Licences are permissions governed by the creator that determine when, where, and how a work can be used, modified, or reproduced. These are "copyright permissions." For most traditional licences, fees must be paid to the creator for permission for use and reuse by a certain individual or group with clear restrictions. For example, libraries can licence material under institutional licences that allow access and use of the materials, such as articles and eBooks, paid for by the library. However, only current staff and students would have access.
Open licences are similar to traditional licences but are a bit more relaxed. Open licences allow anyone (not just those who a traditional licence would have covered) to use or modify a work without giving up the creator's copyright. The type of open licence determines the specific permission as applied by the work's creator. The most commonly applied open licences are Creative Commons licences. See the box below for more information.
Creative Commons is an organization dedicated to helping create ways for materials to be used, adapted, and redistributed. They do so by creating licences that "allow authors of creative works to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators" (Creative Commons). For more information on the licences, see the "Creative Common Licences" box.
What can you do: You are free to share (copy, distribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially).
Terms: You must give credit to the creator (attribution), link to the license, and indicate changes. You cannot add any additional restrictions to prevent others from using the material as originally indicated.
What can you do: You are free to share (copy, distribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially).
Terms: You must give credit to the creator (attribution), link to the license, and indicate changes. If you adapt the material, you must use the same licence (ShareAlike) as the original when distributing the new material. Additionally, you cannot add any additional restrictions to prevent others from using the material as originally indicated.
What can you do: You are free to share (copy and redistribute) in any format or medium for any reason, including commercially.
Terms: You must give credit to the creator (attribution), link to the license, and indicate changes. If you adapt (remix, transform, or build upon the original) the work, you cannot distribute the material. Additionally, you cannot add any additional restrictions to prevent others from using the material as originally indicated.
What can you do: You are free to share (copy, distribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially).
Terms: You must give credit to the creator (attribution), link to the license, and indicate changes. This material can only be used for non-commercial purposes. Additionally, you cannot add any additional restrictions to prevent others from using the material as originally indicated.
What can you do: You are free to share (copy, distribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material).
Terms: You must give credit to the creator (attribution), link to the license, and indicate changes. This material can only be used for non-commercial purposes. If you adapt the material, you must use the same licence (ShareAlike) as the original when distributing the new material. Additionally, you cannot add any additional restrictions to prevent others from using the material as originally indicated.
What can you do: You are free to share (copy, distribute the material in any medium or format).
Terms: You must give credit to the creator (attribution), link to the license, and indicate changes. This material can only be used for non-commercial purposes. If you adapt (remix, transform, or build upon the original) the work, you cannot distribute the material. Additionally, you cannot add any additional restrictions to prevent others from using the material as originally indicated.
Although this video focuses on student work, it can be a helpful guide for anyone wanting to apply open licences to their creations.
Epp, J. (2014). Apply open licensing to your student work [Video]. YouTube.
PhD Comics. (2012, October 25). Open Access Explained! [Video]. YouTube.
Open Access (OA) describes the principles and practices that result in material being distributed online, free of cost or other access barriers. These principles and practices can be summed up using the acronym FAIR. FAIR stands for "findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable," and is a means of defining what is meant by the term "open access" and making the concept easier to discuss (Wilkinson et al. 2018). Open access material can also be adapted or shared if accompanied by an open licence (such as a Creative Commons licence).
Open Access Educational Resources (OERs) are materials designed and shared for use in teaching, learning, and research. They will be shared using open licences or as part of the public domain. These can be used in the classroom without having to worry about applying Fair Use exceptions.
When the copyright protection period for a work ends, the work automatically enters a metaphorical space called the public domain. Works in the public domain can be accessed by users and can be freely used, adapted, and modified then redistributed for commercial or non-commerical purposes without infringing copyright.
To determine if an item is in the public domain, use the flowcharts for the resource type as found here.
See the CARL FAQ page for more information regarding new public domain changes.
Unfortunately, for Indigenous communities, the practice of researching and recording Indigenous Peoples' lives has led to an accumulation of Indigenous Knowledges with copyrights owned and managed by non-Indigenous peoples and institutions to the exclusion of Indigenous peoples in perpetuity.
Other key issues in the discussion of Traditional Knowledges (TK) and copyright protection are that:
To address these concerns, Jane Anderson and Kim Christian, initially inspired by Creative Commons Licenses, began Local Contexts Licencing and Labelling.
TK licenses are an extension of existing contract law and are meant to be legally defensible across multiple jurisdictions. They work only for materials already owned by communities or who have the legal copyright. TK licenses cannot be applied to works that are not considered original or that are already in the public domain.
As an alternative to the hard-to-apply licences, TK Labels can be apply to materials where a community does not hold the copyright or are already part of the public domain. TK labels seek to provide a set of guidelines for responsible access, viewership, and usage, providing users with more information about the ways Indigenous information is used (if it should be used at all) or understood. Local Contexts currently uses seventeen labels (Kroeker, Ozgan, Hoar, 2019).
For more information:
