Open Source Licensing
A free exchange of ideas and educational content is the foundation of quality academic learning and research. Unfortunately, many educational materials are restricted from sharing by copyright laws, subscription passwords, and firewalls. Traditionally, the use and modification of others’ work (referred to as derivative use) has been an academic cultural no-no. However, cultural shifts and technology have made sharing platforms more legitimate. OER is emerging as the educational equivalent to widely accepted, co-created product communities such as Linux for coders, Audiodraft for music composers, etc.
While any openly licensed material can be used as an OER, the most commonly recognized and widely accepted throughout the world is Creative Commons (CC). CC open licensing allows content creators to confer usage rights onto the public in a clear and standardized fashion within international copyright laws.
Creative Commons (CC) features seven licenses that specify whether and how users of materials may (or may not) Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute. Most CC licenses allow users to freely download, modify, build upon, and re-share materials – usually with the requirement that you will not profit from their use (Non-Commercial NC), and that you release your modifications to others to use and modify under the same license provisions. However, some licenses do not allow for one or more of the 5R activities, technically meaning that they cannot serve as OERs.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Components of Creative Commons Licensing
Creative Commons revolves around various combinations of whether and how you may use materials with regard to four parameters: attribution, sharing, commercial use, and revisions.
Various combinations of these four parameters give rise to six possible Creative Commons licenses. Any materials released under CC License will display one of these six labels.
The CC licenses range from the most flexible use to the most restricted use. At the more restrictive end of the scale, properties of CC licensing cause materials to fall out of OER range.
For example, no derivatives (ND) licenses would not be considered OER because they prohibit making changes. However, these materials may be useful in limited circumstances and can still serve as Open Access or Affordable Course Content materials, etc.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Creative Commons 0 (CC0 aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool that allows materials creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. A CC0 license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions whatsoever. Please see the CC0 1.0 License here.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0)
Sharing – You may copy, store and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adaptation – You may remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license (access CC BY 4.0 license), and indicate if you made any changes to the materials. You may do these things in any reasonable manner, i.e. academic citation, but not in any way that suggests the creator/licensor endorses you or your use of the materials.
Restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from using the materials or doing anything else the Attribution 4.0 International CC BY 4.0 license permits. You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material taken from or in the public domain. Other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
OER Suitability – These highly flexible materials are excellent for OER use.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
(CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sharing – You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adaptation – You may remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license (access CC BY-SA 4.0 license), and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same Attribution Share-Alike license as the original.
Restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain. Other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the materials. You may need to get additional permissions before using the material as you intend.
OER Suitability – These highly flexible materials are excellent for OER use as long as you are willing to relicense your materials to other parties under CC BY-SA 4.0, which allows for their remixing and distribution.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0)
Sharing- You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adaptation – You may remix, transform, and build upon the material.
Attribution - You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license (access CC BY-NC 4.0 license), and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the creator/licensor endorses you or your use of the materials.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. Please be aware that not all educational uses are necessarily classified as Non-Commercial. The definition is “not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation”. This rests on the primary purpose of the re-use, i.e. instruction - not the category or class of the re-user, i.e. instructors or students. If you are unsure, you should either contact the rights holder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses.
Restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain. Other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
OER Suitability - Non-Commercial licenses may not be compatible for remixing, i.e. BY-SA content (such as Wikipedia content) cannot be mixed with BY-NC content. Non-Commercial licenses do not qualify as “open licenses” under the Open Definition, and works licensed under an NC license are not considered Free Cultural Works. This may be important if you want others to be able to further distribute your work on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, or other platforms requiring a license that meets the Open Definition or the Definition of Free Cultural Works. Due to these restrictions, Non-Commerical licensed materials require further legal and distribution considerations before being considered for OER use. Please check with the Library or the Faculty Resource Center for a case-by-case analysis and possible review by the college's legal counsel.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Sharing – You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adaptation – You may remix, transform, and build upon the material.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license (access CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license), and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the creator/licensor endorses you or the manner in which you use the materials.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. Not all educational uses are necessarily non-commercial. The definition is “not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation”. This rests on the primary purpose of the re-use, i.e. for instruction - not the category or class of the re-user, i.e. faculty or students. If you are unsure, you should either contact the rights holder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
Restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain. Other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
OER Suitability - NC licenses may not be compatible for remixing, i.e. BY-SA content (such as Wikipedia content) with BY-NC content. NC licenses do not qualify as “open licenses” under the Open Definition, and works licensed under an NC license are not considered Free Cultural Works. This may be important if you want others to further distribute your work on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, or other platforms requiring a license that meets the Open Definition or the Definition of Free Cultural Works. Due to these restrictions, NC materials require further legal and distribution considerations before being considered for OER use. You must also be willing to relicense your materials to other parties under CC BY-NC 4.0, which allows for their remixing and alteration.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
(CC BY-ND 4.0)
Sharing – You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adaptation – You may change the materials for your own use only. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material, i.e. No Derivatives.
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license (access CC BY-ND 4.0 license), and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Restrictions - You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain. Other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
OER Suitability – Because of the restrictions on redistributing any materials that you have mixed and/or modified, Non-Derivatives (NDs) do not technically qualify for OER use. However, if they can be used effectively as-is and can serve as standalone materials, they may be redistributed and can serve as Open Access (OA) or low to no-cost Affordable Course Content (ACC) options.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC ND 4.0)
Sharing – You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format as long as you have not made any changes to the original materials.
Adaptation – You may change the materials for your own use only. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material, i.e. No Derivatives.
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license (access CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license), and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or the manner in which you are using the materials.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. Not all educational uses are necessarily non-commercial. The definition is “not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation”. This rests on the primary purpose of the re-use, i.e. instruction - not the category or class of the re-user, i.e. instructors or students. NC licenses may not be compatible for remixing, i.e. BY-SA content (such as Wikipedia content) with BY-NC content. NC licenses do not qualify as “open licenses” under the Open Definition, and works licensed under an NC license are not considered Free Cultural Works. This may be important if you want others to further distribute your work on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, or other platforms requiring a license that meets the Open Definition or the Definition of Free Cultural Works. If you are unsure, you should either contact the rights holder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses.
NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
Restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain. Other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
OER Suitability - This license is the most restrictive, allowing download and sharing of non-modified materials with proper credit, but no commercial use. Furthermore, if you make any modifications to the materials, you are not allowed to redistribute them, i.e. to your students. This makes such materials ineligible for OER use. Depending on whether you need to make changes to the materials, whether you need to be able to distribute the materials, whether the materials can be used in a completely standalone (i.e. non-mixed) manner, and whether there is a clear case of non-commercial use, such materials may be useful as Open Access or Affordable Course Content in limited cases. If you have questions, please follow up with the Faculty Support Center or Library for a case analysis and possible review by the college's legal counsel.
This material is derived from https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and was modified for use by Wendy Ashby, Ph.D. under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.