Code is just one part of open source; good documentation is essential for both users and contributors in order for open source projects to succeed. We’re excited to announce that Creative Commons is participating for the first time in Google Season of Docs, a program that pairs experienced technical writers with open source projects in need of better documentation.
I’m Ariessa Norramli, a freelance writer who happens to be a 3rd-year Software Engineering student from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. I have about 5 years of freelance writing experience in different areas, such as content writing, technical writing, and copywriting. I’ve been a self-taught programmer, first teaching myself programming at 15. I love to read, code, and play the piano during my free time. I was also a Google Season of Docs 2019 participant under GNU Mailman.
Ariessa will work on improving the documentation for the CC Catalog API for both developers and contributors. She will be improving the automatically generated documentation as well as writing some narrative sections to add more context. Ariessa will be mentored by CC’s Software Engineer Alden Page. You can follow the progress of this project through the GitHub repo and the #cc-search channel on ourSlack community.
Jacqueline Binya
Photo Credit: Jacqueline Binya
I am a technical writer and front-end developer from Zimbabwe, a country in Southern Africa. I am passionate about the web and fascinated about how it can be harnessed to effectively solve problems within communities and in businesses. I transitioned into tech in 2019 after years of being a full-time carer to my son with special needs. I am an Andela FullStack BootCamp (Kigali, Rwanda Cycle 11) graduate and I have a background in Electrical Power Engineering. I am also an avid blogger, and in my personal blog I write tech-related articles documenting my learning, occasionally I write about life in general or the odd new JavaScript framework.
Jacqueline will work on documenting usage of our new WordPress base theme, which forms the basis of our upcoming redesigns to creativecommons.org, CC Certificates, CC Global Summit, and more. Her work will allow the open source community to contribute to those projects more effectively. Jacqueline will be mentored by CC’s Web Developer Hugo Solar. You can follow the progress of this project through the GitHub repo and the #cc-dev-wordpress channel on ourSlack community.
Nimish Nikhil Bongale
Photo Credit: Nimish Nikhil Bongale
Hello! I am Nimish Bongale, a final year Information Science Engineering student, pursuing my bachelor’s degree at Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India. I possess a well-cultivated knowledge of Front End Web Development (ReactJS, VueJS), App Development(React-Native, Native Android), and Data Structures & Algorithms. I finished writing a research paper on “Spider Monkey Optimization” and completed a group project on streamlining the interactive medical diagnosis flows. During the past few years, I learned the importance of utilizing my skill sets for the betterment of society. This led me to take part in many technical events promoting social good. My main hobbies are playing chess (which you could most definitely call an addiction), badminton, and my guitar. I’m also particularly interested in blogging, communicating, and speaking to the masses!
Nimish will work on developing a comprehensive usage guide for CC Vocabulary, our web design system that has just begun to be deployed across CC websites. His work will improve the experience for both CC Vocabulary contributors and CC staff. Nimish will be mentored by CC Vocabulary maintainer Dhruv Bhanushali with assistance from CC’s Web Developer Hugo Solar and Front End Engineer Zack Krida. You can follow the progress of this project through the GitHub repo and the #cc-dev-vocabulary channel on ourSlack community.
We’re very excited to be working with these talented writers and can’t wait to get started!
Want more technical updates? Including the latest updates on these projects? Follow the Creative Commons Open Source blog and @cc_opensource on Twitter! You can also join #cc-developers on our community Slack.
Last month, cOAlition S released its Rights Retention Strategy to safeguard researchers’ intellectual ownership rights and suppress unreasonable embargo periods—Creative Commons (CC) keenly supports this initiative.
Modernizing an outdated academic publishing system
cOAlition S’ Rights Retention Strategy was developed “to give researchers supported by a cOAlition S Organisation the freedom to publish in their journal of choice, including subscription journals, whilst remaining fully compliant with Plan S.” Read more.
Under a traditional publishing model, researchers who want to publish their articles in a journal typically need to assign or exclusively license their copyright in the article to the journal publisher. Basically, they hand over their rights to the publisher in exchange for the opportunity to be published in the publisher’s journal. While this model may have worked several decades ago, it is currently unsuitable to the ways in which academic research is funded, conducted, and disseminated. It unjustifiably raises legal, technical, and financial barriers around knowledge and perpetuates unbalanced power relationships among the various players in academia and beyond, from researchers and research institutions to publishers, libraries, and the general public.
Nowadays, with the help of new technologies and the internet, academic knowledge is produced, shared, and built upon at a pace and through methods that call for a completely different approach to publishing—one that favors access, collaboration, and fairness. Many funders (particularly governments and philanthropic foundations) require that research outputs be published openly to guarantee that the public can access, use, reuse, and build upon the knowledge created. This is where open access (OA) publishing comes into play.
Open Access and Creative Commons licenses
OA is a publishing model aimed at making academic and scientific research outputs (publications, data, and software) openly accessible. We are strong supporters of OA and open science and our licenses are the global standard for OA publishing. Our efforts are focused on encouraging and guiding public and private institutions and organizations in creating, adopting, and implementing OA policies. For example, we routinely submit comments to consultations on how to promote better access to publicly funded research, science, and educational content. A few examples include the 2013 White House memorandum on public access to the results of federally funded research, the 2020 US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) consultation on Research Outputs, and the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) consultation on its OA policy.
CC consistently advocates for OA policies on publicly funded research outputs; this has been demonstrated to stimulate knowledge creation and sharing, spur innovation, and provide a better return on investment for funders. Specifically, we advise research funders to require that their grantees publish their research results under the following conditions:
Zero embargo period, so everyone, everywhere can read the research fully and immediately at the moment of publication;
A CC BY license on article(s), to allow for text and data mining, no-cost access, and
CC0 on the research data, to be clear that the data is in the worldwide public domain to the fullest extent allowed by law.
The COVID-19 crisis has only reinforced the notion that openly sharing research is the best way to do research. How could anyone justify an embargo period on COVID-19-related research articles? Or impose a NoDerivatives condition, thereby preventing translations and other valuable adaptations of important scientific discoveries? In order to solve this crisis, scientific research must be shared as rapidly and as broadly as possible.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and guided by these “open” values, we helped develop and are leading the Open COVID Pledge: a global initiative that works with organizations around the world to make their patents and copyrights freely available in the fight against COVID-19. We are also working with international organizations such as the World Health Organization in operationalizing the desire of many to freely share their intellectual property related to COVID-19 with anyone who needs it.
Open access and rights retention: the fundamentals
It’s important to remind ourselves that when researchers publish their articles under an OA model using a CC license, they retain their copyright. They do not give any rights away to anyone, whether it be in the form of an assignment to a publisher, as it is the case under most traditional publishing models, or otherwise. Instead, researchers give several broad permissions to anyone to use and reuse the research article, but they continue to hold their rights and can enforce them in the event the reuser fails to adhere to the license.
Further, all CC licenses include multiple safeguards against reputational and attribution risks. These safeguards, that are in addition to and not in replacement of academic norms and practices, are in place to provide an additional layer of protection for the original researchers’ reputation and to alleviate their concerns over changes to their works that might be wrongly attributed to them. CC licenses are also non-exclusive, which means that researchers publishing their articles under any CC license remain free and legally authorized to enter into different publishing agreements with different parties.
Publishing under an OA model and transferring rights over to a publisher are antithetical. The mere suggestion that a researcher would give away their rights to a publisher defeats the whole purpose of what OA aims to achieve. By retaining their rights, as cOAlition S promotes through the aforementioned Rights Retention Strategy, researchers are empowered and keep their freedom to share their research outputs in ways that benefit the academic community and society as a whole.
For nearly two decades, this organization has worked to make the world a more open and equitable place.
When CC first launched in 2001, I was a recently-elected Member of the European Parliament at a time when copyright and access issues were beginning to receive attention.
But throughout my 20 years as a legislator, directly representing over five million people in Scotland and delivering change for over 500 million Europeans, I took on the task of championing digital policy issues including copyright reform, citizen privacy and data protection, and improving public access to digital tools.
As I reflect, we today find ourselves in a very different world. And as I look to the future, I know the work of CC has never been more important.
We have the opportunity to play a leading role in the global fight to remove obstacles to the sharing of knowledge and creativity.
This matters because of the pressing challenges facing us, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak human and economic devastation across the globe.
Inequality is on the rise, and injustices have been exposed.
The tragic killing of George Floyd sparked the global Black Lives Matter movement, while there have been pro-democracy protests in several countries, including in Belarus only last week.
The challenges and the crises we have witnessed during this extraordinary year have raised legitimate questions about power and privilege.
Who has access to knowledge in our unequal society?
We know that too often it is the hands of the few, not the many, and access is often denied to women, people of color, LGBTQI communities and people from the global South.
We have a role to challenge power and privilege, and the solution to that is to open up access and share knowledge.
During the coronavirus crisis, we saw some progress being made.
It’s a shame that it took a global pandemic to realize this, but I hope the lesson has now been learned.
Yet for every step forward there is also a step backwards.
Some nations have imposed restrictions on the right to information and not all have reinstated them.
And too much knowledge remains out of reach, with museum and library doors still shut in many countries, and digital access not available for so many.
Breaking down barriers is not easy.
Take the example of the National Emergency Library, designed by the Internet Archive to make over 1.3 million e-books available for checkout, free of charge during the pandemic.
I have been a longstanding champion of the need to unlock digital access to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity for everyone in society.
I’m excited by the opportunity to make a difference.
The work of CC has already proved crucial during this devastating pandemic. The Open COVID Pledge has made it easier for universities, companies, and other holders of intellectual property rights to support the development of medicines, test kits, vaccines, and other scientific discoveries.
Last month we introduced the CC Chapter in Italy to you! This month we’re traveling north to the CC Chapter in The Netherlands! TheCreative Commons Global Network (CCGN) consists of 43 CC Country Chapters spread across the globe. They’re the home for a community of advocates, activists, educators, artists, lawyers, and users who share CC’s vision and values. They implement and strengthen open access policies, copyright reform, open education, and open culture in the communities in which they live.
To help showcase their work, we’re excited to continue our blog series and social media initiative: CC Network Fridays. At least one Friday a month, we’ll travel around the world through our blog and on Twitter (using#CCNetworkFridays) to a different CC Chapter, introducing their teams, discussing their work, and celebrating their commitment to open!
Next up is CC Netherlands!
The CC Dutch Chapter was formed in September 2018. Its Chapter Lead is Maarten Zeinstra and its representative to the CC Global Network Council is Lisette Kalshoven. Since the beginning, the Chapter has been involved in promoting and supporting openly licensed music, open GLAM, open education but over the last year, in particular, it has enhanced its activities covering almost allCCGN Platforms. To learn more about their work, we reached out to CC Netherlands to ask a few questions. They responded in both English and Dutch!
CC: What open movement work is your Chapter actively involved in? What would you like to achieve with your work?
CC Netherlands: We like to work together with the whole open sector. Open Licenses are awesome, but even more so when applied to sectors that really benefit knowledge creation and sharing. That’s why we have members from diverse backgrounds. You can see all Open Netherland members here. Are you a person living in the Netherlands? Join us!
CC: Op welke open thema’s is jullie chapter actief? Wat zouden jullie graag willen bereiken?
CC Nederland: Wij werken graag samen met de hele open sector. Open licenties zijn fantastisch, nog meer als ze daadwerkelijk gebruikt worden door de sectoren die kennis creeëren en delen. Daarom hebben we leden van diverse sectoren. Op onze site kun je zien wie er allemaal lid is van Open Nederland. Woon je ook in Nederland! Sluit je dan aan!
CC: What exciting project has your Chapter engaged in recently?
CC Netherlands: We are worried about the implementation of the DSM directive in Dutch copyright law. Exceptions and limitations are paramount in a working copyright system, and automatic filtering threatens those. We have been active in working towards a positive implementation of the new ‘Copyright Directive’ (#DSM) – informing government and parliament on the importance of open knowledge, licenses and broad implementation of exceptions and limitations.
CC: Wat is een project waar jullie chapter recent aan gewerkt heeft?
CC Nederland: Wij maken ons zorgen over de manier waarop de Europese richtlijn voor auteursrechten in Nederland wordt geïmplementeerd. Uitzonderingen en beperkingen op het auteursrecht zijn belangrijk voor een goed werkend stelsel. Automatische filters zijn hier een bedreiging voor. De afgelopen tijd hebben we ons ingezet om de implementatie positief te beïnvloeden, o.a. door de overheid en het parlement te informeren over het belang van open kennis, licenties en een juiste implementatie van de uitzonderingen en beperkingen.
CC: What do you find inspiring and rewarding about your work in the open movement?
CC Netherlands: The Dutch Chapter and @OpenNederland, the association that runs the Chapter, brings people together from all the corners of the open world in NL, open design, healthcare, heritage, education, and more. Thus far this has led to crossovers that did not take place before, like looking at open education from the user experience of a student: what can open education mean for your entire learning path from toddler to adult?
CC: Wat vinden jullie inspirerend en waar halen jullie voldoening uit bij jullie werk in de open beweging?
CC Nederland: Het Nederlandse chapter en Open Nederland, de vereniging die het chapter ondersteund, brengen mensen bij elkaar uit alle hoeken van de open beweging. Bijvoorbeeld open design, gezondheidszorg, erfgoed, onderwijs en meer. Dit heeft al geleid tot kruisbestuivingen die niet eerder plaats hebben gevonden, zoals het bekijken van open onderwijs vanuit het perspectief van een leerling. Wat kan open onderwijs betekenen voor iemands onderwijs carrière, van kleuter tot volwassene?
CC: What projects in your country are using CC licenses that you’d like to highlight?
Dutch GLAMs have been active with open licensing for a long time. Beyond our beautiful Rijksmuseum, also have a look at the Re:VIVE project, which invites artists to remix old archival sounds; @benglabs, which aims to make audiovisual heritage open and searchable; or the beautiful collection of the city archive of Den Bosch, with these billiard playing ladies.
Kenny Vleugels, a game developer from NL, creates really cool CC0 game assets.
We like to party when it is Public Domain Day in the Netherlands. We organise a fun and informative day with lectures about the Public Domain, but also about the creators whose work now entered the Public Domain. See full videos and photos from the 2020 edition here. International coordination takes place through pdday.org.
Did you know the Dutch government uses CC0 as their standard on all text and data on websites? They have been doing so since 2010, and were—as far as we know—the first to do so. See the notice here.
We also have an award for the best re-use of open government data, the Stuiveling Open Data award. The 2019 winners researched fraud in healthcare using open data.
Sharing government news in the current Corona-crisis is more important than ever, but it can be tough to weed through. The Open State Foundation has made all local government news accessible through one platform, all openly licensed.
CC: Wat zijn projecten die CC licenties gebruiken en die je graag onder de aandacht wil brengen?
Nederlandse culturele instellingen delen hun collecties al geruime tijd met open licenties. Naast het welbekende Rijksmuseum zijn er ook initiatieven zoals
Re:VIVE, een project waarbij kunstenaars en muzikanten uitgenodigd worden om geluiden uit archieven te remixen,
@benglabs, dat audiovisuele archieven ontsluit en doorzoekbaar maakt,
Of de fantastische collectie van het archief van Den Bosch, met deze biljartsters.
Kenny Vleugels maakt gave CC0 gelicenseerde game componenten,
We vieren jaarlijks Publiek Domeindag, een leuke en informatieve dag waarbij we aandacht besteden aan de werken die publiek domein zijn geworden en de makers van deze werken. De foto’s en video’s van Publiek Domeindag 2020 zijn hier te zien. Internationale coördinatie van publiek Domeindag vieringen ondersteunen we met pdday.org.
Het delen van nieuws van de overheid is zeer belangrijk in de huidige Corona-crisis, maar het kan lastig zijn om de juiste informatie te vinden. Open State heeft al het nieuws op lokaal niveau op één platform gebundeld, onder een open licentie.
CC: What are your plans for the future?
CC Netherlands: We hope to grow our membership in the coming year, engage more with our community, and do more outward-facing projects.
CC: Wat zijn jullie toekomstplannen?
CC Nederland: We willen nog meer leden aantrekken, onze huidige leden activeren en meer betrekken bij onze werkzaamheden en meer zichtbare projecten doen.
CC: Anything else you want to share?
CC Netherlands: The rise of algorithms determining possible copyright infringement can also have a negative impact on open content, because these algorithms do not take open licensing in account enough. That’s why we’ve started working on “Filter me niet” (Filter me not) in which we look for ways to indicate that you’re purposefully CC licensing to let others remix your work. The first results are in Dutch only, here.
CC: Wat wil je verder nog delen?
CC Nederland: Toenemend gebruik van algoritmes, om potentiële auteursrechtenschendingen te identificeren, heeft negatieve consequenties voor open content. Deze algoritmes houden onvoldoende rekening met open licenties. Daarom zijn we Filter Me Niet begonnen, een project waarin we manieren onderzoeken om actief aan te geven dat je bewust Creative Commons licenties gebruikt om je werk beschikbaar te stellen voor hergebruik. Een eerste resultaat is te zien op www.filtermeniet.nl.
Thank you to theCC Netherlands team, especially Lisette Kalshoven and Sebastiaan ter Burg for contributing to the CC Network Fridays feature, and for all of their work in the open community! To see this conversation on Twitter, click here. To become a member of the CCGN,visit our website!
The wrap-up party for the annual CC Global Summit is always incredible, featuring local artists and musicians who send us off in style. Of course, things are a little different this year as we’ve transformed our in-person event to an entirely virtual one—but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to party together like we usually do!
This year, we want to close the CC Global Summit (19-24 October 2020) by celebrating with musical performances showcasing the artistic talent of our global community. We’re looking for musicians, singers, DJs, dancers, or performance artists! Some things to keep in mind:
The performances must be set to CC-licensed music
We’re prioritizing diversity in languages and are actively seeking non-English performances
You can perform in any genre but it must be in line with our Code of Conduct
The deadline to submit your application is Friday, August 28.
If selected, you’ll work with the CC Summit Production team to record a one-song video performance that will be included in our CC Summit Closing Concert. The concert will be pre-recorded and released at the closing of our virtual event and shared afterward on Youtube. Join us!
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