More than a year ago, Free Culture advocate Anas Tawileh analyzed the state of Arabic content online. His portal Arab Commons has grown modestly but steadily since its launch in 2007, offering 11 full textbooks in Arabic, plus magazines, podcasts, poetry collections, and a number of art works — all within a few months. For…
If you’re like me, you probably never even heard of the TED conference until TED Talks launched online (in April of 2007). TED stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” and their talks are given annually at the TED conference in Long Beach, CA. 50 speakers give “talks” or 18 minute speeches about a variety of issues,…
We’re at a very exciting time in the life of CC. We had a great year last year, and as you’ll read in this newsletter, CC is poised for even more growth and success in 2009 — in the realms of education, science, culture, internationally, and more. February also marks the one-year anniversary since the…
The winners of last year’s Sparky Awards are now officially up online (see today’s press release). The Sparky Awards is “a contest organized by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and adopted by campuses nationwide that calls on entrants to creatively illustrate in a short video the value of sharing ideas.” The student…
If I hadn’t interned for Clarity Films one summer, I would never have learned most of what I know now about the apartheid, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu. I spent hours transcribing interviews and condensing documentary footage into some type of digital package that I don’t recall the name of (nor do I remember the…
Canadian copyright scholar Michael Geist explains why Whitehouse.gov‘s adoption of our Attribution license for 3rd party content is important in light of Canada’s policy on government works: Now consider the Prime Minister of Canada’s copyright notice: The material on this site is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act, by Canadian laws, policies, regulations…
As previously announced, Creative Commons is researching “noncommercial use”. Last year we conducted a number of focus groups and fielded a survey (thank you everyone who responded!) designed to collect information about how creators understand the distinction between commercial and noncommercial uses of their content. Now we want to talk to people about their experience…
As you may of heard, the new Whitehouse.gov launched today at 12:01pm during Barack Obama’s inauguration. What you might not have noticed is that the copyright policy of the site stipulates that all 3rd party content is licensed under our most permissive Attribution license: Pursuant to federal law, government-produced materials appearing on this site are…
A couple interviews with CC board and staff have surfaced in the last week or two. BBC Radio 4 interviewed Creative Commons Board Chair James Boyle about the public domain and how Creative Commons helps enrich the environment of the mind. Before Jamie’s interview, the Beeb chats with Chris Anderson talks about his new book…
The digital arts organization folly has joined forces Lancashire County Council to commission art for the cities, towns, and villages of the Northwest England county. From the call for proposals: This “Digital Engagement Commission” will question the role of digital arts and its meaning and benefits for audiences in Lancashire – people who live or…