Tutorial: What are creative commons licenses and how to use them?[Copywriting]
Repository
https://github.com/jeanpi1908/Tutorial-for-Creative-Commons/wiki/Tutorial
What will I learn?
In this tutorial you will learn:
- What creative commons licenses are.
- What different types of creative commons licenses exist.
- Where you can find pictures, vector graphics or audios with creative commons licenses.
Requirements
- A working browser
Difficulty
- Easy
Tutorial
What are creative commons licenses?
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization created in 2001 by Hal Abelson and Eric Eldred. The goal of the organization was to create a way for creators to make their work accessible for everyone without having the need to pay legal consulting or to give up all rights on their work. To achieve this they developed and published some licensing options that were easy to use by creators and easy to understand by user. This licenses give a legal backup to both groups and assures that the creation is used the way the creator intended to.
What are the different types of creative commons licenses?
There are 6 different creative commons licenses and 2 public-domain tools by CC to meet the needs of all different creators. They are all build on 4 basic elements you can see below.
- BY: You have to Name the name of the Author.
- NC: Non Commercial, can’t be used for commercial used.
- ND: No Derivatives, can’t be changed.
- SA: Share a like, you have to share it under the same license.
CC BY:
It is the most permissive license. You can do whatever you want with the content as long as you name the creator of it and every other parties that goes with it.
So if you would like to use a picture with a CC BY license in your post you could edit it like you want and only have to mention the source of the image and if you changed it, bellow it or at the end of your post.
CC BY-SA:
This license is the same as the CC BY license, but with the addition of the SA module that means that a changed version of the content has to be uploaded with the same license if you want to publish it. This is the general license of Wikipedia and the most used one.
CC BY-ND:
It is also like the CC BY license only that the ND module is added. This means that the content can’t be edited or changed, that also means that no remix or something similar can’t be made.
For a steem post that would mean that for example a picture you want to use can be scaled bigger or smaller, but can’t be edited.
CC BY-NC:
Again this is like the normal CC BY license but this time the NC module is added what means that the creation can’t be used to a commercial goal.
A picture with a CC BY-NC license could only be used on steem post with declined payout.
CC BY-NC-SA:
It is a combination of 3 modules that is like the CC BY-SA license, but this time you can’t use it for commercial use.
CC BY-NC-ND:
This is the most restrictive license. It forbids changing the creating and its use to a commercial goal.
Public-Domain licenses:
CC0:
The CC0 license is a license where the creator allows everyone to use his creation with any restriction. He basically gives up all his rights on the creation.
For a steemian that would mean that he can use pictures or other things with a CC0 without even having to mention the source of the thing.
Public-Domain Tag
In opposition to CC0 the public-domain tag isn’t any declaration of an author the give a creation to the public domain, but an indication that something is already part of the public domain. This can be for different reason, for example the copyright has already expire.
Things marked with this can also be used freely.
Where can I find content with creative commons licenses?
There are a lot of services that provide content with CC licenses. I will list some here:
First there is the creative commons website that lets you search all kinds of content with a CC licenses in the internet.
You can also search by licenses directly in google image to find pictures by using the “Usage rights” function in the “Tools” part like in the picture below.
Some other sites to get CC licensed picture are Pixabay and Pexels and there are way more.
For audio files or music you can use sites like freemusicarchive, freesound or audionautix.
Also vector graphics can be found with CC licenses on pages like freepik or freevector
Thank you for reading, I hope you have learned something from this post.
P.S. I am not sure in with category this post should go in, is it tutorial or copywriting?