Creative Commons (CC) is a voluntary licence placed on a work by the copyright owner. It allows others the ability to share, reuse and remix the material (e.g text, image, video) legally, for free. This makes is clear for others what they can or cannot do with the material.
There are six standardised CC licences that allow material to be used in different ways. The original creator decides which licence to place on their work.
More information:
Smartcopy - What is Creative Commons?
There are six different creative commons licence types. They will contain 1 or more of the following components:
BY - attribution required.
NC - no commercial use.
ND - no derivative works.
SA - Share Alike - the licence must be the same on any derivative works.
More information:
Creative Commons Australia - About the licences
CC0 "No rights reserved" |
Public Domain "No Known Copyright" |
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The creator who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Attribution is still required under moral rights.
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Works enter the public domain when they are no longer restricted by copyright. This is generally 70 years after the death of the original creator or if the creator is unknown, 70 years after the work was created. Museums, libraries and other cultural heritage institutions are often knowledgeable about the copyright status of paintings, books and manuscripts, photographs and other works in their collections, many of which are old and no longer under copyright. Many make Public Domain items available online. |
This video was made by Creative Commons New Zealand, but is still relevant for Australia.
When using creative commons material you will need to include an attribution or in text citation directly below the resource you use.
To attribute you need to include the following details:
At the end of your assignment, powerpoint or webpage you will need to include a full reference list in either APA or Harvard style.
See the ERNI Easy Referencing Guide for help.
*You do not need to attribute images you have created yourself.
More information about attributing:
Smartcopying - specifically designed for Australian schools and TAFEs.
Example of Creative Commons Image Attribution
Full bibliographic reference with attribution
Web:
Couler, 2017, Japanese Cherry Tree, photograph, Pixabay, viewed 28 April 2017. Copied and communicated under licence (CC0 1.0).
Print:
Couler, 2017, Japanese Cherry Tree, photograph, Pixabay, viewed 28 April 2017, https://pixabay.com/photos/japanese-cherry-trees-flowers-pink-2168858/. Copied and communicated under licence (CC0 1.0).
In-text reference
Web:
Couler 2017, (CC0 1.0)
Print:
Couler 2017, (CC0 1.0)