About CC Archives - Creative Commons https://creativecommons.org/category/about-cc/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:16:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.1 CC Open Education Platform Activities: 2023 in Review https://creativecommons.org/2024/01/31/cc-open-education-platform-activities-2023-in-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cc-open-education-platform-activities-2023-in-review Wed, 31 Jan 2024 15:22:03 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=74570 The CC Open Education community had a busy 2023!  Five project teams, spanning nine countries, worked on open education projects ranging from developing STEAM, interactive, and climate change-related OER, to international curriculum alignment and translation work. Community members also worked on multimedia resources supporting the UNESCO Recommendation on OER, and presented in CC’s biannual Open…

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Orange figures writing on and sharing papers, then making paper airplanes

The CC Open Education community had a busy 2023!  Five project teams, spanning nine countries, worked on open education projects ranging from developing STEAM, interactive, and climate change-related OER, to international curriculum alignment and translation work. Community members also worked on multimedia resources supporting the UNESCO Recommendation on OER, and presented in CC’s biannual Open Education Lightning Talks. Community members reflect on their accomplishments, lessons learned and what is next below. CC staff lightly edited text for clarity.

Building a K-12 Interactive Open Textbook

Update from Werner Westermann: This project developed a K-12 Open Textbook in the subject of Civics and Citizenship subject for 11th and 12th Grade, aligned to the official K-12 curriculum of Chile. With the CC funding, we made 60% progress on one Open Textbook for 11th grade, surpassing our initial goal. We worked with teachers, creators of the interactive resources and a graphic designer on all four learning units of the 11th grade Open Textbook, as defined by Chile’s official curriculum for Civics and Citizenship. To help others’ open education projects, we share some lessons we encountered:

  • This type of community engagement requires specific and explicit guidelines and benchmarks for quality. Like any book development, this Open Textbook required a general editor to orchestrate community contributions, manage expectations, and enforce quality guidelines and benchmarks. 
  • Standardized workflows are necessary.  It was most efficient to load content, then follow up with graphic and interactive resources, rather than focus on those specifics first. We tested an AI Smart Import tool that creates H5P interactive resources in seconds, in order to save up to 50% development time.  
  • Community adoption of a tech tool (the H5P editor in our case) requires flexibility to adapt to the tool for mastery. We had a lot of discussions about what H5P could and could not achieve. For better results, postpone specific expectations and work on what is editor enabled.

What’s next? The next step is to complete the 11th grade Open Textbook development and publish it, pending funding.  We also await an AI tool for Spanish support to speed up production.

Popularization of OER in Ukraine: Small steps to a big goal

Update from Tetiana Kolesnykova: Polytechnic University of Milan and the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies (USUST) partnered to translate and localize a MOOC on OER: “Using Open Educational Resources in Teaching.” This OER provides equitable and inclusive access to education amidst full-scale war in Ukraine. Despite the war, the project achieved its aim: there is now a version of the MOOC for Ukrainian learners. Our lessons from this work included: listening to each other, negotiating where needed, and compromise. We were not looking for perfection but for a good result to be achieved within all limitations. With teamwork and strong motivation, we solved the challenges of the project together; and the end result exceeded our expectations. As a result: All MOOC subtitles for each video, the course description and all tests were made available in Ukrainian, ensuring participants gain a better understanding and support with the final assessment. We also created eight additional instructions and illustrations in Ukrainian. We developed a mock-up of the Certificate of Completion of the course “Using Open Educational Resources in Teaching” adapted into Ukrainian. Several faculty and librarians tested the MOOC in Ukrainian.

We started promoting the Ukrainian localisation of the MOOC “Using Open Educational Resources in Teaching” in October. Politecnico di Milano (METID) and the Scientific Library of the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies (USUST) presented our collaborative project at international conferences, national webinars, publications, and on the website of the USUST Scientific Library.

While it is too early to measure the success of the Ukrainian MOOC “Using Open Educational Resources in Teaching,” we know it is already raising awareness of OER opportunities among the wider Ukrainian academic community. 

What’s next?  We will continue our teamwork, and ignite new OER adaptations in a sustainable way.

STEAM Ahead with OER in South Africa project

Update from Dan McGuire: This collaborative project between Ghana, South Africa and the US created, curated, and sourced OER content aligned to Ghanaian and South African education standards.  

Our colleague, Peter Amoabil observed that using the MoodleBox and OER materials provided learning opportunities for students without the need to rely on the internet, which is very useful in Ghana where over 95% of schools don’t have internet access. Students were able to use the digital content for all subjects and especially for reading in their mother tongue, Dagbani. Reading materials in Dagbani have previously been very hard to acquire.

In South Africa, we were able to translate both reading materials and math assessments from English into isiXhosa for students in grades Pre-K through 1st grade. Students were excited to learn using WIFI devices.

What’s next? Translating educational materials into the students’ mother tongue is especially valuable and innovative. We plan to expand the professional development for use of digital OER materials aligned to national standards to more teachers in both Ghana and South Africa. This project helped us establish a process to create and deliver learning materials to Pre-K — 6th grade students. We will also be making the OER professional development courses and instructional content available via open repositories.

Climate Change: OER integrating SDG components in Education in two Southeast Asian Countries

Update from Dr. Suma Parahakaran: This project worked with the Malaysian Ministry of Education as well as Malaysian and Laotian schools, creating OER and experiential learning activities. Primary and Secondary school students engaged in cross disciplinary, technical, and integrated learning activities, such as setting up solar panels on rooftops. They got to attend workshops and brainstorms with international experts and teachers. Students also created videos, brochures and other resources focused on ethics, climate change and sustainable development education. Finally, students then entered a competition related to Climate Change and Sustainable Development OER. For more information and results of the competition, view the project website

What’s next? While there are private Youtube links to the videos, they will be made public soon. Project lead: Dr. Suma Parahakaran

Alquimetricos

Update from Fernando Daguanno: Alquimétricos is an OER project that uses connectors and sticks to build geometric structures for STEAM education. Through experiential learning, the project develops students’ spatial, mathematical and kinetic understanding. The Alquimétricos Kit Zero is already published online and available to purchase: see our repositories for ready-to-print and fully editable CC BY files, including content, packaging and labeling. 

During 2023 we developed a new product line of elementary-school-oriented kits, drawing from eight years of experiences and research. The kits include a deck of cards with guidelines, a bunch of hubs and sticks that help educators make Alquimétricos’ activities dynamic in the classroom. The new kit was developed and introduced as part of the (FADU-UBA) DiJu post degree “Toys and Games Design” course 2023. It was launched in Argentina at the Open Education Meeting in Bariloche – Argentinian Patagonia, presented at the OpenEd Conference 2023 and displayed at the CC Global Summit in Mexico City.

What’s next? Next steps include translation to Portuguese and English and sharing the project in global OER repositories. We will seek support proofreading and sharking Kit Zero in a community call in early 2024. 

Global Commons: Unlocking Open Education with Creative Commons

Update from Lisa Di Valentino and John Okewole: This project developed a short animated video describing Creative Commons and how CC licenses support the implementation of the United Nations Recommendation on OER. We currently have a first version of the video created by Brainboxx Studios for which we will re-record the English narration. We have also solicited translations of the transcript from other subgroup members in the nine other UNESCO languages, and have offers for translation in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Italian (of which we now have a draft), and Spanish. 

What’s next? We will finalize the English video and determine how to translate the video text.  We will also design handouts in the various languages explaining the benefits of using Creative Commons licensing for open educational resources.

CC Open Education Lightning Talks

Lightning Talks are seven-minute presentations on a given area of expertise or work. Based on community demand, CC hosted Open Education Lighting Talks online in February and in-person, at the CC Summit in October. Community members’  presentations ranged from explorations of OER for social justice to practical applications, such as using machine translation algorithms for OER translation and recommendations for digital publishing. CC also presented a forthcoming microcredential course on which we are partnering with the University of Nebraska Omaha, in effort to bring more open licensing expertise to new audiences. 

What’s next? We look forward to learning more from the open education community in future CC Open Education Lightning Talks!

Creative Commons extends our gratitude to the inspiring CC community members making a difference in their educational contexts. We look forward to continued open education collaborations in 2024! If you would like to join our Open Education community, visit the CC Open Education Platform site for more information.

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Thank You Catherine Stihler https://creativecommons.org/2023/12/29/leadership-transitions-at-cc-catherine-stihler/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=leadership-transitions-at-cc-catherine-stihler Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:46:54 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=74485 Today Creative Commons CEO Catherine Stihler is announcing the conclusion of her time leading the organization. On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, and global community, we want to offer Catherine our sincere thanks. We are grateful to her for over three years of leadership at CC.  During her tenure as CEO, Catherine demonstrated…

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Today Creative Commons CEO Catherine Stihler is announcing the conclusion of her time leading the organization. On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, and global community, we want to offer Catherine our sincere thanks. We are grateful to her for over three years of leadership at CC. 

During her tenure as CEO, Catherine demonstrated tremendous energy. Joining as a leader in August 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic, meant navigating challenging times. Like many nonprofits during that time, the organization struggled financially. Under Catherine’s leadership the organization recovered from that. A successful 20th Anniversary Campaign that concluded in December 2022 led to more predictability for some of CC’s core program areas, due to multi-year funding commitments.

Organizational highlights from Catherine’s tenure at CC include a year-long campaign of thought leadership and community consultation on AI & the commons, which culminated in the 2023 CC Global Summit. This was CC’s first in-person community gathering since 2019. We also launched the Open Climate Campaign in partnership with SPARC and EIFL, and the organization has invested deeply in the Open Culture sector. Both initiatives are the result of generous funding from Arcadia. These are achievements that we can all be proud of.

The Creative Commons Board of Directors remains as committed as ever to CC’s mission of empowering individuals and communities around the world by equipping them with technical, legal, and policy solutions to enable sharing of knowledge and culture in the public interest.

As we look to the future, we are excited to come together with CC’s staff, global network, and broader community, to interrogate what our role is in protecting the commons in a very different world than the one we lived in 20+ years ago, when the CC licenses first came into existence. Anna Tumadóttir will serve as CC’s Interim CEO during this transition period.

New challenges lie ahead, and we are grateful to have the privilege of working on public interest solutions together with our dedicated staff and community. Once again, I want to express our thanks for Catherine’s service to the organization.

Yours,

Delia Browne, Chair of the Creative Commons Board of Directors

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More California Community Colleges Get CC Certified! https://creativecommons.org/2023/12/21/more-california-community-colleges-get-cc-certified/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=more-california-community-colleges-get-cc-certified Thu, 21 Dec 2023 17:42:06 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=74413 This December, Creative Commons led a CC Certificate Bootcamp, or condensed Certificate training, for faculty and staff from 16 different California Community Colleges implementing Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree programs. This marked the second CC Bootcamp for California Community Colleges after the California legislature invested $115 million to expand ZTC degrees and the use of…

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Sunset over San Bernardino skyline

This December, Creative Commons led a CC Certificate Bootcamp, or condensed Certificate training, for faculty and staff from 16 different California Community Colleges implementing Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree programs. This marked the second CC Bootcamp for California Community Colleges after the California legislature invested $115 million to expand ZTC degrees and the use of open educational resources (OER) within the statewide California community college system. ZTC degrees and increased use of OER reduce the overall cost of education and shorten the time to degree completion for students. With the average cost of course textbooks estimated at $100/student/course, ZTC degrees are crucial for students’ higher education. Further, students’ grades achieved in ZTC programs are higher than in traditional courses.

The CC Certificate program provides training and tools for ZTC program faculty and staff to legally and effectively implement the open licensing requirements of California’s historic investment in education. After learning about copyright basics, fair use, the public domain, and CC licensing, participants brainstormed and initiated some great ways to support ZTC program faculty and student needs. Examples of participant work include using generative AI to create “Creative Commons Bots,” tools to help others learn about licensing, and test their own knowledge with quiz questions; creating a grants guide for OER funding; drafting a potential strategic plan for OER/ ZTC work (work in progress), and remixing previous courses or resources to address ZTC communications and learning needs for localized audiences (works in progress). See what participants are saying below.

“This is one of the best professional development experiences I’ve had in years”

“Thank you so much for sharing wonderful resources and CC practices. I will share this knowledge with my colleagues”

“You’ve nailed the condensed week workshop. So much fun, and creating work groups was really beneficial”

We are proud to support California Community Colleges’ collaboration as they strengthen their foundations for open education. CC is grateful to the Michelson 20MM Foundation for generously funding this bootcamp at San Bernardino Valley College. Special thanks also go to the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges for their liaison work, expertise and support, to San Bernardino Valley College for hosting the event, and to Fresno Pacific University for providing professional development credits to faculty.

If you’re interested in advancing open education efforts in your own institution, Creative Commons offers an array of learning, training, and consulting opportunities to support our global community in developing open licensing expertise and a deeper understanding of recommended practices for better sharing. Visit the CC Training & Consulting page to learn more about our training services, workshops, lectures, and CC Certificate courses. Register for our next CC Certificate online courses, starting 29 January.

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CC Global Summit 2023: Reflections https://creativecommons.org/2023/12/01/cc-global-summit-2023-reflections/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cc-global-summit-2023-reflections Fri, 01 Dec 2023 01:43:51 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=74319 CC has long been at the forefront of enabling innovation and promoting access to knowledge and creativity. The Creative Commons 2023 Summit brought together creators, academics, technologists, and policymakers from around the world to discuss the future of open culture and how CC can continue to drive positive change. This blog post reflects on the key challenges of the summit and shares the insightful learnings that emerged from these discussions.

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[lee esta entrada en español >]

We want to share a message regarding some learnings obtained after the 2023 Creative Commons Global Summit and meeting with our Mexican organizing committee and members of the local community.

Financial decisions related to the CC Summit were made by the CC team and not by the local Mexican Chapter. Specifically the cost of entry to the event, which proved to be high in relation to the contextual conditions of Mexico. Due to difficult fundraising conditions for many nonprofits in 2023, the CC team decided to keep the entrance fee higher, offer discounted rates, and scholarships for attendees. We wish to learn from this experience for future events, as it is clear that if we want to continue our value of global inclusion, it is necessary to create a new formula to eliminate access barriers for those who wish to attend our events.

Initially, the estimated cost for simultaneous translation provided to us was above our budget. For this reason, we hired SyncWords to provide live subtitles, human and automatic translations for each of the sessions and panels in the main auditorium. The translations could be accessed through the QR code that we had published in various places (this code provided access to a SyncWords page that displayed the subtitles and the translation). We also offered translation (English/Spanish) according to the needs of our attendees, with bilingual people available in each room and in the auditorium. However, as we began the event we recommended that it was imperative to have simultaneous audio translation to encourage dialogue and follow our value of global inclusion. We especially thank the Tlatolli Ollin Professional Interpretation and Translation Services cooperative, which won the challenge by providing excellent service in a short time.

No one in our Mexican Chapter should be held responsible for any decision, nor should their reputation be tarnished by decisions made during the Summit. After such big events, there are always lessons to be learned and one of them is how CC, as a small global non-profit, which has to raise funds every year to survive, can better support our local chapters that provide so much wisdom and experience.

I want to personally thank everyone involved in the CC Summit and we will continue to work to create a world where knowledge and creativity are accessible to everyone.

Sincerely,
Catherine

Español

Queremos compartir un mensaje referente a algunos aprendizajes obtenidos después de la Cumbre Global Creative Commons 2023 y de reunirnos con nuestro comité organizador mexicano y miembros de la comunidad local.

Las decisiones financieras relacionadas con la Cumbre CC fueron tomadas por el equipo de CC y no por el Capítulo Mexicano local. Específicamente el costo de la entrada al evento, el cual se consideró alto en relación a las condiciones contextuales de México. Debido a las difíciles condiciones de recaudación de fondos para muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro en 2023, el equipo de CC decidió mantener la tarifa de entrada más alta, ofrecer tarifas con descuento, y becas para los asistentes. Deseamos aprender de esta experiencia para eventos futuros, ya que está claro que si queremos seguir nuestro valor de inclusión global, es necesario crear una nueva fórmula para eliminar barreras de acceso para aquellos que deseen asistir a nuestros eventos.

Inicialmente, el costo estimado para traducción simultánea se nos proporcionó por encima de nuestro presupuesto. Por tal motivo contratamos a SyncWords para realizar subtítulos, traducciones humanas y automáticas en vivo para cada una de las sesiones y paneles en el auditorio principal. Se podía acceder a las traducciones a través del código QR que habíamos publicado en varios lugares (dicho código proveía acceso a una página de SyncWords que mostraba los subtítulos y la traducción). También ofrecimos traducción (inglés/español) según las necesidades de nuestros asistentes, con personas bilingües disponibles en cada sala y en el auditorio. Sin embargo, al comenzar el evento decidimos que era imperativo contar con traducción de audio simultánea para fomentar el diálogo y seguir nuestro valor de inclusión global. Agradecemos especialmente a la cooperativa Tlatolli Ollin Servicios Profesionales de Interpretación y Traducción que aceptó el desafío brindando un excelente servicio en poco tiempo.

Nadie en nuestro Capítulo Mexicano debe ser responsabilizado por ninguna decisión, ni su reputación debe verse empañada por las decisiones tomadas durante la Cumbre. Después de eventos tan grandes, siempre hay lecciones que aprender y una de ellas es cómo CC, como una pequeña organización global sin fines de lucro, que tiene que recaudar fondos cada año para sobrevivir, puede apoyar mejor a nuestros capítulos locales que brindan tanta riqueza, sabiduría y experiencia.

Quiero agradecer personalmente a todos los involucrados en la Cumbre CC y continuaremos trabajando para crear un mundo donde el conocimiento y la creatividad sean accesibles para todos.

Atentamente,
Catherine

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Announcing CC’s Open Infrastructure Circle https://creativecommons.org/2023/11/03/cc-open-infrastructure-circle/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cc-open-infrastructure-circle Fri, 03 Nov 2023 18:43:46 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=74181 CC Licenses make it possible to share content legally and openly. Over the past 20 years, they have unlocked approximately 3 billion articles, books, research, artwork, and music. CC’s Legal Tools are a free and reliable public good. Yet most people are unaware that their infrastructure and stewardship takes a lot of money and work to maintain. That’s why we’re launching the Open Infrastructure Circle (OIC) — an initiative to obtain annual or multi-year support from foundations, corporations, and individuals for Creative Commons' core operations and license infrastructure.

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A black and white Creative Commons icon and logo above

CC Licenses make it possible to share content legally and openly. Over the past 20 years, they have unlocked approximately 3 billion articles, books, research, artwork, and music. They’re a global standard and power open sharing on popular platforms like Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Medium, Vimeo, and Khan Academy.

CC’s Legal Tools are a free and reliable public good. Yet most people are unaware that their infrastructure and stewardship takes a lot of money and work to maintain. 

We need to secure immediate and long term funding for the CC licenses and CC0 public domain tool, which are key to building a healthy commons. We’re facing many challenges and threats to the commons–libraries are under attack, misinformation is rampant, and climate change threatens us all. CC is one of the few nonprofit, mission-driven organizations fighting to ensure we have a sound legal infrastructure backing open ecosystems, so that culture and knowledge are shared in order to foster understanding and find equitable solutions to our world’s most pressing challenges.

We need support from like-minded funders to champion sharing practices and tools that oppose the enclosure of the commons.

That’s why we’re launching the Open Infrastructure Circle (OIC) — an initiative to obtain annual or multi-year support from foundations, corporations, and individuals for Creative Commons’ core operations and license infrastructure.

With consistent funding, we can resolve “technical debts” (years of work we’ve had to put on hold due to underfunding!) and make the CC Licenses more user-friendly and accessible to our large, global community. The world has changed a lot since the CC Licenses were first created in 2002, and we want to ensure they stay relevant and easy to use going forward.

We are grateful to our early Open Infrastructure Circle supporters, including the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Paul and Iris Brest.

Sign up to join OIC with a recurring gift! Or reach out to us for more information about OIC at development@creativecommons.org.

Thank you for considering joining the Open Infrastructure Circle and contributing to the legal infrastructure of the open web.

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Making AI Work for Creators and the Commons https://creativecommons.org/2023/10/07/making-ai-work-for-creators-and-the-commons/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=making-ai-work-for-creators-and-the-commons Sat, 07 Oct 2023 17:07:52 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=73952 On the eve of the CC Global Summit, members of the CC global community and Creative Commons held a one-day workshop to discuss issues related to AI, creators, and the commons. Emerging from that deep discussion and in subsequent conversation during the three days of the Summit, this group identified a set of common issues and values.

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[lee esta entrada en español >]

A group of about 20 people standing in a room with a slide behind them that says Open Future & Creative Commons.
“CC Global Summit 2023 Day 0” by Creative Commons is licensed CC BY 4.0.

On the eve of the CC Global Summit, members of the CC global community and Creative Commons held a one-day workshop to discuss issues related to AI, creators, and the commons. The community attending the Summit has a long history of hosting these intimate discussions before the Summit begins on critical and timely issues.

Emerging from that deep discussion and in subsequent conversation during the three days of the Summit, this group identified a set of common issues and values, which are captured in the statement below. These ideas are shared here for further community discussion and to help CC and the global community navigate uncharted waters in the face of generative AI and its impact on the commons.

Background considerations

  1. Recognizing that around the globe the legal status of using copyright protected works for training generative AI systems raises many questions and that there is currently only a limited number of jurisdictions with relatively clear and actionable legal frameworks for such uses. We see the need for establishing a number of principles that address the position of creators, the people building and using machine learning (ML) systems, and the commons, under this emerging technological paradigm.
  2. Noting that there are calls from organized rightholders to address the issues posed by the use of copyrighted works for training generative AI models, including based on the principles of credit, consent, and compensation.
  3. Noting that the development and deployment of generative AI models can be capital intensive, and thus risks resembling (or exacerbating) the concentration of markets, technology, and power in the hands of a small number of powerful for-profit entities largely concentrated in the United States and China, and that currently most of the (speculative) value accrues to these companies.
  4. Further noting that, while the ability for everyone to build on the global information commons has many benefits, the extraction of value from the commons may also reinforce existing power imbalances and in fact can structurally resemble prior examples of colonialist accumulation.
    1. Noting that this issue is especially urgent when it comes to the use of traditional knowledge materials as training data for AI models.
    2. Noting that the development of generative AI reproduces patterns of the colonial era, with the countries of the Global South being consumers of Northern algorithms and data providers.
  5. Recognizing that some societal impacts and risks resulting from the emergence of generative AI technologies need to be addressed through public regulation other than copyright, or through other means, such as the development of technical standards and norms. Private rightsholder concerns are just one of a number of societal concerns that have arisen in response to the emergence of AI.
  6. Noting that the development of generative AI models offers new opportunities for creators, researchers, educators, and other practitioners working in the public interest, as well as providing benefits to a wide range of activities across other sectors of society. Further noting that generative AI models are a tool that enables new ways of creation, and that history has shown that new technological capacities will inevitably be incorporated into artistic creation and information production.

Principles

We have formulated the following seven principles for regulating generative AI models in order to protect the interests of creators, people building on the commons (including through AI), and society’s interests in the sustainability of the commons:

  1. It is important that people continue to have the ability to study and analyse existing works in order to create new ones. The law should continue to leave room for people to do so, including through the use of machines, while addressing societal concerns arising from the emergence of generative AI.
  2. All parties should work together to define ways for creators and rightsholders to express their preferences regarding AI training for their copyrighted works. In the context of an enforceable right, the ability to opt out from such uses must be considered the legislative ceiling, as opt-in and consent-based approaches would lock away large swaths of the commons due to the excessive length and scope of copyright protection, as well as the fact that most works are not actively managed in any way.
  3. In addition, all parties must also work together to address implications for other rights and interests (e.g. data protection, use of a person’s likeness or identity). This would likely involve interventions through frameworks other than copyright.
  4. Special attention must be paid to the use of traditional knowledge materials for training AI systems including ways for community stewards to provide or revoke authorisation.
  5. Any legal regime must ensure that the use of copyright protected works for training generative AI systems for noncommercial public interest purposes, including scientific research and education, are allowed.
  6. Ensure that generative AI results in broadly shared economic prosperity – the benefits derived by developers of AI models from access to the commons and copyrighted works should be broadly shared among all contributors to the commons.
  7. To counterbalance the current concentration of resources in the the hands of a small number of companies these measures need to be flanked by public investment into public computational infrastructures that serve the needs of public interest users of this technology on a global scale. In addition there also needs to be public investment into training data sets that respect the principles outlined above and are stewarded as commons.

In keeping with CC’s practice to provide major communications related to the 2023 Global Summit held in Mexico City in English and Spanish, following is the text of this post originally created in English translated to Spanish

Hacer que la IA funcione para los creadores y los bienes comunes

En vísperas de la Cumbre Global CC, los miembros de la comunidad global CC y Creative Commons celebraron un taller de un día para discutir cuestiones relacionadas con la IA, los creadores y los bienes comunes. La comunidad que asiste a la Cumbre tiene una larga historia de albergar estas discusiones íntimas antes de que comience la Cumbre sobre temas críticos y oportunos.

Como resultado de esa profunda discusión y de la conversación posterior durante los tres días de la Cumbre, este grupo identificó un conjunto de cuestiones y valores comunes, que se recogen en la siguiente declaración. Estas ideas se comparten aquí para una mayor discusión comunitaria y para ayudar a CC y a la comunidad global a navegar por aguas inexploradas frente a la IA generativa y su impacto en los bienes comunes.

Consideraciones preliminares

  1. Reconociendo que en todo el mundo el estatus legal del uso de obras protegidas por derechos de autor para entrenar sistemas generativos de IA plantea muchas preguntas y que actualmente solo hay un número limitado de jurisdicciones con marcos legales relativamente claros y viables para tales usos. Vemos la necesidad de establecer una serie de principios que aborden la posición de los creadores, las personas que construyen y utilizan sistemas de aprendizaje automático y los bienes comunes, bajo este paradigma tecnológico emergente.
  2. Señalando que hay llamados de titulares de derechos organizados para abordar los problemas que plantea el uso de obras protegidas por derechos de autor para entrenar modelos de IA generativa, incluso basados en los principios de crédito, consentimiento y compensación.
  3. Observando que el desarrollo y despliegue de modelos generativos de IA puede requerir mucho capital y, por lo tanto, corre el riesgo de asemejarse (o exacerbar) la concentración de mercados, tecnología y poder en manos de un pequeño número de poderosas entidades con fines de lucro concentradas en gran medida en los Estados Unidos y China, y que actualmente la mayor parte del valor (especulativo) corresponde a estas empresas.
  4. Señalando además que, si bien la capacidad de todos para aprovechar los bienes comunes globales de información tiene muchos beneficios, la extracción de valor de los bienes comunes también puede reforzar los desequilibrios de poder existentes y, de hecho, puede parecerse estructuralmente a ejemplos anteriores de acumulación colonialista.
    1. Señalando que esta cuestión es especialmente urgente cuando se trata del uso de materiales de conocimientos tradicionales como datos de entrenamiento para modelos de IA.
    2. Señalando que el desarrollo de la IA generativa reproduce patrones de la era colonial, siendo los países del Sur Global consumidores de algoritmos y proveedores de datos del Norte.
  5. Reconocer que algunos impactos y riesgos sociales resultantes del surgimiento de tecnologías de IA generativa deben abordarse mediante regulaciones públicas distintas de los derechos de autor, o por otros medios, como el desarrollo de estándares y normas técnicas. Las preocupaciones de los titulares de derechos privados son sólo una de una serie de preocupaciones sociales que han aparecido en respuesta al surgimiento de la IA.
  6. Señalando que el desarrollo de modelos generativos de IA ofrece nuevas oportunidades para creadores, investigadores, educadores y otros profesionales que trabajan en el interés público, además de brindar beneficios a una amplia gama de actividades en otros sectores de la sociedad. Señalando además que los modelos generativos de IA son una herramienta que permite nuevas formas de creación, y que la historia ha demostrado que inevitablemente se incorporarán nuevas capacidades tecnológicas a la creación artística y la producción de información.

Principios

Hemos formulado los siguientes siete principios para regular los modelos de IA generativa con el fin de proteger los intereses de los creadores, las personas que construyen sobre los bienes comunes (incluso a través de la IA) y los intereses de la sociedad en la sostenibilidad de los bienes comunes:

  1. Es importante que la gente siga teniendo la capacidad de estudiar y analizar obras existentes para crear otras nuevas. La ley debería seguir dejando espacio para que las personas lo hagan, incluso mediante el uso de máquinas, al tiempo que aborda las preocupaciones sociales que aparecen por el surgimiento de la IA generativa.
  2. Todas las partes deberían trabajar juntas para definir formas para que las personas creadoras y quienes son titulares de derechos expresen sus preferencias con respecto a la capacitación en IA para sus obras protegidas por derechos de autor. En el contexto de un derecho exigible, la capacidad de hacer un “opt out” de tales usos debe considerarse el límite legislativo, ya que los enfoques basados en la aceptación voluntaria y el consentimiento bloquearían grandes sectores de los bienes comunes debido a la duración y el alcance excesivos de la protección de los derechos de autor, así como el hecho de que la mayoría de las obras no están siendo activamente gestionadas.
  3. Además, todas las partes también deben trabajar juntas para abordar las implicaciones para otros derechos e intereses (por ejemplo, protección de datos, uso de la imagen o identidad de una persona). Esto probablemente implicaría intervenciones a través de marcos distintos del derecho de autor.
  4. Se debe prestar especial atención al uso de materiales del conocimiento tradicional para entrenar sistemas de IA, incluidas formas para que los custodios de las comunidades proporcionen o revoquen la autorización.
  5. Cualquier régimen legal debe garantizar que se permita el uso de obras protegidas por derechos de autor para entrenar sistemas generativos de IA con fines no comerciales de interés público, incluidas la investigación científica y la educación.
  6. Garantizar que la IA generativa dé como resultado una prosperidad económica ampliamente compartida: los beneficios que obtienen los desarrolladores de modelos de IA del acceso a los bienes comunes y a las obras protegidas por derechos de autor deben compartirse ampliamente entre quienes contribuyen a los bienes comunes.
  7. Para contrarrestar la actual concentración de recursos en manos de un pequeño número de empresas, estas medidas deben ir acompañadas de inversión pública en infraestructuras computacionales públicas que satisfagan las necesidades de los usuarios de interés público de esta tecnología a escala global. Además, también es necesario invertir públicamente en sets de datos de entrenamiento que respeten los principios descritos anteriormente y se administren como bienes comunes.

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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Funds New Project to Openly License Life Sciences Preprints https://creativecommons.org/2023/10/04/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-funds-new-project-to-openly-license-life-sciences-preprints/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chan-zuckerberg-initiative-funds-new-project-to-openly-license-life-sciences-preprints Wed, 04 Oct 2023 19:42:06 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=73940 Creative Commons is excited to announce new programmatic support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help make openly licensed preprints the primary vehicle of scientific dissemination.

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A black Chan Zuckerberg Initiative wordmark and red “cz” logo next to a black Creative Commons logo.
CZI brand marks used by permission from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Today, Creative Commons (CC) is excited to announce new programmatic support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) to help make openly licensed preprints the primary vehicle of scientific dissemination.

“We are delighted to have been awarded this new grant to help us leverage our expertise to make life sciences research more open and accessible,” said Catherine Stihler, CC CEO. “From open review to translation to AI and machine-learning applications, realizing the full potential of preprints is predicated on them being openly licensed.”

The eighteen-month grant will enable CC to collaborate with CZI on a project focused on significantly increasing use of the CC BY 4.0 license on preprints in the life sciences by working with funders, preprint servers, and other preprint stakeholders.

“Preprint servers have seen a marked increase in uploads across many scientific disciplines, particularly in the life sciences1, spurred by recognition of the importance of timely, open access to research results during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dario Taraborelli, Science Program Officer at CZI. “Preprints are not only a faster pathway to the dissemination of research results, they also enable the development of an entire scholarly communication ecosystem around them. We are excited to partner with CC to further develop and strengthen this ecosystem and bring together funders, institutions, preprint servers, and other stakeholders to promote openly licensed preprints.”

“We are so pleased to have our open access research work further supported by CZI,” said Cable Green, CC Director of Open Knowledge. “Opening preprints is essential to our strategy to support better sharing, which includes helping scientists open and share all the components of their research — without long publication timelines — to support access, text and data mining, reproducibility, and further inquiry.”

This work will complement activities already underway with CC and our partners in the Open Climate Campaign, a multi-year project to promote open access to research to accelerate progress towards solving the climate crisis and preserving global biodiversity, and our Open Climate Data Project, an initiative to help open large climate datasets.

1. See https://github.com/nicholasmfraser/covid19_preprints

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CC’s #BetterSharing Collection | October: Better Sharing, Better Future https://creativecommons.org/2023/10/02/ccs-bettersharing-collection-october-better-sharing-better-future/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ccs-bettersharing-collection-october-better-sharing-better-future Mon, 02 Oct 2023 23:18:36 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=73925 For September, we're excited to showcase “Better Sharing, Better Future” by Spanish illustrator, Maria Picassó i Piquer as part of our #20CC anniversary #BetterSharing collection of illustrations.

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An illustration of 16 diverse cartoon people in a circle all looking at screens that are connected via glowing network lines on a glittering teal background, with white text in the center: BETTER SHARING BETTER FUTURE.
Better Sharing, Better Future” by Maria Picassó i Piquer for Creative Commons and Fine Acts is licensed via CC BY-SA 4.0.

As part of our #20CC anniversary, last year we joined forces with Fine Acts to spark a global dialogue on what better sharing looks like in action. Our #BetterSharing collection of illustrations was the result — we gathered insights from 12 prominent open advocates around the world and tasked 12 renowned artists who embrace openness with transforming these perspectives into captivating visual pieces available under a CC license.

Each month throughout 2023, we will be spotlighting a different CC-licensed illustration from the collection on our social media headers and the CC blog. For September, we’re excited to showcase “Better Sharing, Better Future” by Spanish illustrator, Maria Picassó i Piquer. The piece, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, was inspired by a quote from Kyle Smith, CC Canada member & member of LexDAO and Fellow in Gitcoin’s KERNEL incubator:

“Better Sharing, Brighter Future means continuing Jobs’s ‘bicycle of the mind’ dream with modern ‘IoT’ general purpose machines like Raspberry Pi so we can unleash the latent power of humanity and innovate ourselves out of this fossil-fuel-driven climate crisis.”

Meet the artist

Headshot of Maria Picassó i Piquer wearing a dark flowered top, looking to their right in front of some distant buildings.
Maria Picassó i Piquer” used by permission of TheGreats.co.

Maria is a Catalan artist born in 1983. She graduated in Architecture and soon left her office job to be a full-time illustrator, her lifetime passion. Navigating between design and illustration, her works cover a wide variety of supports such as magazines, books, clothing and video games published worldwide. She’s got a passion for distilling faces down to their most recognisable essence. Her recognizable geometric caricatures have led her to be a guest speaker in various conventions in both Europe and USA.

Follow Maria on Instagram: @maria_picasso_piquer

The full #BetterSharing collection is available on TheGreats.co to be enjoyed, used and adapted, and then shared again, by anyone, forever.

View the full collection >>

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Francisco “Tito” Rivas to Keynote CC Global Summit 2023 https://creativecommons.org/2023/09/29/francisco-tito-revas-to-keynote-cc-global-summit-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=francisco-tito-revas-to-keynote-cc-global-summit-2023 Fri, 29 Sep 2023 22:07:18 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=73902 We are deeply honored to announce that the 2023 Summit’s opening keynote will be from Mexican sound artist, musician, researcher, and cultural leader Francisco J. Rivas Mesa, also known by his stage name Tito Rivas.

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[lee esta entrada en español >]

A headshot of Francisco J. Rivas Mesa, smiling in front of an artwork on a wall and wearing eyeglasses and a gray top.
Used by permission from the Ministry of Culture of Mexico.

We have an incredible group of people lined up to be keynote speakers at the 2023 CC Global Summit, to be held 3–6 October in Mexico City. In our first announcements, we welcomed writer Anya Kamenetz and Māori media leader Peter-Lucas Jones. We are deeply honored to announce that the Summit’s opening keynote will be from Francisco J. Rivas Mesa, also known by his stage name Tito Rivas. Francisco is a sound artist, musician, researcher, cultural leader, and General Director of Mexico’s National Sound Archive, who will speak on global culture from the deeply rooted perspective of Mexico and Latin America.

Francisco J. Rivas Mesa has a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana and in Philosophy from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He is a candidate for a Doctorate in Musical Technologies from the Faculty of Music of UNAM. He has a Diploma in Executive Training for Cultural and Museum Leaders (ILM, Universidad Iberoamericana). His work has focused on experimentation with sound, visual and performative media as a creator, researcher and cultural manager. He has also been interested in strategies to produce social and ethical access to archives and their reuse for educational and cultural purposes. He has been a professor of subjects on sound and audiovisual creation in academic institutions and as a creator and curator his work has been presented and exhibited in various national and international venues and festivals. He has also published specialized articles on sound phenomenology and the archeology of listening. He is a member of the Sound and Listening Studies Network (RESEmx) and the Scientific Committee of the Mexico Acoustic Ecology Network (REAmx). He was part of the team that inaugurated Mexico’s National Sound Archive in 2008 as head of the Sound Research and Experimentation department and as Deputy Director of Sound Promotion and Dissemination. He was curator of the Espacio Sonoro de Casa del Lago (UNAM) and director of the Ex Teresa Arte Actual museum of INBAL. He is currently general director of the National Sound Archive of Mexico and president of the Ibermemoria Sonora, Photographic and Audiovisual Program.

Like Francisco, all our keynoters connect directly with CC’s areas of focus, from contemporary creativity and cultural heritage, to media, science, education, and journalism. With the Summit’s theme of AI and the commons, we also expect to be challenged with new and reborn perspectives that we should consider in thinking about artificial intelligence and its intersection with open knowledge and culture. All the Summit keynotes will honor both the Summit’s location in Mexico, and the CC community’s global scope.

We invite you to join us at the Summit in Mexico City to hear Francisco and many other diverse voices speak. Our hope is that the keynote addresses, the full Summit program, and our informal connections in Mexico City and online will combine to enable us all to cultivate CC’s strategy of better sharing, sharing that is contextual, inclusive, just, equitable, reciprocal, and sustainable.

Register for the CC Global Summit >

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Francisco “Tito” Rivas Será un Orador Principal en la Cumbre Mundial CC 2023 https://creativecommons.org/2023/09/29/francisco-tito-rivas-sera-un-orador-principal-en-la-cumbre-mundial-cc-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=francisco-tito-rivas-sera-un-orador-principal-en-la-cumbre-mundial-cc-2023 Fri, 29 Sep 2023 22:06:12 +0000 https://creativecommons.org/?p=73906 Nos sentimos profundamente honrados de anunciar que el discurso de apertura de la Cumbre CC 2023 estará a cargo del artista sonoro, músico, investigador, y gestor cultural mexicano Francisco J. Rivas Mesa, también conocido por su nombre artístico Tito Rivas.

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[read this post in English >]

A headshot of Francisco J. Rivas Mesa, smiling in front of an artwork on a wall and wearing eyeglasses and a gray top.
Used by permission from the Ministry of Culture of Mexico.

Tenemos un grupo increíble de personas preparadas para ser oradores principales en la Cumbre Global 2023, que se llevará a cabo del 3 al 6 de octubre en la Ciudad de México. En nuestros primeros anuncios, dimos la bienvenida a la escritora Anya Kamenetz y al líder de medios Māori Peter-Lucas Jones. Ahora nos sentimos profundamente honrados de anunciar que el discurso de apertura de la Cumbre estará a cargo de Francisco J. Rivas Mesa, también conocido por su nombre artístico Tito Rivas. Francisco es artista sonoro, músico, investigador, gestor cultural, y director general de la Fonoteca Nacional de México, quien hablará sobre la cultura global desde la perspectiva profundamente arraigada de México y América Latina.

Francisco J. Rivas Mesa es licenciado en Comunicación Audiovisual por la Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana y en Filosofía por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (U.N.A.M). Candidato a Doctor en Tecnologías Musicales por la Facultad de Música de la U.N.A.M. Cuenta con un Diploma en Formación Ejecutiva para Líderes Culturales y de Museos (ILM, Universidad Iberoamericana). Su trabajo se ha enfocado en la experimentación con medios sonoros, visuales y performáticos como creador, investigador y gestor cultural, asimismo se ha interesado en las estrategias para producir acceso social y ético de los archivos y su reaprovechamiento con fines educativos y culturales. Ha sido profesor de asignaturas sobre creación sonora y audiovisual en instituciones académicas y como creador y curador se ha presentado y expuesto su trabajo en diversos recintos y festivales nacionales e internacionales. También ha publicado artículos especializados sobre fenomenología del sonido y arqueología de la escucha. Es miembro de la Red de Estudios sobre el Sonido y la Escucha (RESEmx) y del Comité Científico de la Red Ecología Acústica México (REAmx). Formó parte del equipo que inauguró en 2008 la Fonoteca Nacional como jefe del departamento de Investigación y Experimentación Sonora y como Subdirector de Promoción y Difusión del Sonido. Fue curador del Espacio Sonoro de Casa del Lago (UNAM) y director del museo Ex Teresa Arte Actual del INBAL. Actualmente es director general de la Fonoteca Nacional de México y presidente del Programa Ibermemoria Sonora, Fotográfica y Audiovisual.

Al igual que Francisco, todos nuestros oradores principales se conectan directamente con las áreas de enfoque de CC, desde la creatividad contemporánea y el patrimonio cultural hasta los medios, la ciencia, la educación y el periodismo. Con el tema de la Cumbre sobre la IA y los bienes comunes, también esperamos enfrentar el desafío de perspectivas nuevas y renacidas que deberíamos considerar al pensar en la inteligencia artificial y su intersección con el conocimiento y la cultura abiertos. Todas los oradores principales de la Cumbre honrarán tanto la ubicación de la Cumbre en México como el alcance global de la comunidad CC.

¡Estén atentos para conocer a nuestros otros oradores principales! Te invitamos a unirte a nosotros en la Cumbre en la Ciudad de México para escuchar hablar a Francisco y muchas otras voces diversas. Nuestra esperanza es que los oradores principales, el programa completo de la Cumbre y nuestras conexiones informales en la Ciudad de México y en línea se combinen para permitirnos a todos cultivar la estrategia de CC de compartir mejor, un compartir que sea contextual, inclusivo, justo, equitativo, recíproco y sostenible.

Regístrese para la Cumbre Global CC >

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