Creative Commons Launches Global Case Studies Project

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Press release by Creative Commons:

Jon Phillips, June 23rd, 2008

Brisbane, Australia & San Francisco, USA — 2008 June 24

Today Creative Commons (CC), in association with Creative Commons Australia, officially announced the release of the Case Studies Project, which is a large-scale community effort to encourage all to explore and add noteworthy global CC stories. Creative Commons provides free tools to allow copyright-holders to clearly show rights associated with creative works, and now this project shows how notable adopters like author Cory Doctorow, web video-sharing company Blip.tv, and open film project “A Swarm of Angels” have successfully used CC licenses. And, to underline the collaborative global nature of this project, this launch coincides with Creative Commons Australia’s Conference “Building an Australasian Commons” today in Brisbane, where this project is also being announced along with the publication of a publicly available booklet with some of the best global case studies.

This wiki project aims to examine the motivations and outcomes of CC license adoption in a variety of different situations and highlights the work being done by the creators and content aggregators in the CC community. Anyone can explore the global CC landscape by browsing with a variety of filters including the license-types used, the media created, and whether the project curates or creates material. Some examples include the Google Summer of Code program, the Big Buck Bunny 2nd Open Source 3D animation led by the Blender Foundation, and Sony’s EyeVio video sharing social network service.

Beyond easily viewing the compilation, the Case Studies Project encourages users to edit the wiki and add innovative and noteworthy CC projects happening in jurisdictions worldwide. To lower the barriers for participation, the Case Studies Project provides contributors with an easy form to enter data into the wiki and examples of other featured initiatives. Instructions are available on the Case Studies site at: http://creativecommons.org/projects/casestudies.

The “Some Rights Reserved” model of Creative Commons licensing has had a significant impact world-wide, with millions of creators opting to share their content with their peers. Since its inception in 2002, the Creative Commons initiative has shown rapid growth, with more than 90 million works licensed as of December 2007. Numerous communities have also emerged, inspired by and founded on the CC licensing scheme, and the recognition, collaboration, and commercialization opportunities it provides. “It is important for both long-standing members of the community and new adopters alike to gain a sense of the motivations and experiences of others using Creative Commons licenses,” stated Creative Commons CEO, Joi Ito. “The Case Studies project provides all with a platform to explore how important adopters like Google, Nine Inch Nails, and Sony successfully use Creative Commons while also allowing anyone to add their own Creative Commons success story. Case studies are important to show that the idea of businesses using CC isn’t just a cute idea, but a fact in their success story.”

Since this is a community-based open project, the roadmap for participation is available on the project website, and communication is encouraged on the cc-community mailing list. The next milestones for contributing to this project are the Communia/CC Europe meetings June 30-July 1 in Belgium, FSCONS on October 25-26 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and iSummit on July 29-August 1 in Sapporo, Japan. Each of these events will have presentations about the progress of this project along with community contributions presented publicly.

The initiative will also find its way into the print medium regularly. Working with the user-generated Case Studies material, CC Australia is releasing “Building an Australasian Commons Booklet,” the first of a number of planned printed publications based on the project. The book is a first attempt to chronicle the tales of the Australasian commons. Featuring over 60 case studies, it maps the current state of play surrounding free culture in the region. From private individuals to large corporations, the studies clearly show the mechanisms and motivations to share and experiment without the restrictions of the pre-digital era. Across the domains of democratic change, filmmaking, music, visual arts, libraries, museums, government, education and research, the book will explore how Australasian creators working with CC licensing are making their mark. This follows past projects in the same vein, such as their report “Asia and the Commons Case Studies,” a review of CC-based initiatives in the region.

Links

CC Case Studies Project
http://creativecommons.org/projects/casestudies

Building an Australasian Commons Conference in Brisbane, Australia
http://creativecommons.org.au/australasiancommons

Case Studies Roadmap
http://creativecommons.org/projects/casestudies_roadmap

Creative Commons Community Mailing List (cc-community)
http://creativecommons.org/contact

Published by Mario Pena

Chief Operating Officer at Safe Creative, is a former computer technician. He is in charge of daily operations at Safe Creative and Safe Stamper. He has given speeches all around the globe about copyright and registration challenges in the Internet.