CC Licenses

Introduction to Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons is an international non-governmental organization that provides free and open copyright licenses. These licenses allow creators to clearly communicate which rights they reserve and which they waive for the benefit of other creators and the public.

Purpose of Creative Commons Licenses

• Allow more flexible use of copyrighted works.
• Facilitate sharing and creative use of digital resources.
• Encourage collaboration and innovation through open access.

How Creative Commons Licenses Work

Creative Commons licenses allow authors to choose from a set of conditions for distributing their works.

Different License Options

1. Attribution (CC BY) - Allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit the author for the original work.
2. Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) - Same as CC BY, but new works must be distributed under the same license conditions.
3. Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND) - Allows redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as the work is distributed unmodified and in its entirety, with credit to the author.
4. Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) - Allows others to remix and build upon the work as long as it's non-commercial, and their new creations must also acknowledge the author and be non-commercial.
5. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) - Combination of non-commercial and share-alike.
6. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) - The most restrictive Creative Commons license, only allowing others to download the works and share them with others as long as they credit the author, but they cannot modify them in any way or use them commercially.

Use and Importance

• Flexible Protection: Allows creators to protect their work while permitting certain uses by others.
• Sharing Culture: Encourages a culture of collaboration and sharing, essential in today's digital world.
• Accessibility: Increases accessibility to educational, cultural, and scientific resources.

Opening to Open Educational Resources (OER)

• Definition: OER are teaching, learning, or research materials that are in the public domain or have been published under an intellectual license that allows their free use, adaptation, and distribution.
• Importance for Education: OER enable equitable access to educational resources, promoting education and research, especially in resource-limited regions.
• Examples of OER: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), course materials, textbooks, educational software, etc.

End of Course Note

This course provides a basic overview of Creative Commons licenses and their importance in today's digital world. It also opens discussion on Open Educational Resources, highlighting the importance of open access to education and knowledge.