Cloudberry on Creative Commons (Part 2)

This is part 2 of a series from the 2011 Cloudberry project. You can read the background of this over on Part 1 of this series.

Part #2: Creative Commons contributes to new thinking

In line with the trends we see in society today, especially as it relates to creative work and culture, we see a re-evaluation of the concept of culture, existing business models, means of distribution and ways of working.

Creative Commons would seem like a natural starting point for discussions around these topics. It is not the only point for such discussions though: the re-evaluation of culture has taken place largely outside of the scope of Creative Commons, amongst creators and in the context of funding of culture.

One example of such a discussion is the “Re:Imagining Cultural Spaces” conference which took place in mid November 2010. The conference explored “questions crucial to sustaining adaptable arts and culture spaces in the 21st century. A post-institutional approach is at the core of the programme. Where will art meet audience in the future?” Creative Commons is relevant in such a discussion, but it’s not about creating the discussion but rather joining an ongoing discussion.

While we should be aware that Creative Commons should not be perceived as “just another licensing scheme”, it’s undeniably so that from a legal perspective, when faced with a new means of distribution, copyright and copyright licenses influence the discussion. As Creative Commons offers a concrete and easy approach to copyright licensing, a discussion around new means of distribution would naturally lend itself to a discussion of Creative Commons.

In relation to the concept of culture generally, some of the questions asked are: who are the creators of culture? Who are we creating the culture for? What is culture? A trend in society is the shift towards peer productions and the idea that everyone can participate in the shaping of our shared culture by contributing to it. It has become increasingly easier to bypass the needle’s eye of the “institutionalised” culture by engaging directly with the audience.

Creative Commons is already perceived as a tool for creators at large and not exclusively for the established cultural circles. Amateurs and professionals alike can find equal use of Creative Commons and this aligns well with the idea of peer production. While not providing a depth of answers to the questions posed, it does give some hints for the further discussion.

Regarding the way we work with culture and on creative works, one of the foremost properties of most Creative Commons licenses is the collaborative nature of the production. Only in a small portion of the cases can you not reuse a work or build upon someone else’s creative work. This should be used in the discussion around the ways in which culture is created and how we as a society work with cultural production. One important aspect of culture is also that there are cultural works that are always changing. Creative Commons would be immensely useful as a tool for such works.

We see here that Creative Commons can join the ongoing discussions taking place in society today and offer compelling answers to some of the questions, or at the very least offer new insights and new thinking to a field that in some areas are in dire need of such.

Summary

• Culture is constantly being re-evaluated
• Creative Commons is not the origin of such discussions, but should join the discussions where they are happening
• In relation to distribution, collaboration, and business models, Creative Commons provide important pieces to the discussion.