Creative Commons mess
Comments(0) The recent incident involving misunderstanding of the Creative Commons license comes via Khoi Vinh (a design director the NYTimes.com) who found his personal blog design”plagiarised” by Auburn University School of Arhitecture (since removed).
The fact that a design school felt the need to use someone elses website design is an issue by itself, the fact is that the entire incident revolves around a misunderstanding of what rights were granted in the CC license (as explained by the person responsible – Rusty Smith, assistant professor).
The entire concept of CC is a big, useless mess and I’ve been saying that for a very long time now. There are simply too many variations of the license and hardly anyone bothers to read what it actually says. People see the CC logo and automatically assume the content (all of it) is free, out in the open for anyone to do what they wish. That of course, is not the case at all.
Rights granted can vary incredibly so the next time you see a CC logo and want to use something from that site – do bother to read the license.
There is at least one positive thing that came out of this though:
Rusty Smith (assistant professor @ auSoA)
“All:
As I am sure that you are all aware, plagiarism is the most egregious act that one can be accused of in academia. Although it is quite difficult and embarrassing, I actually do appreciate the public vetting of this issue.
While it may or may not be the role of designers to educate, it is indeed my job. I am currently teaching only a single class: “Introduction to Digital Media.” While this class deals mostly with digital drawing and modeling (and not design-related issues), you can bet that the topic of discussion for the next class (Tuesday afternoon) will be this one, with myself as the primary case study. The comments left here have given me a good leg up in beginning to understand the issues surrounding copyright and particularly creative commons licensure. I of course still have a lot left to learn before Tuesday’s class.
Thanks to all for the discussion.”
