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JISC Creative Commons study: interim review

JISC Creative Commons study: interim review. Hugh Look Senior Consultant Rightscom Ltd. Creative Commons and…. Throughout this talk, “Creative Commons” also means: Creative Archive AESharenet Science Commons …and other related initiatives following the same principles

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JISC Creative Commons study: interim review

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  1. JISC Creative Commons study: interim review Hugh Look Senior Consultant Rightscom Ltd

  2. Creative Commons and… • Throughout this talk, “Creative Commons” also means: • Creative Archive • AESharenet • Science Commons • …and other related initiatives following the same principles • Also allows for local licences aimed at wide distribution with minimal constraints • Rather than controlled distribution

  3. Creative Commons itself is changing • Recent developments include • “Freedoms License Chooser” • Allows licensors to add additional metadata including links to other terms

  4. The project: objectives • Report on the usage, benefits and drawbacks of Creative Commons licensing • …and similar model licences • Identify opportunities for these and other model licences that JISC and institutions might use • To ensure optimum re-use of content created within or for the HE and FE communities • Consider… • Drivers • Barriers • Benefits • Risks • …created by such innovation

  5. The project: process • 5 case studies • Many interviews • Focus group of practitioners • Expert group including: • Legal experts • Policymakers • Academics • BBC • Open University • Other stakeholders – including authors, designers, publishers, activists • Scenarios: to identify how Creative Commons will work in “edge cases” • Discussed by Expert Group • Analysis, conclusions & recommendations

  6. Findings from case studies and interviews • Generally we found positive views on CC from the UK academic community • Creative Commons makes a powerful statement about sharing • Creative Commons seen as clarifying, simplifying and enabling • Enthusiastic support from minority • Re-use is major goal for several projects • But not uncontrolled re-use • Re-use opportunities are not yet widely exploited by users • Not a clear definition of what re-use is • Access for all users is an important motivator • Narrow and wide community benefits • Although Creative Commons licences are in use in the UK academic community, there is as yet little direct experience of their impact • Mainly a function of time - early days • Complicated by lack of experience with learning objects, VLEs & related technology

  7. Findings from case studies and interviews (2) • Liability for third-party content infringement is a major issue • Some projects do not believe that it is possible to proceed without indemnities • Some have succeeded in obtaining indemnities • Others have adopted a trust model • It may be possible to minimise risk of liability by having a different deposit licence from usage licence • Protection of other content (e.g. personal information) • Datasets: how does CC interact with database rights? • Perception that academics adopting CC “because it’s cool” • Identified by a number of projects and people interviewed • Not thinking through what they really want • Many not be aware of the implications • May not have read the actual licence terms

  8. Findings from case studies and interviews (3) • Differences in requirements for • Research outputs and resources • Learning and teaching resources • Perception that institutions have not thought through their policies • Little sign of enforcement by institution • Hard to identify senior-level ownership of these issues • Little interest from institutional policymakers/service providers (contracts officers etc) – most apparently unaware of the issues • Creative Commons is not always flexible enough to deal with new requirements • Machine interpretability not important at this stage • What would they have done instead?

  9. Other issues revealed in background research • Convergence with two public policy agendas • Increasing access to research outputs • Review of value of intellectual property’s relationship to public benefit • A reaction against complexity and lack of transparency in IPR • Response to lengthy negotiations in licensing • It can be hard to unlock the perceived connection between Creative Commons and Open Access • Highest levels of adoption may be among informal content creators – bloggers etc • Greatest problems may be in institution to institution licensing • Institution to individual less problematic • May be problems when resources are held in a service that needs authentication • Licensor & licensee can’t negotiate any aspects of a licence • Difficult to have Creative Commons where there is “universal deposit” (e.g. by students)

  10. Other issues revealed in background research (2) • Potentially confusing proliferation of licence terms may go counter the objectives of simplification and increased transparency and make it hard to licensors to choose appropriately • Creative Archive • Science Commons • Clinical Commons • Etc etc • In the UK, Creative Commons may be a contract • Would require a “consideration” to be valid in England & Wales • Not the case in Scotland • How to understand the law where the licence is made available? • Relationship between Creative Commons and DRM • Gathering information about usage is impossible • Tensions between commons production and commons licensing • What about database rights? • Much UK research output is data • What about moral rights?

  11. Some high-level issues

  12. Some high-level issues • Lines of discourse that don’t always meet up • The theoretical debate • “Should we do this?” • “What can we use this for?” • The pragmatic debate • “Is it safe to do this?” • “What are the limitations?” • Many of the proponents deal mainly in long-term benefits to society • Many of the less convinced see mainly pragmatic problems • Trade-off between flexibility and simplicity • Risk of creating large numbers of minor variants in order to meet local needs

  13. Creative Commons as an innovation • Innovations can have good or bad consequences • They have no inherent “virtues” or “vices” • Need to keep a close focus on drivers and impact • Study aims for analysis and objectivity • It is helping to form policy for JISC • Need to address long-term goals as well as short-term drivers & barriers • Sustaining or disruptive innovation? • All innovations can create powerful agendas • However well-thought-out or ill-thought-out

  14. What is the future for CC and similar licences? • Is CC better adapted to some forms of research output than it is to learning/teaching objects? • Which drivers/factors will have the most impact • On CC as a whole? • On its use in UK academic communities? • How to make the theoretical and practical streams of thought join up? • What are the alternatives?

  15. Thank you Hugh Look www.rightscom.com +44 (0)20 7620 4433

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