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Anyone Using a Creative Commons License?
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Mod
Hi Jim! I admit to being a bit of a neophyte here. Could you explain further what a "Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike" is?
Eldon wrote: "Hi Jim! I admit to being a bit of a neophyte here. Could you explain further what a "Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike" is?"Creative Commons is a way for creators to have more control over their copyrights. Instead of either full restrictions or public domain with nothing in between, we can apply licenses that allow many levels between the two. No links, obviously, but it will be easy for you to find their website where they explain all the licenses.
As for CC-BY-SA specifically, it is on the more open side of the spectrum. It means that people who want to use the creator's work have to attribute them and also share the result in the same way. There is no restriction on derivatives -- significantly modified copies -- or commercial use, licenses that fall on the more restrictive side.
HTH
Mod
Creative Commons is a way for creators to have mor..."
Yes that does help. It reminds me where I've seen Creative Commons before - on font purchases :)
Personally, I've only ever applied for a copyright on my books, so I won't have much to add to this discussion, I'm afraid.
If you are and author and you don't want others to 'steal' your work, you copyright it. Creative commons attribution doesn't protect you. It allow others you use your work with only a link back to your site. You can copyright it and still offer it for free but no one can take the book and claim it is theirs.
Thank you for your comment, B.A. What I should do is helpfully point out where you're mistaken and try to explain it for you, but I think you'll do better to look it up for yourself. Thanks again.
Mod
In the interest of fairness to the group at large, Jim, it would be awesome if you could clarify the difference here so all members could benefit from the knowledge :)
The simplest thing to do would be to link to the creative commons dot org licenses page, but no links are allowed.Creative Commons Licenses
- from most permissive to most restrictive.
- this is a condensed summary only.
BY=Attribution
SA=Share-Alike
ND=No derivatives
NC=Non-commercial
Note: except for CC0, the creator still owns the copyright. Moral rights still apply.
CC0 - Least restrictive. Equivalent to Public Domain. Not really even a license since the copyright holder gives up all rights.
CC-BY - People can use the work in any way as long as the creator is credited by attribution.
CC-BY-SA - All use is permitted as long as the original creator is attributed and the same license is applied to all derivatives.
CC-BY-ND - Like CC-BY except the original work can't be significantly modified.
CC-BY-NC - Like CC-BY except not for commercial purposes.
CC-BY-NC-SA - Like CC-BY-SA except not for commercial purposes.
CC-BY-NC-ND - Most restrictive. Almost as restrictive as plain copyright except that works can be downloaded and shared with attribution.
That should give you an idea of the flexibility that Creative Commons brings to copyright. One thing to remember is that you can change the license after you apply it, but it can't become more restrictive. For my own novels that I have licensed under CC, I chose CC-BY-SA. I don't mind if people change them or make money from them. In fact I'd love to see it.
rjb
Mod
Thanks for sharing Jim! I'm sure that will be most helpful to many members here :)
I think the ringing silence confirms a paucity of CC users here.-)
Mod
I think you're right ;)
Richard wrote: ... Australian author Kirryn Lia Todd (see GR profile if you wish) has published at least three generally available works under the CC "Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license..."I couldn't find where it says that. Checked her website and all.
I have done some world building on World Anvil so that my readers can go and see some more background info about the characters and the world itself. I have used some images and maps from Creative Commons on that website but I have NOT published any of my own stuff under CC. I didn't use anything from CC in my book because I figured if I somehow got in trouble with CC on the World Anvil site (misattributing it, using it in the wrong way, etc.) I could just remove the images. Much harder to do with a book. Overall, I am not impressed with the resources on CC but it is a quick, easy, and cheap way to add images to my website.
Richard wrote: "Jim wrote: "couldn't find where it says that"@Jim: Hmm, sorry, you're right, I couldn't find it either on the site. But info is stated clearly in the front matter of the books themselves... Like ..."
That's interesting. The only way to find out that they're licensed CC is to buy them.-)
David wrote: "Overall, I am not impressed with the resources on CC but it is a quick, easy, and cheap way to add images to my website...."I use Creative Commons Search for images too. Another source for CC images is Wikimedia Commons. One thing I like about the CC site is their easy way to do attribution. What I like about WC is it has more images.
Richard wrote: "Jim wrote: "That's interesting. The only way to find out that they're licensed CC is to buy them.-) "Well... True... :-) Pretty much the same for standard copyright as well, isn't it? Do people u..."
Copyright is assumed, I think. It seems reasonable that if I modify it I'd want to make a note of it. Like, this looks like a beer and you might assume it has the usual amount of alcohol, but it's low alcohol. Handy if you're looking for low alcohol beer.
rjb