Creative Commons unplugged/Introduction

Creativity always builds on the past. And you are building the past right now. Share now. Shape the future.

In this tutorial we reflect on the rationale for sharing in education and introduce the Creative Commons licenses.

Traditional "all rights reserved" copyright restricts our access to the creative outputs of the past. However, imagine a world where we stop reinventing the wheel and build on the past for a better future.

Imagine a world where:
 * Learners can download prescribed textbooks for their courses at no cost.
 * Educators can download lecture notes, lesson plans, e-learning courses and have the freedom to copy, modify, and translate these resources to suit their own unique teaching styles and local learning needs, with the added advantage of redistributing these materials without restriction.
 * Educators and learners have free access to peer-reviewed research publications for integration, reuse and generation of new knowledge in local learning and research contexts.

This world is not a distant dream in the future. You can do this today with Creative Commons licenses. It's legal, and it's free.

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Lawrence Lessig, a leading pioneer and founding board member of Creative Commons, suggests giving the creators of knowledge and culture the freedom to create. This means giving the permissions to create. In this tutorial we will explore how this works. It's legal, and it's free!