Plaintext
Share, Reuse, Remix —
Legally.
N E W S L E T T E R
http://creativecommons.org Issue No. 9 1
October 2008
2
CC Newsletter - Issue No. 9
Message
Dear All, see the word fundraising and
immediately your eyes glaze over
The past couple of months have not been easy — living in — but please, keep reading! If
uncertainty never is. What is certain, though, is that we need you care about what we’re doing,
to increase creative problem solving and innovation on a if you think it’s important, then you
global scale. As I sit here thinking about innovation and will want to know what’s going on
how it happens, I’ve come to realize that we’ve been able to with the part of the organization
highlight only a very small percentage of the progress made responsible for making sure the
possible thanks to the tools CC develops and provides for free (CC) things you care about are
that enable people to harness the power of the Commons actualized. A l ex R o b e r t s . “M e lis s a
and the open Web — and that gives me hope. It gives me Reeder.” CC BY 3.0
hope because it means that there are millions of projects, Our annual fundraising
initiatives, thinkers, and doers out there making advances in campaign is CC’s most important fundraising initiative. It
every realm of thought, and that have the potential to help raises vital unrestricted funds for CC’s core operations, and
solve some of the world’s biggest problems — and just think it encourages our community members to rally around CC,
about the innovation possible if all that information was free proving to us, to others, and to the U.S. government that we
and accessible! are a publicly supported organization — that we’re important
and necessary. This newsletter will walk you through the
The past three newsletters have highlighted various concept and components of the recently-launched campaign,
CC projects: Creative Commons International, Science so that you can get a better sense of what CC is doing, where
Commons, and Culture Commons, and their impressive our priorities lie, where we want to go, and how we need
accomplishments over the past year. While this newsletter you — the community — to help us get there.
adheres to the previous format of highlighting some significant
CC accomplishments over the past two months, its main focus All the best,
is to update you on a part of CC that is vital to each of our
programs and projects, and yet rarely gets acknowledged Melissa Reeder
— the development department. Not development as Development Manager
in software, but development as in community building, Creative Commons
outreach, and the ever important — fundraising. You may
Contents
The Inside Scoop
3 Build the Commons 10 dublab and Creative Commons launch Into Infinity,
a CC-licensed art and music project themed around
CC News the infinite possibilities of creative reuse.
4 Flickr Co-founder Caterina Fake Joins the Creative
Commons Board. ccLearn
5 American presidential candidates show support for 11 Latam Commons 2008: ccLearn to host a three-day
“open debates.” conference in Santiago, Chile on “open licensing,
open technologies, and the future of education in
CC International Latin America.”
5 Former CC General Counsel to lead Australian 14 Bill Enabling Community Colleges to Establish OER
government digital economy push. Pilot Program is signed into law
6 Launched! Creative Commons Romania reports on a
successful event.
7 CC Jordan: First Arabic Version 3.0 License draft in
public discussion.
8 Australian National Innovation Review recommends
Creative Commons.
Culture Commons
9 Featured Commoner: Brad Sucks, a CC license-using
pop/rock musician and one of the most remixed artists
at cc Mixter.
The Inside Scoop
Help Build the Commons
http://support.creativecommons.org/
On October 15th, CC launched its fourth annual fundraising
effort - the Build the Commons campaign. I would like to
take this opportunity to extend a hearty thanks to those of
you who have already joined in our efforts. We’re off to a
pretty good start, but but there is still much more we can do!
We’ve set some pretty ambitious goals for this campaign (we CC Network
want to raise $500,000 by December 31!), but as long as This is a brand new feature of Creative
each of us does our part to rally the community and show Commons. While it was launched in
our support of CC, I am certain we can meet those goals. We conjunction with the campaign, it is a
must keep up our momentum, throughout the campaign and year long, permanent option for CC
beyond, to continue broadening CC’s reach and ensuring community members. By joining the
a long-lived future for both CC and the Commons. We’ve Network, you will become part of a
only got two months to make the 2008 campaign the most worldwide communit y dedicated to
successful yet, and with so many ways to support CC, there’s building the Commons and bringing
no reason we can’t exceed our own expectations! open content to all corners of the globe.
When you donate $50 or above ($25 for
There are many skeptics who think this is a precarious time students) to Creative Commons, you will
to launch a major fundraising initiative; we disagree. This receive a profile page, where you can
is an opportunity. An opportunity to call our community list all your CC licensed works; a button
members to action -- to help us make sure that the Commons you can put on your works that shows the
continues to grow and be supported. The innovation I spoke world you are part of the CC Network and
of before stems from collaboration and knowledge exchange, helps authenticate your ownership; and
both of which are facilitated through access and sharing, a Creative Commons OpenID.
and all of which are made possible by the Commons. An
incredible example of the kind of innovation the Commons CC Videos Project
inspires is the beautifully-made short film about CC, A Another way we are asking people to help Build the
Shared Culture, which was directed by Emmy-award winning Commons is to submit a short 90 second video clip of you
filmmaker Jesse Dylan, and released in support of CC’s 2008 explaining why you support CC to our CC Videos Project.
fundraising campaign. You can watch the video at http:// CC and the Commons exist because of creative community
creativecommons.org/asharedculture/. members like you! As CC and the Commons continue to
grow, it’s important to capture and share the stories of how
This campaign is not just about raising money, though as a our worldwide community uses CC. We want to hear and see
non-profit organization, that is a very important component! your stories of how CC has helped you make and disseminate
More than anything, our campaign is about building your work. Tell us, and the world, why CC is important to
community and awareness around CC. As more information you. For more information about this project, please visit
becomes digital and is born digital, it is imperative that the http://support.creativecommons.org/videos.
Commons and its community grows apace. Otherwise, the
Commons runs the risk of stagnation and restriction — the Commoner Letter Series
antithesis of innovation. CC is dedicated to making sure this We are honored this year to have five
doesn’t happen, but in order to do that we need your help. exceptional members of our community
We’re asking people to help Build the Commons by using voicing their support of CC and the Build
CC licenses and CC licensed work, evangelizing CC and the the Commons campaign through the
openness we stand for, educating others about CC (because Commoner Letter email series, sent out
your reach is much further than ours), and joining the CC between now and December. This year’s
Network. By doing any or all of these things, you are actively “Commoners” are Eben Moglen, Renata
building the commons — the pool of content freely and legally Avila, Richard Bookman, Jonathan Coulton,
accessible to EVERYONE to use, re-use, and re-purpose — a and Jimmy Wales. The first letter, which was
vital public resource in this digital age. There are many ways sent October 20th, was written by Eben
to participate in the Build the Commons campaign — below Moglen, founder of Software Freedom Law
are just a few. For more ways to participate, please check out
http://support.creativecommons.org.
Build the Commons > 12
CC Newsletter - Issue No. 9
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CC Newsletter - Issue No. 9
CC News
Flickr Co-founder C aterina Fake
Joins the Creative Commons Board
by Eric Steuer
25 August 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8953
http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/8949
We are very excited to announce that Caterina Fake[1] has “We’re thrilled that Caterina is joining the CC board,” said
joined the Creative Commons board. Fake cofounded the Joi Ito, Creative Commons’ CEO. “Her vast experience in
massively popular photo sharing site and community Flickr[2] business and social media make her a perfect addition to
in early 2004. To date, Flickr’s community of photographers our team. We’re all honored and excited to be able to take
have licensed over 75 million photos[3] to the public under advantage of her expertise and abilities to advance Creative
Creative Commons copyright licenses, making the site one Commons’ mission of increasing access and reducing
of the biggest sources of permissively licensed material on barriers to collaboration.”
the Internet. Fake is also a writer and artist, and is currently
the Chief Product Officer for startup Hunch.[4] Fake has won many awards, including BusinessWeek’s Best
Leaders of 2005, Forbes‘ 2005 E-Gang, Fast Company’s Fast
This is an excellent addition to the CC team. 50, and Red Herring’s 20 Entrepreneurs Under 35. She was
named to the Time 100, Time’s list of the world’s 100 most
San Francisco, CA, USA – August 25, 2008 influential people. She sits on the boards of Etsy and Hunch,
and advises a variety of startup companies.
Creative Commons announced today that Flickr cofounder
Caterina Fake has joined its board of directors. Fake joins a board of directors that includes cyberlaw and
intellectual property experts James Boyle, Michael Carroll,
Fake cofounded the massively popular photo sharing site and Lawrence Lessig, Eric Saltzman, and Molly Shaffer Van
community in early 2004. Flickr was one of the first media- Houweling, as well as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales,
sharing sites to embrace Creative Commons licensing as a education innovator Esther Wojcicki, filmmaker Davis
way to encourage users to make their work available to the Guggenheim, Public Knowledge founder Laurie Racine, and
public for free and legal use. Since the site’s inception, Flickr’s MIT computer science professor Hal Abelson.
community of photographers have licensed over 75 million
photos to the public under Creative Commons copyright Endnotes
licenses, making it one of the biggest sources of permissively- 1 http://www.caterina.net/
licensed material on the Internet. CC-licensed Flickr photos 2 http://www.flickr.com/
are now used in a variety of projects and publications, 3 http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
ranging from Wikipedia to The New York Times. 4 http://www.hunch.com/
After Flickr was acquired by Yahoo in 2005, Fake helped
develop Yahoo’s social search products, ran its Technology
Development Group, and founded Brickhouse, a rapid
development environment for new products. She left Yahoo in
June 2008 and subsequently took on the role of Chief Product
Officer for startup Hunch. Fake is also a writer and artist, and
was Salon.com’s art director prior to founding Flickr.
“Creativity flourishes when ideas are freed from legal
impediments, when people are able to create and give,”
Fake said. “In both my personal and professional work,
I’ve seen Creative Commons remove obstacles, allowing
the best of culture and ideas to be freely shared. I hope
to be able to contribute to Creative Commons’ already
significant success.”
CC News CC International
A meric a n p r e s i d e n ti a l Former CC Gener al Counsel
candidates show support for to lead Australian government
“open debates” digital economy push
by Eric Steuer by Mike Linksvayer
6 October 2008 16 September 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9910 http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9510
Two recent posts on Lessig’s blog show that both of the Congratulations to former Creative Commons General
major party US presidential candidates support the idea of Counsel Mia Garlick,[1] who has joined the Australian
debate footage being available to the public for free and government to lead its digital economy initiatives:[2]
legal use.
iTWire has learnt that Mia Garlick, an Australian lawyer
Last Thursday, Lessig posted a letter of reply[1] he’d received who was most recently product counsel for YouTube, has
from Trevor Potter, the general counsel of the McCain-Palin been appointed to head the Australian Government’s
campaign. The letter says that the campaign “supports drive for the digital economy future, as assistant secretary
[the] suggestion that those who may own rights in the in the Department of Broadband Communications and
debate video dedicate those rights to the public domain.” the Digital Economy (BCDE)
Potter continues: “Barring that, copyright holders should at
the very least give utmost respect to principles of fair use Her appointment is linked to communications minister
by allowing non-commercial use of debate excerpts, thus Stephen Conroy’s announcement this week of plans
ensuring that spurious copyright claims do not chill vigorous to prepare Australia for the future ‘digital economy’.
public discourse.” In preparation for this initiative the department
advertised in May for “a talented and highly motivated
Then, on Saturday, Lessig blogged that Barack Obama senior manager to lead the Digital Economy Branch
had reaffirmed[2] his support for open debates, which he’d within the Department…[to provide] leadership and
earlier established during the primaries via a letter to DNC strategic direction to a branch with responsibility for the
Chairman Howard Dean. Obama’s letter asks that debate development of the digital economy in Australia.”
footage “be available freely after the debate, by either
placing the video in the public domain, or licensing it under While at CC, Mia led development of the CC version 3.0
a Creative Commons (Attribution) license.” licenses[3] and nearly every other project we undertook during
her tenure, in addition to undertaking regular speaking
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. engagements worldwide. Her intelligence, energy, and wit
are certainly just what the Australian digital economy needs.
Endnotes Good luck!
1 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/10/great_news_from_the_
mccain_cam_1.html It’s also worth noting that Creative Commons Australia[4]
2 http://lessig.org/blog/2008/10/obama_on_open_ has long been a leading CC jurisdiction project, especially
debates_1.html in the field of public sector information. Just in the last week
the National Innovation Review recommended CC[5] and a
minister immediately endorsed the recommendation.[6]
Endnotes
1 http://creativecommons.org/about/people/alumni#36
2 http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20634/127/
3 http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/7249
4 http://creativecommons.org.au/
5 http://creativecommons.org.au/node/188
6 http://creativecommons.org.au/node/189
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CC International
L aunched! Creative Commons Romania reports
on a successful event
by Michelle Thorne
10 September 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9339
Journalists, bloggers, and CC suppor ters gathered non-commercial videos to share online (example).
last week in Bucharest to celebrate the launch[1] of the [6]
Since the purpose of the song was to share the
localized Romanian Creative Commons licenses.[2] CC fun spirit of the HI-Q band, the artists decided that
Romania[3] Project Lead Bogdan Manolea reports on the such a request should be granted directly. With a
event’s success and how popular Romanian artists such as CC licence, the conditions for using a creative work
HI-Q [4] have embraced Creative Commons’ flexible and are very simple and easy to understand.
free licensing system.
On this occasion, the HI-Q band announced that
The public was interested in details about the the vocal tracks from the band’s next single will be
practical implementation of CC licences starting released under the Romanian CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
with the way attribution works and ending with the license.[7] Fans will be invited to create remixes of the
practical advantages of choosing CC licences for tracks and upload them to music-sharing websites.
an artist. The best covers may also be included in the band’s
next album.
Regarding other speakers at the launch:
The band Travka[8] was the first group in
Romania to release an entire album under
a CC licence. Band member Razvan Rusu
explained that they looked for “a kind of an
open source licence” that could be used for
their music, which is how they found and
agreed to use the CC licences.
Ioana Avadani, from the Center for
Independent Journalism,[9] emphasized
the fact that today, attribution might be
more important than all the other author’s
rights. She also pointed out that small TV
and radio stations are forced to close down
because of the demand to pay several
copyright royalties. Creative Commons
“George Gadei @ Travka” (http://flickr.com/photos/levynagy/1260573093/in/
photostream/ ) by LevyNagy, (http://flickr.com/photos/levynagy/) available under
could offer a viable alternative.
a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommerical-Share Alike license. (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) Photo from a prior concert. The national television station TVR Cultural featured
the launch of CC Romania,[10] as did a number of
online news portals Hotnews[11] (Romanian) and
Transindex[12] (Hungarian), and several blogs (e.g.
Florin Grozea from the popular band HI-Q [5] Drept & Internet,[13] Nicu,[14] Hoinar pe web[15] and Webservator).
pointed out that the licences are a valid solution [16]
The event was organized by EDRi-member Association for
for some of the problems that artists face, as the Technology and Internet[17] (APTI Romania) with help from the
licences provide a set of rules more flexible than the Center for Independent Journalism.[18]
traditional copyright. He also presented a practical
case with their older, very well-known song “Gasca
mea (My Mob)”, for which they received a lot of
requests from teenagers to use the song to make
CC International
CC Jordan: First A rabic Version
3.0 L ic ense dr a ft i n pu bl ic
discussion
by Michelle Thorne
1 October 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9778
Endnotes
1 http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9097 Jordanian legal exper ts
2 http://creativecommons.org/license/?lang=ro are making major s trides
3 http://creativecommons.org/international/ro in the Creative Commons
4 http://www.hiq.ro/tv/ license porting process [1] by
5 http://www.hiq.ro/tv/ producing the first Version
6 http://www.hiq.ro/blog/florin/2007/12/29/gasca-mea- 3.0 CC license draf t [2] in
pe-youtube/ Arabic. Adapted to Jordanian law, the license draft is
7 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ro/ being discussed on CC Jordan’s mailing list,[3] along with
8 http://www.travka.ro/ the license’s English re-translation[4] and an explanation
9 http://www.ijf-cij.org/bucharest.html of its substantial legal changes.[5]
10 http://www.tvr.ro/articol.php?id=45584
11 http://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-it-4197114-video- With the support of the reputable Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual
cre ative - commons- acum-limba-romana-toate - Property (AGIP),[6] CC Jordan Project Leads Ziad Maraqa
drepturile-rezervate-unele-drepturi-rezervate.htm and Rami Olwan have committed much time and expertise
12 http://tech.transindex.ro/?cikk=8024 in developing the Jordanian license draft. Hala Essalmawi
13 http://legi-internet.ro/blogs/index.php?title=cultura_ (CC Egypt) and Anas Tawileh (initiator of Arab Commons)
libertatii&more=1 &c=1&tb=1&pb=1 [7]
contribute to CC Jordan’s efforts as well as conduct local
14 h t t p : / / n i c u b u n u . b l o g s p o t . c o m / 2 0 0 8 / 0 9 / outreach to further Creative Commons’ mission.[8] Individuals
creativecommons-romanian-launch.html and organizations interested in beginning a local Creative
15 http://hoinar-pe-web.blogspot.com/2008/09/creative- Commons project in their jurisdiction or in helping raise
commons-pentru-romania.html awareness about Creative Commons in the Arab World,
16 http://w w w.webservator.ro/creative-commons-in- please contact Creative Commons International[9] and CC
romania/ Arab Media Consultant Donnatella della Ratta.
17 http://www.apti.ro/
18 http://www.ijf-cij.org/bucharest.html On behalf of CC Jordan, we warmly welcome you to join in
the public discussion[10] of the license draft. Congratulations
to CC Jordan and the Arab Commons team, and we are
looking forward to your feedback!
Endnotes
1 ht tp://wiki.creativecommons.org/International_
Overview
2 http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/international/jo/
translated-license-v3.pdf
3 http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-jo/
4 http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/international/jo/
english-retranslation-v3.pdf
5 http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/international/jo/
english-changes-v3.pdf
6 http://www.agip.com/
7 http://www.arabcommons.org/
8 http://wiki.creativecommons.org/History
9 http://creativecommons.org/international
10 http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/cc-jo/
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CC International
Australian National Innovation Review
recommends Creative Commons
by Michelle Thorne
9 September 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9293
CC Australia[1] writes[2] about an important
report that advises Australian governments
to follow open publishing standards and
recommends using a Creative Commons
license for government material released for
public information.
Those interested in open access to public
sector information will be excited to see
the results of a recently released Australian
Federal Government Review of the
National Innovation System, http://www.
innovation.gov.au/innovationreview.
The final report, titled Venturous
Australia, was prepared for Senator
Kim Carr, Minis ter for Innovation,
Industr y, Science and Research, by
consultants Culter and Co, headed
up by industry consultant and strategy http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/158279302_c3738314ed.jpg. Appropriately
adviser Dr Terry Cutler. It places a strong enough, a photo of Mia Garlick (far right) visiting Brian Fitzgerald, Stuart
emphasis on open innovation, stating in Cunningham, and Jessica Coates at CC Australia in 2006. Nic Suzor (http://
flickr.com/photos/nicsuzor/) / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
the introduction:
by-sa/2.0/)
“Today innovation is understood to
involve much more than the transmission
of knowledge down the pipeline of production
from research to development to application. In
the age of the internet, with the opportunities for
collaboration which it opens up, open innovation
is increasingly important.”
Most importantly from an open access point of view,
it was Recommendation 7.8 which is most exciting:
“Australian governments should adopt international
standards of open publishing as far as possible.
Material released for public information by Australian
governments should be released under a creative
commons licence.”
The full report is available at http://www.innovation.gov.au/
innovationreview/Documents/NIS-review-web.pdf.
Endnotes
1 http://www.creativecommons.org.au/
2 http://www.creativecommons.org.au/node/188
Culture Commons
Featured Commoner: Brad Sucks, a CC license-using pop/rock
musician and one of the most remixed artists at cc M ixter
by Cameron Parkins
29 September 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9750
Brad Sucks,[1] a CC license using pop/rock musician, recently Well, I resisted officially CC licensing my stuff for a long
released his latest album Out Of It[2] for free online and time, I thought it was unnecessary and a bunch of legal stuff
under a CC BY-SA license.[3] Brad is one of the most remixed I didn’t think anyone wanted to care about. But now I think
artists[4] over at ccMixter,[5] runs an active blog,[6] interacts the CC license is simply a shortcut to telling people “hey, go
with fans directly,[7] and was recently interviewed[8] by the ahead”. While I had clearly said on my website “do whatever
Featured Commoners behind The Indie Band Survival you like”, people would constantly ask me for permission
Guide.[9] Needless to say we needed to catch up with Brad anyway, which was strange to me.
and ask some questions of our own - read on to learn about
Brad’s influences, why he uses CC licenses, and how he I think CC licenses, the entire open attitude is absolutely
feels about his work essential for artists that don’t have huge promotion budgets.
being remixed and W ithou t th e mon ey
reused. to force adver tising
and radio play down
Can you give our p e o p l e ’s t h r o a t s ,
r e a d e r ’s a b i t you have to rely on
of background the good will of your
on you and your fans spreading your
music? How long music for you. And if
have you been you handcuff them by
creating music? making it illegal, I think
W ha t are your you’re doing yourself a
influences? real disservice.
I started taking classical guitar lessons when I was 10 years You are one of the
old. I hated practicing and was never very good and quit most remixed artists
because it was boring. Then when I was 14 or so I got into at ccMixter.[11] Why
MOD/S3M trackers (Scream Tracker and then later Impulse do you think that
Tracker) and was really into industrial/electronic music. I got i s? W h a t i s yo u r
an electric guitar a few years later and started trying to fit it reaction to that title?
all together as digital recording matured.
I’m not sure why it is, but I’m super happy about it. I think I got
My influences were mostly classic rock as a kid. Pink Floyd, in early and have been very lucky that people have wanted to
Rolling Stones, etc, the stuff my dad listened to. As a teenager mess with my songs, whatever their reasons are. I have some
I was into more aggressive stuff: Ministry, Skinny Puppy, small theory that the simplicity of my songs maybe makes
Nine Inch Nails, etc. Besides being a lot harder, it had a real them easier for people to work with, to imagine what can
DIY ethic to it. There usually wasn’t much of a “band”, just be done with them, but I don’t know if that’s true. I haven’t
one or two guys working on recordings. That was a huge compared my music with the other stuff that’s available on
inspiration because it seemed normal to me to think of doing ccMixter. So I’m gonna go with luck.
everything myself. After that I mellowed out and de-gothed
a bit but I secretly wish I could take myself seriously enough Brad Sucks > 12
to rock like Ministry.
You release your music under a CC BY-SA license.
Why did you choose to go that route? What has
[10]
your experience been like? What would you say to
an artist who is considering using CC licenses on
their project?
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Culture Commons
dublab and Creative Commons launch Into Infinity, a CC-licensed
art and music project themed around the infinite possibilities of
creative reuse
by Eric Steuer
26 August 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8998
I’m happy to announce that dublab[1] and Creative Commons Into Infinity comprises a collection of ready-to-remix 12-inch
have launched Into Infinity,[2] a CC-licensed art and music circular artworks and 8-second music loops created by a
project themed around the infinite possibilities of creative vast array of artists from around the world. Contributors
reuse. The online exhibition is available now; physical include world-renowned graffiti artist Kofie, 2008 Whitney
installations are being planned for Winter 2008 and Biennial alumni Lucky Dragons, Anticon collective member
throughout 2009. Odd Nosdam, and electronic musicians Flying Lotus and
DNTEL (AKA Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service). New
Earlier this year, we distributed 12? circular canvases to a submissions will be added to the exhibit regularly.
collection of visual artists. We also commissioned an array
of musicians to create eight-second audio loops. We went
through all of the submissions and posted the best online,
including pieces by world-renowned graffiti artist Kofie,[3]
2008 Whitney Biennial alumni Lucky Dragons,[4] Anticon
collective member Odd Nosdam,[5] and electronic musicians
Flying Lotus[6] and Dntel[7] (AKA Jimmy Tamborello of The
Postal Service).
Each time you refresh the site’s exhibition[8] page, you’ll
get a new art and loop combination. All of the images
and sounds are published under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial[9] license and (as you may have
guessed) we strongly endorse the sharing and remixing of
this project. You can download the pieces individually via
the links on the exhibition page; you can also download the
entire project (including the site’s source code) all at once
via the downloads[10] page.
Stay tuned for updates, because we’re talking to new artists
and musicians all the time and we’ll be adding new pieces All of Into Infinity’s works are available for download under
to the exhibition regularly. Soon, we’ll also issue a formal a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial copyright
call for remixes of Into Infinity’s works, many of which we’ll license. This license gives the public the legal right to
include in future versions of the show. share, remix, and reuse all of the pieces of Into Infinity for
noncommercial purposes. For the full terms of this Creative
Ready-to-Remix Art and Music Exhibit Online Now; Commons license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Physical Installations to Follow by-nc/3.0/.
San Francisco, CA, USA and Los Angeles, CA, USA Into Infinity’s producers invite people to download the
— August 26, 2008 exhibit’s works and use them as source material for their
own creations.
Today, dublab and Creative Commons announced the launch
of Into Infinity, an art and music exhibit jointly produced by the “Into Infinity is all about embracing the infinite possibilities
two nonprofit organizations. The online version of the exhibit of art and music,” says Mark McNeill, dublab’s founder. “
is online now at http://intoinfinity.org; physical installations These works are available to everyone in the world to reshape,
are being planned for Winter 2008 and throughout 2009. remix, and redesign as many times over as possible. We can’t
DubLab > 12
ccLearn
L atam Commons 2008: ccLearn to host a three-day conference
in Santiago, Chile on “open licensing, open technologies, and the
future of education in L atin A merica”
by Jane Park
6 October 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9920
Santiago, Chile: ccLearn is hosting a three day conference the meeting wiki (http://derechosdigitales.org/wiki/Creative_
on “open licensing, open technologies, and the future of Commons_Learn) for additional information about travel,
education in Latin America” from November 19th to the lodging, and the meeting agenda.
21st. The conference is split up into three meetings over the
three days. This meeting is intended to catalyze conversations and
projects that will continue after the meeting is over, and
Nov 19 is for Creative Commons International, where CC to build relationships among people and organizations so
affiliates will meet to discuss the latest developments in that we can bring our collective energies and resources to
licensing and other CC-related issues. Though this day of bear on common challenges for open education. Future
the conference is only CC, the latter two days are open to meetings are already planned, and we look forward to seeing
all. From the Latam Commons 2008 invitation: the progress on this global effort that grows out of Latam
Commons 2008.
“We are writing to invite you to join us in Santiago,
Chile, on Nov 20-21, for a ground-breaking Please direct any questions or concerns to Ahrash Bissell,
meeting about open licensing, open technologies, Grace Armstrong, or Claudio Ruiz. We hope to see you
and the future of education in Latin America. The in Santiago.”
meeting on Nov 20 is called Latam Commons
2008: Creative Commons, Open Education, and Endnote
the Public Domain. It is being co-hosted by ccLearn, 1 http://www.derechosdigitales.org/
the education division of Creative Commons, and
Derechos Digitales.”
You can register for the Nov 20 meeting on Open Education
at http://accesoalacultura.cl/registros-cclearn. Registration is
free and open to anyone until we reach our capacity of
60. So register now to reserve your spot.
“Derechos Digitales [1] is also hosting a seminar on the public
domain on Nov 21, to which everyone is welcome.” There is
no attendance limit on this day.
“Latam Commons 2008 is expected to include representatives
of different organizations and projects in open education from
throughout the Latin American region. The meeting will be a
participatory gathering in which all attendees will be able to
discuss a range of issues relevant to open education in Latin
America, with the goal of developing a broad understanding
of major education issues in the region and a focused vision
of how open education and widely available educational
resources can address these needs. As the workshop will
be dynamic and discussion-based, we are inviting anyone
interested in these issues to attend and contribute.
Please visit the registration page at: http://accesoalacultura.
cl/registros-cclearn/ You can sign up for one or both of the
meeting days at this site. Registration is free, and some
meals will be provided for all registered participants. Visit
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CC Newsletter - Issue No. 9
9 < Brad Sucks 10 < DubLab
Outside of musical remixes, have there been wait to see all of the creative ways people use them.”
any other interesting cases of reuse that you can
speak of? “Sampling, remixing, and repurposing other people’s
work has resulted in some of the greatest art of our times,”
My music’s wound up in lots of videos, school projects, VH1, says Eric Steuer, Creative Commons’ creative director.
recently a condom ad, before that it was in the stock MP3 “With this project, we want to make the statement that
player in a French car. Just lots of weird, awesome stuff this sort of creativity should not only be legal, but also
I never could have planned or had the foresight to make explicitly encouraged.”
happen. And I think it’s excellent, I just love to see the songs
out there doing their own thing, having lives of their own. It Into Infinity’s producers add that new works made from assets
feels like having kids: “Oh, so that’s what you’ve been up offered online will be eligible for submission to the exhibit.
to! You crazy song, you!”
“As the show regenerates and expands, we’ll incorporate
Is there anything else you’d like our readers to the best remixes into the show for display online and in our
know? What do you have in store for the future? real-world exhibitions,” says McNeill.
I may do a bit of touring in the new year, I’m trying to decide About dublab
if I can do it without going into huge debt.. If you want to
see me in your area, sign up on http://www.bradsucks.net/ dublab is a nonprofit creative collective devoted to the
live/ and put yourself on the map. That’s what I’ll be using growth of positive music, arts, and culture. At the core of
to determine where I go. the organization’s operations is a web radio station that
broadcasts several streams of dublab’s signature “future
In the meantime I’m trying to recharge a bit creatively. roots” music. dublab has been broadcasting online since
Experimenting with sounds, working on some stories, a few 1999 and now reaches more than 300,000 international
web projects, tinkering with songs I’ve got banked up. Staying listeners monthly. dublab’s creative actions include art
on track to finish the album took a level of discipline I’m not exhibits, film projects, event production, and record releases.
used to so it’ll be nice to play around a bit again and see Into Infinity follows along the vibrant conceptual curve of
what shakes out. dublab’s previous art projects: Up Our Sleeve, The Dream
Scene, and Patchwork. Information about all of these projects
Endnotes is available at http://dublab.com/artaction.
1 http://www.bradsucks.net/
2 http://www.bradsucks.net/albums/out_of_it/ Endnotes
3 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 1 http://www.dublab.com/
4 http://ccmixter.org/stats 2 http://intoinfinity.org/
5 http://ccmixter.org/ 3 http://keepdrafting.com/
6 http://www.bradsucks.net/blog/ 4 http://www.hawksandsparrows.org/
7 http://www.bradsucks.net/forums/ 5 http://www.myspace.com/nosdam
8 http://ccmixter.org/artist-spotlight-q-a?topic=brad- 6 http://www.flying-lotus.com/
sucks 7 http://www.jimmytamborello.com/
9 http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9448 8 http://www.intoinfinity.org/exhibition
10 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 9 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
11 http://ccmixter.org/ 10 http://www.intoinfinity.org/exhibition/downloads
ccLearn
Bill Enabling Community Colleges
to Establish OER Pilot Program is signed into law
by Jane Park
30 September 2008
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/9783
Although we’ve already had a weekend plus a Monday to leveraging the value of OER, so her presentation served
digest COSL’s Open Ed ‘08,[1] the events from the conference as a useful lesson regarding such issues from a different
and general good feeling inspired by speakers and individual domain. Many of the key tools and technologies developed
conversations still drives us forward into the week and the by Creative Commons, such as the CC Plus protocol,[6] are
beginning of next month. This year’s conference featured core elements of the Magnatune site. What possibilties lie
several notable speakers; the keynotes themselves were given ahead for OER?
by WikiEducator’s[2] Wayne Mackintosh, Magnatune’s[3] Teresa
Malango, and MITE’s (Monterey Institute for Technology and MITE on How to Build a Financially Self-
Education)[4] Gary Lopez . Personally, I attended all three sustaining OER: Practical Considerations: Gary launched
keynotes plus a few other sessions from which I extracted an interesting study of how OER could financially sustain
some thought-provoking facts and ideas. itself, based on MITE’s own policy regarding individuals and
institutions. Basically, the premise is that individuals shouldn’t
WikiEducator, Commonwealth of Learning: have to pay, but someone’s got to?that leaves institutions who
Wayne broke the news that WikiEducator will be moving to are usually more than happy to pay for a service that would
the awe-inspiring Dunedin, New Zealand, home to not only be free for their members. The value I took away from this
breathtaking landscapes but also Otago Polytechnic, the was this off-shoot idea; that in the age of the internet, we are
first ever university to have a default CC BY licensing policy. now living in a service-economy where content is free (either
See my interview with Leigh Blackall[5] in April. He also shed legally or illegally on the internet), but the services required
light on why many educators use WikiEducator. Surprisingly to aggregate, make cohesive, and analyze that content is
(or not, depending on your presumptions), the number one still needed. In the words of David Wiley, “If my students can
reason people go to the site is “to explore new ideas and Google it, I don’t need to teach it.” Open education is not
trends”. I found this encouraging; educators are seeking to just about freeing up content; it’s about making that content
innovate, to learn in order to innovate. Case in point: the accessible in ways that are smart, novel, and interesting.
second reason was “to learn wiki skills”. Now we’ve just
got to help them do it. Wayne also mentioned catering to Financial sustainability is still an issue, but if we go back to
different knowledge levels when it came to open source and Wayne’s presentation: what about commercial activities that
sharing. He described what he called “capability phases”. The would support OER? There are distribution channels; for
phases go something like this: personal teaching resources example, we’ve already got sites like Lulu.com,[7] and Flat
? WikiEducator featured resource ? WikiEducator featured World Knowledge[8] is another big open textbook initiative set
collaboration ? peer-reviewed resource. Teachers begin by to launch next year. We’ve also got to think about incentive
sharing their personal educational resources developed systems to get educators, researchers, and commercially
primarily for their own classroom; then they realize they employed persons to contribute beyond their full-time jobs.
can create resources on WikiEducator; furthermore, in And finally, the most important statement that, I think,
collaboration with other educators!; finally, they ensure reiterates David’s sentiment: in the development of OER,
quality by reviewing each other’s work and constantly making quality is more about the process than it is about the product.
changes to better place the work in context. Quality is a very different thing in one country’s context than
it is in the next. But the process of producing OER, of gaining
Magnatune — a history: Teresa’s presentation those critical thinking and analytic skills (remember why some
provided an outside viewpoint regarding possible business of us went to college?) yields a quality process that can be
and sustainability models for openly licensed resources. integrated universally.
She described how Magnatune was founded with a few
core principles around which the business models had to Demos: I was busy demo-ing ODEPO[9] while Nathan was
be developed. The principles included respect and fair just as busy demo-ing the Universal Education Search,[10]
compensation for the artists, engagement with the consumers, but I did get to check out one other tool?the University of
and transparency in all that they do. Much of the conference Michigan’s dScribe.[11] This technology was definitely built
focused on issues of sustainability and mechanisms for around the idea of sustainability. The basic question as I saw
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it: How do you make the materials (slides, handouts, images,
video, etc.) that an educator uses in the classroom legal so
that it can be shared online as OER? Further, how do you do
so without draining the school of huge amounts of dollars
and other resources? Answer: You build a tool that trains and
allows students to gauge and evaluate the course materials
for copyright information, and then to search for creative
replacements (licensed under a CC or other open license)
for those materials that are fully restricted. Ingenious! Props
to the U of Michigan; we look forward to seeing progress
on this initiative.
Various other sessions I attended were equally inspiring, but
the basic sentiment I gathered from everyone was that this
year’s conference marked great progress in all the projects
initiated the year previous. ccLearn is excited about its own
projects and looking forward to more dizzying collaboration
within the Open Ed community.
Endnotes
1 http://cosl.usu.edu/events/opened2008
2 http://wikieducator.org/Main_Page
3 http://www.magnatune.com/
4 http://www.montereyinstitute.org/
5 http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8235
6 http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CCPlus
7 http://www.lulu.com/
8 http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/minisite/
9 http://wiki.creativecommons.org/ODEPO
10 http://uesearch.creativecommons.org/search/
11 https://open.umich.edu/projects/oer.php#dscribe
3 < Build the Commons
Center. You can read Eben’s letter and sign up to receive future shop online using GoodShop (http://www.goodsearch.com/
letters at http://support.creativecommons.org/letters. goodshop.aspx).
A handful of unique ways to support CC Looking Forward
• Blog about CC’s Campaign launch and why you think We’re at an important juncture in the life of the Commons. We
it’s important to support CC. can either work together to ensure the Commons continues
• Include the new Campaign widget on your blog or to grow and thrive, or we can use it and not give back to it
website to encourage others to support CC. Get one -- or worse, ignore it altogether -- and watch it be restricted
here: http://support.creativecommons.org/widget and/or stagnate. A healthy and thriving commons is the key
• Stay involved by joining our events mailing list: to a future full of creativity and innovation across borders,
http://creativecommons.org/events mediums, and disciplines. It is a resource we cannot afford to
• Give an in-kind donation: check out our wish list at lose. And just as there is currently a worldwide concern about
http://support.creativecommons.org/other/wishlist depleting, contaminating, and destroying the earth’s vital
• Mission Fish lets you support CC when you buy and natural resources, I believe that if we don’t all come together
sell on eBay: right now, we may feel similar concerns about the Commons
http://support.creativecommons.org/other/missionfish as well. We’ve just barely begun to tap into the potential that
• Use the search engine GoodSearch (like google or CC and the Commons have the power to inspire, so please:
yahoo) and CC will get money each time you do. help us Build the Commons and join the CC Network today
(http://support.creativecommons.org/join).
Simply go to www.goodsearch.com and enter Creative
Commons (San Francisco, CA) as the charity you’d like to
support. You can also earn money for CC each time you
creativecommons.org
We rely on our supporters to continue our work enabling
stories like those listed above. Check it out —
Donate: http://support.creativecommons.org/donate
CC Store: http://support.creativecommons.org/store
Subscribe to the CC Weblog:
http://bloglines.com/sub/http://creativecommons.org/
weblog/rss
http://google.com/reader/view/feed/http://
creativecommons.org/weblog/rss
http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://
creativecommons.org/weblog/rss
Creative Commons was built with, and sustained by, the
generous support of organizations including the Center for
the Public Domain, the Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller
Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
as well as members of the public.
Creative Commons newsletters are also posted to the CC
Wiki. For back issues please visit:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CCNewsletter
Cover: “Building the Commons II” © 2008 Alex Roberts, based on “Building the Commons” by
Lairaja. Some Rights Reserved. Except when otherwise noted, this work is licensed under http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ This remixed image incorporates Creative
Commons’ Support page elements (http://support.creativecommons.org/), tanakawho (“At
a construction site (orange sky)” http://flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/246357466/ ),
Daniel Morris (“Construction” http://flickr.com/photos/danielmorris/298268975/), jerine
(“Singapore Skyline” http://flickr.com/photos/jerine/2597371279/), and 100kr (“Grass 01”
http://flickr.com/photos/100kr/209708058/), All licensed Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.
This newsletter is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/3.0/ — please share and remix!
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