What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons (CC) is an internationally active, non-profit organization that provides free licences for creators to use so they can make their work available to the public. These licences allow creators to give permission for others to use their work under certain conditions.

Every time a work is created, such as when a journal article is written or a photograph taken, that work is automatically protected by copyright. Copyright protection prevents others from using the work in certain ways, such as copying the work or putting the work online.

A CC licence allows the creator of a work to select how they want others to use the work. When a creator releases their work under a CC licence, members of the public know what they can and can’t do with the work. This means that they only need to seek the creator’s permission when they want to use the work in a way not permitted by the licence.

The great thing is that all CC licences allow works to be used for educational purposes. As a result, teachers and students can freely copy, share, and sometimes modify and remix a CC work without having seeking the permission of the creator.