BY NC SA ND
It’s as Easy as 3, 4, 6, 2
[Librarian and an Instructor].
Librarian [absent mindedly]: 3, 4, 6, 2… yes.
Instructor: Are you sure you don’t mean 2, 3, 4, 6? And what happened to 1 and 5?
Librarian: No, no. The best way to talk to you about Creative Commons licenses is to start with the 3.
Instructor: I really just want to know what the “CC BY-NC-SA” means.
Librarian: Well to give you a good understanding about them, I think we need to start with the 3. These ideas build on one another and it’ll make sense later.
Instructor: Okay, start at the beginning then, er, I mean at the 3.
Librarian: There are three layers to a Creative Commons license.
Instructor: Like a cake.
Librarian: Well, yes, if your cake has three layers. The first layer, important in cakes and other leveled structures, is the groundwork that makes the CC licenses possible. It is the “legal” level. “Lawyer Readable”. As it implies, this is the level that lays out the legally enforceable nature, terms and conditions, of the license. It’s the lawyer speak for the license and without it’s support our cake will fall.
Instructor: So, what’s the next layer?
Librarian: That’s the one people look at the most. The “Commons Deeds”. The deeds can be found on webpages that explain what the license terms are, what they mean, and how they apply to the work in question. They often refer to it as “Human Readable”…
Instructor [knowingly winks]: … as opposed to “Lawyer Readable”…what are they implying about lawyers?
Librarian [shakes head]: Well, if you like that one, then you’ll love the top layer. The frosting on the cake, one might say. It’s the “Machine Readable” version of the license. This allows people to find CC licensed works using search engines that recognize the code, making them much more discoverable. So those are the three layers that make the CC licenses legally effective, user friendly, and easier to find.
Instructor: Now I’m C.C. … Craving Cake.
Librarian: Maybe later. Now that we see the layered composition of the licenses, we can move on to the license elements. These are the elements which make up the letter combinations you saw that got you to ask me about creative commons licenses.
Instructor: 4 of 'em, huh?
Librarian: Exactly. First is always “Attribution”, which is denoted by the letters BY and by this symbol [holds up a card]
Who it is BY, literally. This is the prime element for all the CC licenses. Works must be attributed.
Having said that, now you’ve got some options to build your license. You can prevent users from making money on your work or their adaptation of your work. NC stands for NonCommercial and looks like this [holds up next card]
This one can be tricky, because it doesn’t depend on who is using it, whether they be a for profit or a not for profit organization, it depends on the purpose of its use.
If people are going to use your work to create an adaptation, you can use ShareAlike, tasking them to license their work with the same terms you used. It’s denoted by SA or by this symbol [holds up third card]
Instructor: Is SA kind of like the Golden Rule…share unto others as others shared unto you?
Librarian: Basically, in any case it’s a good rule …and legally enforceable.
Instructor: You keep talking about adaptations. Is there a symbol that doesn’t let people modify my work?
Librarian: And that’s the fourth. NoDerivatives. ND. Users can still copy or distribute your work, but it has to remain unchanged, the original. And the symbol looks like this [holds up last card]
Instructor: So can I put all of these together to make my CC license?
Librarian: Well, no actually. Some of them would contradict with others. ShareAlike allows for modifications. NoDerivatives does not. As a side note, although it’s a CC license, anytime you use ND it’s not truly considered “open”, since it can’t be modified.
Instructor: Oh, I see.
Librarian: In fact, there are actually six CC licenses, using the possible combinations of these elements. (Points finger to the right side of the screen) =======>
Instructor: 6, huh?
Librarian: Here, if you have a moment let me show you a short five minute video, “Brief Introduction to Creative Commons Licenses and OERs”. I’ll set up the video on the upper right hand of the screen.
[An aside to the audience - "Scroll to top of screen, click link, download MP4 presentation, and play video"].
~[Five minutes later]~
Instructor: Hmm, that guy sounded familiar… So on the chart on the right here and in the video, along with the six licenses I see a public domain symbol on the top as most free?
Librarian: I was just talking about public domain with one of your students on the other tab….er, I mean other day.
Instructor [Raises an eyebrow]
Librarian: Well, now let’s say you wanted to waive your copyright rights completely. Well there is a tool CC has created beyond those six licenses. You can dedicate your work to the public domain by using what is called CC0, pronounced “CC Zero”, and is represented by this symbol alone [pulls a card out from coat pocket]:
Another CC tool apart from the six licenses is a public domain mark, which clearly indicates that a work is already in the public domain for whatever reason. It looks like this [flips the card]:
A total of two tools.
Instructor: Ah yes, finally the 2.
Librarian: [nods and smiles] Again, CC folks are not lawyers, nor am I, so these things can get tricky. For example, even though CC0 has a legal code aspect to it, like the CC elements we were looking at, some countries won’t let you waive your copyrights. In such a case there is a “fall back” public license built in to CC0. It’s not unlike the attribution only, however, without the “BY”ness of the CC licenses. So even though not being in the public domain, per se, it allows people to do anything they want with your work. And if that “fall back” fails, the creator using CC0 promises not to take any copyright actions against any users, no matter what or where.
Instructor: Sure sounds like some people really want to keep their creations free.
Librarian: Thankfully, it seems like a growing number of creators do.
Instructor: Just thinking about it, so as an instructor, I’ve been schooled on the limits and scope of using copyrighted works...you know, fair use materials. How would I CC label those?
Librarian: Actually you don’t. Any copyright exceptions (government created documents for example), or limitations, like for fair use (including criticism, parody, or compliant measures for people with disabilities) are their own thing. CC licenses have absolutely no impact on them. CC licenses are built on copyright. Copyright; however, when dealing with its exceptions and limitations can stand on it’s own.
[pause]
Has this helped at all? I know it’s a lot of information when you just asked about “CC BY-NC-SA”, but I thought it might be best to give you a somewhat deeper look into what it all means.
Instructor: No, no, that was helpful… so it is as easy as 3, 4, 6, 2? Still sounds like the strangest countdown.
Librarian: Perhaps it is... a countdown to that cake you were craving? Let’s go see what’s in the cafeteria.
[Both smile and walk off stage]
"BY NC SA ND It's as Easy as 3, 4, 6, 2" by Phil Jensen, Tarrant County College is licensed under CC BY 4.0
