Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) allows its users to utilize the Internets full capabilities of sharing information with others and allowing that information to advance others work.
Contents
History
The Name
Creative Commons is a common place for its users' information. The term commons is used because that is what the company set out to create; a common place where professional works can be accessed, and as there website says " copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon".
Legal
Ethical Issues
License Types
The Three Layer Concept
Creative Commons licenses are written in three "layers". This is done to make CC even easier to use. The first layer happens to be the legaleze that actually dictates the legal aspects of the license. Legal writing is often difficult and hard to read for most of the people that use Creative Commons so the company provides the second layer which is called the Commons Deed but is often referred to as the Human Readable version. This layer provides an easy way for the every day non-lawyer to understand what exactly the license allows for and covers. The third and final layer is the "machine readable" version. This allows for software and search engines to know what is available under a CC license.
Attribution
Attribution (CC BY) allows anyone to use the material for any purpose but requires them to attribute the work back to the original author.
