Today Creative Commons is proud to release our report on the Needs Assessment entitled Are the Creative Commons Public Domain Tools Fit-For-Purpose in the Cultural Heritage Sector?.
From 1 January (Public Domain Day) to 15 February 2022, we ran a multilingual online survey using Google Forms to share a 50-question questionnaire in English, French and Spanish. We received responses from 133 field practitioners — working in libraries, museums and archives and other areas of open culture — from 44 different countries on five continents.
This report showcases one of the many ways in which we at CC strive to support our global Open Culture community in realizing a vision for better sharing of cultural heritage: we develop and steward a legal, social, and technical infrastructure that supports open sharing that is impactful, generative, equitable and resilient. The insights gained from this report are crucial in guiding our efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of our public domain tools for the cultural heritage community. At CC, we are committed to improving our response to the needs of our global community and supporting better sharing, and the maintenance of our licenses and tools, focused on the communities they serve, takes center stage.
With this report, we gain valuable insight into the unique needs and challenges of the cultural heritage community with regard to our public domain tools: the public domain mark (PDM) and the public domain dedication tool (CC0).
Key findings include:
We also define pathways to address those needs, with strategic recommendations to guide future actions in four steps:
With the recommendations outlined in this report, we are well-positioned to address the unique needs and challenges of the cultural heritage community, and to further our mission of promoting better sharing and equitable access to cultural heritage.
Do you also want to get involved? Don’t hesitate!