Using Creative Commons content for your program’s website or marketing materials

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Abstract

With the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies and social media, copyright issues are being viewed in a new way. Creative commons is one method for sharing and encouraging a rapid and open exchange of ideas. Sean P. Aune shared this list on October 27, 2007 online at Mashable: The Social Media Guide.

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Issue

How to develop websites and marketing material, without the hassle of obtaining copyright permission.

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Action

25+ sources of content licensed under Creative Commons.

Audio

  • ArtistServer.com - Thousands of MP3s for you to download and try out smaller bands.
  • ccMixter.org - A site to try your hand at mixing and mashing music that is all offered under the CC.
  • Jamendo.com - A music site providing free, full-length albums for you to download. You pay the artists what you want, or just spread the word about them.
  • PodShow.com - A site filling your MP3 player with Creative Commons licensed music, that allows you to discover old and new music alike.
    • SoundClick.com - A site for bands, both signed and unsigned, to be promoted. Offers free, downloadable, legal MP3s from some bands.
  • TheFreeSoundProject - A huge collection of CC licensed sound effects files.

General Searches

  • Archive.org - Known mainly for their “Wayback Machine” as a means for seeing old pages on the net, they have also collected together a huge collection of free-to-use recordings and texts.
  • Freebase.com - A community powered search engine to search the web for CC licensed work for you to use.
  • Google Advanced Search - Google gives you the option to include forms of licensing in your search.
  • Wikimedia Commons - The central clearing area for the Wikimedia projects CC files.
  • Yahoo Creative Commons Search - Yahoo allows you to search the entire web for what you need based on the licenses attached to the content.

Images

  • DeviantArt.com - A site for artists to display their works. Some are nice enough to license under CC for your use.
  • EveryStockPhoto.com - Indexes over 1.4 million Creative Commons photos for your use.
  • Flickr Creative Commons search - Search Flickr for all the derivatives of the Creative Commons licensing.
  • Geograph.org.uk - An attempt to photograph the entirety of the British Isles, and at the same time, license all the photos under the CC.
  • OpenClipArt.org - An archive of free-to-use clipart numbering around 11,000 pieces.
  • PhotoEverywhere.co.uk - A travel and tourism photo site offering stock photography for everyone’s use.

Texts

  • IntraText.com - A site featuring thousands of texts from 900 B.C. to this decade. Most works are under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).
  • TravellersPoint.com - A wiki for travellers with a large collection of CC licensed travel related text.
  • UnearthTravel.com - Read travel guides about your favorite destinations.

Videos

  • Blip.tv - Allows video makers to assign multiple types of licenses to their content, users can search on each type.
  • Lulu.TV - A CC license site with embeddable videos.
  • OurMedia.org - A video specific service run by archive.org, allowing users to host their videos under the Creative Commons license.
  • SpinXpress.com - Share your video, audio, and images through various versions of the CC license.

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Context

Creative Commons (CC) is a nonprofit organization, founded by Lawrence Lessig in 2001 and devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as Creative Commons licenses. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.

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Citation

25+ sources of content licensed under Creative Commons by Sean P. Aune.

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Posted On

June 19, 2009

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