Case Studies/Internet Archive
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Overview
License Usage
Motivations
Technical Details
Archive.org has implemented 1) a license chooser in the upload process, 2) the CC marks on works licensed/copyright waived with CC, 3) a subset of the CC REL metadata specification, and 4) a way to search for CC licensed content.
License Chooser
Archive.org implements the CC license chooser through the Partner Interface.
During the file upload process you are given this option:
Clicking either one of those options opens up a window to creativecommons.org in which you can select a CC license or dedicate your upload to the public domain using CC0.
Here is the code for how Archive.org has implemented the Partner Interface:
<a id="chooseLicenseLink" href="http://creativecommons.org" onclick="javascript:window.open('http://creativecommons.org/license/?partner=ia&exit_url=http://www.archive.org/services/license-chooser.php?license_url=[license_url]%26license_name=[license_name]%26license_image=[license_button]%26deed_url=[deed_url]&jurisdiction_choose=1','popup','width=600,height=600,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=yes,menubar=no,status=yes'); return false;">Choose license</a>
And here is what the code looks like for the public domain dedication:
<a href="http://creativecommons.org" onclick="javascript:window.open('http://creativecommons.org/license/publicdomain-direct?partner=ia&exit_url=http://www.archive.org/services/license-chooser.php?license_url=[license_url]%26license_name=[license_name]%26license_image=[license_button]%26deed_url=[deed_url]&jurisdiction_choose=1','popup','width=600,height=600,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=yes,menubar=no,status=yes'); return false;">dedicate to the public domain</a>
License/PD Mark
CC license and public domain markers appear on Archive.org in many places. For pages of objects marked as licensed under Creative Commons, an image typically appears in the left hand sidebar.
For example, see this page:
Sometimes a link to the license will appear in the description area of the page.
For example see this page:
The CC0 mark appears on pages for works that have been dedicated to the public domain by the creator.
For example, see this page:
And a link to the waiver appears in the description:
Metadata
Archive.org has implemented a subset of the CC REL specification by including the rel="license" attribute in links to the CC license deeds.
For example, see the source to this page:
<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" target="_blank" ><img title="[Attribution 3.0]" alt="[Attribution 3.0]" style="height:31px" id="ccimage" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/3.0/88x31.png"/></a>
CC search
It's possible to search for CC licensed or public domain content by license type. However, as Archive.org notes, it's a bit complicated:
Here's how to break it down. See the license types at creative commons. When you want to find all of the items assigned a certain license by an uploading party, you'll plug their abbreviation for it into this search query: /metadata/licenseurl:http*abbreviation/* So if you're looking for Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd), you'd put this in the search box: /metadata/licenseurl:http*by-nc-nd/* And you'd get about 33,000 items back. If you want to use this in combination with other queries, like "I want by-nc-nd items about dogs" you'd do this: /metadata/licenseurl:http*by-nc-nd/* AND dog And you'd get 195 items. The AND tells the search engine all the items returned should have that license AND they should contain the word dog. AND has to be in all caps. Just to make it easier, here are the basic searches: Public Domain Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) Attribution Non-commercial (by-nc) Attribution No Derivatives (by-nd) Attribution Share Alike (by-sa) Attribution (by)
