Some Rights Reserved: A Brief Introduction to the Creative ...

For this reason, the Creative Commons developed its “Some Rights Reserved” principle, where one may select or customize the copyrights for a work based upon ... Skiptomaincontent Multimedia Mainmenu SomeRightsReserved:ABriefIntroductiontotheCreativeCommons SomeRightsReserved:ABriefIntroductiontotheCreativeCommonsByScottPaulMcGinnis Peoplehavelongrecognizedthepotentialoftheinternetandcomputingtechnologytoadvancetheartsandsciencesandtoincreaseaccesstoeducationandlearning.Butthefruitionofthispotentialisneitherguaranteednorimplantedinthetechnologyitself(Rosenzweig2011);itwilltaketheeffortsofdedicatedpeopleandinstitutionstomaketheinternetintoahomefor'thefreeandopenexchangeofideas.'Bycreatingacopyrightschemethatallowsforgreatersharing,andbypromotingopeneducation,CreativeCommonsisoneinstitutionworkingtoachievethisgoal. Sinceitsfoundingin2001undertheleadershipofHarvardLawProfessorLawrenceLessig(thenatStanford),thenon-profitorganizationCreativeCommonshasbeendevelopinganewmodelofcopyrightthatfostersmoresharingandcooperationamongwriters,authors,andothers.Itsfoundersweredissatisfiedwiththe‘allrightsreserved’defaultcopyrightmodeforcreativeworks,whichtheysawasoverly-restrictiveandnotconducivetotheadvancementofartandknowledge.Thinkingthatthereweremanypeoplewhowouldwanttheircreativeworkstobemoreeasilyshared,theybuiltacopyrightframeworkundertheprinciple'somerightsreserved,'andtheydesignedittobeflexible,usablebytheartists,authors,andinventorsthemselves,andconsistentwithcopyrightlaw.ThisistheCreativeCommons. PrinciplesoftheCreativeCommons Centraltotheprojectistheprinciplethatinnovationandcreativityarefosteredbytheopenandfreeexchangeofideas.CreativeCommonsthereforeadvocatesthedevelopmentofanintellectualandartisticcommunity—thatis,a'Commons'—wherethosewhowishtosharetheirworkscandosoeasily,andwherethosewhowishtobuildupontheworksofotherscanreadilylocatefreeandopenresources.InapressreleasedatedMay16,2002,BerkeleyLawProfessorMollyVanHouweling,whowasthenExecutiveDirectoroftheCreativeCommonsproject,putitthisway:“Theaim...isnotonlytoincreasethesumofrawsourcematerialonline,butalsotomakeaccesstothatmaterialcheaperandeasier”(see http://web.archive.org/web/20020803084257/http://www.creativecommons.org/news/may16). However,itwasclearthatartists,writers,andotherswouldnotnecessarilywanttogiveupallrightstotheirowncreativeworks,sothereneededtobesomecompromisebetweenhighlyrestricted“allrightsreserved”andcompletelyunrestricted(i.e.publicdomain)formsofcopyright.Forthisreason,theCreativeCommonsdevelopedits“SomeRightsReserved”principle,whereonemayselectorcustomizethecopyrightsforaworkbaseduponcertainareasofrestriction. TypesofLicenses TherearesixmaintypesofCreativeCommonslicenses,allofwhichrequire‘Attribution’—thatis,thecreatorofaworkmustbegivencreditwheneverthatworkisused.Furtherrestrictionsmayinclude'NoDerivs,'meaningthattheworkcanbesharedbutnotaltered;'ShareAlike,'whichstipulatesthatcopiesandderivativeworksmustbelicensedunderthesamecopyrightastheoriginal;and'NonCommercial,'whichstatesthatcopiesandderivativeworkscannotbeusedforcommercialpurposes(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/).AllCreativeCommonslicensesaremadefromsomecombinationofthoserestrictions. EachCreativeCommonslicenseincludesthreelayersofinformation:thelegalcode,adescriptionforthelayperson,andamachine-readablelayer.Thisapproachisintendedtomakeaworkmoreaccessibleintwoways.First,thelayperson’sdescriptionmakesthelicenseintelligibletonon-lawyerswhowanttounderstandhowtheyareallowedtoshareorreuseagivencreativework.(Forexample,anauthorwhowishestouseapaintingasthecoverofanovel.)Second,themachine-readablelayermakesiteasierforpeopletosearchtheinternetforworksthatareavailableunderthevarioustypesofCreativeCommonslicenses.Thus,throughtheirflexibility,andbymakingcreativeworksmoreaccessible,CreativeCommonslicensesaredesignedtofostercreativityandinnovation. SomeProjectswithCreativeCommonsLicenses Wikipedia.org MITOpenCoursewarehttp://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm OpenYaleCourseshttp://oyc.yale.edu/ DigitalHumanitiesQuarterlyhttp://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/ TheOpenEducationMovement Also,CreativeCommonshasbeenactiveinpromotingopeneducation,amovementthatseekstousenewtechnologytoincreaseaccesstoeducation,especiallyamongcommunitieswithfewresources.Thisyear,incollaborationwiththeU.S.DepartmentofEducationandtheOpenSocietyFoundations,theyheldavideocompetitionwithprizesawardedtothethreevideoswhichwerejudgedtobestpromotetheidealsofOpenEducation(seehttp://whyopenedmatters.org/index.html).Thefirstprizevideoisshownhere: Bypromotingthesharingofideasandopeneducation,theCreativeCommonsorganizationendeavorstofosterinnovationandcreativityinartandeducation,andtorealizethedemocraticpotentialoftheweb. ScottPaulMcGinnisisaGraduateStudentResearcherattheTownsendCenterfortheHumanities.