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From Historic Images to Galactic Datasets: A Look at NASA’s Mission to Be Open

Open Access, Open Science post
Astronaut Edwin Aldrin walks on lunar surface near leg of Lunar Module
Astronaut Edwin Aldrin walks on lunar surface near leg of Lunar Module. Credit: Neil Armstrong/NASA, (1969) in the public domain.

It’s July 20, 1969.  Along with 600 million people, nine-year-old Chris Hadfield is glued to his television—watching intently as American astronaut Neil Armstrong glides down the ladder of the Lunar Module, and in one swift pounce, touches the dust of a familiar yet alien world. His words forever immortalized, “That’s one small step for man,…

Welcome Our Summer 2020 Policy Intern

About CC post
CC Tiles

We’re pleased to announce that Alexis Muscat returns to Creative Commons (CC) as our Legal and Policy Intern this summer. Over the next 10 weeks, Alexis will work closely with our Open Policy Manager, Brigitte Vézina on law and policy research projects that support our mission and community. We can’t wait to get started!  Meet…

Just One Giant Lab Co-Founder Leo Blondel on the Power of Community and Open Source During COVID-19

Open Science, Technology post
The JOGL team by Thomas Landrain (CC BY).

Thousands of strangers working together, almost entirely online, to effectively solve an urgent, global challenge is remarkable—and it’s happening, right now. Recently, we published a post titled, “Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know and What You Can Do” examining the collaborative efforts by volunteer groups, universities, and research centers to solve the medical supply…

Open Access in Practice: A Conversation with President Larry Kramer of The Hewlett Foundation

Open Access post
Participants in the Young Women Leadership Program explain software to each other
Image by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment, November 2017 (CC BY-NC)

Since the founding of Creative Commons (CC) in 2001, we’ve been supported by like-minded organizations and individuals who value open access, the open community, and the global commons as much as we do. As we near our 20th anniversary, we are reflecting on the past and planning for the future. What better way to do…

Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know and What You Can Do

Open Access, Technology post

You’ve heard the stories: engineers 3D printing face shields in their basements; do-it-yourself hobbyists sewing face masks; and fashion designers crafting personal protection gowns.  Globally, people are trying to help fill the medical supply gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through open-source medical hardware. It’s a heartwarming display of global ingenuity, innovation, and collaboration. In this…

Dr. Lucie Guibault on What Scientists Should Know About Open Access

Open Access, Open Science post
"The Chancellor Rishi Sunak visits a coronavirus testing laboratory in Leeds," by HM Treasury, licensed CC BY-NC-SA.

In response to the global health emergency caused by COVID-19, we’ve seen an array of organizations, publications, and governments make COVID-19 related research open access. For example, the U.S. National Library of Medicine recently released the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19)—a machine-readable coronavirus literature collection with over 29,000 articles available for text and data mining…

Announcing the CC Catalog API, Version 1.0

Technology post
CC Catalog API (V1)
CC Catalog API (V1), featuring icons by Icons by Mikicon (left) and Faisal (right) via Noun Project, CC BY

The Creative Commons Catalog Application Programming Interface (CC Catalog API) gives developers the ability to create custom applications that utilize CC Search, a rich collection of 330 million and counting openly licensed images. We have spent the last two years gathering this data from a diverse set of 28 sources, ranging from curated collections assembled…

Thoughts on “Non-Amicable” Enforcement of CC Licenses

Licenses & Tools post

Broken Hill Wall Mural-07= by Sheba_Also 43,000 photos is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 This post was co-authored by Diane Peters (CC’s General Counsel) and Alexis Muscat (CC’s 2019 legal intern) For the past year or so, CC has been tracking and thinking about strict, less than-amicable enforcement activities involving CC licenses. These activities present…

Welcoming 2020 With Gratitude

About CC post
Thank you 2020

At Creative Commons, sharing and gratitude go hand in hand. We empower the sharing of knowledge and creativity, as well as celebrate the collaborative creativity and gratitude that sharing engenders. As Chair of the Creative Commons Board of Directors, I am ending 2019 with a special sense of gratitude for the CC community. This has…