Creative Commons: Another Useless Solution

Creative Commons (CC) founded in 2001 is a not for profit organisation that works to increase the amount of creativity available to the common person, hence Creative Commons. It was inspired by GNU (GNU's Not Unix) and their free software, also known as open source software. CC licenses create “free and legal sharing, use, repurposing and remixing” (CC, 2009). It was designed to avoid the hassle of Copyright, by creating a new license, this however can be just as painful as Copyright. CC offers six types of licenses, which move from the extreme no rights reserved to the less dramatic some rights reserved, however to fully understand CC, we must have a basic understanding of Copyright.

Copyright gives authorship to the owner, the classic all rights reserved is Copyright. For instance, if I take a photo, as soon as the shutter takes the imprint of light onto the film, it is declared mine. If I were to upload it onto the internet, people would have to seek my permission before using my photo. This is fine if I want full attribution, however, should I not care who uses my photo, constant asking for permission would eventually get annoying. This is where CC steps in, all those poor people who are sick and tired of the constant asking for permission, instead, they take out a CC license, that "integrates with Copyright laws" (CC, 2009) to have the desired effect.

Now that we understand Copyright and its flaws, we can discover the background and the same flaws in CC. In 2008 CC estimated to have 130 million CC licensed works. The only compliment that can be made about CC is that the licenses come in several versions; the lawyer version for lawsuits, the computer version for search engines, and the common persons version for the average person. The common persons license version means that literally hundreds of millions of people understand how the licenses work. CC has licenses valid in over 80 countries around the world, they do not overrule fair use. The main flaw with CC licenses is that if I take someone elses image and edit it, I am bound to their terms and conditions, stated in the license, which may force me to relicense my remixed product, so that it can have the same effect. The following video explains in laymans terms what CC licenses are.

It sounds good doesn't it? "Creative co-authorship... It's what the internet is all about" (CC, 2009). Why do we need to license everything that we create. It is your intellectual product, you know that, yet it seems that this is not enough. Hypothetically speaking, can I not feel happy, knowing that I invented the iPod, that Apple stole from me and has now earnt billions from. In the end, it comes down to money, if my intellectual products are worth money, then I want to recieve what it is worth. CC believes that in the technological world that we live in, we should be able to create something, not for money, but for the benefit of mankind, so that others can develop our ideas, and we should be able to have the choice between all rights reserved, some rights reserved and no rights reserved (CC, 2009).

CC offers some rights reserved and no rights reserved. To completely understand the licenses, I created all six licenses in Australia through CC. All licenses have one thing in common, attribution, any work I use that is not my own, I must attribute back to the author. Sounds like Copyright doesn't it. The first license is a no rights reserved license, the rest are forms of some rights reserved.

The following license allows you to share and remix, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia License.

The following license allows you to share and remix, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser, and you must redistribute your work under the same license.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.

The following license allows you to share, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser, and you may not make derivatives of the work.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

The following license allows you to share, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser, you may not make derivatives of the work, and it may not be used for commercial purposes.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

The following license allows you to share and remix, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser, the work or your alterations may not be used for commercial purposes, and you must redistribute the work under the same license.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.

The following license allows you to share and remix, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser, and the work or your alterations may not be used for commercial purposes.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Australia License.

The result is that most of the licenses are a slightly altered version of Copyright, you must attribute to the author, however some offer more strict rulings than Copyright. For example, the following license allows you to share the item, however you must attribute the work to the author or licenser, you may not make derivatives of the work, and it may not be used for commercial purposes. The only difference between this and Copyright, is that with Copyright, you cannot share the item without seeking the authors acceptance.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.

The purpose of CC, was to “skip the intermediaries”, “refine the rules of Copyright” and “exercise your Copyright” (CC, 2009). CC wasn't created to work against Copyright, but alongside with it. However, by "exercising your Copyright" through CC, you are potentially creating a new set of stricter rules that apply to any user that; remixes or shares any of your work.

While CC is an excellent concept on paper, and for the time being it seems to work, why should we bother with CC and Copyright? It is just another solution and failure to deal with Copyright on the internet. Ultimately, the choice is yours. If you think Copyright is old fashioned, or you would like to have limited or no control over your work, then CC is for you. Otherwise, don't change a thing.

References

BOYLE, J. (2008), 'The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind', Yale University Press, London.

Creative Commons. (2009), 'Creative Commons', Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org/.

Creative Commons. (2009), 'What Is CC?', Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org/about/what-is-cc.

DOCTOROW, C. (2007), 'Creative Commons', Locus Magazine Online, http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2007/11/cory-doctorow-creative-commons.html.

ICommons. (2007), 'Why Bloggers Should Use Creative Commons Licenses', iCommons, http://icommons.org/articles/why-bloggers-should-use-creative-commons-licences.

LASTUFKA, A. & DEAN, M. W. (2009), 'Youtube: An Insiders Guide to Climbing the Charts', O'Reilly Media, Inc. United States of America.

LAURENT, A M. ST. (2004), 'Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing', O'Reilly Media, Inc. United States of America.

LESSIG, L. (2009), 'Lessig 2.0', Lessig.org, http://www.lessig.org/.

LESSIG, L. (2008), 'Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy', The Penguin Press, London.

LESSIG, L. (2004), 'Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, The Penguin Press, London.

NATIONAL ACADEMIC PRESS. (2003), 'The Roll Of Scientific And Technical Data And Information In The Public Domain', National Academic Press, Washington.

WATRALL, E. & SIARTO, J. (2009), 'Head First Web Design', O'Reilly Media, Inc. United States of America.

Week 9 - Tute

Write out the question that you would like to answer for your essay.

Find at LEAST 5 books or journal articles that are useful to answering your question. You should write 50 words about each of the resources; focus on the following:

What is the key argument or information in this resource?

Is the view or information the same as the other resources you have found?

How does it contribute to your argument?

Is there a key quote that describes the main point of the article?

Week 9 - Lecture

Okey. Jason, I would just like to say, WHY AREN'T YOU OUR LECTURER? Seriously, the lecture was awesome. Anyone leaving early or entering late was singled out and made fun of, just the way it should be.

The lecture we looked at the different ways one can be involved in a community of some description. For instance the anti-wikipedia, uncyclopedia! This great little site explores everything that wikipedia dares to not. Everything that wikipedia stands for, uncyclopedia doesn't. Check out uncyclopedia's take on wikipedia if you dare.

Another site we checked out was 4chan. This site is an image based bulletin board, however it has links to hackers throughout the world that at any notice can shut down sites that they disapprove of.

Finally, we sat flabbergasted as we watched Jason play several of his 'interactive digital poetry and games'. These were interesting, however extremely off-putting. The effect of his 'digital poetry' was that I felt like I was on acid.

So that concluded the lecture, the main question running through everyone's heads was "What the hell just happened?"

The who what when where why how blog

Week 8 - Tute

Dr Dan, is the philosopher, at least, I'm sure in his past life he was... perhaps Plato.

This week our task is to see how many of the following we can achieve while sticking to your political beliefs?

- Sign an e-petition
- Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site
- What is Barak Obama doing today?
- Find out what your local, state and federal representatives are
Local member: Steve Griffiths
State member: Simon Finn
Federal member: Graham Perrett
- Look up the Queensland or Australian hansard to find the last time your local member spoke in parliament
My local member has spoken eleven times this year in parliament.
- Let your local member know what you think about their last speech.
- Read the lecture and the readings, pursue a couple of the topics that you find most interesting and then post your blog with your well-considered thoughts about the theory and practice of politics.

The who what when where why how blog

Week 8 - Lecture

So this week there was no lecture, but don't get your hopes up, I still have to post from the lecture notes.

Plato proposed, that our senses can be lied to. For instance, when you walk into a dark cave, you are blinded. Likewise, once your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, when you walk back outside, you are blinded again. Gibson stated that in our modern era, we don't have that blindness. For some reason we trust our senses.

We are also perhaps programmed for warfare. Nearly everything we see is based on warfare. Think about action movies, you cannot name a single action movie that doesn't involve guns or warfare. Board games for instance are the same. Take chess and checkers for example, they promote warfare. Cheat promotes political deception. Computer games are all based on war, or fighting. Many are based on a historical period, for instance, Call of Duty, runs through WWI, WWII and Afghanistan. Are we programmed to accept war?

When I googled board games, the first game to pop up was Monopoly, a 'WORLD DOMINATION' game.

The who what when where why how blog

Week 7 - Tute

So this week Dan mumbled on about something or other that was covered in the lecture. I'm sure everyone fell asleep this time as this tute was MIND NUMBINGLY BORING! However I was awake for the first part of the tute, where we talked about the open source programs we were currently using. For me, Open source Liero. Liero is a classic worms game, however it is played in realtime and now with open source liero I can enjoy it even more!

This weeks tute task was to create a three minute video comprised of photos and videos taken from portable media. It could be either of the following; a news report about University, or another boring video. What did I choose? To make a boring video INTERESTING! Maybe.

Here is a video, that I have compiled of pictures taken by me at my year twelve formal.
Hope you enjoy it...



The who what when where why how blog

Week 7 - Lecture

Okey dokey. Todays lecture was taken by Adam Muir. Topic of interest, Creative commons and Open source software.

Creative commons is a not for profit organisation that enables "some rights reserved". The rights as the creator are chosen by you. Under these licensing schemes, I could write a book in english, and post it online with the creative commons license. Then a translator in England could translate my book into French. A illustrator in Canada could illustrate the book, and the book could then be used in Bolivia, helping teach young children how to read. Whilst this is possible under a regular license, the creative commons license makes it easier to access and download for free.



The other topic for this week was open source software. This is basically free to use software, that you can edit and change as you wish, upload and redistribute. In simple terms, open source software is basically a recipe, that upload on the internet. Your friends download it, and after trying it out, decide to change a little bit to make it better. After doing this, they upload the new version, and redistribute it on the internet. There are hundreds of open source software out there. OpenOffice, Linux, Firefox and VLC are just a few. If you're looking at changing your software, then Source Forge is the place to go.

Quite often open source software is a quicker and more reliable way to run your computer. In 2007, when Microsoft released Windows Vista, Windows XP users were unable to read Vista file types. Open source software had a patch for XP users within a week, Microsoft took months. If the job needs to be done, the community will comply, rather than waiting for the company.

Adam left us with a little homework.
Find a free piece of software, and use it for 10 days. Lets see how I go.

The who what when where why how blog

Week 6 - Tute

Okey dokey.. So this weeks tute was pretty average. Dr Dan rambled on about our blogs for a little. I received a 62%. Pissed off? I'd have to say I was hoping more for the 80% bracket. I mean, 62% is still a pass, but it's a crappy pass... Here's what Dr Dan had to say.

If you're going to sign off "The 5 w's and h", you've got me worried. Not just because it's unclear how 5 w can have "and h" (because it's a possessive clause, not a plural), but because the blog begins so blisteringly well and then becomes ever-more reductive in its reflections. Good inclusion of media but often without sufficient explanation as to why this might interest the audience. It just needs a bit more 'lift' to get the 5 Ws over the line with the H.

Okay Dr Dan, you asked for more cynicism, so here it comes. Firstly, the 5 w's and h, stand for who, what, when, where, why and how, I thought that somebody with a doctorate would be able to figure that out, obviously not, my mistake, although you could have simply read my web address and put two and 2 together. (See what I did there.. Guys, Guys..). However from now on my signature will be the who what when where why how blog. Happy? Secondly, I included the media because we had to? I mean seriously, you mean to tell me that people who aren't in this class are reading my blog? Didn't think so... Anyway that my rant over. Hopefully I can improve my blog to a 80% standard.

After Dr Dan's ramble on about the blogs, and as we started to doze in our chairs, we awoke from our slumber when he mentioned the tute task.

MAKE A VIDEO!
We must use stills, include music, and not have any black screens.

Here it is... Alcoholism.
To all you phantom viewers of my blog, let me know what you think in a comment.



Keep your dial on me for a more cynical, intellectually challenging and gripping blog!

The who what when where why how blog

Week 6 - The lecture

So week six has finally arrived. The lecturer for this week Josh Nicholas walked around the front of the room, rambling about; consumption and production.

Josh outlined the fact that we want to be entertained all day, every day. In our car, home, some people even have entertainment screens in their bathrooms. At present, technology is becoming harder and harder to get away from.. Watch out people... The days of Terminator are just around the corner.

We consume through the big screen and small screen, and because we want to be entertained all day every day, we are now being able to receive this entertainment on our mobile phones. However the problem lies in sending the data. This has led to mobisodes, episodic stories and fan films. As consumers, we are becoming producers, if we don't like an ending to a movie, then edit it do the way we like it, or perhaps make a fan film, or new trailer to a movie.

Check out fan films. They're exactly that. Fan films, so don't expect them to be hollywood quality acting.
Or maybe check out some trailer mashups. Then go watch the real trailer and film. They're great fun to compare.
'Mankind is no island' - Tropfest 2008 winner.. Check it out, its quite cool.

These trailers, mashups, fan films, and mobisodes are the right size to be received on the mobile phone.

Check out ireport next week for some controversial Griffith news.


The 5 w's and h

Week 5 - Tutorial tasks & Homework

Homework
All the sites you use, who owns the content?
Facebook.
All information uploaded is property of Facebook. And even after withdrawing your information, Facebook may have put it into a cache, which stores your information for an unknown period of time.

Who has the right to use it?
Facebook. Anyone who wants.

What would happen if tomorrow the website shut down?
I would continue living a happy life.

What role will you play in the social media landscape?
As a social media expert, I will conduct seminars, helping to educate the social world.

Tutorial Task
What are the qualitative differences between the regular IM program and the 3D environment?
The basic difference between 3D and IM programs, is that IM programs are primarily text formats, whilst 3D, still communicating in text, it gives you an alternative ego or persona. You are a different person online on each medium. Although you may think you do not change in your online presence, in each medium you are different.

The 5 w's and h

Week 5 - Lecture

Week 5's finally arrived, bringing with it Internet studies.

Identity was one topic which seemed to strike a note with a lot of people. 'You can be anyone on the internet.'




The focus of internet has moved away from groups of people with common interests, to groups of people whom know each other offline.

Folksonomy, a way of organizing knowledge. For example, in blogs and wiki's were found in Web 2.0. Web 2.0 created the idea of user-generated content, which helped ease information in the form of; videos, images, photos and text, being uploaded onto the internet.

Saying social media is a bit like saying atm machine. ATM means Automatic-Teller-Machine machine. Media is social, so saying social media is really saying social media media. Why not just say media? That being said, I will continue to call it social media.
Social media is defined as what we do on the internet. For example, blogs, wiki's, searching, flikr, youtube, myspace, facebook, etc.
Accordingly, we are all social media experts, because we use all these media.

The 5 w's and h

Week 4 - The Lecture

A quick revision of week 3's lecture kicked us into motion this week. Josh Nicholas, todays lecturer was talking about how you use your facial expressions to evoke certain reactions, it's a pity because he had no facial expressions, leading to the week 3 recap being a bore.

After about 25 minutes, we finally headed into new territory, with beginning of week 4's lecture. All about movies and the internet. We all watch movies online, lets not deny it. This leaves film companies with the conundrum, whether they should license their films online or not.

Films famous because of the internet:
Troops
The babysitter
Awesometown
405 the movie
The fanimatrix

Interesting fact of the week:
The first full length feature film was made in Australia of the Kelly gang.

The 5 w's and h

Week 4 - The tute

1. What did Alan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?

2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?

3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software?
Born October 28. (youtube)



4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?

5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?
It's 15 times faster.

6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?


7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?


8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?
Raining. 1954 floods. (General knowledge)

9. Why is is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?
No idea.

10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
Mark David Chapman

The 5 w's and h

Week 3 tute exercise - Usain Bolt 9.58 100m record

Within 5 hours this video had over 300 views. How's that for communication? We receive the information we want before the newspapers can print it.




The 5 w's and h

Week 3 - Lecture pt. 1 - Talking room

Talking room in very important on screen, especially in an interview. If the subject is facing left, then there needs to be empty space on the left, likewise if the subject is facing right. This confirms with the viewer that the subject is conversing with another person, not the camera or camera man.

In Rove's interview with Elmo, he starts off talking to the camera, however when he's interviewing elmo, there is talking space off to the side he's facing.



The 5 w's and h

Week 3 - Lecture - Pt.2 - The rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is a rule that is used with all kinds of camera work. Being an avid amateur photographer, this was very interesting. If the subject is facing to the left, then there needs to be more free space on the left of the subject. Their lower eye should be centered in the photo, whilst the rest of their face should remain in the centre third. This rule is very effective, however it is ineffective with head on photos, as the subject should be centered in the frame.

For any other budding photographers, if my explanation didn't make sense, hopefully this video will.




The 5 w's and h

Week Two - The Lecture

This weeks lecture was quite interesting. We heard about Charles Babbage and his first computer. From Babbage, we moved on to Alan Turing, whom completed all the 'major' computing work. From there we moved on to Apple, Xerox PARC, and the 'home brew'. This was quite interesting. Moving on, we discussed GNU/Linux, finishing on the Internet.

Babbage invented the first computer in the 19th century. It was developed to calculate and print mathematical tables. This computer, was more a machine than an electronic computer. Babbage made several of these computer parts, however even with funding, he was unable to finish it in his lifetime.

Turing, a student at Cambridge wrote a crucial paper, which clarified the possibility of a machine being able to compute numbers. And during the second world war, he worked at Bletchley Park with teams of mathematicians and cryptographers. It was here that World war II was won, as they devised the first working computer the bombe to break the secret German 'Enigma' codes. Turing also devised the turing test, which tests the artificial intelligence of a computer. It does this by sitting a judge at a computer terminal, and he communicates with a computer and a human in writing. If the judge cannot tell which is the computer, then the computer has passed the test.

The first computers commercially produced were by IBM in the 50's. They were large and extremely expensive machines, generally used for the military, government and corporate work. In 1965 Gordorn Moore realized that the capacity of a microchip has been exponentially doubling every two years. This became Moore's law, however there is concern, even by Moore himself, that this period of growth is about to end.

In the early 70's Xerox PARC developed the concept of a mouse and GUI. It was these concepts that made PC's approachable by the general public. In 1975, the first PC '0' was produced, however it had no language. Enter Bill Gates, after dropping out of Uni and moving to New Mexico, he wrote a language for this 'BASIC'. It had the abilities to do simple word processing, accounting, and play some games. This was the start of Microsoft.

Enter Apple and the 'home brew' club. The 'home brew' club was a group of computer nerds, whom got together to exchange ideas, and show off their latest home made PC's. This is where Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met and started their company Apple. The Apple I, was their first PC. It had no case, mouse, or keyboard, however they sold fifty of them, each for $666.60. Realizing there was a market for PC's for the luddite, they set about making smaller components and getting funding. They managed to convince Arthur Rock at Venture Capital to back them to the tune of $100,000. Time lapse two years, and Apple II was born. Launched at the West Coast Computer Fair, the Apple II was a hit, dealers and distributors lined up to see it. Two years later, both men were worth so much, they needn't work again for the rest of their lives.

It was around this time that IBM realized that they wanted a piece of the PC craze. Determined to create a PC within a year, they changed their manufacturing processes to 'open architecture'. This meant buying stock products from other companies and putting them into a 'killer' computer. IBM had no troubles finding the hardware, however it soon became apparent that finding software was a problem. After some back and forth between the two biggest software vendors, IBM ended up with Microsoft. Gates promised an operating system, and went to Tim Patterson. They ended up buying Kudos, Patterson's program for $50 000. And in just four months, IBM had PC DOS 1.0 up and running. They licensed this out to the market, $50 a piece.

In "91 a Finnish programmer created his own version of Unix. This was the birth of GNU/Linux, he posted this up onto the internet, and hundreds of interested people contributed to the development of the software. Offering a free alternative to the other operating systems, GNU/Linux spread across the world.

The internet is a highly complex network of networks. Think of it a spiderweb being a network, then thousands of spiders webs, all connecting together, creating a network of networks. These networks were generally connected through telephone lines, however recently they are being connected through broad band cable and satellites. The internet is not to be confused with the world wide web (www.), the web however, is one way of utilizing the internet.

The 5 w's and h

Week one - The lecture

So many technological words were thrown at us. Technology, communication, transmitter, receiver, binary, convergence. What does it all mean? Well that's what this course is about.

We started off the lecture, with all the boring stuff; reading through the course outline, going through the assessment, and just generally making sure everyone knew what they were in for. Later we watched as an example of new technology communication, 'Cocaine Jesus'. Turn the sound up, and keep you mouse over the pause button, as it does tend to roll a little fast.




With this under our belts, the general feeling in the lecture was much more relaxed, the perfect opportunity for our lecture Steve Stockwell to smash us back to reality.

Old technologies versus new technologies. How can we tell the difference? Firstly, we must define technology. "The scientific study of mechanical arts and their application to the world." (Stockwell S. 2009) Marshall McLuhan argues that technology is the extension of the human body, a bike an extension of the legs, a tool, the extension of the hand. Which moves us on to the ways of storing information.

There are two ways, analog and digital. Analog the way of the past uses technological functions by representing continuously variable forces, through roughly proportional signals or dials. This results in a fairly inaccurate reading. Digital technology, however uses binary measures to transport information, this allows a much more precise mode of information transportation. Whilst digital technology is the way of the future, some people still prefer to use analog technologies. Think of it as comparing an acoustic guitar, to an electric guitar. There is the possibility to end with the same outcome, however the processes will vary.

Convergence appears to be happening, and is becoming more and more popular. It is seen everywhere; mobile phones that have radio, internet, mp3 and a camera, fridges that are connected to the internet that order groceries when stocks are low. Businesses are converging, you just need to look at the 'Coles group', or 'Woolworth's chain'. Convergence is inevitable, as is our reliance on technology.

The 5 w's and h

Greetings!

Welcome to my blog.
My name's Chris, I'm a second year BA student at Griffith Uni. I'm majoring in Spanish studies, but I am also studying writing, and am looking at doing a graduate diploma of education at the end of my BA. I enjoy anything to do with the outdoors, and anything extreme.

The 5 w's and h