Creative Commons (CC) offers educators who create Open Educational Resources (OER) a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions for their work.

What Is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons (CC) is a global non-profit organization that offers both a technical and legal infrastructure that make it possible for the sharing and adaptation of educational resources. Whenever a resource is created and posted online, it is automatically protected by existing copyright laws. Re-use of an item requires written permission from the copyright owner. CC has released six free-of-charge licenses built on top of actual copyright laws that allow the content creators to change the default copyright terms of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.” These licenses allow the creators of Open Educational Resources (OER) to make their works more accessible or “open” on the Internet. CC licenses may be applied to text, photographs, videos, podcasts, and various other materials that could be used for learning.

According to the Creative Commons wiki, CC licenses are built upon three different layers. The first is a human-readable deed that simplifies the language into a few universally known icons and less technical language. The second layer is based upon the lawyer-readable terms of the license itself that has been examined by a team of global legal experts. The third and final layer is the machine-readable code that enables the license to be searchable and discoverable.

Understanding CC Licenses

Whenever you attempt to “read” a Creative Commons license, you will see a series of visual icons. The first is the CC icon which simply stands for Creative Commons. The second icon is the Attribution icon which is represented by a silhouetted figure. It is often referred to as “BY.” CC-BY icons are included in every Creative Commons license. The icons that follow these two will vary depending on how the creator of the resource wants their work to be adapted or re-used.  In other words, the re-use of the CC-licensed work requires a basic understanding of the visual icons to interpret the conditions for use of the resource.

Attribution (BY) iconAttribution (BY)

All CC licenses require that others who use the creator’s work in any way must give them credit the way originally requested, but not in a way that suggests the owner endorses them or their use. If they want to use the owner’s work without giving the owner credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get creator’s permission first.