Copyright and the Open Movement

This weekend I’ve had some time to think more about a subject I discussed at the beginning of the semester: copyright and the open movement. The more I’ve written and learned about digital culture over the last few months, the more I’ve been able to see the value of the open movement and all that it has to teach us. Through the work I’ve been doing with badges, I’ve been exploring the power of the open education movement and how open learning allows more freedom and diversity in learning.

Yet a topic I’m still learning about is the application of copyright with the open movement, especially through the creative commons license. After talking about some of the specifics of digital copyright on Thursday, I wanted to learn more about how this specific lisence works. Although I found this website , I also appreciate this more thorough description from Open Content Licensing: From Theory to Practice:

“The open source movement has inspired a variety of similar distribution models in the realms of science, culture and art, which are commonly referred to as ‘open access’ or ‘open content’. In fact, the open content movement perceives the current copyright regime as the major obstacle to creative activity. This new licensing model purports to rectify the shortcomings of the copyright regime by allowing, through contracts, increased access to and use of artistic and scientific works. Among the numerous licensing models based on open content, the most successful application so far is the Creative Commons initiative (creativecommons .org), which was set up initially in the United States, but is now rapidly spreading across the globe. While the current copyright regime is serving the needs of intermediaries, the open content licensing model, especially the Creative Commons license, is directed mostly to individual authors. Creative Commons has developed a series of standard-form licenses that allow authors of literary, musical or audiovisual works to permit wide dissemination and transformative uses of their works, without forfeiting copyright. While copyright law creates the default rule of All Rights Reserved, making permission necessary for each and every use of a work, Creative Commons seeks to facilitate an environment in which Some Rights Reserved or even No Rights Reserved become the norm.”

I can only imagine if the Creative Commons License becomes even more popular and prevalent. Although there are still issues, it’s powerful to utilize a system where the most beneficially qualities of the internet are capitalized upon: the power of collaboration and cooperation.  There are still a number of situations where this system doesn’t and won’t apply, but the way it utilizes the best qualities of the open movement, with an emphasis on authority through transparency, is vitally important. I hope to continue to look more at how the internet and copyright can develop to meet each other’s needs, but I feel like the Creative Commons License is a powerful start.