This week's blog post is devoted to the concept of Creative Commons and the online program Flickr. Prior to this week, I really had no idea what Creative Commons was, but there is a great video available on exactly what Creative Commons does here. I had seen the little cc logo on certain photographs on the Internet, but I was pretty new to the concept. Basically speaking, Creative Commons allows us to share our creative works - our photographs, songs, lectures, videos, the list is endless - with others. All works are fully copyrighted automatically as soon as they are written down somewhere. Creative Commons, however, allows us to share our works with less limiting restrictions. For example, I could post a photograph of my dog and allow others to use it as long as they give me credit for my work and do not use it for commercial purposes. This could revolutionize how students do projects in school. No longer do students have to be as concerned about violating copyrights; as long as they give credit to a cc licensed photograph or work, they are following the law. Additionally, finally understanding what this little cc means will enable me to utilize more of other people's work in my own professional practice.
While I do frequently share pictures on the web of my children, our vacations, our less than intelligent dog, and other adventures, I had never really given any thought to who might be using these. Like many others, I have read the panicked stories of companies like Facebook utilizing our private images to sell their services. Truthfully, that has rarely had much impact on me. Perhaps I was more of a Creative Commons-minded person than I ever knew. In terms of my teaching materials, I have created most of them by working with other teachers, patrolling the web for ideas and insights, and moments of rare inspiration. I do not believe that I own them as I am more than happy to give them away.
As far as potential negatives to Creative Commons go, there is always the risk of someone taking your work and changing it such that it does not reflect what you originally intended. But I believe the same can be said for studies that are published, songs that are sung, and poems that are written. Any time another human being interprets our work, much can be changed from what we originally intended. I think it is clear that the positives outweigh the negatives in Creative Commons.
The concept of Creative Commons is what led to the idea behind Flickr. Flickr allows people from all over the world to share their photos, comment on others' photos, and add tags so that photos are easily found. As an example, I found the picture below of an owl in honor of Kennesaw State University. See what you can find!
Photo courtesy of Jennie Rainsford here.
While I do frequently share pictures on the web of my children, our vacations, our less than intelligent dog, and other adventures, I had never really given any thought to who might be using these. Like many others, I have read the panicked stories of companies like Facebook utilizing our private images to sell their services. Truthfully, that has rarely had much impact on me. Perhaps I was more of a Creative Commons-minded person than I ever knew. In terms of my teaching materials, I have created most of them by working with other teachers, patrolling the web for ideas and insights, and moments of rare inspiration. I do not believe that I own them as I am more than happy to give them away.
As far as potential negatives to Creative Commons go, there is always the risk of someone taking your work and changing it such that it does not reflect what you originally intended. But I believe the same can be said for studies that are published, songs that are sung, and poems that are written. Any time another human being interprets our work, much can be changed from what we originally intended. I think it is clear that the positives outweigh the negatives in Creative Commons.
The concept of Creative Commons is what led to the idea behind Flickr. Flickr allows people from all over the world to share their photos, comment on others' photos, and add tags so that photos are easily found. As an example, I found the picture below of an owl in honor of Kennesaw State University. See what you can find!
Photo courtesy of Jennie Rainsford here.