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Often creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control (all rights reserved) - at the other end is a vision of anarchy (no rights reserved, free content, and the public domain). Creative Commons, a Massachusetts-chartered charitable corporation, uses private rights to create public goods set free for certain uses (to declare "some rights reserved").

Creative Commons explained

With the advent of the digital revolution and the Internet, it is suddenly possible to distribute works in a variety of formats of a high, often professional quality; to work collaboratively across contexts; and to create new, derivative or collective works-on a global level, in a decentralised manner, and at comparatively low cost.

This presents an opportunity for an enormous and unprecedented stimulation of creativity and production of knowledge. As more and more people are interconnected and communicating, it becomes easier to obtain exactly the content one needs or want and to complete tasks and solve problems by the cooperation this interconnection enables. The convergence of technologies and media also create multiple new possibilities for creating derivatives of existing works -- for example, remixes and mashups.

The downside of these exciting new developments and possibilities is that the new technologies can also be used to violate the rights of copyright owners as they are currently defined. In turn, major right holders have reacted to this by:

- trying to prevent the deployment of technologies that can be put to infringing uses;

- developing tools that enable them to manage their rights (for example digital rights management);

- lobbying for support of these technological measures through legal restrictions;

- starting publicity campaigns to teach people to keep their hands off copyrighted material - or else.

Although these responses are understandable, the concern off course is that their combined effect will be to stifle the opportunities for digital technologies to be used widely to encourage creativity and for the problem-solving and collaboration discussed above. If creators and licensors have to negotiate not only complicated legal rules, but also burdensome technical barriers, many will either ignore the rules or not create.

The Creative Commons alternative is to provide creators and licensors with a simple way to say what freedoms they want their creative work to carry. This in turn makes it easy to share, or build upon creative work. It makes it possible for creators and licensors to reserve some rights while releasing others. This, at its core, is Creative Commons' mission. Copyright gives authors certain rights. Creative Commons makes it simpler for authors to exercise those rights in ways others can understand.

How does a Creative Commons license operate?

A Creative Commons license is based on copyright and gives you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights-such as the right of others to:

- copy your work;

- make derivative works or adaptations of your work;

- distribute your work and/or make money from your work.

They do not give you the ability to restrict anything that is otherwise permitted by exceptions or limitations to copyright-including, importantly, fair use or fair dealing; nor do they give you the ability to control anything that is not protected by copyright law, such as facts and ideas.

Creative Commons licenses are all non-exclusive. This means that you can permit the general public to use your work under a Creative Commons license and then enter into a separate and different non-exclusive license with someone else, for example, in exchange for money.

Check out this short video which further explains Creative Commons and its goals.

Find more information on the official Creative Commons website.

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