Difference between revisions of "Creative Commons unplugged/Remix and compatibility"
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[[image:Growing derivative CC works.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Nurturing the growth of the commons through derivative works.]]Generally speaking, the more open the license of the source materials used for derivative works, the more options there are available for the licensing of derivative works. While it is legally possible to add more restrictions than the original license in some cases, for example releasing a derivative work under all rights reserved which incorporates source materials licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license, as educators we should do our best to respect the original intent of the creator for releasing their works freely. In education, doing the right thing (sharing knowledge freely) is more important than doing things right (legal options for adding restrictions). | [[image:Growing derivative CC works.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Nurturing the growth of the commons through derivative works.]]Generally speaking, the more open the license of the source materials used for derivative works, the more options there are available for the licensing of derivative works. While it is legally possible to add more restrictions than the original license in some cases, for example releasing a derivative work under all rights reserved which incorporates source materials licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license, as educators we should do our best to respect the original intent of the creator for releasing their works freely. In education, doing the right thing (sharing knowledge freely) is more important than doing things right (legal options for adding restrictions). | ||
| − | When remixing materials, educators should note that Creative Commons licenses that contain the | + | When remixing materials, educators should note that Creative Commons licenses that contain the Share-Alike license element (ie. Attribution Share-Alike, Attribution Non-Commercial-Share-Alike) require that derivative works (ie. the result of two combined works) must be licensed under the same license elements. So, you cannot, for example, combine an Attribution Share-Alike license with an Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike. However, it is for example, possible to incorporate Creative Commons Attribution materials with Attribution Share-Alike resources if the resultant work is released under the Attribution Share-Alike license. If you are combining a work licensed under a Share-Alike license condition, you need to make sure that you are happy and able to license the resulting work under the same license conditions as the original work. |
At first, license compatibility appears confusing and complex, however the compatibility chart below will explain the principles. When reading the chart, start with the license of the original work on the left. The green boxes indicate license compatibility. That is, you may use the license indicated in the top row for your derivative work or adaptation. The blank rows for the BY-NC-ND and BY-ND licenses indicate that derivative works or adaptations are not permitted by the license of the original work, therefore you are '''never''' allowed to re-license them. | At first, license compatibility appears confusing and complex, however the compatibility chart below will explain the principles. When reading the chart, start with the license of the original work on the left. The green boxes indicate license compatibility. That is, you may use the license indicated in the top row for your derivative work or adaptation. The blank rows for the BY-NC-ND and BY-ND licenses indicate that derivative works or adaptations are not permitted by the license of the original work, therefore you are '''never''' allowed to re-license them. | ||
Revision as of 22:06, 20 December 2010
| Course dashboard for #OCL4Ed | ||
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| Creative Commons unplugged | Video signpost - Cathy Casserly | Introduction | The CC basics | CC overview | The CC licenses | Anatomy of a CC license | Remix and compatibility | Remix game | Summary | E-Activity - Remix and reflection |  |
The ability to remix, adapt or re-purpose education material is a significant advantage of OER when compared to closed learning materials. Therefore we need to consider the compatibility of different licenses when remixing materials, that is creating a derivative work. Note that license compatibility only applies when creating derivative works. Reusing materials without adaptation is easy with Creative Commons as long as you comply with the original license conditions.
Contents
Defining detivative works
A derivative work is a work that is based on another work but is not an exact, verbatim copy. What this means exactly and comprehensively is the subject of many law journal articles and much debate and pontification. In general, a translation from one language to another or a film version of a book are examples of derivative works. Combining a number of Creative Commons licensed learning materials with your own original creations is also a derivative work. Under Creative Commons’ core licenses, synching music in timed-relation with a moving image is considered to be a derivative work.
Under general copyright law, format shifting from one medium to another is considered a copy and therefore a derivative work. It's important to note, however, that the Creative Commons licenses allow the user to exercise the rights permitted under the license in any format or media, even in the NoDerivatives licenses. This means that, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license, for example, you can copy the work from a digital file to a print file consistent with the terms of that license.
The compatibility challenge
It seems only natural to assume that an OER with a Creative Commons license could be mixed with another OER using a Creative Commons license or alternative open content license like the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). However, this is not the case. For example:
- A Creative Commons license with a No-Derivatives restriction means that it cannot be remixed with other Creative Commons licensed content because of the no-derivatives requirement;
- Different open content licenses may restrict remixing with other license types because of the specific licensing requirements for derivative works. For example, the GNU Free Documentation License requires that derivative works are released under the precisely the same license, meaning the GNU Free Documentation License. Therefore it is not legally permissible to mix GNUFDL content and release the derivative work under a CC-BY-SA license, even though these licenses are similar in terms of the intent of the licenses.
However, it is possible to release original works under a dual license, that is both Creative Commons and GFDL (Note original works are not derivative works, but dual licensing will facilitate greater flexibility for downstream remixing). It would also be possible to release a collection under their respective licenses, where the sub-sections can be clearly identified as discrete parts. In other words, parts of the material could be licensed with Creative Commons and part GFDL, provided that the original terms of the respective licenses are adhered to.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we will restrict our discussion of license compatibility among Creative Commons licenses and not address the complexities of compatibility among different licenses. If in doubt, when mixing content from licenses other than Creative Commons, get legal advice or contact the copyright holder for release of the work under a corresponding Creative Commons license.
Compatibility among different Creative Commons licenses
When remixing materials, educators should note that Creative Commons licenses that contain the Share-Alike license element (ie. Attribution Share-Alike, Attribution Non-Commercial-Share-Alike) require that derivative works (ie. the result of two combined works) must be licensed under the same license elements. So, you cannot, for example, combine an Attribution Share-Alike license with an Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike. However, it is for example, possible to incorporate Creative Commons Attribution materials with Attribution Share-Alike resources if the resultant work is released under the Attribution Share-Alike license. If you are combining a work licensed under a Share-Alike license condition, you need to make sure that you are happy and able to license the resulting work under the same license conditions as the original work.
At first, license compatibility appears confusing and complex, however the compatibility chart below will explain the principles. When reading the chart, start with the license of the original work on the left. The green boxes indicate license compatibility. That is, you may use the license indicated in the top row for your derivative work or adaptation. The blank rows for the BY-NC-ND and BY-ND licenses indicate that derivative works or adaptations are not permitted by the license of the original work, therefore you are never allowed to re-license them.
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Note that while derivative works can be released under different licenses, the Creative Commons license is irrevocable. This means that the original source materials used to create a derivative work will always be available under its original Creative Commons license. This is an important feature of Creative Commons licenses which protect the intentions of the original copyright holder and mitigates against exploitation of OER learning materials.
Test your license remix knowledge
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In this short exercise you will consider a number of remix scenarios to explore license compatibility. The dealer will deal four cards, each representing an open educational resource (OER) you would like to aggregate for a derivative work. Each card has at its centre an icon representing its media type. The four media types are Text, Image, Audio, and Movie. Each card shows the license mark of the original resource. These could be Public Domain, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, CC BY-NC-SA, and GNU FDL. Your intention is to include supporting text and guidelines for learners with each resource. In addition, you plan to author a preface for the compilation, thus the resultant work will constitute a derivative work. You will be able to choose an appropriate license for the derivative work in each example. The release of your own copyright must be compatible with the licensing requirements of the OERs used (For the purposes of this exercise you are not required to make value judgements about the license choice). You can progress to the next hand dealt by clicking on the green "next" arrow at the bottom of each page, or use the links below:  This activity is a remix inspired by the online version of David Wiley's OER remix game.
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Feel free to try more examples by visiting the online version of the OER remix game (Note that this will require flash to play the game).
Summary
Pay attention to the licenses of the material you are using and obey by the terms of those licenses, especially Non-commercial, No Derivatives, and Share Alike. As you're combining material, ask yourself: Is there anything that this license requires that doesn't work with the requirements of my other material? If the answer is "yes," then it is best to not to use that material. One option is to contact the copyright holder and ask whether or not the use is incompatible. The copyright holder may or may not be sure either, but the copyright holder is the most important person to talk to in that type of situation. Another option is to contact others in the OER community to answer your questions (see OER Forums in the Conclusion).
For some, licensing represents an important part of who they are in the OER community as well as their philosophy about OER. Arguably, the OER community has spent too much time arguing about licenses. While having so many licenses may seem redundant and wasteful, it is actually a reflection of the freedoms of OER. In other words, everyone sees OER a little differently and that is why there are so many licenses. The good news is that the organizations behind these licenses are starting to keep license incompatibility in mind as they develop future versions of their licenses. For example, both Creative Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, and the Free Software Foundation are working to make Creative Commons licenses compatible with the GFDL (Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 2007).
If you cannot contact the copyright holder, and are still uncertain about the use, use your best judgment. Depending on your level of concern about liability, you may want to consider foregoing the mixing of the two resources entirely.
The purpose of this section is not to scare you away from creating OER, but to make you aware of an area of concern when creating OER. In some ways, OER incompatibility is more a matter of theory than it is a problem in practice. Nevertheless, you should always abide by the license clauses of material that you use.
Acknowledgements
Some content on this page was sourced from:
(
: Also consider http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ#If_I_use_a_Creative_Commons-licensed_work_to_create_a_new_work_.28ie_a_derivative_work_or_adaptation.29.2C_which_Creative_Commons_license_can_I_use_for_my_new_work.3F --Jane Park 16:04, 18 November 2010 (UTC))
