Case Studies/Brisbane Media Map
We believe that by using Creative Commons licensing, authors and artists can take full advantage of the Internet while still retaining some of their rights… We believe that this will encourage debate on media issues and synergise new understandings. — http://bmm.qut.edu.au/about/index.php
Overview
The Brisbane Media Map (BMM) is a comprehensive online guide to the businesses, service-providers, communities and regulators that make up Brisbane’s Media and Creative Industry sectors. Categories in the database include audiovisual, broadcast, community and culture, music, print media, media services and new media.
In a bid to address the general lack of economic value attributed to local Creative Industries, the project aims to draw attention to the depth of contribution generated by the various creative and media sectors in Brisbane. The BMM achieves this by mapping industry activity locations (using Google Maps), paired with organisation synopses and contact information. The result empirically identifies industry hot-spots and documents the extent to which the Creative Industries permeate the Brisbane demographic. The inclusion of commentary and essays on topical issues affecting the industry provides a framework to the 500+ industry organisations profiled.
Initiated in 2000 and hosted by the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology, the BMM is maintained by the faculty’s final-year undergraduate and post-graduate Media and Communication students. Operating with a focus on learning further enables the project to provide student contributors with the opportunity to vocationally engage with their local Media and Creative Industry communities.
The database acts a valuable source of information for anyone with an interest in the Brisbane media and creative sectors including students, emerging or established industry professionals and potential investors.
License Usage
With the exception of those marked with the © logo (copyright – all rights reserved), all text and photographic content on the BMM website is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 2.1 Australia licence. The technology (database and code) through which the Brisbane Media Map operates is also licensed under the same CC-BY-NC-ND 2.1 model. This means that the information and images on the BMM site can be readily shared and distributed, to facilitate the dissemination of information that the project encourages.
Since its inception in 2003, the site has now over 6000 visitors per month, from a total of 122 countries. This demonstrates the extent to which the site can promote local industry on an international scale. Importantly Creative Commons licences facilitate this in allowing BMM users to share and distribute information from the database, while ensuring author attribution and non-commercial requirements. The licences protect the authors’ integrity while ensuring the information is viewed by as many people as possible.
Licensing BMM under Creative Commons was a result of student initiative and checking the licences for compliance and alignment with CC frameworks and developments remains one of the core tasks associated with student maintenance of the site.
Motivations
The Brisbane Media Map team recognise that new approaches to copyright management must be considered in order to exploit the enormous potential for knowledge distribution proffered by the Internet. Creative Commons licences complement the BMM’s role in supporting Brisbane’s expanding media and creative communities.
