Citing Creative Commons

Attribution, giving or receiving  credit is a foundational principle of Creative Commons.  CC advocates for the use of the TASL approach. 

TASL

When providing attribution for a CC Licensed work you should link to the original source and the CC license.  If possible, link to the Author/Creator.  Under CC 4.0 license the title does not need to be listed in the attribution, but it is still highly encouraged.  If you have adapted a work or made a derivative, that should also be noted in the attribution.  (All links open in new window)

Examples

T = "Seeing Lincoln"

A  = SHN Pictures

S = https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seeing_Lincoln.jpg

L = CC BY 4.0

Attribution: 

"Seeing Lincoln" by SHN Pictures is licensed under CC by 4.0. 

In this example all elements of the TASL are present, links are provided to the original source image and the CC license.  The Author/creator is not linked to because they do not have a creator page.  It is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 which means it can be shared, remixed or used in any way as long as credit is given to the original creator. 

T = "Abraham Lincoln on a Velociraptor

A = Andrew Becraft

S = https://www.flickr.com/photos/12426416@N00/8170511475

L = CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Attribution:

"Abraham Lincoln on a Velociraptor" by Andrew Becraft is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

In this image all elements of TASL are present and the title, author, and license are linked to.  This image is licensed under an earlier version of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.  Under this license you can copy and redistribute the image and adapt it as long as you give credit and indicate if any changes were made. Additionally, if can only be used for NonCommercial purposes and if you do remix it you have to use the same license as the original. 

Now let's look at a derivative work:

T = Velociraptor Crossing

A = SHN Pictures

S = https://bit.ly/3kcTLrR

L = https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Original Work

T = Velociraptor

A =  Tomi Lattu

S = https://www.flickr.com/photos/98317926@N04/14443589450

L = https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Attribution: "Velociraptor Crossing" is a derivative of "Velociraptor" by Tomi Lattu is licensed under CC BY 2.0. "Velociraptor Crossing" is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

In the image all elements of TASL are present, including links to the image, creator, and CC license.  Additionally, because it is a derivative information and links about the original creation are provided. The original image is shared under a CC BY 2.0 license which is earlier version of a CC Attribution license.  The image can still be shared and adapted as long as attribution is given.  The new creation "Velociraptor Crossing" is shared under the current CC Attribution license.  

Sources: (Links open in a new window)

This information has been adapted from "Unit 4.1:Choosing and Applying a CC License" in Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians, and GLAM by Creative Commons and is licensed under CC BY 4.0.