Category Archives: creative commons

So we’ve launched a hack of the advertising system to try to raise funds for CC a bit differently. This is a new CC video (3 minutes). It’s been Revverized — meaning at the end is an ad. When people watch the video through to the ad, we get paid. Thus, by spreading and watching our video, you can help CC. And if this technique works, maybe others as well.

You can see all our videos here. All of them have now been Revverized, though of course, we also make them available in an ad-free way. But the more who watch the Revver version, the more we raise.

So if you’d like a simple (and cheap) way to help CC, please use the email form to send the videos page to your 10,000 best friends. Ask them to send it to their 10,000 best friends. And them, to their 15,000 best friends. And soon we’ll be finished with the fundraising for the year.

Or again, alternatively, click here to donate $300,000 and we can call the whole thing off. Continue reading →

As he explains on his blog, this is Jimmy and his daughter’s pumpkin this year. Step by step instructions in the blog entry. Continue reading →

So I decided this year I would respond personally to everyone who has donated to CC. Each Paypal donation sends a copy to me, and I write a note in response. (An official tax-ready thank you gets generated by some machine later, but I wanted the first cut at the thanks).

It is an amazing process. I had expected I would know most who would donate; I know practically no one. They come from across the world, in every amount, some sometimes give twice.

I can’t express adequately how grateful I am to those who support us. Partly that’s the technology — most imagine the emails must be machine-generated; partly that’s the limits to language — we practice overusing “thank you”; how can we mean it when we really do?

Anyway, thank you again. (And I apologize if I’m a bit behind. I’ll get through all of them.) Continue reading →

Joi Ito and Paul Twomey meet Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry then announces that all its published content is licensed under a CC-BY license, as is the Minister’s blog.

Read all about it: from Veni Markovski; from Joi. Continue reading →

With the launch of the second Creative Commons fundraiser, I have begun again a series of letters about Creative Commons.

The first letter is here. (Spanish — thanks to Maria Cristinia Alvite)

The second is here.

The archive of letters (including last year’s) is here.

You can subscribe to them here.

Or you can just donate $300,000 here and we can call the whole thing off. Continue reading →

At the top of favorite articles about CC, this one by Mark Glaser. Continue reading →

I’m just ending the last insane 3 week period in and for a long time (round the world, and almost back to Berlin), and I’ll be writing more about this early next week when I get a chance to breathe, but this week Creative Commons launches its second annual fundraising campaign. More soon about why we might merit your support, but for those ready to help without the pitch, here’s the code:

<a href="http://creativecommons.org/support/">
<img src="http://creativecommons.org/images/support/2006/spread-3.gif" border="0"/></a>

Continue reading →

The British Council and Counterpoint has a new publication, “Unbounded Freedom: A Guide to Creative Commons Thinking for Cultural Organizations,” written by Rosemary Bechler. The book will be launched Friday. There’s a discussion page on the author’s blog, which begins with a useful post addressing the question: “So why did I choose to licence my work in this way?” Continue reading →

Wired is sponsoring another Creative Commons Benefit Concert at at Irving Plaza, on September 29. This is the second time Wired’s done this. The first time, the artists (Gilberto Gil and David Byrne) were inspiration to many in the movement. This time the artists are practitioners of remix culture: Mike Patton‘s experimental pop supergroup Peeping Tom, DJ/producer Diplo, and mash-up/remix artist Girl Talk.

All (as in 100% with no deduction at all) of the proceeds go to Creative Commons. Tickets are $25 each (plus service charge) and are available online at Ticketmaster.

The event is a part of Next Music, which kicks off WIRED NextFest, a four-day festival featuring more than 130 interactive exhibits from scientists and researchers from around the world.

Continue reading →

So there was a flurry of concern last week because of the announcement that Microsoft’s new Zune would wrap all content in DRM. Turns out that was a mistake. All content is not wrapped by default. The wrapping applies to DRMed content only. Thus, the device would not appear to interfere with the CC anti-DRM clause. Continue reading →