Creative Commons

On ‘open’ knowledge and sharing my research.

[update -17-07-11]

In my paper for EVA London 11 I included a section on my research frameworks and sub-section on Open Source Knowledge which I reproduce here.

3.2 Open Source Knowledge

I believe the Internet has revolutionised the way we share and interchange – in large part due to the fact that it was designed by academics who reflected their own culture and economy of peer review and free information exchange within it’s infrastructure. So I concur with Barbrook (1998) who argues, “The design of the Net therefore assumes that intellectual property is technically and socially obsolete.”

I contend this is amply illustrated through the rapidly expanding community of people worldwide who are taking advantage of new, cheaper technology and a growing pool of shared knowledge to make things for themselves. Open source development platforms and shared- knowledge projects such as Arduino and “how-to” websites such as Instructables are propagating technological know-how and tools previously the sole domain of large-scale, expensive, corporate engineering departments. As artists and the general population leverage these tools to redesign and re-engineer their environments, I suspect we are on the threshold of another ‘paradigm shift’ in cultural production not seen since the Industrial Revolution and the birth of mechanised industry.

So I plan to share my knowledge and insights with the research and wider communities through a decidedly ‘open source’ modus operandi – making my own evolving tool set, methodology, code and software, electronic and design schematics, documentation and outputs freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial- ShareAlike licence. This lets others remix, tweak, and build upon my work non-commercially, as long as they credit me and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute my work and can also translate, make remixes, and produce new work based on my work. All new work based on mine will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non- commercial in nature.

In my initial Research Interest I proposed this WordPress blog would act as my ‘open-source’ research journal – specifically:
I plan to share my knowledge and insights with the research and wider communities through a decidedly ʻopen sourceʼ modus operandi – making my own evolving tool set, methodology, code and software, electronic and design schematics, documentation and outputs freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike license and thus adding rich aspects to the field.

According to the Open Knowledge Foundation, “ ‘Open’ knowledge is any material – whether content, data or general information – which anyone is free to use, re-use and redistribute without restriction.”. While I intend to explore ‘open’ knowledge in more depth, looking at how the work of the OKF and other initiatives is informing this debate, I thought a sensible starting point of my own was to settle on and display a suitable Creative Commons license – the:
Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
View License Deed | View Legal Code

which has these license conditions:

• Attribution – I allow others to copy, distribute, display, and perform my copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way I request.
• Non-Commercial – I let others copy, distribute, display, and perform my work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only.
• Share Alike – I allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs my work.

This lets others remix, tweak, and build upon my work non-commercially, as long as they credit me and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute my work and can also translate, make remixes, and produce new work based on my work. All new work based on mine will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.

For those unfamiliar with Creative Commons here’s an overview from their website:

What is CC?

• Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization
  We work to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing.
• CC provides free, easy-to-use legal tools
  Our tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative work. The Creative Commons licenses enable people to easily change their copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”
• Some Rights Reserved
  Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright and the public domain. From all rights reserved to no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while allowing certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.
• CC Licenses work alongside copyright
  Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright, so you can modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs. We’ve collaborated with intellectual property experts all around the world to ensure that our licenses work globally.