An introduction to Creative Commons: Difference between revisions

The key thing that will enable or prevent knowledge sharing is compatible content licensing. E.g. if you and another project are both on a CC-BY-SA[1] license (the license used by Appropedia), you can share content in both directions, which is perfect. This license allows for commercial use, avoiding any uncertainty over use with advertisements, and is compatible with various other sites & /projects as well. Someone could adapt an Appropedia page, adding their own ideas, and then those additions could be used on Appropedia or elsewhere - with attribution back to Creative Citizen.

For complete beginners

For someone completely new to Creative Commons, a great place to start is the Get Creative video. There are more videos here.

Then you can Meet the Licenses, or read An Introduction To Creative Commons.

Those links don't try tell help you decide which content license is right for you. Part of the reason we use CC-BY-SA rather than using the NC (NonCommercial) clause is found at Non-commercial licenses vs open licenses. A much more extended argument is found at The Case for Free Use: Reasons Not to Use a Creative Commons -NC License.

If you're happy with the same license, then you can talk with your potential partners about details, and technical issues, such as how to ease the process of sharing between the sites.

Critique of the CC licenses from the Public Domain standpoint:

Ultimately, Creative Commons is another form of Copyright.

The Public Domain represents a completely different perspective:

• It emphasizes culture solutions based on ethics rather than law.
• It allows and encourages people to use their own best judgment, rather than negotiate permissions.
• It avoids chains of licenses and the questions of what are the boundaries of a work?
• It filters in people who truly want to share, and filters out those who want control.
• It recognizes that knowledge is worthless outside of context, but wealth is human relationships that are the context, thus orients us around people rather than content.
• It is a genuine solution that encourages genuine respect for licenses and the law.
• In the form of "Public Domain except as noted", it is compatible with all licenses except for "share alike" licenses, and it makes it possible to gradually migrate to the Public Domain.

See Andrius Kulikauskas (ms@ms.lt), Minciu Sodas and Worknets for more information about the Public Domain.