Areas of Interest in Copyright
Creative Commons Projects
- Science at Creative CommonsFocusing efforts on making scientific research and technical data available via CC licensing.
- CC for Open Educational Resources (OER)Partnering with the OER to provide a legal framework for open educational resources.
Defining Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.
Their free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use creative work — on conditions of the author's choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”
Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.
Creative Commons & Shared Culture
Creative Commons License Types
Creative Commons offers a variety of different licenses ranging from Public Domain (the most open license) to licenses that require the work to be attibuted to the original author, for non-commercial use only, and doesn't allow any modification or adaptation to the original work (most restrictive license available).
The following infographic summarizes the types of licenses and their noted restrictions. Click the image to view the full infographic.
"How To Attribute Creative Commons Photos" by Foter under CC by SA
Resources for Contributing to Creative Commons
- About CCLearn about the Creative Commons organization, their mission, and the benefits of using & participating by contributing CC materials.
- Choose A LicenseUsing this tool, you can choose your creative commons license, generate metadata, and generate a CC icon for your work.
- Creative Commons InformationThe UCF Libraries' Scholarly Communication Advisory Group's page addressing CC.
Resources for Creative Commons Content
- CC SearchOffers an easy way to search a variety of CC content from one location. Be sure to double check that search results are retrieving CC-licensed work.
- FlickrSearch millions of CC licensed images that can be filtered by license type.
- Google Image SearchUsing Google Images' advanced search, use the "Usage Rights" field to search for Creative Commons images.
- CCMixterccMixter is a community music site featuring content licensed under Creative Commons.
- YouTubeYouTube allows users to search for CC licensed content using search filters. After entering your search terms, use the "Filters" drop down to select "Creative Commons".