37 About Creative Commons Licenses
If you are looking for content to add to your textbook, you should look for and use Creative Commons licensed material.
Why you should use openly licensed materials
You can use non-Creative Commons licensed material in your textbook, however keep in mind that it may increase your workload as well as limit the ability of other to use or reuse your book. To use copyrighted material in your textbook, you must first obtain written permission from the copyright holder. You must clearly note in the textbook which material is under copyright so others using the book know they cannot reuse or modify that material, and must either replace it or obtain permission from the copyright holder.
Using copyrighted material creates a barrier to the usage of your open textbook. Creative Commons licensed material, on the other hand, can legally be shared and reused – this is one of the best things about open textbooks!
Understanding Creative Commons Licenses
The National Copyright Unit and Creative Commons Australia have jointly developed the Creative Commons Information Pack for teachers and students on Creative Commons (CC). The pack explains what CC is, how to find CC material and the best way to attribute CC material.
Creating OER and combining licenses (video)
| CC-BY Attribution – This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution. |
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| CC-BY-SA Attribution Share Alike – This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. |
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| CC-BY-ND Attribution No Derivatives – This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you. |
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| CC-BY-NC Attribution Non-Commercial – This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms. |
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| CC-BY-NC-SA Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature. |
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| CC-BY-NC-ND Attribution Non-Comm