Learning more about creative commons

The Creative Commons mark is something that I've come across a number of times in my research and general perusing on this internet but never had more than a superficial understanding of what it meant or how it worked. I've always been one to be worried about violating copyright restrictions even when I am just pasting an image found through the google image search database in the PowerPoints that I use while teaching in the classroom.  I often thought about how it would be more difficult to find these images when I am designing similar courses online.  Isn't it funny that the same violation didn't seem so bad to me when I knew that it is only temporary in the classroom because I don't publish or distribute my slides. However, it seems more problematic when publishing online.

Creative Commons seems to be quite beneficial for individuals looking for materials to freely use within a confined manner. Access to information and permission to use resources online clearly benefit many sectors of the population.  At first glance it seemed completely positive so I decided to take a more critical look at the service.

Image borrowed from Creative Commons licensed materials Yamashita Yohei – CC on Orange from http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/11/26/creative-commons-version-4-0/

I found a number of articles published online critiquing Creative Commons including one from the Free Software Magazine, one from the P2P Foundation, after discovering that there is an entire wiki formed for critiques of Creative Commons.  What I quickly learned was that the brief amount of research that I have done was just touching the tip of the iceberg in a debate and dialog that has prompted articles, chapters and books on the topic.  While some authors believe that the licensing process is confusing and unclear for individuals involved, others say that the process is anachronistic and generally the debate becomes intertwined with larger copyright issues.

Regardless of any controversy surrounding this issue, there are clear benefits.  I've already saved the page for search queries which can be used to search through a number of databases which store music, images and media.  Now I've found a solution to my fears of copyright infringement in my teaching!  I'd also expect that my blog will be looking prettier now as well!