Resource of the Week #198: Creative Commons

Hello again.

Imagine that you’ve created a resource—for example, a slide set, handout, or report. You want others to be able to copy, use, and share it. However, you want to ensure that you remain identified as the author. And maybe you want to allow only some types of uses.

In such a situation, consider our Resource of the Week: Creative Commons. Through the Creative Commons website, you can obtain a license saying that the work must be attributed to you and stating any limitations regarding its use.

For instance, you can specify whether the work can be used only without changes or whether it also can be adapted. You also can specify whether you allow commercial use of the work.

The website includes resources and guidance for marking your work with a Creative Commons license. Doing so tells potential users what kinds of uses are permitted.

Creative Commons materials have been adapted for use in well over 50 countries. Adaptations include translation into local languages and modification to suit local contexts.

According to the Creative Commons website, the number of works licensed through Creative Commons grew from 50 million in the year 2006 to 882 million in 2014. For more about Creative Commons, please see http://creativecommons.org/.

Until the next post—

Barbara