. states, funders and organizations, including Creative Commons, in signing a <a href="http://www.achieve.org/oerletter">letter of support for Open Educational Resources</a>.</p>
<p><b>If your state or organization is interested in signing this letter, please contact Hans Voss at </b><a href="mailto:hvoss@achieve.org"><b>hvoss@achieve.org</b></a></p>
<p>This open letter outlines the benefits OER can provide to U.S. states and K12 school districts as they engage the hard work of college and career ready standards implementation. Particularly in an environment where many states are implementing the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core State Standards</a>, OER can be used to leverage the benefits of these common standards by providing the legal rights and technical ability to freely share and modify instructional resources to help support the needs of individual classrooms (e.g., <a href="http://k12oercollaborative.org/">K12 OER Collaborative</a>).</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45488
title: CC Tanzania expands OER and CC training to more primary schools
uri: CC-Tanzania-expands-OER-and-CC-training-to-more-primary-schools
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45488
content:
<p><em>Dar es Salaam, Tanzania</em></p>
<p>Aristarik is an Assistant Lecturer at the Open University of Tanzania and <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Tanzania">Creative Commons Tanzania</a> volunteer.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CC-Tanzania-SOO-Training-Training.jpg"><img src="media/2f7878c0.CC-Tanzania-SOO-Training-Training.jpg" data-original-source="https://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CC-Tanzania-SOO-Training-Training.jpg" alt="CC Tanzania SOO Training Training" /><br /><small><span property="dc:title">SOO Tanzania Training</span> by <span property="cc:attributionName">CC Tanzania</span> under <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p><a href="http://cctz2013.blogspot.com/">Creative Commons Tanzania</a> through School of Open programme trained 50 pupils from Kumbukumbu primary school on the benefits of the Internet, computer programmes information/knowledge sharing, and Open Education Resources (OER). This is one of the planned activities for School of Open (SOO) Tanzania where this training was preceded by a donation of computers, chairs and tables to the computer lab as part of CC Tanzania&#8217;s initiative to enable public schools&#8217; use of ICTs in teaching and learning. </p>
<p>This event was officiated by Prof. Tolly Mbwette, the former Vice Chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), who agreed to be the patron of CC Tanzania. The university supported the training by providing two training labs that were used by the pupils. Open and Distance Learning (ODL) computer labs were used in the training.</p>
<p>Steven Lukindo, Acting Director of the Institute of Educational Technology &#038; Management (IETM) kicked off the 3-day program on 17, April 2014. 50 pupils were introduced to the open web to aid teaching and learning and the use of Google, Microsoft Word and Excel. The concept of the commons, copyright, and how CC licenses have enabled the global OER movement was also introduced.</p>
<p>A one-month teacher training for 40 primary school teachers was also launched, commencing on 20, April 2015. The training equips teachers from the same school with ICT skills in teaching and learning. Internet, OER and the concept of the commons  were introduced to comply with school’s ICT syllabus. This training was SOO Tanzania’s follow-up activity after the donation of computers by CC Tanzania to the same school. </p>
<p>SOO Tanzania has planned for additional training to the school&#8217;s pupils on the benefits of sharing OER and the use of different teaching and learning tools customized to local content. </p>
<h4>Challenges and lessons learned</h4>
<p>A number of challenges were encountered by SOO Tanzania, including: lack of funding to carry out some of its key planned activities, time to merge busy schedules of facilitators work and volunteering activities, publicity, inadequate ICT facilities in most public schools, and low understanding of ICT in teaching and learning in most schools and perception change in sharing of innovations and creativity within the community. More publicity and training is required to take School of Open to the next level in the country. </p>
<p>CC Tanzania through its School of Open planned activities is planning to approach more donors and volunteers to support its 2015 road map, in addition to publicizing its activities to teaching and learning institutions to attract awareness of how CC affiliates work for a better and brighter future of sharing.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45557
title: Elsevier’s new sharing policy harmful to authors and access to scholarly research
uri: Elsevier-s-new-sharing-policy-harmful-to-authors-and-access-to-schol
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45557
content:
<p>Today Creative Commons and 22 other organizations <a href="https://www.coar-repositories.org/activities/advocacy-leadership/petition-against-elseviers-sharing-policy/">published a letter</a> urging the publishing giant Elsevier to alter its newly revised <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/connect/elsevier-updates-its-policies-perspectives-and-services-on-article-sharing">policy</a> regarding the sharing and hosting of academic articles so that it better supports access to scholarly research.</p>
<p>Elsevier’s new policy, announced 30 April 2015, is detrimental to article authors as well as those seeking access to these research papers. The policy imposes an embargo of at least 12 months before authors can self-archive their final manuscripts in an institutional repository&#8211;with the option of these embargoes being as long as 48 months. Beforehand, Elsevier allowed immediate deposit of the articles in repositories. The new policy also restricts access once the embargo expires by requiring that articles be shared under the most restrictive Creative Commons license&#8211;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a>&#8211;which prohibits commercial use and the creation of derivative works.</p>
<p>From the letter:</p>
<blockquote><p>This policy represents a significant obstacle to the dissemination and use of research knowledge, and creates unnecessary barriers for Elsevier published authors in complying with funders’ open access policies. In addition, the policy has been adopted without any evidence that immediate sharing of articles has a negative impact on publishers subscriptions.</p></blockquote>
<p>Kevin Smith, Director of the Office of Copyright and Scholarly Communication at Duke University, <a href="https://blogs.library.duke.edu/scholcomm/2015/05/04/stepping-back-from-sharing/">calls</a> their updated embargo policies “both complicated and draconian,” and criticizes the requirement that authors apply a restrictive license to their works at the expiration of the embargo period:</p>
<blockquote><p>This, of course, further limits the usefulness of these articles for real sharing and scholarly advancement. It is one more way in which the new policy is exactly a reverse of what Elsevier calls it; it is a retreat from sharing and an effort to hamstring the movement toward more open scholarship.</p></blockquote>
<p>Elsevier should reconsider these policy changes in order to support the rights and wishes of academic authors, and to support better access to the research that they publish.</p>
<p>The letter is available <a href="https://www.coar-repositories.org/activities/advocacy-leadership/petition-against-elseviers-sharing-policy/">here</a>. It has been signed by the following groups, and you can add your organization to as well.</p>
<p>COAR: Confederation of Open Access Repositories<br />
SPARC: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition<br />
ACRL: Association of College and Research Libraries<br />
ALA: American Library Association<br />
ARL: Association of Research Libraries<br />
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries<br />
Australian Open Access Support Group<br />
IBICT: Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology<br />
CARL: Canadian Association of Research Libraries<br />
CLACSO: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales<br />
COAPI: Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions<br />
Creative Commons<br />
Creative Commons (USA)<br />
EIFL<br />
Electronic Frontier Foundation<br />
Greater Western Library Alliance<br />
LIBER: European Research Library Association<br />
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences<br />
OpenAIRE<br />
Open Data Hong Kong<br />
Research Libraries UK<br />
SANLiC: South African National Licensing Consortium<br />
University of St Andrews Library</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45561
title: Happy Birthday to friend and ally Bassel Safadi
uri: Happy-Birthday-to-friend-and-ally-Bassel-Safadi
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45561
content:
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopheradams/6553833251/"><img src="media/6b73ee41.6553833251_e561474e2f_b.jpg" data-original-source="http://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7156/6553833251_e561474e2f_b.jpg" alt="Bassel Safadi" width="640" height="432" border="0" /><br />
<small></small></a><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopheradams/6553833251/">Bassel Safadi</a> / <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopheradams/">Christopher Adams</a> / <a href="/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil">Bassel Khartabil</a> (also known as Bassel Safadi) is a computer engineer who, through his dedicated work in social media, digital education, and open-source web software, played a huge role in opening the Internet in Syria and bringing online access and knowledge to the Syrian people. Many people reading this blog know Bassel through his leadership for the Creative Commons Syria affiliate team. You’ll also know that Bassel has been imprisoned by the Syrian government at Adra Prison since 15 March 2012&#8211;over 1100 days without any charges being brought against him.</p>
<p>Today is Bassel’s 34th birthday, the fourth birthday he’s spent in detainment. Creative Commons and the open community honor Bassel and continue to advocate for his immediate release from prison in Damascus.</p>
<p>You can wish Bassel a Happy Birthday and share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23freebassel&amp;src=typd">#freebassel</a>. For more information check out <a href="http://freebassel.org/">http://freebassel.org/</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45580
title: Join us in Seoul, South Korea – Oct 15-17, 2015
uri: Join-us-in-Seoul-South-Korea-Oct-15-17-2015
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45580
content:
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&amp;id=11">Registration is now open for Creative Commons’ Global Summit</a>. Space is limited, so please sign up today to be part of an international event celebrating the Commons, our affiliates, partners and collaborators in the open movement, and the 10th anniversary of CC Korea!</p>
<p>The conference runs from Thursday Oct. 15 to Saturday Oct. 17, 2015.</p>
<div id="attachment_45581" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-45581" src="media/173b578d.4682963106_8a0e488766_o.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/4682963106_8a0e488766_o.jpg" alt="CC Korea Team" width="600" height="400" /><p class="wp-caption-text">We will be celebrating 10 years of CC Korea at the summit!</p></div>
<p>This year, we are expanding our call to include organizations and individuals who want to work with us on shared projects that advance the cause of the Commons, free culture and open knowledge. I’m confident that a “bigger tent” strategy will help strengthen CC and grow our community globally.</p>
<p>So if you’re active and engaged in the worlds of open content and knowledge — free software and free culture advocates, Wikipedians, Open Knowledge, galleries, libraries, museums, archives, governments and foundations, lawyers, and activists — we hope you’ll join us this year to build a stronger, more vibrant commons together.</p>
<p>If you want to help us shape the conference program, there will be a public call for submissions soon. We look forward to your ideas &#8212; even better, we hope you’ll come and work with us in Seoul.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45593
title: edX makes it easy for authors to share under Creative Commons
uri: edX-makes-it-easy-for-authors-to-share-under-Creative-Commons
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45593
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45596" src="media/9dd81b4e.EDX_logo.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/EDX_logo.jpg" alt="EDX_logo" width="300" height="200" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.edx.org/">edX</a> has added the ability for authors to apply a Creative Commons (CC) license to their courses and videos on its platform. More than 50 academic institutions, including MIT and Harvard, use edX to offer free courses that anyone in the world can join. Now, authors at these institutions and elsewhere may license their courses for free and open reuse directly on the edX platform.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45597" src="media/222469cc.edx-sn.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/edx-sn.jpg" alt="edx sn" width="700" height="461" /><small>edX license chooser. edX has also developed this <a href="http://edx.readthedocs.org/projects/edx-partner-course-staff/en/latest/building_course/licensing_course.html">step-by-step guide</a> for course authors and a <a href="http://edx-guide-for-students.readthedocs.org/en/latest/SFD_licensing.html">learners guide</a> on adding CC licenses to courses and videos.</small></p>
<p>With the addition of the CC license suite, edX joins the global Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. The CC licenses make education content accessible and expand opportunities for innovation by providing everyone with the legal permissions to reuse, revise, remix, redistribute and retain educational resources.</p>
<p>Since massive open online courses (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course">MOOCs</a>) were first launched, CC has <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/34852">advocated</a> that MOOCs have both open admission (in the classic Open University tradition) and provide authors the option to share their content as OER under Creative Commons licenses.</p>
<p>edX’s addition of the CC license suite is the result of demands for CC licensing options in edX from many <a href="https://www.edx.org/schools-partners">schools and partner Universities</a> who were already sharing their content under CC on other platforms. Special thanks goes to the Open Education Consortium’s <a href="https://www.edx.org/school/oecx">OECx partners</a> who pushed edX to add CC to the platform for their courses.</p>
<p>The Delft University of Technology played a major role in this work. During <a href="http://www.openeducationweek.org/">Open Education Week</a> 2014, Willem van Valkenburg of TU Delft organized an <a href="http://www.e-learn.nl/2014/03/16/open-edx-hackathon">Open.EdX hackathon</a> to create a CC license plugin for edX. The winning plugin — developed by <a href="https://secure.feedbackfruits.com/">FeedbackFruits</a> — made it simple to add a CC license to an edX course.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;TU Delft is all about open, so openMOOCs is what we prefer. Thanks to FeedbackFruits we can now publish our courses with a Creative Commons license.&#8221; &#8212; Willem van Valkenburg</p></blockquote>
<p>Congratulations to edX for its leadership in furthering the Commons. We hope Coursera, FutureLearn, and other education platforms will follow edX’s lead and offer the CC license suite for their authors and academic partners.</p>
<p>edX joins CC’s new <a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/platform-initiative">Platform Initiative</a>, which works to create easy, clear, and enjoyable ways for users to contribute to the commons on community-driven content platforms. If you are a platform that would like to join this movement for the commons, please <a href="mailto:janepark@creativecommons.org">get in touch</a>!</p>
<p>See <a href="https://open.edx.org/blog/open-edx-releases-creative-commons-licensing">edX&#8217;s post</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45612
title: Creative Commons France experiments with Ascribe to support copyleft through the Blockchain
uri: Creative-Commons-France-experiments-with-Ascribe-to-support-copyleft-t
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45612
content:
<p><a href="media/1a52e46e.cc-ascribe.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/cc-ascribe.jpg"><img src="media/e2b070c0.cc-ascribe-300x210.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/cc-ascribe-300x210.jpg" alt="cc-ascribe" width="300" height="210" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-45613" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Guestpost by Primavera De Filippi (CC France)</strong></p>
<p>Creative Commons France inaugurated the launch of <a href="http://creativecommons.fr/">the new website</a> with a new tool that unlocks the value of the bitcoin <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_chain_%28database%29">blockchain</a> for the benefit of the Free Culture movement. <a href="http://cc.ascribe.io">Ascribe </a> enables creators to share their CC-licensed work without worry of loss of attribution.</p>
<p>Over ten years ago, Creative Commons revolutionized online artistic practices via licenses that promote attribution, free reproduction and dissemination of content, rather than focusing on scarcity and exclusivity. Today, hundreds of millions of works are licensed under these licenses. </p>
<p>Ascribe started in 2014 to help creators secure their intellectual property, with the help of the blockchain. It works with any type of licenses, including the Creative Commons licenses. Creators can ascribe CC-licensed works to the blockchain with the following simple process:</p>
<li>Go to cc.ascribe.io</li>
<li>Upload the work and enter all relevant metadata: title, author and year</li>
<li>Choose your CC license; and click “register”</li>
<p>The service will register and time-stamp the file on the blockchain — along with the terms and conditions of the selected license— and store it securely on a decentralized datastore.  works for documents, images, text, and more – basically any digital file. This is possible because the time-stamping step (“hashing”) is independent of the file format.</p>
<p>Creators can then benefit from the following advantages:</p>
<li><strong>Secure attribution and simple verification</strong>: by registering the work on the blockchain, creators can easily communicate (and prove) the paternity of their works, as well as the terms and conditions under which they have been released.
</li>
<li><strong>Better accessibility</strong>: the works registered on the Ascribe platform will be stored in a peer-to-peer network (similar to BitTorrent) in a secure and decentralized manner.
	</li>
<li><strong>Tracking usages</strong>:creators will obtain a unique ID for every work registered on the blockchain. The ID is actually an address on the blockchain which allows for people to track all usage of the work on blockchain explorers.</li>
<li><strong>Share works easily</strong>: a single public url is created for each work, with the public address of the work, a link to download the work, the terms and conditions of the CC license, and all relevant metadata (title, creator, year)</li>
<p>Trent McConaghy, co-founder and CTO of Ascribe: </p>
<blockquote><p>“We love Creative Commons. The organisation has been a driving force to promote the dissemination of knowledge and content on the internet for over than a decade. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with Creative Commons France, to help new authors and artists discover the new opportunities provided by blockchain technologies. This is just the start of what we hope will be a fruitful long-term relationship, to the benefit of the Free Culture movement worldwide.”</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Image credits: Harm van den Dorpel &#8220;OVERDRAWN INHERITANCE&#8221;, available under a CC BY-NC-ND license on <a href="https://cc.ascribe.io/piece/1JxsjgVpfRcV54DRmAzpnjPQEdQME6qX7b/">https://cc.ascribe.io/piece/1JxsjgVpfRcV54DRmAzpnjPQEdQME6qX7b/</a><br />
</em><br />
<em>Post uploaded by Gwen Franck, Regional Coordinator Europe.</em> </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45630
title: Announcing the Open Policy Network grant-funded projects
uri: Announcing-the-Open-Policy-Network-grant-funded-projects
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45630
content:
<p>Last year Creative Commons and a global coalition of organizations <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/42736">launched</a> the <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/">Open Policy Network</a> in order to support the creation, adoption, and implementation of policies that require that publicly funded resources are openly licensed resources. When open licenses are required for publicly funded resources, there is the potential to massively increase access to and re-use of a wide range of materials, from educational content like digital textbooks, to the results of scholarly research, to valuable public sector data.</p>
<p>The Network has expanded to include over <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/about/#members">50 organizations</a>. During the planning of the Open Policy Network, we identified a <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/resources/#workplan">set of activities</a> to work on in order to educate about and advance the adoption of global open licensing policies. Over the last few months Creative Commons was pleased to secure funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to provide modest grants to Open Policy Network members to work on these timely and important action areas. We solicited applications from interested organizations and ran a competitive funding process. We’re happy to announce the winners of the project grant funds, and we look forward to working with Open Policy Network members as they engage in these initiatives.</p>
<p><b>Openness Guides for OER and open policy</b> (Centrum Cyfrowe)</p>
<blockquote><p>This project will create guides that extend upon the existing “How Open Is it?” project originally developed for open access articles by the Public Library of Science (PLOS) in 2013. This guide is seen as an important educational tool for the open access community – including publishers and authors – which provides some nuance around a spectrum of openness and shows a roadmap to becoming “more open.” We see these guides being used in practice as something governments and advocates can use to advocate for open policies.</p></blockquote>
<p><b>Model open policies and advocacy / implementation resources </b>(CC South Africa/re:share/Kelsey Wiens)</p>
<blockquote><p>This project will create and distribute model open policy resources, a task central to the mission of the Open Policy Network. Model resources may include:  model open policy language (sections and entire open education, research, and data policies); open policy implementation kits with slides and talking points; communications: media / public relations resources, case studies about open policies; research: evaluating existing open policies and writing open policy briefs. The majority of these resources will be targeted for policy making audiences (e.g. legislators, regulators, etc.), but there will also be a subset of meta-materials that provides some advice and recommendations for advocates in how to best work with policymakers around these issues</p></blockquote>
<p><b>Annual reports on the “state of open policy” </b>(Consortia of Centrum Cyfrowe, CC South Africa/re:share, Karisma Foundation, SPARC, CommonSphere, AusGOAL)</p>
<blockquote><p>This project will develop, research, and produce a yearly “state-of-play” report on open policy around the world. The reports will document major open policy adoptions and updates tracked via the Policy Registry, and discuss future areas for intervention. The reports will leverage Open Policy Network members to collect and package an in depth (with useful graphs and analysis) report on the latest updates in open policy around the world covering: education (OER), research (OA), and open data. This report will be a way of measuring nations, provinces/states, and institutions commitments to open policy; and a tool to recruit new open policy advocates and generate interest in governments, foundations, and other funders.</p></blockquote>
<p><b>Open Government Partnership </b>(SPARC)</p>
<blockquote><p>This project will examine the current state of the Open Government Partnership commitments and match member countries with relevant OER projects and individuals in country. Momentum for this idea is already building in a number of countries, including the United States, Slovakia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Sierra Leone, and Romania. The initiative will work to include OER and open policy in updated Open Government Partnership plans through education and outreach.</p></blockquote>
<p>If you’re interested in having your organization join the Open Policy Network, check out our <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/about/#join">website</a>, <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/open-policy-network">Google Group</a>, and follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/openpolicynet">Twitter</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45638
title: New affiliate chapters in Latin America
uri: New-affiliate-chapters-in-Latin-America
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45638
content:
<p>We are glad to announce that during the last months the Latin American affiliates have 3 new affiliate chapters in the Creative Commons family. The CC teams of El Salvador, Paraguay and Uruguay signed their MoUs and are now officially in.</p>
<p>In El Salvador the affiliate institution is <a href="http://www.accesarte.org/">AccesArte</a>, a NGO that seeks to promote the role of culture in the process of human development. The team is supported also by other NGOs related to culture, technology and education and by several individuals from cultural and technological background, lawyers, librarians and many others that share their interest in the access to knowledge and free culture ideas. The new public leaders are Claudia Cristiani -she works preserving cultural heritage and is the Director at AccesArte- and Evelyn Del Pinal, long time free culture advocate and one of the people responsible for Wiki Loves Monuments in El Salvador.</p>
<p>In Paraguay the CC affiliate institution is <a href="http://www.tedic.org/">TEDIC</a>, a multidisciplinary non-profit organization that brings together lawyers, journalists, political specialists, sociologists, Web developers and graphic designers. The organization aims to promote civic initiatives in education, communications, technology, development and research. <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org.py/">CC Paraguay</a> leaders are Maricarmen Sequera, Luis Alonzo Fulchi and Cilia Romero.</p>
<p>The working group of <a href="http://www.creativecommons.uy/">CC Uruguay</a> began working to form the Uruguayan chapter in early 2013. The <a href="http://www.creativecommons.uy/equipo/">multidisciplinary team</a> includes artists, educators, librarians, sociologists, cultural managers, programmers and lawyers. The team members have been heavily involved with the communities of authors, with cultural and educational institutions and also with government (Ministeries, Parliament) in order to promote the use of free licenses, copyright reform, open educational resources, the socialization of common cultural heritage and the digitization of public domain. The team is supported by a large group of volunteers and by the Uruguayan Librarians Association (<a href="http://abu.net.uy/">Asociación de Bibliotecólogos del Uruguay</a>), which was established as the affiliate institution in late 2014.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45643
title: Why CC is making a mobile app
uri: Why-CC-is-making-a-mobile-app
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45643
content:
<p>Today we’re pushing the latest beta release of our mobile app, <a href="https://thelist.creativecommons.org">The List powered by Creative Commons</a>. It’s a mobile photography app that invites users to create a list of images they want, or submit photos to help a person or group who created a list. Every image is uploaded to the archive with a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0">Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)</a> licence, allowing anyone to use the images so long as they give proper credit to the author.</p>
<p>Our initial build was supported with a prototype grant from the Knight Foundation, which gave us the resources we needed to build a proof of concept. We built a team – from Creative Commons, our technical lead Matt Lee and senior counsel, Sarah Pearson – and Alexandra Bain and the team at Toronto agency Playground. We learned a lot in that process, and have shipped regular releases since then. It’s really starting to look great. We are now working to scope a consumer MVP (minimum viable product &#8211; the simplest version of the app that still meets all the core user needs) and to raise funds to bring the app to everyday users as well.</p>
<p>As Clive Thompson wrote in Wired, “<a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/05/stock-photos/">only you can overthrow the tyranny of stock photos</a>”. The commons is a collective creation, and we see the opportunity to create a dynamic and vibrant pool of available images from people who want to share – and to directly connect photographers and those who want images they can build upon. In the article, Thompson encouraged us to share our images with CC licenses. That will get us part of the way – but we need to be able to ask for what we want, and help users submit what’s needed. And the process needs to be engaging, fun, and rewarding.</p>
<p>When I read Thompson’s article, I was inspired to create The List. We see opportunities to use The List to enhance the content on platforms like Wikipedia, to share images for open journalism, to collaborate to build open textbooks, or to document observations in citizen science. And we know that users will come up with many more ideas of their own.</p>
<p><strong>Why should CC build a mobile app?</strong> There are a few answers to that question:</p>
<ol>
<li>Most importantly, we believe there’s a need for the app, and that it will give value to those who use it, and those who use the images.</li>
<li>Making it easier to contribute to the commons is one of our strategic goals, not only because it creates a better archive of resources to use and re-use, but also because each contribution deepens the investment and value of the commons. It grows the movement.</li>
<li>We see an opportunity to pilot new approaches to CC, including one-click attribution, embedded licensing, content analytics, and more.</li>
<li>The web is going mobile, and CC has to understand how that will impact what we do. Building on the platform is one great way to work through the issues and challenges, while supporting our partner platforms who are asking us for advice on issues they’re facing, like attribution on mobile.</li>
</ol>
<p>We’re very grateful for the early support we received from Knight, and we’re optimistic that we can raise the funds necessary to develop the app and bring it to a mainstream audience. For now, I encourage you to <a href="https://thelist.creativecommons.org/downloads/">try the latest build</a> on your Android phone or tablet, give us <a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/list/issues">your feedback ideas and suggestions</a>, or even <a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/list/blob/master/docs/contributing.md">contribute some code</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45648
title: Global Summit Call for Participation and Proposals – Now Open
uri: Global-Summit-Call-for-Participation-and-Proposals-Now-Open
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45648
content:
<p>The Creative Commons Global Summit takes place every two years bringing together our global affiliate network along with partners, activists, and collaborators in the open movement to celebrate and advance the Commons. </p>
<p>We&#8217;re pleased to announce the <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/cfp/" target="_blank">Call for Participation and Proposals</a> for this year&#8217;s Global Summit in Seoul, South Korea, October 15-17 2015, is now open.</p>
<p><a href="media/b3750849.SeoulSouthKorea.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SeoulSouthKorea.png"><img src="media/b3750849.SeoulSouthKorea.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SeoulSouthKorea.png" alt="Seoul, South Korea" width="640" height="308" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-45649" /></a><br />
<a href="https://flic.kr/p/p57GJF" target="_blank">Seoul, South Korea</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/126817823@N08/" target="_blank">Doug Sun Beams</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank">CC BY</a> </p>
<p>Proposals for talks, workshops, hackathons, panels, presentations, performances, showcases and other activities are welcome.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://logo.cckorea.org/" target="_blank">logo competition</a> for the Global Summit is also underway.<br />
<a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&#038;id=11" target="_blank">Registration</a> is open and <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=39&#038;reset=1" target="_blank">opportunities for scholarships</a> to cover travel and accomodation costs available.</p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&#038;id=12" target="_blank">Submit your proposal</a> now and join us in celebrating, working on, and building the future of the Commons.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45654
title: Ukrainian translation of : CC 4.0
uri: Ukrainian-translation-of-CC-4-0
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45654
content:
<p>Congratulations to Creative Commons Ukraine on the completion of the Ukrainian translation of the CC 4.0 license suite!<br />
After a draft stage and a public consultation phase, involving legal practitioners and IP experts, the<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=uk"> licenses are published today, on June 23.</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone wp-image-45656" src="media/912a5e79.11026198_1592271284318395_5612610174370193367_n-300x250.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/11026198_1592271284318395_5612610174370193367_n-300x250.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="501" /></p>
<p><span id="more-45654"></span>The availability of the license suite in Ukrainian is of great significance for the visibility and use of Creative Commons licenses in the region. More than 30 million people are native speakers of the Ukrainian language, and we are pleased to welcome them to our CC community. We are very grateful to the CC Ukraine affiliate team for achieving this important accomplishment: <strong>Andriy Bichuk, Maksym Naumko, Iryna Kuchma </strong>and<strong> Sergey Tokar</strong><strong>.</strong></p>
<p>CC Ukraine would like to acknowledge the additional help that was provided during the public consultation process: Oleksii Ardanov and Iryna Didushko (State Service of Intellectual Property of Ukraine), Mykyta Polatayko (Sayenko Kharenko law firm), Oleksii Stolyarenko (Baker &amp; McKenzie LLP) and Valentyna Trots’ka (Intellectual Property Research Institute of the National Academy of Law Sciences of Ukraine). Their contributions are highly valued and have helped making the Ukrainian CC 4.0 licenses a robust legal tool, broadly supported and universally acknowledged in the language area.</p>
<p>CC continues to work on translating the text of the 4.0 licenses into myriad languages. Our goal is to ensure that everyone around the globe has full access to the CC licenses in their language of choice.</p>
<p><a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Legal_Tools_Translation">Please join us in our translation efforts</a>!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45676
title: Colombian student Diego Gomez is going to trial for sharing a research article online
uri: Colombian-student-Diego-Gomez-is-going-to-trial-for-sharing-a-research
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45676
content:
<p>Last year several organizations <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43746">highlighted</a> the situation of Colombian graduate student Diego Gomez, who had a criminal complaint filed against him for sharing a research article online. Gomez is a student in conservation and wildlife management, and for the most part has poor access to many of the resources and databases that would help him conduct his research. He shared an academic paper on Scribd so that he and others could access it for their work. If convicted, Diego could face a prison term of 4-8 years. Gomez will appear in court on June 30.</p>
<p>The Electronic Frontier Foundation <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/trial-colombian-student-facing-prison-time-sharing-paper-online-begins-tuesday">sums up</a> Diego’s situation well:</p>
<blockquote><p>He posted the paper online because he was excited that he found it, because he wanted to share that knowledge with others who shared his passion. Copyright should not turn students like Gomez into criminals for reveling in their quest for knowledge nor for helping others to do the same.</p></blockquote>
<p>As Gomez goes to trial this week, we must ask again: <b>why are we prosecuting students for sharing knowledge? </b>We know that this type of draconian leveraging of copyright law is not uncommon. From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Swartz">suing a student for downloading scholarly journal articles</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenz_v._Universal_Music_Corp.">issuing a takedown of a dancing baby video</a> to <a href="https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp">pushing through secret international trade agreements</a> that will extend the term of copyright and harm the public and the commons, large rights holders organizations continue to wield copyright law to punish those who attempt to do what comes naturally for them&#8211;sharing.</p>
<p>At the same time, with the dedicated work of individuals and organizations advocating for a sensible balance to copyright, there is hope that laws, regulations, and norms can be changed to support users and the public interest. For example, universities are <a href="https://osc.hul.harvard.edu/policies">adopting open access policies</a> that preserve and make accessible the research of their faculty. The copyright reform debate in Europe has finally dropped a potentially dangerous provision that would have permitted rights holders to <a href="https://savethelink.org/learnmore">control how linking operates</a> on the web. And WIPO <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrakesh_VIP_Treaty">adopted a treaty</a> to increase global access to copyright-protected materials for the blind and visually impaired.</p>
<p>You can read what Diego has to say about his upcoming trial at <a href="https://www.karisma.org.co/compartirnoesdelito/?p=416">Fundación Karisma</a>. Fundación Karisma is the Colombian digital rights advocacy organization that is providing legal support to Gomez. And you can take action now to support Diego by <a href="https://act.eff.org/action/let-s-stand-together-to-promote-open-access-worldwide">signing the global declaration</a> promoting open access to research.</p>
<p><a href="https://act.eff.org/action/let-s-stand-together-to-promote-open-access-worldwide" rel="attachment wp-att-45678"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45678" src="media/1306de94.diego_gomez-600.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/diego_gomez-600.png" alt="diego_gomez-600" width="600" height="552" /></a><br />
<small>Image by <a href="https://eff.org">EFF</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/">CC BY</a>.</small></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45698
title: Will the European Parliament criminalize street photography?
uri: Will-the-European-Parliament-criminalize-street-photography
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45698
content:
<p><a href="media/9ebc52e1.FileTower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_crop.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_crop.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-45703"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45703" src="media/7abb097b.Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_crop_6001.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_crop_6001.png" alt="Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_crop_600" width="600" height="147" /></a><br />
<small>Tower Bridge view at dawn, by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Colin">Colin</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p><a href="media/dbeda1b8.FileTower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_FOP.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_FOP.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-45702"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45702" src="media/b2e13c01.Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_FOP_600.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_FOP_600.png" alt="Tower_Bridge_view_at_dawn_FOP_600" width="600" height="147" /></a><br />
<small>Tower Bridge view at dawn. Modified to censor buildings that require Freedom of Panorama, by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Colin">Colin</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA</a></small></p>
<p>Over the last several months, Creative Commons has been following the review of the European Union copyright directive. One issue that has remained contentious is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_panorama">freedom of panorama</a>. Freedom of panorama permits taking and publishing photographs and video of buildings, landmarks, and artworks permanently located in a public public place, without infringing on any copyright that might rest in the underlying work. For example, anyone may take and publish a photograph of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_Agbar">Torre Agbar</a> in Barcelona without having to get permission from the rightsholder of the physical building. While some countries such as Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands enjoy freedom of panorama, others such as Italy, France, and Greece require that a photographer get permission for taking and sharing images of works in public spaces.</p>
<p>German Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda has been tasked with developing a report that will make recommendations for potential legislative changes to EU copyright law. Reda’s report has been discussed widely, and last month the legal affairs committee of the European Parliament voted on amendments to her report, which resulted in a <a href="https://juliareda.eu/copyright-evaluation-report/full/">compromise text</a>. On July 9, this report (and any amendments to it) will be voted on in the full EU Parliament.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://juliareda.eu/2015/06/reda-report-adopted-a-turning-point-in-the-copyright-debate/">outcome</a> of the legal affairs committee vote produced some positive actions for copyright reform in support of users and the public interest. For example, the compromise text introduced exceptions to copyright in the EU for libraries to digitize collections and lend ebooks, and for scientists and others to conduct text and data mining without needing an extra license to do so. The report also called on the European Commission to protect the public domain by clarifying that &#8220;once a work is in the public domain, any digitisation of the work which does not constitute a new, transformative work, stays in the public domain.&#8221;</p>
<p>Reda’s original proposal contained a provision that would have granted freedom of panorama throughout the EU. But an amendment passed by the legal affairs committee says that anyone who wants to take and share photography or video of public buildings and landmarks can only do so for non-commercial purposes. Reda <a href="https://juliareda.eu/2015/06/reda-report-adopted-a-turning-point-in-the-copyright-debate/">calls</a> the rule “absurd”:</p>
<blockquote><p>This would restrict existing rights in many EU member states, introduce new legal uncertainty for many creators and even call the legality of many photos shared on commercial photo sharing platforms like Instagram and Flickr into question. Documentary filmmakers, for example, would have to research the copyright protection status of every building, statue or even graffiti on a public wall depicted in their movie – and seek the permission of each rightholder.</p></blockquote>
<p>The consequences of adopting copyright rules that limit freedom of panorama to only non-commercial uses could make every vacationing photographer a criminal in the eyes of the law. The change would also be damaging to the commons, especially for a community like Wikipedia, which requires that photos and videos uploaded for use on the site be made available under <a href="http://freedomdefined.org/Definition">free licenses that permit commercial use</a>. As the Wikimedia Foundation <a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/07/06/protect-freedom-of-panorama/">notes</a>, “the version of freedom of panorama now under consideration is not compatible with Wikimedia’s goal to broadly share knowledge. If this amendment became law, it would be more difficult for users to freely share photos of public spaces. It would be a step backwards in revamping the EU’s copyright rules for the digital age.” If this provision goes into effect, thousands of photos on Wikimedia Commons likely would have to be removed.</p>
<p>But you can help! <b>Sign the </b><a href="https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-save-the-freedom-of-photography-savefop-europarl-en?tk=60OT1y2CKwPWzXAIxcV2hUoMhGvD2mPCr5p2RysGJHo&amp;utm_source=petition_update&amp;utm_medium=email"><b>Change.org petition</b></a><b> to bri</b><b>ng bring the freedom of panorama to all member states of the EU</b>. Citizens of the EU can also contact their MEPs to let them know how you would like them to vote. Owen Blacker <a href="https://medium.com/vantage/street-photography-in-europe-an-update-on-freedom-of-panorama-9ed81d60bd5a">says</a> there are two things to ask of MEPs:</p>
<p><b>1) Please support amendment </b><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=AMD&amp;reference=A8-2015-0209&amp;format=PDF&amp;language=EN&amp;secondRef=003-003"><b>A8–0209/3</b></a><b> by Marietje Schaake, to restore the meaning of the original text which extends liberal freedom of panorama to all EU member states; </b></p>
<p><b>2) Should Schaake’s amendment fail, then please vote to remove paragraph 46 from the report altogether.</b></p>
<p>The public should have the right to use photographs, video footage and other images of works permanently located in public spaces. Let’s support, extend, and protect the freedom of panorama across the European Union.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45739
title: EFF: Fighting for your digital rights for 25 years
uri: EFF-Fighting-for-your-digital-rights-for-25-years
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45739
content:
<p><a href="https://supporters.eff.org/donate/25th-anniversary-membership-campaign" rel="attachment wp-att-45740"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45740" src="media/a6150ac2.eff25-small.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/eff25-small.png" alt="eff25-small" width="600" height="315" /></a></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.eff.org/">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> (EFF) is an absolutely essential organization that defends civil liberties on the Internet. It fights for users by promoting free speech and access to technology, championing privacy, and advocating for progressive solutions to intellectual property challenges in the digital age. EFF tackles these issues with some of the smartest and most committed lawyers, technology experts, and activists on the planet.</p>
<p><strong>EFF is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.<br />
</strong></p>
<p>The work of EFF and Creative Commons overlaps on a variety of issues, including promoting the use of open licenses for publicly funded research and educational materials, protecting the public domain, and ensuring limitations and exceptions to copyright in support of users and the public interest.</p>
<p>For those of you around the San Francisco bay area, check out the <a href="https://www.eff.org/25th-anniversary-party">EFF anniversary party</a> on July 16. And even if you can&#8217;t make it there, consider becoming a member and <a href="https://supporters.eff.org/donate/eff25-campaign-web">supporting EFF</a> with a financial contribution. Congratulations to EFF and the incredible accomplishments they&#8217;ve achieved over the last 25 years. Here’s to another quarter century!</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45749
title: Help Outernet and Creative Commons build a #LibraryFromSpace
uri: Help-Outernet-and-Creative-Commons-build-a-LibraryFromSpace
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45749
content:
<p style="text-align:center" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/9461026706/in/photostream/"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/9461026706/in/photostream/"><img src="media/fd38918f.9461026706_0d92e1cf59_o1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/9461026706_0d92e1cf59_o1.jpg" alt="" border=0 /></a><br /><small><span property="dc:title">Hubble Space Telescope and Earth Limb</span> / <span property="cc:attributionName">NASA on The Commons</span> / <a href="https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/">No known copyright restrictions</a><br /></small></p>
<p>If you could send a folder with 50 MB of content to every human on Earth, what would you include? This weekend Creative Commons volunteers and Outernet are hosting a <a href="http://editathon.outernet.is">CC Content Edit-a-thon</a> to populate the first Outernet library to be broadcast from space. The edit-a-thon will take place at Mozilla Festival East Africa (<a href="http://mozfestea.org/2015/about-mozfestea/">MozFestEA</a>) in a weekend-long track that will be kicked off Saturday morning by Outernet and CC volunteers from Uganda and Kenya. During the first hour, Outernet will introduce the initiative and set guidelines, and CC volunteers will provide basic knowledge and training about how and where to find open content. This first hour will be recorded and posted to the <a href="https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Edit-a-thon">Outernet wiki</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/outernetforall">Outernet’s YouTube channel</a> so that anyone in the world may participate.</p>
<p>Remote participation from anywhere in the world is encouraged! Here’s how you, your friends and colleagues can participate:</p>
<ul>
<li>Tell people about it! Send them to this blog post, or <a href="http://blog.outernet.is/participate-in-outernets-first-edit-a-thon/">this one</a> by Outernet, or <a href="http://editathon.outernet.is">http://editathon.outernet.is</a> and tweet using #LibraryFromSpace.</li>
<li>Re-post this on your own blog &#8211; this blog post is public domain (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a>).</li>
<li><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/outernet-edit-a-thon-tickets-17702656121">Register</a> (free) to help Outernet anticipate the number of participants.</li>
<li>Come to a physical edit-a-thon. In addition to the MozFestEA session in Kampala, Uganda, CC volunteers in Guatemala will host their own satellite edit-a-thon to start building a CC library in Spanish for Latin America. CC volunteers in Nigeria will participate remotely as well.</li>
<li><strong>On 18-19 July</strong>, head over to the Outernet wiki: <a href="https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Outernet_Wiki">https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Outernet_Wiki</a>. Video, guidelines, directions, and the links to where you’ll be curating, creating, and editing open content will all be here. There will also be an open chatroom to communicate directly with MozFestEA participants and CC volunteers in Guatemala, Nigeria, and anywhere.</li>
</ul>
<p>We hope to find and curate the best content for each country that is openly licensed or in the public domain. All new content created as part of this event will be licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution license</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, Outernet is working on its <a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/platform-initiative">CC platform integration</a> to provide options for individuals who want to release their content into the public domain (via CC0) or under CC licenses. </p>
<p>Outernet and CC volunteers are building a library that everyone can enjoy, even without an Internet connection. Be one of the first to put content on its shelves!</p>
<p><strong>More about Outernet</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://outernet.is/">Outernet</a> is Humanity’s Public Library, a free data signal broadcast from space that eludes censorship and is publicly editable. To receive the Outernet signal, a user can build their own receiver or purchase one from Outernet. Once an Outernet receiver is active, a user can browse the content they have received using any Wi-Fi enabled device. </p>
<p><strong>More about MozFestEA</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://mozfestea.org/2015/about-mozfestea/">MozFestEA</a> brings together different groups of people to build open innovative solutions and to brainstorm ideas and solutions to the current challenges in East Africa with the help of the web as a platform and web literacy. This years MozFestEA will take place at Victoria University in Kampala, Uganda on 17-19, July 2015.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45731
title: Reminder: submit your proposals for the 2015 Global Summit in Seoul
uri: Reminder-submit-your-proposals-for-the-2015-Global-Summit-in-Seoul
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45731
content:
<p><a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/cfp/" rel="attachment wp-att-45733"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45733" src="media/9fdcdf53.summit-med.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/summit-med.png" alt="summit med" width="600" height="397" /></a></p>
<p>The 2015 Creative Commons Global Summit is taking place in Seoul, South Korea 14-17 October 2015. CC hosts this gathering every two years, bringing together our affiliate network along with partners, activists, and collaborators in the open movement to celebrate and advance the Commons. The last CC Summit <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/39416">took place</a> in Buenos Aires in 2013.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/cfp/">submit</a> proposals for talks, workshops, hackathons, panels, presentations, performances, showcases and other activities are welcome. <b>The deadline for proposals is Friday, 17 July</b>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45695
title: New Translations: CC 4.0 licences now available in te reo Māori and Japanese
uri: New-Translations-CC-4-0-licences-now-available-in-te-reo-Māori-and
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45695
content:
<p>Today CC is proud to launch two new translations of the latest version of the CC licences: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.ja">Japanese</a> and <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.mi">te reo Māori</a>. These are particularly significant, as they are the first official translations of 4.0 into Asia-Pacific languages. Perhaps even more exciting, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_language">te reo Māori</a>, the language of the Indigenous people of New Zealand, is the first indigenous language into which the CC licences have been translated.</p>
<p>Translation is an essential part of our licensing process &#8212; our licenses aren&#8217;t finished until everyone who wants to share and reuse CC-licensed works has the ability to understand the license in the language they know best. That means all populations, large, medium, and small. These two translations provide great examples of how our affiliates are achieving that goal &#8211; the ambitious and eager te reo Māori team, and the Japanese team.</p>
<p>The te reo Māori translation was completed by Ian Cormack, Director of Taumatua Māori Language Services and a licensed Māori Translator, and provided a number of interesting challenges &#8211; such as how to translate ‘Sui Generis Database Rights’ (eventually translated as Motika Pātengi Raraunga Momo Takitahi). Karaitiana Taiuru, prominent indigenous philosopher and governance practitioner and a leading figure in the online Māori renaissance of the internet, feels that the translation “is an important step for te reo Māori resources being able to utilise the power and flexibility of Creative Commons&#8230;The translated licences will promote taonga and matauranga to be created, shared and published with the legal protection of the Creative Commons licences while recognising iwi, hapū and whānau, as well as whakapapa of the material.”</p>
<p>The Japanese translation will also help significantly with the adoption of CC in that country. Japan still sees ongoing discussion on open data licensing, both at national and local levels, and this Japanese translation will add important choice for those interested in this issue. The process was started on Feb. 2014 and led by Tasuku Mizuno. Other contributors include Mitsuru Maekawa, Maki Higashikubo, Yuuri Nakao, who developed initial draft, as well as Naoki Kanehisa, Yuko Noguchi and Tomoaki Watanabe who joined the review process. Big thanks go to Der Spiegel im Spiegel, Butameron, Mr. Kawanishi, and others who publicly or directly provided CC Japan team valuable inputs.</p>
<p>We are looking forward to seeing what new uses of the licences come from these translations. We also have some more great translations coming up, so watch out for more info.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45769
title: CC’s first-ever Kickstarter campaign — join us!
uri: CC-s-first-ever-Kickstarter-campaign-join-us
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45769
content:
<p><div id="attachment_45775" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business"><img src="media/4a2d3c99.a-3.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/a-3.png" alt="CC Summit 2011 Warsaw by Kristina Alexanderson, available on Flickr, licensed CC BY 2.0." width="600" height="397" class="size-full wp-image-45775" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/6153035729/">CC Summit 2011 Warsaw</a> by Kristina Alexanderson, available on Flickr, licensed <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank">CC BY 2.0</a>.</p></div>Today we’re launching <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business">CC’s first-ever Kickstarter campaign</a>. We’re raising money to write a book about open business models that incorporate CC licensing. We hope you&#8217;ll join our Kickstarter campaign and help us empower creators around the globe to pursue businesses built on open content.</p>
<p>This is an ambitious project. Over the course of the year, our plan is to find answers to the question we are so often asked &#8212; how can creators make money to sustain what they do when they are letting the world reuse their work for free? </p>
<p>To do this, we will find and profile 24 businesses, creators, and organizations that are successfully using Creative Commons. We will tell their success stories, but we also want to go a step further to reveal strategies that other creators can use for their own endeavors. Ultimately, we will put our findings together in an ebook, and we will publish an interactive tool that people can use to develop and evaluate their own open business models. </p>
<p>Along the way, we’re going to conduct an experiment in working in the open. We’ll be publishing regularly on one of our favorite storytelling platforms &#8211; Medium (who also happens to use CC licenses, and is one of the businesses we will profile in the book). We’re thinking of our Medium publication, <a href="https://medium.com/made-with-creative-commons">Made with Creative Commons</a>, as a digital whiteboard. There, we’ll share insights as we go, try out new ideas, and we’ll openly discuss obstacles we face, questions we have, and issues we are mulling. Our hope is that the process of researching, analyzing, and writing the book will be truly collaborative and open. </p>
<p>In fact, this Kickstarter campaign is itself a case study of an open business model. Crowdfunding has become a tried-and-true method to fund creative works in the digital age. In many ways, it’s an ideal open business model because it requires creators to think about building community from the start, rather than letting it be an after-thought. We see this Kickstarter as a great chance to get people interested and involved in our work. </p>
<p>We have set a realistic but ambitious goal to fund the whole project, but like all Kickstarters, if we don’t hit the target, we don’t get any of the funds. It’s all or nothing, so we need your help. </p>
<p>Momentum really matters with crowdfunding. Help us start strong by <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business">supporting the CC Kickstarter now</a> and by spreading the word among your networks. Help us show the world how Creative Commons can be good for business — and maybe even start one of your own.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45796
title: Global Summit Call for Participation – Extension
uri: Global-Summit-Call-for-Participation-Extension
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45796
content:
<p>The deadline for submissions to the CC Global Summit&#8217;s <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/cfp/">Call for Participation</a> is fast approaching. But for those still getting their proposals together, there&#8217;s a reprieve &#8211; we&#8217;ve decided to <strong>extend the deadline until Wednesday 22 July</strong>.</p>
<p>The extension is in response to a technical glitch we&#8217;ve become aware of, which meant that multiple submissions from the same email address may not have registered properly. If you registered more than one submission from your email address, please contact info@creativecommons.org to confirm they were all received.</p>
<p>The issue is now fixed, and we encourage everyone to add as many submissions as they can &#8211; the more, the better! We hope the extended deadline will also give the opportunity for people who are still sorting through ideas to submit &#8211; you can&#8217;t succeed unless you try.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re sorry again about glitch, and can&#8217;t wait to see the final submissions.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45800
title: The case of the witch and her cat: crowdfunding free culture
uri: The-case-of-the-witch-and-her-cat-crowdfunding-free-culture
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45800
content:
<p><i>The guest post below was written by </i><i><a href="https://twitter.com/xirzon">Erik Moeller</a></i><i> from </i><a href="http://passionatevoices.org/"><i>Passionate Voices</i></a><i>, in support of our campaign “</i><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business"><i>Made with Creative Commons: A book on open business models</i></a><i>” which will present in-depth profiles of Creative Commons use.</i></p>
<hr />
<p>The dragoncow is chewing on an uprooted tree, its bulging eyes staring vacantly into the distance as the orange cat hanging off its udder extracts a large drop of milk into a wooden bucket held by a young witch balanced precariously on her broomstick. The <a href="http://peppercarrot.com/en/article241/episode-3-the-secret-ingredients">scene</a> is from David Revoy’s <a href="http://www.peppercarrot.com/"><i>Pepper &amp; Carrot</i></a>, a much-loved comic strip about a witch and her cat.</p>
<p>Unlike most webcomics, which release new strips a few times per week, there’s typically one episode of <i>Pepper &amp; Carrot </i>every month. Each episode is several pages long, crafted with an attention to detail rarely seen outside more commercial work. Slowly but surely, David is building Pepper’s identity and the world she inhabits. “So much heart in each and every piece you do”, writes one admirer in the comments.</p>
<p>Volunteers translate each episode to a dozen or so languages, on the basis of the source files which can be downloaded freely. David uses a <a href="https://github.com/Deevad">GitHub repository</a> to collaborate with the community and to share assets.</p>
<p>All this is possible because the entire comic strip is licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution License</a> (CC-BY). Other than <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a>, this is the most permissive licensing option Creative Commons offers. Works under these terms can not only be copied, but also remixed and built upon, including for commercial uses. Re-users just have to attribute David Revoy as the author.<br />
David is no stranger to Creative Commons. He was art director for <a href="http://sintel.org/">Sintel</a>, a crowdfunded CC-BY licensed 3D animated movie produced by the <a href="https://www.blender.org/foundation/">Blender Foundation</a>. His love for open source goes back even further, as he explained in a recent <a href="http://passionatevoices.org/2015/06/02/episode-2-david-revoy/">interview</a> with <i>Passionate Voices</i>: “Even when I was using Windows and proprietary software, I always kept an eye on the Linux distributions. I always kept an eye on <a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP</a>. It was one of my first digital painting tools. And I always really appreciated the whole movement.” Today, David uses <a href="https://krita.org/">Krita</a>, an open source digital painting application which has been supported by two Kickstarter fundraisers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.peppercarrot.com/en/article279/user-manual" rel="attachment wp-att-45802"><img class=" size-full wp-image-45802 alignleft" src="media/c01a494a.revoy-user-manual-small.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/revoy-user-manual-small.jpg" alt="revoy user manual small" width="600" height="337" /></a></p>
<p><small><a href="http://www.peppercarrot.com/en/article279/user-manual"><i>User Manual</i></a> by David Revoy, available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC-BY</a> license.</small></p>
<p>David’s work on Pepper &amp; Carrot is funded by a <a href="https://www.patreon.com/davidrevoy">Patreon campaign</a>. As of this writing, for every episode he produces, his supporters donate $1200, which is inching ever closer to the amount David needs to focus fully on creating the webcomic as his “dream job”. As such, he is not concerned about others building on his work as long as they attribute him for it: “I’m really happy if Pepper &amp; Carrot can bring more money for external people.”  David is disappointed when people fail to meet the simple requirement to credit him as the author: “It’s easier to respect something that was given for free, in my opinion.”</p>
<p>Back in May, a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1627457613/help-print-the-full-color-webcomic-pepper-and-carr?ref=discovery">Kickstarter campaign</a> launched without David Revoy’s involvement to create a printed version of Pepper &amp; Carrot. The initial version of the campaign suffered from attribution issues: “The author of the Kickstarter, in the description of his crowdfunding page, was acting like he was the creator. He was quoting my name but he was acting like it was my Kickstarter page, and it was really not visible inside the page.“ After David contacted the campaign creator, the attribution issues were fixed, and David <a href="https://twitter.com/davidrevoy/status/604217210500943872">tweeted</a> in support of the campaign. In the end, $6,837 were raised towards a print edition which otherwise would not have happened.</p>
<p>Although David recognizes the power of the CC-BY license, there are circumstances where he uses more restrictive licensing. <em><a href="http://www.davidrevoy.com/article43/yin-and-yang-of-world-hunger">The Yin and Yang of World Hunger</a></em>, a powerful painting which depicts the disparity between rich and poor, is licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial No-Derivatives license</a>, because David doesn’t want to see it used for commercial or political purposes without his approval. The license doesn’t preclude him from selectively granting those permissions:  “There are plenty of associations about hunger that use this illustration, and I’m really happy to give them the illustration for free.”</p>
<p>David’s long term vision is to create an animation studio which only produces works under a free license. With his growing base of supporters, his vision is audacious but not outlandish. Today, many creators of webcomics and YouTube channels are funding their work through their fanbase, whether it’s through one-off campaigns or ongoing Patreon-style support. But relatively few use a Creative Commons license, and fewer still the very permissive CC-BY license alongside an open source toolchain.</p>
<p>When confronted with commercial use and unwanted derivatives, creators may be tempted to to default to a license that places limits on re-use, and as David’s story demonstrates, this can be a good answer, especially when dealing with sensitive works. And yet, there’s always the tantalizing question: What if? What if you let go, what if you set your work truly free? What if you push the limits of what’s possible with open source software?</p>
<p>Artists like David are experimenting with permissive licensing options and open source production methods to create a free culture with no strings attached. Fan support through crowdfunding platforms gives them the ability to do so without fearing loss of income.  You can find my <a href="http://passionatevoices.org/2015/06/02/episode-2-david-revoy/">full interview</a> with David Revoy (and with other pioneers) on <a href="http://passionatevoices.org/"><i>Passionate Voices</i></a>, and of course you can <a href="http://peppercarrot.com/">read Pepper &amp; Carrot online</a> and join David’s <a href="http://patreon.com/davidrevoy">community of supporters</a>.</p>
<p>With your help, Creative Commons will be able to showcase many other examples of CC use and re-use. Please consider supporting the Creative Commons campaign, “<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business">Made with Creative Commons: A book on open business models</a>”.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45664
title: Happy 150th, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland!
uri: Happy-150th-Alice-s-Adventures-in-Wonderland
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45664
content:
<p><span style="float: left; padding: 10px;"><a href="media/be0ca35c.FileDe_Alice27s_Abenteuer_im_Wunderland_Carroll_pic_03.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Alice%27s_Abenteuer_im_Wunderland_Carroll_pic_03.jpg"><img src="media/0617b4a4.De_Alices_Abenteuer_im_Wunderland_Carroll_pic_03.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/De_Alices_Abenteuer_im_Wunderland_Carroll_pic_03.jpg" alt="Alice’s Abenteuer im Wunderland" /></a><br />
<small>Alice’s Abenteuer im Wunderland / <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:public_domain" rel="license">Public Domain</a></small></span></p>
<p>This year is the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In celebration, Medium and the Public Domain Review have teamed up to host <a href="https://medium.com/mashing-alice/a-mad-hatter-s-mashup-party-8dffa2195a59">A Mad Hatter’s Mashup Party</a>, complete with the original text, illustrations, animated GIFs, and silent film adaptations in the public domain and under CC licenses.</p>
<p>This is a great opportunity to creatively engage with the Commons and put Medium’s <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45495">CC licensing feature</a> to work. A dozen Lewis Carroll experts will also be participating by annotating a <a href="https://medium.com/alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland">special version</a> of the text one chapter a week. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://medium.com/mashing-alice/a-mad-hatter-s-mashup-party-8dffa2195a59">party</a> starts today, July 28, and continues for as long as anyone wants to join. We’ll be recommending our favorite pieces <a href="https://medium.com/@creativecommons">on Medium</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45850
title: It’s time to #MoveFASTR: support public access to publicly-funded research
uri: It-s-time-to-MoveFASTR-support-public-access-to-publicly-funded-r
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45850
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45853" src="media/ec54fae9.Shinkansen_600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Shinkansen_600.jpg" alt="Shinkansen_600" width="600" height="388" /><br />
<small><a href="media/3015698c.FileShinkansen_tokyo.jpg" data-original-source="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shinkansen_tokyo.jpg">Shinkansen Tokyo</a> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Parag.naik">Parag.naik</a>, available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license.</small></p>
<p>Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will <a href="http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/business-meeting-7/29/2015">markup</a> S. 779, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (called FASTR for short). The <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s779">bill</a>&#8211;if enacted&#8211;would increase access to federally funded research. It was introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives on March 18, 2015.</p>
<p>FASTR requires federal agencies with annual external research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online access to the research articles stemming from that funding no later than 6 months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. FASTR would extend the current <a href="http://publicaccess.nih.gov/">NIH Public Access Policy</a> to several federal agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and others.</p>
<p>We’ve supported policies aligned with the practice of making taxpayer funded research available free online, ideally under an open license that communicates broad downstream use rights, such as <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a>. In addition to making articles free to access and read, FASTR ensures that the research generated from federal tax dollars is made available and useful for new research techniques such as text and data mining. FASTR includes a provision to study the possible impact of requiring open licensing for federally funded research articles. The <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s779/text">text</a> calls for agencies to examine:</p>
<blockquote><p>“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;”</p></blockquote>
<p>FASTR would solidify the February 2013 White House <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/35267">directive</a> aimed to increase access to the results of federally funded scientific research. That memorandum is similar in scope to FASTR, but since it is a directive and not a law, a subsequent administration could rescind that order.</p>
<p><b>It’s time to #MoveFASTR, and you can help!</b> Check out the <a href="http://sparc.arl.org/advocacy/national/fastr/act">SPARC action page</a> for ways to support FASTR. For example, you can:</p>
<ol>
<li>Call your Members of Congress and express your support for FASTR. You can reach them by calling the US Capitol&#8217;s switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking for your Senators.</li>
<li>Engage your Senators on social media by tweeting at your elected officials about FASTR using the hashtag #MoveFASTR, or post about the bill on Facebook. You can find a list of all the twitter accounts for Congress <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/lists/members-of-congress/members">here</a>.</li>
<li>Write a letter of support for this legislation and send it to your Senators. You can find a draft letter of support <a href="http://sparc.arl.org/advocacy/national/fastr/template">here</a>. You can find your Senators&#8217; contact information to submit the letter <a href="http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact">here</a>.</li>
</ol>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45830
title: Announcing the first round of Global Summit keynote speakers
uri: Announcing-the-first-round-of-Global-Summit-keynote-speakers
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45830
content:
<p>We’re happy to announce the first set of keynote speakers for the <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/">2015 Creative Commons Global Summit</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lila Tretikov, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation</li>
<li>Yochai Benkler, author and law professor at Harvard Law School</li>
<li>Julia Reda, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of the Parliament&#8217;s review of the EU Copyright Directive</li>
<li>Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons</li>
</ul>
<p>The 2015 CC Global Summit will take place in Seoul, South Korea 15-17 October. Every two years, a vibrant international community of experts, academics, and activists engaged in stewarding and expanding CC come together to celebrate the commons, share ideas, and collaborate on projects. We’re excited to host this diverse set of leaders to share and engage with our community of copyright experts and commons advocates in Seoul. We’ll be announcing additional speakers and sessions in the coming weeks.</p>
<p><a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&amp;id=11">Summit registration is open</a>. The early-bird registration discount will be available until 23 August, so sign up now!</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45832" src="media/78da2e26.Lila_Tretikov_600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Lila_Tretikov_600.jpg" alt="Lila_Tretikov_600" width="600" height="399" /><br />
<small><a href="media/bf641d55.FileLila_Tretikov_16_April_2014_3.jpg" data-original-source="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lila_Tretikov_16_April_2014_(3).jpg">Lila Tretikov</a> by <a href="http://fetching.net/">Lane Hartwell</a>, available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license.</small></p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lila_Tretikov">Lila Tretikov</a> is the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia. Wikipedia is freely available in 290 languages and used by nearly half a billion people around the world every month.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45834" src="media/19f85e72.yochai_benkler_600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/yochai_benkler_600.jpg" alt="yochai_benkler_600" width="600" height="403" /><small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/1932607449/">Yochai Benkler</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/">Joi Ito</a>, available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a> license.</small></p>
<p><i></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yochai_Benkler">Yochai Benkler</a> is the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He studies commons-based peer production, and published his seminal book <i>The Wealth of Networks</i> in 2006.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45835" src="media/f363dab8.julia_reda_600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/julia_reda_600.jpg" alt="julia_reda_600" width="600" height="399" /><br />
<small><a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/okfde/17985868034/">Julia Reda</a> by <a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/okfde/">Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland</a>, available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a> license.</small></p>
<p><i></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Reda">Julia Reda</a> is a Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of the Parliament&#8217;s current review of the 2001 EU Copyright Directive. Reda’s report outlining potential changes to EU copyright law was approved by the Parliament in July.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45836" src="media/fe1fc224.ryan_merkley_600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ryan_merkley_600.jpg" alt="ryan_merkley_600" width="600" height="399" /><br />
<small><a href="media/62b825a2.ryanmerkley1-600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ryanmerkley1-600.jpg">Ryan Merkley</a> by Rannie Turingan, available under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a>.</small></p>
<p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/staff/ryan">Ryan Merkley</a> is the CEO of Creative Commons, the global nonprofit that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Ryan was Chief Operating Officer of the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit parent of the Mozilla Corporation, creator of Firefox.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45872
uri: Obama-administration-should-require-sharing-of-federally-funded-educat
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45872
title:
Obama administration should require sharing of federally funded educational resources under Creative Commons licenses

content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45873" src="media/2f827426.White-House_600.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/White-House_600.jpg" alt="White House_600" width="600" height="386" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/djc/15870725062/">White House</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/djc/">Diego Cambiaso</a>, available under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">CC BY-SA</a> license.</small></p>
<p>Today, Creative Commons and a broad coalition of education, library, technology, public interest, and legal organizations are calling upon the White House to <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sV3stjrzi3jB_knfGyfAft77qEUKR4Rj-soktIf5Vu8/edit">take administrative action</a> to ensure that federally funded educational materials are made available as Open Educational Resources (OER) for the public to freely use, share, and improve.</p>
<p>We ask the administration to adopt a strong Executive branch-wide policy requiring that educational, training, and instructional materials created with federal funds be shared under an open license. Some agencies have already implemented an open licensing policy for the outputs of federal grants, including the $2 billion <a href="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/">Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program</a>, jointly administered by the Departments of Labor and Education. In order to receive these funds, grantees are required to license to the public all work created with the support of the grant under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY) license</a>.</p>
<p>In issuing this public statement, we hope to ensure that the billions of taxpayer dollars invested in the creation of educational materials produce resources that are freely available to the members of the public that paid for them. The administration has both an educational and economic imperative to increase access to learning and workforce development opportunities. Further, it has the opportunity to spur innovation through opening access to a wealth of educational resources that can be improved and built upon.</p>
<p>To ensure that administrative policy advances these goals, the coalition has outlined five core principles for executive action:</p>
<ol>
<li>Adopt a broad definition of educational materials.</li>
<li>Provide free online access to these educational resources.</li>
<li>Create conditions that enable easy reuse of materials.</li>
<li>Require prompt implementation of the policy.</li>
<li>Mandate regular reporting of progress and results.</li>
</ol>
<p>The following can be attributed to Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons:</p>
<p>“By embracing Creative Commons licenses for the digital education and training outputs of federal agency grant making, the Obama administration will be demonstrating its commitment to collaboration, innovation, and effective government spending. When we contribute publicly funded educational materials to the public commons, everyone wins. This type of sharing is worth fighting for.”</p>
<p>A copy of the complete letter is available <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sV3stjrzi3jB_knfGyfAft77qEUKR4Rj-soktIf5Vu8/edit">here</a>. You can show your support for open access to publicly funded education materials by <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16QtSngbkIRpDsuJMEIUQMx-eC_K3Pa7B9ACiUZM2r_4/viewform">signing it too</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45859
title: 4.0 Bahasa Indonesia translation – and a book!
uri: 4-0-Bahasa-Indonesia-translation-and-a-book
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45859
content:
<p>Hot on the heels of the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45695">announcement</a> a few weeks ago of new Japanese and Māori translations of our 4.0 licences, we have another new Asia-Pacific translation to celebrate &#8211; Bahasa Indonesia. Even more exciting, this time the translation team has gone above and beyond to complete a companion project &#8211; a Bahasa Indonesia translation of <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Open_Content_-_A_Practical_Guide_to_Using_Creative_Commons_Licences/Guide">Open Content &#8211; A Practical Guide to Using Creative Commons Licences</a>, creating a local how-to guide to go with the new licence translations.</p>
<p>With approximately 42 million native speakers and about 260 million speakers in total, Bahasa Indonesia is one of the world&#8217;s most widely spoken languages. The official translation of 4.0 was undertaken by CC Indonesia&#8217;s Alifia Qonita Sudharto, with supervision from Project Director Ari Juliano Gema and assistance from the <a href="http://wikimedia.or.id/wiki/Halaman_Utama">Wikimedia Indonesia</a> team. The translation process began in January and after a fairly quick and non-controversial drafting and consultation period went live on Wednesday. </p>
<p>The translation was relatively easy and uncomplicated compared to other 4.0 translation efforts. This is partly because of experience gained by the team translating the 3.0 licences, but also because more and more Indonesians are becoming familiar with the content and purpose of the licences. This sped up the drafting process, as everyone began on the same page, making language approval much simpler right from the start. This compares to the 3.0 process, when the debate started with whether &#8220;law firm&#8221; should be translated as &#8220;firma hukum&#8221; or &#8220;kantor hukum&#8221; in the preamble and continued throughout the licence. For 4.0, the team was able to focus on substantial matters such as the decision to translate &#8220;Similar Rights&#8221; as &#8220;Hak-hak Serupa&#8221;, rather than &#8220;Hak Terkait&#8221; which literally translates as &#8220;Related Rights&#8221;.</p>
<p>The team decided to build upon this growing local knowledge by ensuring there was a good guide for those wanting to take up the licences. Rather than writing their own, they chose to translate an existing resource that already had a strong reputation for being clear and thorough. This led them to Open Content, a joint publication of <a href="https://www.wikimedia.de/wiki/Hauptseite">Wikimedia Deutschland</a>, the <a href="https://www.unesco.de/en/home.html">German Commission for UNESCO</a> and the <a href="https://www.hbz-nrw.de/">North Rhine-Westphalian Library Service Centre</a>. To further help to build local knowledge resources, they have also created a Bahasa Indonesia infographic poster which explains the difference between copyright, patents and trademarks for Indonesians.</p>
<p>Wikimedia Indonesia will proudly host an official launch of the new licence translations and the two new publications at their Jakarta office on 15 August. </p>
<p>Congratulations to the translation team for completing not one but two difficult translations, and for coming up with such an amazing initiative to encourage local understanding and uptake of CC. We can&#8217;t wait to see the resulting growth in open resources in Indonesia.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45911
title: Next round of CC Global Summit keynotes
uri: Next-round-of-CC-Global-Summit-keynotes
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45911
content:
<p>Two weeks ago we <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45830">announced</a> the initial set of speakers for the Creative Commons Global Summit. Today we’re happy to share two additional keynotes for our event: Soh-Yeong Roh and Kilnam Chon. The summit will take place in Seoul, South Korea from 14-17 October. Be sure to <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&amp;id=11">register for the summit</a>&#8211;early bird registration ends 23 August!</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45912" src="media/2ca069bc.soh-yeong-roh_blog.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/soh-yeong-roh_blog.jpg" alt="soh-yeong roh_blog" width="600" height="398" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/liftconference/3331786454/">Soh-Yeong Roh</a> by <a href="http://photo.naepflin.com/">photo.naepflin.com</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY</a>.</small></p>
<p><a href="http://www.xmedialab.com/mentor/soh-yeong-roh"><b>Soh-Yeong Roh</b></a> is the founder and Director of <a href="http://www.nabi.or.kr/">Art Center Nabi</a> in South Korea. She founded the center in 2000, transforming a contemporary art museum into a new media arts center. Nabi brings together art, technology, humanities, and industry, to create new art and cultural artifacts. As the main venue for new media art production in Korea, Nabi promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration and understanding among science technology, humanities, and the arts. Ms. Roh is also a board member of Creative Commons Korea.</p>
<p><img class=" size-full wp-image-45924 aligncenter" src="media/3f55d83a.KilnamChonPortrait.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/KilnamChonPortrait.jpg" alt="KilnamChonPortrait" width="240" height="295" /><br />
<small><a href="media/872a9896.FileKilnamChonPortrait.jpg" data-original-source="http://icannwiki.com/File:KilnamChonPortrait.jpg">Kilnam Chon</a> via <a href="http://icannwiki.com/">ICANNWiki</a> licensed under<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"> CC BY-SA</a>.</small></p>
<p><a href="http://internethalloffame.org/inductees/kilnam-chon"><b>Kilnam Chon</b></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> helped the </span><a href="http://www.wired.com/2012/06/kilnam_chon/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">development of the Internet in Asia</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and the rest of the world and is an outspoken advocate for open systems. In 2012, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Internet Society’s (ISOC) Internet Hall of Fame. Chon developed the first Internet in Asia called SDN in 1982 and has worked on networking systems since the early 1980s. He founded and is a chair of numerous organisations including the Asia Pacific Networking Group (APNG) and Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN). Recently his research and projects have focused on building institutional and cultural infrastructure for ecological and sustainable Internet and cyber commons.</span></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45931
title: CC Global Summit Logo Winner
uri: CC-Global-Summit-Logo-Winner
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45931
content:
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45933" src="media/ff2e51b0.cc-global.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/cc-global.png" alt="cc-global" width="505" height="221" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Congratulation<span style="font-weight: 400;">s to Naresh Agrawal, the winner of the Creative Commons Global Summit <a href="https://logo.cckorea.org/">logo competition</a>. Naresh said, “I found the work of your organization inspiring and thought that it would be great to be a part of your journey.” We received nearly 50 logo submissions. Thanks so much to everyone who entered the contest, and to the hundreds of voters!</span></p>
<p>The programming committee is hard at work reviewing the proposed sessions for the summit. Registration is open, so sign up to join us in Seoul 14-17 October. <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&amp;id=11">Early bird registration</a> ends this Sunday, 23 August.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45940
title: Our Kickstarter was a huge success, thanks to all of you!
uri: Our-Kickstarter-was-a-huge-success-thanks-to-all-of-you
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45940
content:
<p>We are thrilled to announce that 1,687 people backed our Kickstarter campaign, which successfully raised $65,420 &#8211; over 130% of our funding goal. We’re told by Kickstarter that Creative Commons is now among the top 5% of publishing projects in the history of the crowdfunding platform. All thanks to you, our supporters!</p>
<p><a href="media/e079e155.Screenshot-of-Kickstarter.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Screenshot-of-Kickstarter.png"><img src="media/00f98c21.Screenshot-of-Kickstarter-300x126.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Screenshot-of-Kickstarter-300x126.png" alt="Screenshot of Kickstarter" width="300" height="126" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-45942" /></a></p>
<p>What’s next?! Email us (sarah@creativecommons.org) to nominate companies or creators who we should profile in our book and see our work in progress by <a href="https://medium.com/made-with-creative-commons">following the project on Medium</a>.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing! </p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45970
title: CC Global Summit Program Schedule
uri: CC-Global-Summit-Program-Schedule
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45970
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45933" src="media/ff2e51b0.cc-global.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/cc-global.png" alt="cc-global" width="505" height="221" /></p>
<p>We’re happy to present the draft <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/schedule/">program schedule</a> for the 2015 Creative Commons Global Summit in Seoul. In addition to the <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/speakers/">keynotes</a>, the program contains a diverse selection of sessions ranging from open business models, 3D printing and design, open education, CC technology, copyright reform advocacy, open access, and community cooperation. The summit includes Creative Commons partners from around the world, and will incorporate sister organizations such as <a href="https://www.eff.org/">EFF</a> and companies like <a href="http://www.shapeways.com/">Shapeways</a> and <a href="https://500px.com/">500px</a>. The program highlights several Korean organizations and projects in the creative industries and open data sector. <a href="http://www.nabi.or.kr/">Art Centre Nabi</a>, a major art gallery in Korea, is preparing a special exhibition related to CC to celebrate the Global Summit.</p>
<p>We received over 130 session proposals, and our programming committee (comprised of the CC Korea team and other CC affiliates, staff, and board) worked to incorporate as many program ideas as possible considering the time and space constraints. The summit will be held at the <a href="http://www.museum.go.kr/">National Museum of Korea</a> and adjacent <a href="http://www.hangeul.go.kr/">National Hangeul Museum</a> on the 15th and 16th October and at the <a href="http://www.ckl.or.kr/">Content Korea Lab</a> on the 17th. We are grateful to our lead sponsor <a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/">Private Internet Access</a> and <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/sponsors">all our sponsors</a> for their meaningful support of this year’s summit.</p>
<p>The program is still subject to change. Also, it’s not too late to <a href="https://donate.creativecommons.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&amp;id=11">register for the summit</a>. Join us for what looks to be a fantastic event.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=45984
title: U.S. Secretary of Education highlights Schools using OER to #GoOpen
uri: U-S-Secretary-of-Education-highlights-Schools-using-OER-to-GoOpen
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45984
content:
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QqaPWn6QPxM" width="556" height="313" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqaPWn6QPxM">Williamsfield</a> video by U.S. Department of Education is licensed <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" rel="xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license xh:license license">CC BY</a></small></p>
<p>I&#8217;m pleased to announce two important updates from the U.S. Department of Education!</p>
<h3>#1: Williamsfield Community Unified School District embraces OER</h3>
<p>Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited <a href="http://tech.ed.gov/stories/williamsfield_cusd/">Williamsfield Community Unified School District</a> in Illinois to highlight the progress the rural school district has made in shifting to digital and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources">open educational resources</a> (OER) to connect their students to the world. “The walls break down,” Zack Binder, the Pre K-12 Principal said. “You’re no longer in Williamsfield, Illinois. You have the same access to this information that anyone in the world does.”</p>
<p>Over the past two years, the 310-student district decided to adapt and adopt OER (e.g., <a href="https://www.engageny.org/">EngageNY</a>) rather than procuring new commercial textbooks for students, and direct those savings towards new devices for students.</p>
<blockquote><p>“We worked to start leveraging open education resources in May of 2013. It coincided with a decision to purchase—or not purchase—a math textbook series. We decided to leverage OER and invest the money that was allocated for textbooks into technology and technological infrastructure,” said Williamsfield Superintendent Tim Farquer.</p></blockquote>
<p>While this move saved money, and allowed the district to buy tablets and laptops for students and teachers, it was mostly about using <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/">Creative Commons (CC) licensed</a> educational resources to make the content better &#8211; it helped change the classroom by empowering teachers and students to customize learning resources for students.</p>
<blockquote><p>“The biggest transition for me, from what it was like before to what it is like now, is that kids can do things that they’re interested in, instead of having one prescribed way to do things that comes from a textbook,” said Lori Secrist, a district science teacher.</p></blockquote>
<p>The newly formed <a href="http://k12oercollaborative.org/">K12 OER Collaborative</a>, an initiative led by a group of 12 U.S. states, has similar goals and is in the process of creating comprehensive, high-quality, OER-supported K–12 mathematics and English language arts that are aligned with state learning standards.</p>
<p><strong>If you&#8217;d like to replicate this in your school district, see the <a href="http://us.creativecommons.org/archives/1084">CC-USA FAQ on OER in Williamsfield.</a></strong></p>
<h3>#2: U.S. Dept of Ed hires its first full-time OER leader</h3>
<p>Secretary Duncan announced today the hiring of the Department&#8217;s first full-time OER position to lead a national effort to expand schools’ access to high-quality, openly-licensed learning resources and help districts and states follow the path of Williamsfield. Andrew Marcinek will serve in the Department&#8217;s <a href="http://tech.ed.gov/" target="_blank">Office of Educational Technology</a> (OET) as the first &#8220;Advisor for Open Education.&#8221;</p>
<blockquote><p>“Creating a dedicated open education advisor position at the Department will greatly enhance our ability to support states and districts as they move to using openly licensed learning resources,” said <a href="http://tech.ed.gov/richard-culatta/" target="_blank">Richard Culatta</a>, Director of the OET. “The use of openly-licensed resources not only allows states and districts to adapt and modify materials to meet student needs, but also frees up funding to support the transition to digital learning.”</p></blockquote>
<p>The availability of low-cost, high-quality learning resources in U.S. K12 public schools is a priority for President Obama’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12/connected" target="_blank">ConnectED Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>These exciting moves are part of the growing momentum within the Obama Administration to support OER and open access to publicly funded resources. Last month <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45872">Creative Commons and 100 other organizations signed a letter</a> calling on the White House to ensure that educational materials created with federal funds are openly licensed and released to the public as OER. Creative Commons looks forward to working closely with the Department&#8217;s new Open Education Advisor and will continue working with our partners to advance OER and open licensing policy in the U.S. Government, and around the world with the members of the <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/">Open Policy Network</a> and the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Category:CC_Affiliate_Locale">CC Affiliate Network</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Join the conversation on social media with <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons">@creativecommons</a> using hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ReadyForSuccess?src=hash">#ReadyforSuccess</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoOpen?src=hash">#GoOpen</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OER?src=hash">#OER</a></strong></p>
<p>Related press / blog posts:</p>
<ul>
<li class="title"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-senack/this-500-person-town-is-l_b_8141806.html">This 500-Person Town is Leading on Education</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.edcentr.al/WilliamsfieldOER/">#ReadyForSuccess: Department of ED Highlights District’s Strategic Use of OER</a></li>
<li class="entry-title"><a href="http://www.ed.gov/blog/2015/09/transitioning-to-digital-in-williamsfield/">Transitioning to Digital in Williamsfield</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/media-advisories/us-secretary-education-arne-duncan-visit-williamsfield-ill-school-district-part-ready-success-back-school-bus-tour">U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to visit Williamsfield (Ill.) School District as Part of &#8220;Ready for Success&#8221; Back-to-School Bus Tour</a></li>
<li><a href="http://tech.ed.gov/stories/williamsfield_cusd/">How Williamsfield schools decided to #GoOpen</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/blog/education-department-hires-first-ever-open-education-advisor">Education Department Hires First Ever Open Education Advisor</a></li>
<li class="entry-title"><a href="https://nhoetnews.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/goopen-usdoe-creates-new-advisor-for-open-education/" rel="xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark xh:bookmark bookmark">#GoOpen USDOE Creates New Advisor for Open Education</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46087
title: Congrats to EFF and the dancing baby
uri: Congrats-to-EFF-and-the-dancing-baby
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46087
content:
<div class="embed-container">
<p><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='640' height='390' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/N1KfJHFWlhQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe></span></p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are plenty of examples to depict our broken copyright system, but the “dancing baby” case is one of the most notorious. That’s the one where Universal Music used the DMCA to take down a 29-second YouTube video of an adorable baby dancing to “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince. Putting aside the legal questions, it is unclear what motivated Universal Music to go after this home movie where the Prince song was almost indecipherable. It’s impossible to imagine people were using the short video as a substitute for buying Prince albums, and of course, it’s impossible to imagine this sort of enforcement would help the troubled record industry earn goodwill from the public. But sadly, this is (or at least was) the state of copyright.</p>
<p>Most DMCA takedowns result in quiet removals of content, but this one resulted in 8 years of litigation that continues to this day. The mother of the dancing baby, Stephanie Lenz, teamed up with EFF and fought back. They sued Universal Music for violating Section 512(f) of the DMCA by misrepresenting their claim in the takedown notification. The fight continues, but the good news is this week the Ninth Circuit issued an <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7EX8WXpPipGOHcwYW1Iek9pYjQ/view?pli=1" target="_blank">opinion</a> that affirmed some of the key principles at stake in the case.</p>
<p>Specifically, the panel of circuit judges held that copyright holders have to consider fair use before sending a DMCA takedown notification. The court also definitively explained something most of us already knew &#8211; fair use is authorized by law. It’s not simply an excuse for infringement or even an affirmative defense. It is outside the scope of copyright.</p>
<p>The decision wasn’t perfect. It went on to state that if copyright holders like Universal fail to consider fair use before sending a takedown, it just creates a question of fact for the jury to decide whether the rights holder had a good faith belief that the claim was valid. The court also made a somewhat confusing reference to copyright holders who use automated systems to determine what content to have taken down, stating that doing so was a reasonable solution but not explaining how that would possibly account for fair use.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the key takeaway from the case was a win for fair use. It confirmed that exceptions and limitations to copyright are affirmative rights, and it created a mechanism to help deter sham DMCA takedowns. Given how easy it is to have content removed using the DMCA, it is increasingly the tool of choice for anyone looking to have content removed online, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/08/ashley-madisons-owners-give-temptation-misuse-dmca" target="_blank">whether or not they have a valid copyright claim</a>. This case should help deter at least the most blatant bad actors from misusing the statute in this way.</p>
<p>Perhaps the case also symbolizes a larger shift in how rights holders view reuse of their content. Not every use of copyrighted content is infringing, and not every use is a threat.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46110
title: Open Licensing Policy Toolkit (DRAFT)
uri: Open-Licensing-Policy-Toolkit-(DRAFT)
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46110
content:
<p><a href="https://thenounproject.com/term/files/6858/"><img class="size-medium wp-image-46115 alignleft" src="media/973c2ab0.noun_6858_cc-300x300.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/noun_6858_cc-300x300.png" alt="noun_6858_cc" width="300" height="300" /></a></p>
<p><span class="designer" data-reactid=".1.2:$row=10.$hero.0.$hero=1meta=16858.$hero=16858=1meta=1info.0.1"><span data-reactid=".1.2:$row=10.$hero.0.$hero=1meta=16858.$hero=16858=1meta=1info.0.1.0"><a href="https://thenounproject.com/term/files/6858/">Files</a>. By </span><a href="https://thenounproject.com/pjsmits" data-reactid=".1.2:$row=10.$hero.0.$hero=1meta=16858.$hero=16858=1meta=1info.0.1.1">Pieter J. Smits</a><span class="uploader-location" data-reactid=".1.2:$row=10.$hero.0.$hero=1meta=16858.$hero=16858=1meta=1info.0.1.2"><span data-reactid=".1.2:$row=10.$hero.0.$hero=1meta=16858.$hero=16858=1meta=1info.0.1.2.0">. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC BY 3.0</a></span></span></span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Creative Commons believes that public and foundation funded resources should be openly licensed by default. We have written extensively about the importance of open licensing policies in <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45872">government</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/tag/philanthropy">foundations,</a> and have built the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/tag/open-policy-network">Open Policy Network</a> and the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/tag/institute-for-open-leadership">Institute for Open Leadership</a> with our open policy <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/about/members/">partners</a> around the world. In the past few years, the United States federal government has accelerated its interest in and implementation of open licensing policy requirements on the products of publicly funded grants and contracts.<b> </b></p>
<p>To support the education of government staff creating, adopting and implementing open licensing policies &#8211; we&#8217;ve drafted a &#8220;<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZKozpL3mZ5gOTJaql1DWcSwzwSR7OY3rpq7eTFvvCu0/edit#heading=h.2g4juz6dmkwg"><strong>Open Licensing Policy Toolkit</strong></a>.&#8221; While this draft is tailored for U.S. government federal staff, it can easily be revised to meet the needs of any country. We share it here under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a> license hoping others will take, improve, and modify it to meet regional, national and/or local needs. We look forward to seeing what you create&#8230; and we are happy to collaborate with you should you identify an opportunity to work with your government on broad open licensing requirements on publicly funded resources.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46159
title: European migrant crisis: Czech teachers create and share resources
uri: European-migrant-crisis-Czech-teachers-create-and-share-resources
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46159
content:
<p><em>This is a guest post by <a href="https://twitter.com/jangondol">Jan Gondol</a>.</em></p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46164" src="media/1c64b633.pencil_smal.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/pencil_smal.jpg" alt="pencil_smal" width="600" height="351" /><br />
<small><a href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1426443177319-df7c639993c8?q=80&#038;fm=jpg&#038;s=36acb55c570a3afba67d5e22cb67c7a7">Pencil</a> by <a href="https://unsplash.com/maripi">Mari Pi</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/">Public Domain</a>.</small> </p>
<p>In the midst of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_migrant_crisis">European migrant crisis</a>, the Czech Republic is showing the power of open educational resources (OER).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.eduin.cz/">EDUin</a>, a non-profit organization based in Prague worked with the <a href="http://www.obcankari.cz/">Czech organization of civic education teachers</a> to address the current migrant crisis. Students in schools were asking questions and wanted to understand what was going on. Why are so many people on the run? What is the difference between a refugee and a migrant? What is the difference between migration, emigration and immigration?</p>
<p>The teachers worked on developing the materials for Czech schools, and the resulting worksheets are now shared on their website (in the Czech language). These worksheets are licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/cz/">CC BY-NC-SA 3.0</a>, and there are different versions for <a href="http://www.obcankari.cz/edukacni-material-pracovni-list-kdo-proc-utika">ages 6-11</a> and <a href="http://www.obcankari.cz/edukacni-material-pracovni-list-migrant-azyl-azylant">ages 12-16</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This activity shows that open educational resources can help react to a new situation very quickly in a way traditional textbooks cannot,&#8221; says Tamara Kováčová, coordinator of EDUin’s open education program. &#8220;Because of fast distribution, materials get to schools around the country in a matter of days. Teachers get support in time when they need it and teaching is up-to-date. Furthermore, it’s possible to join several school subjects together on phenomenon based learning principle.&#8221;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46170
uri: Creative-Commons-awarded-450-000-from-the-Arcadia-Fund-to-support-ope
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46170
title:
Creative Commons awarded $450,000 from the Arcadia Fund to support open access publishing for authors

content:
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Creative Commons is pleased to announce a grant award in the amount of $450,000 over 3 years from the </span><a href="http://www.arcadiafund.org.uk/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Arcadia Fund</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. Since its inception in 2001, Arcadia has awarded grants in excess of $331 million. Arcadia works to protect endangered culture and nature</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Creative Commons will use funds from Arcadia to develop tools that complement the current CC license suite and empower authors to retain or regain their right to publish so they can make their scholarly and academic works available for public use.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Building on the success of the current CC licenses — now with nearly 1 billion licenses in use across over 9 million websites — Creative Commons is enthusiastic about developing tools that can be used by authors who “write to be read” but face all too common barriers to making their research openly available. These resources will be developed for global use, taking into account country-specific copyright laws, customs, and language. Once in widespread use, these tools are expected to increase the number of articles and publications that are available for broad public use.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To accomplish this ambitious goal, Creative Commons will work with CC’s international network of over 100 affiliates working in over 80 regions around the world. This core group will next convene at the 2015 Creative Commons Global Summit on October 14-17 in Seoul, South Korea. A dedicated summit session will be held to discuss the best approach to formulating tools and materials that enable authors to retain and regain their rights, while also addressing the needs of publishers. Collaborators on this project include </span><a href="http://www.authorsalliance.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Authors Alliance</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <a href="http://freeculturetrust.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Free Culture Trust</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and </span><a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">SPARC</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">all of whom are dedicated to supporting authors, institutions, and the public in promoting access to research and scholarly work. Importantly, this group also includes academic publishers who support or have interest in promoting open access principles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Creative Commons is grateful to the Arcadia Fund for its essential support of our work. We look forward to sharing our progress and success with all of you!</span></p>
<p><b>About Creative Commons and our collaborators</b></p>
<p><a href="http://creativecommons.org"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Creative Commons</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools to help realize the full potential of the Internet—universal access to research and education, and full participation in culture.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.authorsalliance.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Authors Alliance</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is a membership-driven non-profit organization that supports and advocates for authors who write to be read.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://freeculturetrust.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Free Culture Trust</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is dedicated to helping authors and artists make their works widely available by removing bureaucratic and structural barriers to sharing.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.sparc.arl.org/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">SPARC</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is an international alliance of organizations dedicated to creating a more open system for sharing research and scholarship.</span></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46104
title: Institute for Open Leadership 2: Apply now
uri: Institute-for-Open-Leadership-2-Apply-now
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46104
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46105" src="media/ae9ec7f9.capetown.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/capetown.jpg" alt="capetown" width="600" height="233" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kemalkestelli/9188725689/">Cape Town</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kemalkestelli/">Kemal Kestelli</a> on Flickr, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">CC BY-ND 2.0</a>.</small></p>
<p>Earlier this year, Creative Commons and the <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/">Open Policy Network</a> hosted the first Institute for Open Leadership (IOL). The IOL is a training and support program to empower new leaders interested in crafting and implementing an open licensing policy within their discipline. We had a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43566">diverse cohort</a> of 14 fellows who <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44900">came together for a week</a> in January, 2015 in San Francisco. The fellows worked with mentors and each other to hone their open policy project ideas. Since then they’ve working within their institutions and fields to implement their open policy plan.</p>
<p>Today we’re opening the application period for the next round of the institute. <b>IOL 2 will take place March 14-18, 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa.</b></p>
<p>Application instructions are on the <a href="https://openpolicynetwork.org/iol/">Institute for Open Leadership webpage</a>. <b>Applications are due October 30, 2015</b>. We will accept 15 IOL fellows.</p>
<p>We encourage applications from a variety of areas, including the public sector, cultural heritage institutions, publishing, and scientific labs. We’re interested in individuals who are eager to become experts in open licensing, pursue new opportunities for open sharing of content and data, and directly influence policy decisions in their institution and field of work.</p>
<p>Thanks again to the <a href="http://www.hewlett.org/">William and Flora Hewlett Foundation</a>and the <a href="http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/">Open Society Foundations</a> for their support for the Institute for Open Leadership.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46186
title: CC BY-SA 4.0 now one-way compatible with GPLv3
uri: CC-BY-SA-4-0-now-one-way-compatible-with-GPLv3
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46186
content:
<p><strong><em>The declaration increases interoperability of the commons for games, hardware designs, and more</em></strong></p>
<div id="attachment_46193" style="width: 607px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="media/3cdd7b1f.Broad_gauge_and_standard_gauge_track_at_Didcot._6613095905.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Broad_gauge_and_standard_gauge_track_at_Didcot._6613095905.jpg"><img src="media/3cdd7b1f.Broad_gauge_and_standard_gauge_track_at_Didcot._6613095905.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Broad_gauge_and_standard_gauge_track_at_Didcot._6613095905.jpg" alt="Photo by Hugh Llewelyn, licensed BY-SA 2.0, available on Wikimedia Commons." width="597" height="400" class="size-full wp-image-46193" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo by Hugh Llewelyn, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en" target="_blank">licensed BY-SA 2.0</a>, available on <a href="media/b4e086a4.leBroad_gauge_and_standard_gauge_track_at_Didcot._6613095905.jpg" data-original-source="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broad_gauge_and_standard_gauge_track_at_Didcot._(6613095905).jpg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</p></div>
<p>In January we <a href="http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/cc-licenses/2015-January/007635.html">officially opened a public consultation</a> (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44832">blog post</a>) on CC BY-SA 4.0 unilateral compatibility with GPLv3, in accordance with our <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/ShareAlike_compatibility_process_and_criteria">ShareAlike compatibility process and criteria</a>. Following additional months of <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/ShareAlike_compatibility_analysis:_GPL">detailed analysis</a>, discussion and deliberation with the Free Software Foundation and other stakeholders, we are very pleased to announce that we have added a declaration of one-way compatibility from CC BY-SA 4.0 to GPLv3 to our <a href="http://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses">compatible licenses</a> page!</p>
<p>Put simply this means you now <em>have permission</em> to adapt another licensor&#8217;s work under CC BY-SA 4.0 and release your contributions to the adaptation under GPLv3 (while the adaptation relies on both licenses, a reuser of the combined and remixed work need only look to the conditions of GPLv3 to satisfy the attribution and ShareAlike conditions of BY-SA 4.0). </p>
<p>This doesn&#8217;t mean that you <em>should</em> apply GPLv3 to your revised BY-SA 4.0 work &#8212; in most cases it makes sense to release adaptations under the same license as the original, even if not required (e.g., in the case of CC BY or CC0) to facilitate ongoing collaboration with the &#8220;upstream&#8221; and peer &#8220;forks&#8221;. But if your use case calls for or requires (in the case of remixing CC BY-SA 4.0 and GPLv3 material to make a single adaptation) releasing a CC BY-SA 4.0 adaptation under GPLv3, now you can: copyright in the guise of incompatible copyleft licenses is no longer a barrier to growing the part of the commons you&#8217;re working in. We hope that this new compatibility not only removes a barrier, but helps inspire new and creative combinations of software and culture, design, education, and science, and the adoption of software best practices such as source control (e.g., through &#8220;git&#8221;) in these fields.</p>
<p><strong>Increasing Interoperability</strong></p>
<p>Since <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5709">2005</a> Creative Commons has been working to increase the legal interoperability of the commons &#8212; roughly the ability to use works in the commons together, usually in the form of adaptation, without legal barriers. This has meant <a href="http://creativecommons.org/retiredlicenses">retiring little-used CC licenses</a> that were incompatible with other licenses &#8212; meaning works under the now-retired licenses could not be remixed with works in the commons under more popular licenses. It has meant working with other license stewards and user communities to migrate projects to licenses compatible with those used for the largest pools of relevant works, as when we worked with the Free Software Foundation and the Wikimedia community to facilitate the latter <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/15411">migrating from the GNU Free Documentation License to CC BY-SA 3.0</a> as its default license. It has meant <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/40741">working with governments</a> to use and mandate broadly used licenses, or the least ensure that government-specific licenses are compatible with broadly used licenses, most often CC-BY.</p>
<p>Finally, this long-term push for increasing interoperability meant developing an <a href="http://creativecommons.org/compatiblelicenses">explicit mechanism for declaring compatibility</a> between CC BY-SA and similar share-alike or copyleft licenses. Absent such a mechanism, works under different copyleft licenses cannot be used together to form an adaptation, as copyleft licenses typically require that adaptations be released under the same license as the original work. We first introduced the mechanism in CC BY-SA 3.0 (2007) but it has yet to be used for that license &#8212; the most pressing interoperability barrier at the time was mitigated instead through a temporary allowance for license migration (see Wikimedia above) &#8212; and we believe compatibility should only be declared after much careful analysis and deliberation. With CC BY-SA 4.0 (2013) the mechanism was enhanced, allowing the possibility of unilateral as well as bilateral compatibility. Nearly a year ago CC BY-SA 4.0 was <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44030">declared bilaterally compatible</a> with the Free Art License 1.3.</p>
<p>Since the beginning of <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/29639">version 4.0 consultations</a> (2011) and before, we have been discussing with the Free Software Foundation and other stakeholders the possibility of declaring unilateral compatibility from CC BY-SA 4.0 to GPLv3, allowing new contributions to adaptations of works under the former to be released under the latter, and thus also allowing adaptations to be created from works under both licenses. The demand for such an arrangement comes from a variety of <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/GPL_compatibility_use_cases#4._Not_restricting_the_design_of_programs_with_legal_details">use cases</a>, including games and other smart artifacts for which it isn&#8217;t always easy to separate software and non-software, <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/richard-stallman-how-to-make-hardware-designs-free/">hardware designs</a> for which both <a href="http://www.oshwa.org/oshw-community-survey-2013/#section5">CC BY-SA and GPL family licenses are popular</a>, and artists who wish to require that adaptations of adaptations not only be allowed, but facilitated through availability of a &#8220;preferred form of the work for making modifications&#8221;, as the GPL requires. These may seem like niche issues if you think only of media such as text, images, and data. But as the saying goes, &#8220;software is eating the world&#8221;; the winning educational resources, cultural artifacts, and research inputs and outputs of the future will be software, designed by software, processed by software, or all three. Mitigating legal barriers to remixing &#8220;software&#8221; and &#8220;non-software&#8221; in the commons is one thing we can do to help ensure the commons remains vibrant.</p>
<p>Increasing interoperability of the commons is a very <a href="http://www.wealthofthecommons.org/essay/creative-commons-governing-intellectual-commons-below">long-term</a>, ongoing process, in part enabled by cooperation between license stewards within and across particular domains. CC BY-SA 4.0 one-way compatibility with GPLv3 is a huge win. It took many years to achieve. There are still many incompatibilities among licenses used for data, hardware designs, software, and other materials, both within those domains and especially across them. What commons interoperability fixes do you want to see in the next 5-10 years?</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46219
title: CC0 now available in Polish – official translation published
uri: CC0-now-available-in-Polish-official-translation-published
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46219
content:
<p><em>Post written by John Weitzmann</em></p>
<p>Creative Commons and the European group of CC Affiliates are proud and happy to announce the launch of the official Polish translation of CC0 version 1.0.</p>
<p>Translation is an essential part of our efforts to be a truly global project, offering legal tools that work for everyone regardless of language and origins of the respective legal system. Our tools aren’t finished until everyone who wants to use them has the ability to understand the license in the language they know best. The Polish CC0 translation exemplifies how our affiliates, in this case <a href="http://centrumcyfrowe.pl/" target="_blank">Centrum Cyfrowe</a> in Warsaw as hosting organization of <a href="http://creativecommons.pl/category/eng/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Poland</a> together with other volunteers, are achieving that goal. Together with the Polish Coalition for Open Education, CC Poland had engaged in extensive analysis of the usability of CC0 under Polish law in advance of conducting the translation, this included engagement with the Polish Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the wider community of legal experts in Poland and abroad.</p>
<p>The Polish CC0 translation has passed the various internal and external stages of the standard process divised for this and is now complete. Further info on the public discussion that forms part of this process can be found <a href="http://creativecommons.pl/2015/04/konsultacje-mechanizmu-creative-commons-zero-cc0/" target="_blank">here</a> (in Polish). Key contributors in the process were Helena Rymar, Marcin Serafin and Katarzyna Strycharz, and further expertise and comments were provided by Krzysztof Siewicz and Adrian Niewęgłowski. Alek Tarkowski of CC Poland and Piotr Wasilewski presented on CC0 in October 2015 at a meeting organized by the Department of Intellectual Property Law of Jagiellonian University in collaboration with Creative Commons Poland, focussing on CC0 and the boundaries of copyright law.</p>
<p>Polish cultural institutions for a long time had been interested in CC0 as a tool, particularly because of their collaboration with Europeana. The team of CC Poland therefore expects a large increase in the use of the CC0 by libraries, archives and museums. We are proud to hear that for example the Polish National Institute for Museums and Public Collections (Narodowy Instytut Muzealnictwa i Ochrony Zbiorów &#8211; NIMOZ) in a <a href="http://digitalizacja.nimoz.pl/zalecenia-nimoz/zalecenia-w-zakresie-udostepniania/prawne-aspekty-digitalizacji" target="_blank">brochure</a> recommends the use of CC0 for digitized museum resources.</p>
<p>From now on, CC0 in Polish is available on the CC server at <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.pl" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.pl</a>.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46226
title: Supporting user rights for mass digitization of culture
uri: Supporting-user-rights-for-mass-digitization-of-culture
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46226
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46230" src="media/e5318e92.molly.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/molly.jpg" alt="molly" width="600" height="450" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyali/3102761252/">Assignments of copyrights photostat copies</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyali/">mollyali</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">CC BY-NC 2.0</a></small></p>
<p>A few months ago the United States Copyright Office issued a <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/06/09/2015-14116/mass-digitization-pilot-program-request-for-comments">request for comments</a> on an extended collective licensing (ECL) pilot program they are considering for mass digitization projects. The Office thinks that such a program would permit greater access to cultural works by allowing institutions to engage in mass digitization and then licence those digital collections for a fee. Creative Commons and Creative Commons USA <a href="media/4d8fb7c0.CC_ECL_filing_Oct_9.pdf" data-original-source="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/1/10/CC_ECL_filing_Oct_9.pdf">submitted comments</a> to the Copyright Office in coordination with <a href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/09/access-mass-digitization/">Wikimedia</a> and <a href="https://blog.archive.org/2015/10/08/our-comments-on-copyright-office-recommendations-for-mass-digitization-no-extended-collective-licenses-please-2/">Internet Archive</a>.</p>
<p>We urged the Office to reconsider the pilot because the fair use doctrine has actually been strengthened in the U.S. due to recent court cases. This has increased the certainty with which a number of entities can engage in mass digitization. And even though the Office points toward similar pilots in Europe, their reliance on ECL is a response to the inflexibility of the current EU copyright framework. Some European cultural heritage institutions are willing to accept the ECL framework because they have no other option. U.S. institutions—such as university libraries—can rely on fair use.</p>
<p>The ECL system as proposed by the Office would not work well to support mass digitization projects. Many authors are not primarily interested in financial rewards—for example those that write scholarly books. And if there is no expectation of revenues for the creator, paying a collective rights organization collect fees to use such works is inefficient and in opposition to the intentions of these authors.</p>
<p>The proposed ECL scheme in the U.S. would be more powerful if it could do more, but the Office has chosen to favor a pilot program that would “facilitate the work of those who wish to digitize and provide full access to certain collections of books, photographs, or other materials for nonprofit educational or research purposes.” By limiting the proposed ECL scope to noncommercial uses, the Office inadvertently makes a stronger case that the activities of digitizers and users will be considered a fair use and that the ECL is not needed in the first place.</p>
<p>We explained that if the Office ultimately pursues an ECL pilot, it should affirmatively exclude works that are publicly licensed and allow other authors who wish to be excluded to apply a Creative Commons license to their work.</p>
<p>In the end, we agreed with many of the libraries that if the Copyright Office is serious about helping to increase legal mass digitization of our shared cultural heritage, it should instead focus on: 1) Encouraging the application of fair use to digitization projects; 2) Promoting the development of better copyright ownership and status information through enhanced registries, rethinking recordation, and asking copyright owners to identify themselves and their works through an internationally-compliant formalities system; and 3) Providing better access to existing copyright ownership and status information by digitizing or encouraging others to digitize and provide free access to all of the Copyright Office’s records.</p>
<p><strong><a href="media/4d8fb7c0.CC_ECL_filing_Oct_9.pdf" data-original-source="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/1/10/CC_ECL_filing_Oct_9.pdf">Comments of Creative Commons and CC USA (PDF)</a></strong></p>
<div class="entry-content"><strong> </strong></div>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46233
title: Open licensing guide for foundation staff
uri: Open-licensing-guide-for-foundation-staff
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46233
content:
<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DGaD7zDJT1y2Ule-Stq6rTgChQdDGCucr3igtJ58j_g/edit" rel="attachment wp-att-46236"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46236" src="media/32d1e813.hewlett_small.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/hewlett_small.png" alt="hewlett_small" width="600" height="280" /></a></p>
<p>Government funders are increasingly adopting <a href="http://www.doleta.gov/taaccct/">open licensing policies</a> for copyrightable works and data they create or commission. Over the last few years we&#8217;ve been excited to work with philanthropic foundations to implement similar open licensing policies for their grant-funded and in-house created works.</p>
<p>Because there is a limit to the funds available to even the largest foundations, most try to use their resources in a way that will have the greatest impact on the problems they hope to solve. We believe that in almost all cases, the copyrightable works produced with grant funding will have more impact on those problems if they are published under an open license.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">An open licensing policy is made possible through the foundation’s use of open licenses, whereby the acceptance of foundation funds requires grantees to share content developed with those funds broadly under an open license, such as the </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In addition to grant-funded content, foundations are adopting open licensing for the resources they produce themselves, such as website content, photographs, and publications. </span></p>
<p>Several leading foundations have adopted default CC BY licensing policies in the last few years, such as the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/43768">William and Flora Hewlett Foundation</a>, the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44865">Ford Foundation</a>, the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/44365">Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation</a> (for all grant-funded research), and the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45510">Vancouver Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>Recently the Hewlett Foundation has revised and released an <strong><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DGaD7zDJT1y2Ule-Stq6rTgChQdDGCucr3igtJ58j_g/edit">Open Licensing Toolkit for staff</a></strong>. This document is a guide for foundation program officers so staff are well-informed on the default policy and can work effectively with grantees on open licensing. It answers common questions, explains the Creative Commons license, and provides best practices for marking different types of works under open licenses. The toolkit also includes sample language for grant proposals and reporting requirements.</p>
<p>Hewlett has generously agreed to license the toolkit under CC BY so that other foundations can utilize it for their specific grant workflows. Thanks to Hewlett for this great resource!</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DGaD7zDJT1y2Ule-Stq6rTgChQdDGCucr3igtJ58j_g/edit">Hewlett Foundation Open Licensing Toolkit for Staff (Google docs)</a></strong></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46245
title: A plea from the Commons: #FreeBassel now
uri: A-plea-from-the-Commons-FreeBassel-now
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46245
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46249" src="media/f5390ef8.bassel.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/bassel.jpg" alt="bassel" width="600" height="400" /></p>
<p>As the <a href="https://summit.creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons Global Summit</a> kicks off this week in Seoul, we are acutely aware of the absence of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil">Bassel Khartabil</a>, the Palestinian-Syrian open source software engineer and activist who led the CC Syria affiliate team. He has been imprisoned in Syria since March 2012.</p>
<p>It is an incredibly dangerous time for Bassel. Earlier this month <a href="http://mediaoriente.com/2015/10/03/we-need-everybodys-help-to-freebassel/">we heard</a> that Bassel had been transferred from Adra Prison to an unknown location. Bassel&#8217;s name has been removed from the register at Adra Prison, and his bed has been assigned to another prisoner. There is little to no other information about his status, health, or whereabouts.</p>
<p>In this uncertain time it&#8217;s now more important than ever for our community to raise awareness about Bassel&#8217;s situation and re-commit to calling for his safe release. Here&#8217;s some things we all can do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Sign the <a href="https://www.change.org/p/immediate-release-of-bassel-safadi-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AF%D9%8A-freebassel">Change.org petition</a> calling for Bassel&#8217;s immediate release from prison;</li>
<li>Follow and share information using the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23freebassel&amp;src=typd">#FreeBassel</a> hashtag and follow <a href="https://twitter.com/freebassel">@freebassel</a> on Twitter;</li>
<li>Add information to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil">Bassel’s wikipedia page</a>;</li>
<li>Follow and share posts from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FreeBasselSafadi">FreeBasselSafadi</a> on Facebook;</li>
<li>Share and have your organization sign the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2015/10/07/281995">Human Rights Watch petition</a>;</li>
<li>Follow and share information about Bassel on EFF&#8217;s <em><a href="https://www.eff.org/offline/bassel-khartabil">Project Offline</a> </em>profile;</li>
<li>Follow information on <a href="http://freebassel.org/">FreeBassel.org</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Keep Bassel in the spotlight. #FreeBassel.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46253
title: Creative Commons Board of Directors approves resolution calling for Bassel Safadi release
uri: Creative-Commons-Board-of-Directors-approves-resolution-calling-for-Ba
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46253
content:
<p>At its meeting on October 16, 2015, the Creative Commons Board of Directors unanimously approved the following motion:</p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong>Consensus Resolution re: Bassel Safadi</strong><b> </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">WHEREAS: Creative Commons is hosting its bi-annual Global Summit in Seoul, South Korea from Oct 15-<span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1750153354"><span class="aQJ">17, 2015</span></span>, an event that has previously been attended by Bassel Safadi (Khartabil), where he was an active and valued contributor, and where he is today profoundly missed by his friends and colleagues.</p>
<p dir="ltr">WHEREAS: Mr. Safadi has served faithfully and diligently as the Public Lead of CC Syria since 2009, and among other immeasurable contributions:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Built Aiki Lab Community Center in Damascus that has hosted talks from key figures in the open web movement in support of Creative Commons communities in the Arab region;</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Volunteered on countless free culture projects including Creative Commons, Mozilla, Wikipedia, and Openclipart;</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Participated in and was a leader of several Creative Commons Arab Regional Meetings, including work to forge a unified Arabic translation of important CC licensing and public domain concepts;</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Was named in 2012 as a one of the Top Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy for insisting on a peaceful Syrian revolution; and</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr">Was awarded by Index on Censorship the Digital Freedom Award in 2013.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>WHEREAS: Mr. Safadi’s contributions to Creative Commons have always inspired collaboration, community, and the sharing of culture and knowledge, including his leadership in the development of the #NewPalmyra, and his activism and involvement in the CC community and open internet community is deeply missed since his arrest and imprisonment without trial or assistance of counsel in March 2012.</p>
<p dir="ltr">NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: that the Board of Directors hereby calls on Mr. Safadi’s captors for his immediate and safe release.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46265
title: Read the story of Bassel Khartabil, Syrian prisoner who lives and risks dying for a free Internet
uri: Read-the-story-of-Bassel-Khartabil-Syrian-prisoner-who-lives-and-risk
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46265
content:
<p><em>The original article was written by Stéphanie Vidal in Slate.fr. It has since been published under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license</a>. Please attribute author Stéphanie Vidal and Slate.fr as the place of first publication by linking to the <a href="https://www.slate.fr/story/107927/bassel-khartabil-prisonnier-syrien-internet">original article</a>. The following has been translated into English by Philippe Aigrain, Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay, and Jean-Christophe Peyssard. The translated source text is available <a href="https://annuel.framapad.org/p/freebassel-traduction-slate">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46270" src="media/a120b1bf.bassel1.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/bassel1.jpg" alt="bassel" width="600" height="405" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopheradams/6553833251">Bassel Khartabil</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopheradams/">Christopher Adams</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>.</small></p>
<p>Known worldwide as a free Internet defender and an Open Source culture promoter, he has been detained for three years and a half by the Bashar al-Assad regime and has been transferred from Adra prison to an unknown place on 3 October 2015. On October 10th, his wife has been informed that his <a href="http://freebassel.org/">name has been deleted from the prison register</a>, without further information on where he could be. None of the parties involved recognizes they have him or not.</p>
<p>Bassel Khartabil, 34, a fervent defender of a free Internet and promoter of open source culture, has been held prisoner since 15 March 2012 in the jails of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. According to the <a href="http://en.alkarama.org/iraq/1763-syria-un-calls-for-the-release-of-freedom-of-speech-advocate-bassel-khartabil">opinion</a> of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention during its 72nd session held in Geneva in April 2015, he had been arbitrarily detained for “peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression” and having “advocated a non-restricted use of the Internet.” Khartabil was transferred on 3 October 2015 from Adra prison, located in the north-eastern outskirts of Damascus, where he has been imprisoned since December 2012. He was taken to an unknown location, possibly for trial. Accused without evidence having ever been presented against him, he is more than ever in danger.</p>
<p>A developer recognized worldwide for his contributions to open source projects such as Mozilla Firefox, Wikipedia and Creative Commons, Bassel Khartabil was also involved in local action, based in Damascus at Aiki Lab, a place dedicated to digital art practices and teaching of collaborative technologies. For all of his work, he was awarded by the Foreign Policy website the 19th position on its prestigious <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/11/26/the-fp-top-100-global-thinkers/">Global Thinkers ranking of 2012</a>, and in 2013 won the <a href="https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/03/winners-index-awards-2013/">Digital Freedom Award from the Index on Censorship</a>, an international organization that promotes and defends freedom of expression since 1972.</p>
<p>His imprisonment and his recent transfer deeply affect and concern the Open Source community and activists for human rights and the fundamental freedom of free communication of thoughts and opinions. At the announcement of the news, Jillian C. York, director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an organization defending civil liberties in the digital world, posted on her Twitter account the following message:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">We know petitions won&#8217;t convince Syria (or anyone) but it&#8217;s all we&#8217;ve got. Please help get the word out so Bassel stays safe.</p>
<p>— Chillian J. Yikes! (@jilliancyork) <a href="https://twitter.com/jilliancyork/status/650380722465730560">October 3, 2015</a></p></blockquote>
<p>In less than 140 characters, Jillian C. York managed to raise two realities: the frightening silence of the Syrian government in response to the actions taken for the release of Bassel Khartabil, and the protection power that lies in the watchfulness of the Internet users for political prisoners fate. On the first point, Ines Osman, Coordinator of the Legal Service of the Alkarama Foundation NGO, linking the victims of violations of human rights in the Arab world and UN mechanisms, confirms the impassivity of the Syrian authorities:</p>
<blockquote><p>We have taken action at the UN twice, in 2012 and 2014, and the Syrian authorities have never responded to UN requests. This past April, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for the release of Bassel, and this appeal once again remained ignored. It is essential that the international community is calling for the implementation of these decisions, which clearly state that his most basic rights were not respected: he was arrested, held incommunicado, tortured, and brought before a military judge with false accusations.</p>
<p>On Saturday morning, we were informed that Bassel had been transferred from the Adra jail towards an unknown destination. Nobody knows his present whereabouts. We immediately informed the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances. We hope that this time, the Syrian authorities will answer.</p></blockquote>
<p>When there is no longer respect for human rights, public calls can only state what one hopes for. This brings us to the second point: the more the affirmation of our hope is shared and present on the Web and social media, the more it may turn to a reality. Bassel’s engagement in favor of a free Internet may have brought him to jail, but the attention that we, citizens on the Internet, give to this case may, to some degree, help bring him out of the darkness. To demonstrate interest for his life is one of the ways by which people can become aware that in Syria, one can die because one uses a smartphone and understands how the Internet works.</p>
<h3>Survival in Adra, even under the bombings</h3>
<p>To tell Bassel’s story over these last five years is also to try to portray implicitly a devastated Syria, from the beginning of the Syrian revolution 15–18 March, 2011 (first calls to uprising, further to the Egyptian revolution; first “Friday demonstrations” and their brutal repression) to the slow transformation of this revolution into an inextricable armed conflict where 240,000 people have died and millions have been displaced.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46296" src="media/398617df.bassel2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/bassel2.jpg" alt="bassel2" width="600" height="399" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4670781482">Bassel</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi">Joi Ito</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>.</small></p>
<p>Bassel Khartabil, who was forced by restraint to remain in Syria, is yet another of these prisoners whose total number is hard to confirm: one speaks of 8,000 prisoners, of which 600 are women, in Adra prison alone, three times its nominal capacity. Prisoners have been jailed in Adra for a wide variety of allegations such as drug dealing or drug use, murder or robbery, but it also detains prisoners whose name is known abroad for the engagement in favour of freedom of expression. Mazen Darwish, for instance, is one of them. He is the President of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, arrested in February 2012, almost a month to the day before Bassel Khartabil. He was <a href="http://en.rsf.org/syria-mazen-darwish-free-at-last-10-08-2015,48211.html">freed temporarily</a> on 10 August 2015 before being found not guilty of the charges of “publishing information on terrorist acts” on the 31st of the same month.</p>
<p>Detained under other charges, Bassel Khartabil was accused in front of military courts, and thus excluded from the general political amnesty of June 2014, which, though opaque, cleared many peaceful activists of the charges brought against them. Khartabil was thus still in Adra when the jail was stormed by the armed rebel group Jaysh al-Islam, who took control of two of its buildings on September 12th, a date that may be symbolic as it is the day after Bashar al-Assad’s fiftieth birthday. The prisoners found themselves caught between bombings by the regular army and fire by the rebels trying to free the jail. Bassel Khartabil survived this deluge of fire, but it seems that <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Sep-12/314959-11-dead-in-rebel-shelling-on-damascus-activists.ashx">around twenty other prisoners were killed</a> and several dozens, possibly up to one  hundred, were injured.</p>
<p>Again, when it comes to Syria, information sources are difficult to obtain. Numbers are approximate, speech is choked in fear, and communication is slowed because of regime surveillance. As stressed by the lawyer Benoît Huet in an op-ed published in the French newspaper Libération, the war in Syria has also become, in a connected world, an information war, raising the question of its dissemination and manipulation. Internationally, this information war prevents us from clearly seeing the facts in a media-pervasive but terribly distant conflict because of its extreme complexity. This should not make us overlook the other information war, which raged this time at local level: in the heart of Syria, personal information and content posted on social networks are used as weapons.</p>
<h3>Syrian smartphones, fear in the pocket</h3>
<p>The internet, and particularly social media such as Facebook, have been privileged communication venues used by the Syrian population to testify about the revolution of 2011 and the regime’s bloody repression. The documentary <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_SIeljZ3Tc">Syria: Inside the Secret Revolution</a></em>, initially <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015flwq">broadcast by the BBC</a> on 26 September 2011, gathers some of these videos which, after their publication online, allowed the international community to realize the revolt on Syrian streets.</p>
<p>It should nevertheless not be forgotten that the Internet has not always been authorized in Syria, nor Facebook accessible to its population. As he took office after the death of his father Hafez in June 2000, Bashar al-Assad appeared like a reformer, demonstrating an open spirit in several economic and political domains. He even made access to the Internet possible but, understanding the power of the network, took care to have most social networks censored by 2007, followed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Syria">Wikipedia in Arabic</a> in 2008.</p>
<p>From the start, the network was monitored: those who would go to cybercafés had to show proof of identification and their web history was kept, as explains Wahid Saqr, former officer of security of the Syrian government, to Mishal Husain in the second episode of <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDjCYBMxZAQ%2042:10">How Facebook Changed the World: The Arab Spring</a></em>, as well as another <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b014s261">documentary</a> broadcast by the BBC on 15 September 2011.</p>
<p>It was only in February 2011 that Bashar al-Assad permitted access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The gesture, intended to be magnanimous, was quickly interpreted as threatening, because social network were also appearing to be a useful tool for the government to surveil its population and gather information on those who could, through words and images, be opponents. Employed as digital surveillance weapons, these social networks have been used to track those whose voice could rise, virtually or for real, against the Damascus regime, but also all those who had computer means or competences.</p>
<p>Dana Trometer, researcher and producer of the documentaries quoted above, could feel this dreadful reality:</p>
<blockquote><p>People who I met for all movies on which I worked on the Arab world, and especially of Syria, have very often been forced to escape or have unfortunately disappeared shortly after our interviews.</p></blockquote>
<p>Even today, on the road of exile, refugees explain that it is particularly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/world/europe/a-21st-century-migrants-checklist-water-shelter-smartphone.htm">dangerous to carry a mobile phone</a>. This simple possession can lead to arrest — or much worse — by Syrian government representatives or ISIS members who ask them, at their respective checkpoints, to give their Facebook username and password to determine their political allegiance.</p>
<p>Bassel Khartabil said that in Syria, holding a mobile phone was much more dangerous than walking around with a nuclear bomb. Because of his job as a developer and his commitments to the promotion of a free Internet, it was impossible for him to get rid of his computers and connected mobile phones, nor to forget his knowledge of information technologies. On 31 January 2012, two weeks before being arrested, he posted the following tweet:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>the people who are in real danger never leave their countries. they are in danger for a reason and for that they don&#8217;t leave <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Syria?src=hash">#Syria</a> — Bassel Safadi (@basselsafadi) <a href="https://twitter.com/basselsafadi/status/164355948582932480">January 31, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3>Wanting to build: the AikiLab and Palmyra Project</h3>
<p>His role of Creative Commons lead in Syria and his participation, at the international level, in the free culture movement, led him to frequent travels abroad, but he would always go back home. It was in Poland, at the September 2011 Creative Commons Summit, that his friend Jon Phillips, who has since become the leader of the #FreeBassel campaign, saw him for the last time:</p>
<blockquote><p>I begged him to not go back, that he would be killed or made a prisoner. He tried to reassure me by telling that maybe he would not be risking that, and that anyway, his friends, his family, his love was there, that he could not stay away. We cried and it was really ugly, then we spent the rest of the night laughing and designing a new world. When the sun rose, he took his cab, waved a last time through the open window, and I remember thinking that it was the last time I would see him; that he would be arrested as soon as he got out of the plane.</p></blockquote>
<p>It didn’t exactly happen like that: Bassel Khartabil got a few more months of respite, during which he continued his local engagement. Syria was under an embargo, and only certain proprietary software was permitted to be taught in universities. In 2010, Bassel Khartabil thus founded the <a href="https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Aiki_lab">AikiLab</a>, described, depending on the person, as a hackerspace or a cultural center, in order to allow education in social media and open source technologies.</p>
<p>Developers, artists, professors, journalists and local entrepreneurs would frequently visit the AikiLab space, described by artist Dino Ahmad Ali as a large apartment with two rooms where anyone could come to work and even sleep if the task was long, and drink a coffee or a beer in the kitchen to give oneself courage, or to relax. The large living room was fit for conferences, and Internet celebrities visited to share their knowledge, such as Mozilla founder Mitchell Baker MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito.</p>
<p>Dino Ahmad Ali and Bassel Khartabil were also colleagues. They were both working for a publishing house called Al-Aous, on <a href="http://discover-syria.com/">Discover-Syria.com</a>, a website providing cultural information on Syria — Dino was artistic director and Bassel the technical director. Bassel Khartabil dedicated years of his life to a project which was particularly close to his heart, the <a href="https://archive.org/details/freebassel-palmyra">Palmyra Project</a>. On a CD-ROM, this project was an ambitious virtual tour of the ancient city, fully reconstructed in 3D images from documents of scientific and archaeological research. &#8220;Initially, Bassel was only dealing with programming, but as a person with multiple talents, he learned to use the Maya software and began to produce 3D models,&#8221; remembers Georges Dahdouh, who joined the team several months as head of 3D modeling. &#8220;He also learned the functioning of a game engine to conceive the path of the virtual tour in 3D and at the end, together with other team members, he would work on every other aspect except for copyright and research, for which a team was dedicated to the study of historical sources and interviews with archaeologists.”</p>
<p>Oriented for a general audience, Project Palmyra was expected to constitute a sort of digital encyclopedia on this city, also called Tadmor, bringing its return through the gathering of images and texts and discovering new technologies involving specialists and archaeologists. Khaled Al-Assad was the director of antiques of Palmyra between 1963 and 2003 and a friend of Bassel Khartabil. This scholar was beheaded on 18 August 2015 by ISIS, before his body was exposed on the streets by his executioners and photos broadcast on social media.</p>
<p>Since the CD-ROM has not been published, the members of the #FreeBassel campaign decided to revive Palmyra Project by launching on 15 October 2015 #NewPalmyra, an online community and a platform of data storage, in order to honor the work of Bassel. The project is directed by Barry Threw, a digital artist and director of software for Obscura, who also contributed to #racingextinction, a video projection on the Empire State Building. Behind both hashtags is a similar desire to use architecture to raise public awareness by displaying endangered species on one of the most famous skyscrapers in NYC, raising awareness on climate change, or by putting digital technology at the service of a threatened Syria. &#8220;The Ancient City of Palmyra was a vital gateway for commerce and cultures,&#8221; said Threw. &#8220;With #NewPalmyra, we oppose the foolish destruction of archaeological treasures led by ISIS by the will of construction of a man like Bassel Khartabil. We hope this project will raise awareness on his work and contribute to his liberation.&#8221;</p>
<h3>A civilian pursued by a military tribunal</h3>
<p>On 15 March 2012, while leaving his place of work in the district of al-Mazzeh in Damascus, Bassel was arrested by men of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Intelligence_Directorate_%28Syria%29#Regional_Heads_of_Military_Intelligence">Branch 215</a>, one of the military intelligence services in Damascus. After having been interrogated and tortured for five days, he was accompanied to his house so that his computers and documents could be seized. He was then detained in secret for nine months. We know since then that he was first taken to Branch 248 of military intelligence and that he spent eight months in solitary confinement in the Adra prison. He was presented to a military court on 9 December 2012.</p>
<p>&#8220;The military court, specialised in trials of military criminals in times of war, reports to the Defense minister and not to the Justice minister. It is composed of three soldiers, including one president. Its procedures are kept secret, and the accused do not have the right to a lawyer’s assistance,&#8221; explains Noura Ghazi, attorney and human rights activist, who was engaged to Bassel Khartabil a short time before he was arrested. &#8220;Sentences are particularly severe and result in death. Penalties are executed immediately, preventing any re-examination of the sentences. Since 2011 events, when the military court was activated to persecute peaceful activists such as Bassel, <a href="http://forusa.org/content/anas-shughri-ns-shwgry">Anas and Salah Shughri</a> and many others. This is a clear violation of the law, the Constitution and even the founding decree of this court.&#8221;</p>
<p>A civilian without a lawyer on trial by a military court, Bassel Khartabil saw his trial last for no more than a few minutes, without any evidence presented against him, as underlined the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. After this expedited and unfair trial, he was immediately transferred to the prison of Sidnaya, known to be <a href="http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/2008/07/24/revelations-sur-le-massacre-de-la-prison-de-saydnaya">one of the most infamous of the regime</a>.</p>
<p>Bassel was then sent again to Adra prison, where he could receive a visit from his family on 26 December 2012. They found him in an alarming physical and psychological state. He obtained the right to marry Noura Ghazi in prison on 7 January 2013. He has been detained in Adra until 3 October 2015. According to a message posted on that day on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FreeBasselSafadi">Facebook page of the #FreeBassel campaign</a>, he was &#8220;transferred from the Adra prison to an unknown location after a patrol, which origin is unknown, came to ask him to arrange his affairs. It is assumed that he has been transferred to the headquarters of the military police civil tribunal in the district of al-Qaboun. Once more, we do not know where Bassel is, and are very worried.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bassel Khartabil, developer, teacher and pacifist, who survived torture, solitary confinement, hunger and bombing, certainly lives under the knife of a terrible sentence. Do not forget, you certainly have a mobile phone in your pocket.</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46302
title: WIRED article highlights #NEWPALMYRA project launch
uri: WIRED-article-highlights-NEWPALMYRA-project-launch
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46302
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46304" src="media/f3ee2270.freebassel-palmyra2.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/freebassel-palmyra2.jpg" alt="freebassel-palmyra2" width="600" height="410" /><small>Temple of Bel 3-D model renderings, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0</a></small></p>
<p>Today marks the launch of <a href="http://www.newpalmyra.org/">#NEWPALMYRA</a>, an online community platform and data repository dedicated to the capture, preservation, sharing, and creative reuse of data about the ancient city of Palmyra. The project features 3-D models of ruins from Palmyra created by Bassel Khartabil, the lead for Creative Commons Syria who has been imprisoned there since March 2012.</p>
<p>In today&#8217;s WIRED article <em><a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/10/jailed-activist-bassel-khartabil-3d-models-could-save-syrian-history-from-isis/">A Jailed Activist’s 3-D Models Could Save Syria’s History From ISIS</a>, </em>Andy Greenberg highlights the project&#8217;s dual purpose:</p>
<blockquote><p>The New Palmyra Project seeks to digitally rebuild those structures as they’re being physically deleted—and in doing so, put a spotlight on the project’s creator that could help pressure the Assad regime to release him.</p></blockquote>
<p>#NEWPALMYRA says that it will &#8220;work  to source archeological and historical data, share it with the community, and output art exhibitions, salons, and creative works using this data to carry the rich history of Palmyra forward to new generations.&#8221;</p>
<p>All data collected by the project will be released into the public domain using the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 Public Domain Dedication</a> at <a href="http://www.newpalmyra.org/">newpalmyra.org</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bassel&#8217;s contributions to Creative Commons have always inspired collaboration, community, and the sharing of culture and knowledge,&#8221; said Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons. &#8220;We&#8217;re proud to see these historical monuments preserved and protected digitally and shared freely with the world. Because of his leadership, #NEWPALMYRA will live on for everyone as part of the Commons.&#8221;</p>
<p>Visit <a href="http://www.newpalmyra.org/">newpalmyra.org</a> for more information and to download the 3-D models.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46327
title: White House takes another step in support for open education
uri: White-House-takes-another-step-in-support-for-open-education
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46327
content:
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-46328 aligncenter" src="media/2763bc0a.nap600.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/nap600.png" alt="nap600" width="600" height="610" /></p>
<p>Yesterday the Obama administration released an updated version of its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/27/advancing-open-and-citizen-centered-government">Open Government National Action Plan</a>. Ever since the launch of the global <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Government_Partnership">Open Government Partnership</a> in 2011, participating nations have made commitments to work on initiatives “to promote transparency, increase civic participation, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to make government more open, effective, and accountable.” Included in the U.S. plan is a section aimed at supporting open educational resources and open licensing.</p>
<blockquote><p><b><i>Expand Access to Educational Resources through Open Licensing and Technology (p.3)</i></b></p>
<p><i>Open educational resources are an investment in sustainable human development; they have the potential to increase access to high-quality education and reduce the cost of educational opportunities around the world. Open educational resources can expand access to key educational materials, enabling the domestic and international communities to attain skills and more easily access meaningful learning opportunities. The United States has worked collaboratively with domestic and international civil society stakeholders to encourage open education initiatives. Building on that momentum, the United States will openly license more Federal grant supported education materials and resources, making them widely and freely available. In addition to convening stakeholders to encourage further open education efforts, the United States will publish best practices and tools for agencies interested in developing grant-supported open licensing projects, detailing how they can integrate open licensing into projects from technical and legal perspectives.</i></p></blockquote>
<p>You’ll recall that Creative Commons and over 100 other organizations <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45872">called on the White House</a> to act so that federally funded educational materials are made available under liberal open licenses for the public to freely use, share, and improve. One way for the Obama administration to meet this goal is to make open licensing policy a major commitment in their updated Open Government National Action Plan.</p>
<p>The newest White House plan—released during the <a href="http://ogpsummit.org/">Open Government Partnership Summit</a> in Mexico City this week—is not as progressive as our earlier recommendations. Still, it mentions open education and open licensing as important areas for action. And this type of work could help move the U.S. toward a default open licensing policy for the digital education and training resources created with discretionary federal grants funds.</p>
<p><strong><a href="media/88300754.final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf" data-original-source="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/final_us_open_government_national_action_plan_3_0.pdf">Text of the updated U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (PDF)</a></strong></p>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46345
title: US Dept. of Education proposes Open Licensing Policy. CC joins White House announcement.
uri: US-Dept-of-Education-proposes-Open-Licensing-Policy-CC-joins-White-H
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46345
content:
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="media/569cac9d.ED-Seal.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ED-Seal.png"><img class="alignleft wp-image-46391 " src="media/569cac9d.ED-Seal.png" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ED-Seal.png" alt="U.S. Department of Education Seal" width="348" height="348" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Yesterday, Creative Commons joined the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for a series of important announcements that will advance OER in grades PreK-12 across the United States. ED announced the launch of its <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-launches-campaign-encourage-schools-goopen-educational-resources">#GoOpen</a> campaign to encourage states, school districts and educators to use Open Educational Resources (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources">OER</a>). OER, made &#8220;open&#8221; by CC licenses, will benefit schools in a number of ways including: increasing equity, keeping content relevant and high quality, empowering teachers, and saving districts money.<em><br />
</em></p>
<blockquote>
<h5>&#8220;In order to ensure that all students—no matter their ZIP code—have access to high-quality learning resources, we are encouraging districts and states to move away from traditional textbooks and toward freely accessible, openly-licensed materials. Districts across the country are transforming learning by using materials that can be constantly updated and adjusted to meet students’ needs.&#8221; &#8211; U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan</h5>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" width="500"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OER?src=hash">#OER</a> provides ALL kids w high-quality learning materials that can be constantly updated &amp; adjusted to meet students&#39; needs <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoOpen?src=hash">#GoOpen</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Arne Duncan (@arneduncan) <a href="https://twitter.com/arneduncan/status/659806933466116096">October 29, 2015</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>#GoOpen announcements include:</h4>
<p><strong>(1) Creative Commons will lead OER workshops across the country </strong>(with CC US and OER coalition colleagues) with thousands of district leaders to help them scale the use of OER with the goal to replace old, outdated, expensive textbooks in their districts with new, up-to-date, OER. CC will provide the hands-on help that districts need to propel them to a new model of empowering their teachers to create, share, customize, and improve openly licensed educational resources.</p>
<p><strong>(2) Open License Policy</strong></p>
<p>ED has proposed a regulatory change requiring &#8220;grantees who receive funding through competitive discretionary grant programs to openly license all copyrightable resources created with ED funds. This open license will allow the public to access and use the intellectual property for any purpose, provided that the user gives attribution to the creator of that work.&#8221;</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="media/15bbaa9b.OET-Open-License-NPRM-FINAL-Web-Posting.pdf" data-original-source="http://tech.ed.gov/files/2014/06/OET-Open-License-NPRM-FINAL-Web-Posting.pdf">Notice for the Proposed Rule</a></li>
<li>Members of the public can <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">submit comments</a> for 30 days.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<h5>&#8220;By requiring an open license, we will ensure that high-quality resources created through our public funds are shared with the public, thereby ensuring equal access for all teachers and students regardless of their location or background. We are excited to join other federal agencies leading on this work to ensure that we are part of the solution to helping classrooms transition to next generation materials.&#8221; &#8211; John King, Deputy Secretary of Education</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>While the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a> license meets this requirement, and it always better to be specific re: open license requirements (to help grantees understand and comply), and CC will suggest that ED require the CC BY license by name, the following &#8220;open license&#8221; definition looks pretty good:</p>
<blockquote>
<h5>The license must be worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable, and must grant the public permission to access, reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display, adapt, distribute, and otherwise use, for any purposes, copyrightable intellectual property created with direct competitive grant funds, provided that the licensee gives attribution to the designated authors of the intellectual property.</h5>
</blockquote>
<p>With this proposed open licensing policy, ED joins the U.S. Departments of Labor and State, USAID, and other agencies in adding open license requirements to federal grants to ensure the public has access to publicly funded resources. This policy proposal is the first major step the Obama Administration has made toward fulfilling a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/45872">call made by more than 100 organizations</a> for a government-wide policy to openly license federally funded educational materials.</p>
<p>This good news caps a busy month for OER where: <a href="http://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-franken-king-introduce-legislation-to-help-make-college-textbooks-more-affordable">legislation was introduced</a> in the U.S. Congress to provide support for open textbooks, the White House blogged about how OER provides <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/19/openly-licensed-educational-resources-providing-equitable-access-education-all">equitable access to education for all learners</a>, and the U.S. government released its 2016 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46327">Open Government National Action Plan</a>, which includes a commitment to expand open licensing of federally funded resources.</p>
<p><strong>(3) CC licenses in new OER Platforms: </strong>Creative Commons is thrilled to be working with the following platforms and congratulates them for committing to integrate CC licenses into their tools &#8211; making it easier for the public to share, find and reuse OER. CC is actively working with these (<a href="https://github.com/creativecommons/platform-initiative">and other</a>) organizations to ensure their platforms and terms of service are compliant with and fully support CC licenses. We will make joint announcements with each platform when the CC / OER integrations are complete.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Amazon</strong> will leverage its technology and expertise in content discovery and distribution &#8211; and add CC licenses to a new content sharing platform &#8211; to support OER initiatives in K-12 education. Amazon will also provide infrastructure and developer support for ED&#8217;s <a href="http://learningregistry.org/">Learning Registry</a> for two years.</li>
<li><strong>Microsoft </strong>announced new features to <a href="https://docs.com/">Docs.com</a>, Sway and OneNote Class Notebook to enable educators to create, discover, rate, and share OER. The products are integrated with Microsoft Office and will enable tailored curation of resource collections, and encourage reuse by supporting CC licenses and metadata sharing. In addition, Microsoft will index content from the Learning Registry by creating a new app so educators can search and access OER through <a href="https://www.imsglobal.org/activity/learning-tools-interoperability">LTI</a> compliant learning management and publisher systems.</li>
<li><strong>Edmodo</strong> announced an upgrade to its resource sharing platform, <a href="https://spotlight.edmodo.com/">Edmodo Spotlight</a>, to enable searching, curating, and sharing OER &#8211; using CC licenses &#8211; with the Learning Registry. Edmodo will also provide professional learning resources for districts to curate, organize and share OER in Spotlight.</li>
<li><strong>The Illinois Shared Learning Environment</strong> released a redesigned version of their <a href="http://ioer.ilsharedlearning.org/">IOER</a> platform that makes it easier for teachers and school leaders to find OER by CC license and learning standards. Additionally, IOER developer <a href="http://ioer.ilsharedlearning.org/developers/sourcecode">code</a> is available as open source for other states interested in implementing a similar functionality.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>(4) First US Government Open Education Adviser</strong>: <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-first-ever-adviser-expand-access-open-digital-resources-schools">Andrew Marcinek</a> is now working with school districts, education platforms, civil society, and open education leaders to expand awareness of OER in PreK-12.</p>
<p><strong>(5) Ten school districts will replace at least one textbook with OER within the next year.</strong></p>
<p><strong>(6) Six #GoOpen Ambassador Districts will help other school districts move to openly licensed materials.</strong> These #GoOpen Ambassador Districts currently use OER and will help other districts understand how to effectively discover and curate OER.</p>
<p><strong>(7) ASCD</strong> will provide ongoing professional development resources and webinars for Future Ready school districts committing to help train educators on the use of OER. ASCD will work with district leaders to support districts pledging to replace one textbook with openly licensed educational resources by next fall.</p>
<p>We look forward to working with ED on its new open licensing policy proposal and other exciting OER initiatives in this new #GoOpen campaign. This is another positive sign that both OER and open licensing policy are going mainstream!</p>
<p><strong>Will your country be next to #GoOpen?</strong> Send me a note if you want to shift to OER in your country: cable at creative commons dot org</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;</p>
<p><strong>Additional resources for the #GoOpen campaign:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://tech.ed.gov/open">http://tech.ed.gov/open</a></li>
<li><a href="media/e0361d19.National-Press-Release-Open-Education-Symposium-102815-1PM2.pdf" data-original-source="http://tech.ed.gov/files/2014/06/National-Press-Release-Open-Education-Symposium-102815-1PM2.pdf">ED Press Release</a></li>
<li><a href="media/91a0341e.FactSheetGoOpen-1.pdf" data-original-source="http://tech.ed.gov/files/2015/10/FactSheetGoOpen-1.pdf">Open Education Fact Sheet</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23goopen&amp;src=typd">#GoOpen</a></li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46433
title: Creative Commons Toolkit for Business
uri: Creative-Commons-Toolkit-for-Business
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46433
content:
<p><em>Guest post by Fátima São Simão, CC Portugal Public Lead; Teresa Nobre, CC Portugal Legal Lead</em></p>
<p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/145626475" width="600" height="337" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <small></small></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwDMshYbDyf7TGNrR2o2amtGLUk&amp;usp=sharing">CC Toolkit for Business Handouts</a></strong><br />
<strong> <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwDMshYbDyf7ckNFNkp5Z3p4aUU&amp;usp=sharing">CC Toolkit for Business Posters</a></strong><br />
<strong> <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwDMshYbDyf7SmFkVDIxRDIyLUU&amp;usp=sharing">CC Toolkit for Business Videos (ENG + PT)</a></strong><br />
<strong> <a href="https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwDMshYbDyf7WWczQ1REX01PYWM&amp;usp=sharing">CC Open Business Model Canvas</a></strong></p>
<p>At the 2013 CC Global Summit in Buenos Aires, Creative Commons <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/40228">launched</a> the <a href="http://www.cctoolkits.com">CC Toolkits Project</a>, an initiative aimed at developing, collecting, and organizing informational and support resources about CC. As part of that project, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/creativecommonsportugal">CC Portugal</a> proposed to develop a toolkit to help promote the use of CC licenses in business. And last month at the 2015 Global Summit in Seoul, we <a href="https://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/654529266265124864/photo/1">presented</a> the first &#8220;tools&#8221; to be included in the business-focused toolkit, including a handout, poster, and short video.</p>
<p>We were particularly interested in developing this project for two main reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>Portugal is a European country in a deep economic crisis for the last several years. Being a small economy (our population is about 10 million), its companies need as many resources as possible to gain and maintain their access to international markets.</li>
<li>We are an <a href="https://pt.linkedin.com/pub/fatima-sao-simao/2/5b7/379">economist</a> and a <a href="https://pt.linkedin.com/in/teresanobre">lawyer</a> with experience, respectively, in business development and legal consultancy for the creative industries.</li>
</ul>
<p>We&#8217;re very thankful for the contributions and valuable input from Paul Stacey, Eric Steuer, Sarah Pearson, Ryan Merkley, John Weitzmann, and Gwen Franck.</p>
<p><strong>Why a CC Toolkit for Business?</strong></p>
<p>Even if the uses of CC seem relatively clear to artists and creators, the licenses have been more difficult to justify when the authors&#8217; activities involve commercial interests. The main goal of the CC Toolkit for Business is to allow companies to understand why the use of CC licenses can be an interesting instrument to consider in their business model.</p>
<p><strong>Why Use CC Licenses in Business?</strong></p>
<p>As <a href="http://edtechfrontier.com">Paul Stacey</a> puts it, Creative Commons licenses amplify the affordances of digital technology and provide an enhanced means for social production in the networked economy. CC licenses do this by:</p>
<ul>
<li>removing artificial scarcity constraints;</li>
<li>removing barriers to access;</li>
<li>enabling rapid distribution and use;</li>
<li>allowing for customization, personalization, adaptation, translation, and localization;</li>
<li>providing a means for mass participation: fellow creators, end users, customers, and partners can contribute their expertise, suggest improvements, add new features, make enhancements, create derivatives, and ensure currency;</li>
<li>distributing production, and making it possible to produce work faster, generate work of greater breadth and depth, innovate, and increase quality; and</li>
<li>creating materials that are part of a shared global commons from which resources can be extracted for local use and to which local resources can be contributed.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The 6 Economic Benefits Identified</strong></p>
<p>The toolkit materials focus on the 6 economic benefits of using CC licenses that we have identified so far: 1) r<span style="font-weight: 400;">educe production costs, 2) reduce transaction costs and legal uncertainty, 3) increase access to innovation and reduce marketing costs, 4) increase first mover advantage, 5) i</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">ncrease &#8220;opportunity benefits&#8221; and build a reputation, and 6) promote sustainability. We examine these benefit further in this</span> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rDLqZ95fatIAz-17efwJL7oXz9Y48peExZF4y4EQNks/edit?usp=sharing">document</a>. They are a work in progress&#8211;we think there is still room for improvement and additional discussion. If you are interested on helping us continue developing these tools, please send us your feedback to <a href="mailto:creativecommons.pt@gmail.com">creativecommons.pt@gmail.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>What&#8217;s Next?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>The CC Toolkit for Business should also include practical tools (like the different open business model canvases CC has been developing), case studies from different sectors and countries, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions that will help to explain the pros and cons of CC licenses for business. CC Portugal will continue to work on developing the FAQ and other materials we find relevant to the project.</li>
<li>Creative Commons will soon publish the book <em>Made with Creative Commons: A book on Open Business Models</em>, as the result of an extremely successful <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creativecommons/made-with-creative-commons-a-book-on-open-business">Kickstarter campaign</a>.</li>
</ul>


feed_id: http://creativecommons.org/?p=46471
title: Creative Commons offers Bassel Khartabil position as Digital Cultural Preservation Fellow
uri: Creative-Commons-offers-Bassel-Khartabil-position-as-Digital-Cultural
url: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46471
content:
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-46472" src="media/fdf96c93.bassel600px.jpg" data-original-source="http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/bassel600px.jpg" alt="bassel600px" width="600" height="399" /><br />
<small><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/4116204699/">Bassel Khartabil</a> by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/">Joi Ito</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC BY 2.0</a>.</small></p>
<p>Bassel Khartabil is the lead of Creative Commons Syria. He’s been has been imprisoned in Syria since March 15, 2012. Bassel has been a key contributor to projects that digitize, preserve, and share cultural heritage works. The <a href="http://www.newpalmyra.org/">#NEWPALMYRA</a> project was launched last month, which is an online community platform and data repository dedicated to the capture, preservation, sharing, and creative reuse of data about the ancient city of Palmyra. The project features 3-D models of ruins from Palmyra created by Bassel.</p>
<p>In recognition of this work, Creative Commons is offering Bassel a position as Digital Cultural Preservation Fellow. His numerous and impactful contributions to the open web and the commons has always inspired collaboration, community, and the sharing of culture and knowledge. As a Creative Commons Fellow, Bassel can continue the important work he started years ago.</p>
<p>The Creative Commons Board of Directors <a href="https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/46253">called for Bassel’s immediate and safe release</a> in a resolution at its most recent meeting.</p>
<p>The stakes have been raised even higher for Bassel. In October we heard that Bassel had been transferred from Adra Prison to an unknown location, with no other information provided. Now, there’s even more dire news. Noura Ghazi Safadi, Bassel’s wife, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nouranoura81/posts/902703749810827?fref=nf">wrote on Facebook</a> yesterday that his life is in immediate danger. English <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FreeBasselSafadi/posts/909686595778074">translation</a> from Arabic provided here:</p>
<blockquote><p>I&#8217;ve just gotten disturbing and shocking news that Bassel has been sentenced to death. I think this means that the transfer to military prison was very dangerous. I really don&#8217;t know other news. May God help him, we hope it&#8217;s not too late. We are worried sick about his life.</p></blockquote>
<p>The EFF published this <a href="https://www.eff.org/document/igf-2015-flyer-bassel-khartabil">call for Bassel&#8217;s release</a> at the Internet Governance Forum in João Pessoa, Brazil:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>The Internet community calls on the governments of the world to reach out to the Syrian authorities immediately and urge them to reveal Bassel&#8217;s condition and location to his family and legal representatives, and to exercise clemency in his case.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Bassel&#8217;s detention is arbitrary and in violation of international human rights law. The refusal of the authorities to reveal his whereabouts is an enforced disappearance. His prosecution do not meet the standards of a fair trial. Bassel can and should be unconditionally released to the care of his family.</strong></p></blockquote>


