What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is an online resource that helps people share and use their creative scholarship. Authors who want to freely share their material can upload it and choose from a range of licenses that are easy to understand. Researchers or others who want to use the material can search by whatever license matches their need and download material for use.

Creative Commons Licensing Options

When you enter a work you own in Creative Commons, you have six licensing options, which get increasingly restrictive:

1. Attribution: anyone can use your work for any use as long as they give you credit.
2. Attribution Share Alike: anyone can use your work for any use as long as they give you credit, provided that any derivative work is also licensed under the same term.
3. Attribution No Derivatives: anyone can use your work for any use as long as they give you credit, but derivatives are not allowed.
4. Attribution Non-Commercial: anyone can use your work for non-commercial use only as long as they give you credit.
5. Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike: anyone can use your work for non-commercial use only as long as they give you credit, provided that any derivative work is also licensed under the same term.
6. Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives: anyone can use your work for non-commercial use only as long as they give you credit, but derivatives are not allowed.

Video: Wanna Work Together?

Produced by Creative Commons (3:00 minutes)

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Video: Get Creative! 

The origin and adventures of the Creative Commons Licensing Project explained. Produced by Creative Commons (6:37 minutes)

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