As part of our effort to build a more vibrant and usable commons, CC is trying to hone in on what makes sharing truly meaningful.

Image by Sebastian Ter Burg, CC BY

It was my first time at the global Creative Commons summit, and though I knew a bit about Creative Commons, this was my first adventure into meeting and learning from the community.

Listening at the CC Global Summit. Photo by Sebastian Ter Burg, CC BY

As a Copyright and Digital Scholarship librarian, I spend a lot of time talking to people about the rights they have to the things they create, and as an active member of the open community, I often find myself encouraging others to apply Creative Commons licenses to their work.

Photo by Svetlana Yermakovich, CC BY

With each question igniting long conversations, and the discussions ultimately illustrating shared objectives and processes behind the three books, we all walked away happy to have the lively dialogues recorded, if not on our computers, at least in our memories.

Photo by Sebastiaan Ter Burg, CC BY

From April 28-30, nearly 400 commoners gathered in Toronto, Canada in support of the commons for three days of connecting, collaboration, and debate.

Together with re:3d, an Austin-based 3D printing company, and the #NEWPALMYRA project, a community platform dedicated to the virtual remodeling and creative use of architecture from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, Creative Commons has produced a 200 pound, 7.5 feet tall 3D rendering of one of the Palmyra Tetrapylons.

Alicja Peszkowska gets up close with Johannes Larsen’s ‘Hvinænder i en våge’, 1899, picture by Jonas Heide Smith, Watching the Watchers, CC BY

Imagine a Vilhelm Hammershøi painting printed out and hung over your fireplace, a 3D printed sculpture in your garden, or maybe a party that mixes Spotify playlists with an opera singer performing romantic songs in front of the newly acquired Friedrich’s painting.

Creative Commons believes that providing pathways to participation is crucial to our goal of lighting up the commons and we’re proud to support so many participants from our Global Community.

The Global Network will identify and collaborate on a series of shared interests and priorities, which we have called Platforms.

What if we could use technology to connect municipal campaigners and enable them to share knowledge and tools in an open resource kit across traditional geographic and partisan divides?