CC Marketplace Info

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Revision as of 00:04, 17 March 2007 by Nic (talk | contribs) (created)
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This page contains the proposed text for various info cards about CC and the CC Marketplace in Second Life.

What is Creative Commons


Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation which provides free copyright licences to allow people to share their work on terms they choose.

The main Creative Commons licences all allow anyone to copy and share the licensed material as much as they like, and most also allow for others to build upon the material to create their own expression. All licences require that anybody who uses the work give proper credit (attribution) to the original author. On top of this basic permission, the author can select from a number of restrictions:

  • NonCommercial (NC) - people may not use the work for profit
  • ShareAlike (SA) - if people make changes to the material, they must make those changes available under the same licence
  • NoDerivatives (ND) - people may not make changes without asking permission

The licences use copyright law to provide permission in advance for people to use material, while still retaining enforceable restrictions which state what those people are not allowed to do.


Why Creative Commons in Second Life?


In Second Life, anyone can build anything they can imagine. Everything they build, however, will generally be subject to copyright. This means that people are not able to copy or build upon other people's work without asking permission.

The Creative Commons licences provide an easy way for a creator to make their work available for others to copy and build upon. Providing permission in advance is an excellent way for Second Life creators to get on with building, scripting, and sharing, without having to worry about complicated legal licensing, or having to give permission every time someone wants to use some material.

Any creator can use the licence chooser to select a copyright licence which suits their needs. When another person comes across a Creative Commons licensed object, he or she is free to take a copy of that object and use it however they want, as long as they obey the restrictions the original creator has set.


How do apply Creative Commons licences


Applying a Creative Commons licence to your work is easy.

1. using the Licence Chooser (/located?/), follow the prompts to decide what uses you want to allow and what restrictions you wish to impose.

2. </apply the licence to your work - how are we going to do this?/>