Moveon.org recently launched a contest called “Obama in 30 Seconds,” which encourages the public to create political ads in support of Barack Obama. All works must be released under a CC BY-NC-SA license and the wining ad, which will be voted on by both the public and a panel of judges including CC Founder and CEO Lawrence Lessig, will be aired nationally. The winner will also receive a gift certificate for $20,000 in video equipment.
Entries can be submitted from March 27th to April 1st, and winners will be announced on April 17th. There is a fairly in-depth F.A.Q page with all the necessary details, so if you have an interest in Obama, CC-licensed video contests, or new HD cameras, be sure to check it all out!
MoveOn.org has a message for all filmmakers, writers, directors, actors, editors, composers, graphic artists, and animators: Whether you’re a total amateur or a total pro, now is the time to use your creativity to help Barack Obama win. We’re launching an ad contest: “Obama in 30 Seconds.”
Powered by grassroots enthusiasm, Obama has won the most states and the most delegates. But the race isn’t over, and we’ve got to pull out all the stops to help him across the finish line.
We’re counting on you to make amazing ads in the next three weeks. Then, MoveOn members and the public will rate the ads, and a panel of top artists, netroots heroes, and filmmaking professionals will pick the winner from among top ads. We’ll air the winning ad nationally, and the winner will receive a gift certificate for $20,000 in video equipment.
Version 3.0 Croatia goes live
Creative Commons Croatia has successfully completed the versioning of the ported Creative Commons licensing suite in Croatia. Version 3.0 of the six standard Creative Commons licenses is now legally and linguistically adapted to Croatian law and integrated into our licensing process.
CC Croatia, lead by Diana Kovaèeviæ Remenariæ and Tomislav Medak and in affiliation with the Zagreb-based NGO Multimedia Institute [mi2], was one of the first jurisdictions to port the earliest version of the licenses (in 2004) and continues to be one of the most active Creative Commons projects worldwide.
“Kelly” is a CC-BY-NC licensed webcomic written and illustrated by Dan Goldman. The comic’s incredible mixed-media illustration reveals “a psychedelic psychodrama about love, truth and conflicting interior landscapes in a tiny shared New York apartment”. “Kelly” is serialized at ACT-I-VATE, an online comic collective.
Creative Commons Participating in Google Summer of Code 2008
This year Creative Commons will once again be participating in the Google Summer of Code. Summer of Code is a program generously sponsored by Google which pays college students to work on open source projects. The application period for students begins Monday, March 24 and is open through Monday, March 31 (a complete schedule is available).
We have some background information in the wiki, including project ideas. I’m personally really hoping for a ground-up rewrite of the validator (project suggestions). Our list of ideas is small, so let your imagination run wild; if you have questions about an ideas we’re happy to answer your questions on IRC or the cc-devel mailing list.
Simulated Comic Product hosts CC remix contest
Simulated Comic Product is a great strip licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license. Jump on over to the site to enter the remix contest that’s running until March 24:
To celebrate the upcoming book launch, we’re going to have a contest! Have you ever read an SCP strip and thought “I can do better than that”? Maybe you have an idea for a better punchline. Or maybe you could make it funnier by redrawing all of the panels in crayon. Or maybe you could combine panels from different strips to make something completely new. Now is your chance! Make an SCP remix, and post it in the comments to this post before the cutoff date on March 24.
An SCP poll will be posted to pick the winner, and the top three entries will be featured in a blog post. The author of the winning entry will get a free, signed copy of the book! Awesome.
More details here.
Steve Trash is a "Rockin' Eco Hero"
Over the past 25 years, “illusionist, eco-entertainer and kid comedian” Steve Trash has been sharing tips with kids about what we can do to make the world just a little bit greener. Steve offers his book The Magic of Ecology as a free PDF download on his website. The book is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license. Celebrating 10 years in print, The Magic of Ecology offers 22 magic tricks that illustrate ecological principles of science. Steve says the tricks are great for teachers and kids (both little and big), so check it out!
Download issues #1-4 of the ccNewsletter
We are again indebted to the graphical talents of Atty. Michael Vernon M. Guerrero, Deputy Project Lead of Creative Commons Philippines, for his beautiful “retroactively created” remixes of issues #1-4 of our bimonthly newsletter. Moreover, there’s a crisp maiden issue of the CC Philippines newsletter that mustn’t be missed. Happy reading!
Sir John Daniel comments on open education
Carnegie Mellon University hosted a symposium last week titled, Opening Learning Interplay, focused on the relationship of learning sciences and open education. At a reception towards the end of the symposium, those of us who were present were treated to an excellent speech by Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). Sir John specifically mentions the new education division for Creative Commons (ccLearn), and he admonished the broader open education community to not forget the big picture of our efforts even as we debate the legal and technical details that entail “openness”.
And he paints a brilliant picture of the promise of open education. He states,
“Open education broke open the iron triangle of access, cost and quality that had constrained education throughout history and had created the insidious assumption, still prevalent today, that in education you cannot have quality without exclusivity.
Each subsequent technology has made those economies of scale even more impressive and recast even more radically the iron triangle. Web distribution of learning materials is almost cost free. Electronic communication between students and institutions means that feedback, a vital part of learning, is faster and cheaper.
The result is that today the major obstacle to open education, because it is the major cost factor, is the creation of good learning materials. Here there are fewer technological short cuts, because the design of courses that are academically current, intellectually attractive and pedagogically efficient will always require serious investment of human brainpower. The answer is not to skimp on the brainpower, but to make the products of that brainpower more widely available.”
Read the full text of the speech on the COL site.
Creative Commons is working with GRNET to create Greece jurisdiction-specific licenses from the generic Creative Commons licenses.
CCi Greece List
Public Lead: Theodoros Karounos, GRNET
Legal Leads: Prodromos Tsiavos, Marinos Papadopoulos
More about GRNET
The Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET) supports the research and development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) within Greece and internationally, through the provision of its high-capacity networking and grid computing infrastructure, the strengthening of e-Learning & e-Business practices, as well as the participation in international research and education efforts. GRNET operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Development and is supervised by the General Secretariat for Research and Development.
More information about the I3 Team of GRNET responsible for the Greek version of CC and GPL and LGPL licenses (in Greek.)
More information about GRNET (English).
Creative Commons is working with Information Systems and Innovation Group (ISIG) – Department of Management to create UK: England & Wales jurisdiction-specific licenses from the generic Creative Commons licenses.
CCi UK: England & Wales List
Overall Project Lead: Professor Ian Angell
Legal Project Leads: Mr. Andrew Murray and Dr. Prodromos Tsiavos
Public Project Lead: Dr. Christian Ahlert.
More about Information Systems and Innovation Group (ISIG) – Department of Management
The Information Systems and Innovation Group has joined with other departments to form a new Department of Management in 2006. This is enabling us to develop and expand all our current areas of teaching and research and has opened up new areas for joint work.
We continue to research and teach in a wide range of IS topics and to develop our approach of the social study of information and communication technologies. We are engaged in a wide range of research in topics ranging from the experiences of individuals as they use information technology, to the management of large organisational systems, and national and worldwide policies, trends and standards.
Since its establishment in 2006 to integrate management-related units at theLSE, the Department of Management has won praise for its uniquely sophisticated degree programmes that combine the study of management with the Schoolís renowned social sciences perspective. Our courses are designed to serve a diverse international student body and global corporate recruiters.
Acknowledgements
Creative Commons would like to thank the former project leads, Damian Tambini, Annabelle Littoz-Monet, Christian Ahlert, Prodromos Tsiavos, and David Tannenbaum who in a shared effort adapted the CC licenses to UK: England and Wales copyright law; the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at Oxford University, for the extensive work done so far and their continuing support.