"When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things." Steve Jobs
Without the ability to watch or retain other people's work to be reused, remixed, revised or redistributed with others, the world would be now living in the style of the frozen age. Simply, because creatively does not necessarily means bringing totally new ideas that no one would not have heard before. Despites this fact, not always anyone's work is open for anyone. In other words, there are works that come out of the scope of what is today known by Open Educational Resources (OERs).
In 2002, the so called Creative Commons (CC) licenses were created to be the most frequently used for open copyright licences and also can be used as reference for any necessary national legislation. In other words, the CC license is used to indicate what people are allowed to do with others' people's work, because any work is automatically protected by copyright.
Openness in Creative Commons (CC):
Within the scope of CC licensces, one finds "five freedoms" (a described here) that should be considered when sealing with OERs:
- Retain: one
can own a copy of the original work (download, store, duplicate and
manage).
- Reused: one can reuse the original work in different
ways such as in a class, website, video…etc
- Revise:
one has the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the original work.
- Remix:
one has the right to combine the original or revised work with other
content to create something new.
- Redistribute: one has the right to share the original, revised or remixed work with others.
CC linsence has four components:
- Attribution (BY): the
work can be used by giving the owner credit. If one does not want to give
credit when using the work, permission from the owner is required.
- Share Alike (SA):
the work can be used as long as the user is distributing the work under
the same terms as the owner's.
- Non-Commercial (NC):
the work can be used for any purpose but economical ones. If the user is
intending to use the work for economical goals, permission from the owner
is required.
- No Derivatives (ND):
the work can be copied, distributed, displayed and performed but not
modified. If they want to modify it, permission from the owner is
required.
Please see the following table from Guidelines on the development of open educational
resources policies.
The mixture of these four CC types presents six different combinations. Indeed, the licences of these combinations include what is termed to OER and what is not. Besides that, CC also has a public domain dedication called CC0 (‘CC-zero’) which anyone can freely use.
The following figure exposes the CC0 and
the six combinations with their degree of openness ( from the most open to the
least one) as presented in Guidelines on the development of open educational
resources policies.
CC licences and Copyright in the Saharawi refugee camps and KhaimaTechwiki website:
I think that CC BY is the most suitable
liceusnces for KhaimaTechWiki since its purpose is to provide OERs to everyone
interested in its content to use it creatively for good purposes. Indeed, like
in many places in the world, the copyright licences in the Saharawi Refugee camps
in Tindouf are still regarded as not a serious issue despites its importance.
Resources:
·
Open Educational Resources
(OER).
· Guidelines on the development of open educational resources policies.
