Category Archives: creative commons

JUMP: 系列 Photographer：老0


From Joi Ito‘s blog:

I landed in Beijing yesterday at 5AM from Los Angeles and am leaving today at 1PM for New York. From a logistical and environmental perspective, I think this was one of my stupider trips. However, from a content perspective, this was one of my best trips ever. I really met more interesting people, saw more interesting things and had more interesting conversations in a single day than I’ve had in a long time.
I started out the morning yesterday by giving at talk at cnbloggercon organized by Isaac Mao. I gave a talk about the sharing economy and got some interesting questions and hallway conversation about sharing in the context of China. I also got to meet a lot of the Chinese bloggers I only knew by name. Many thank for Isaac and his crew for organizing this excellent annual conference and sorry I haven’t made it over before.
Then I went to the Creative Commons China Photo Content ceremony at the National Library in Beijing. There were 10,000 submissions of professional and amateur works licensed under various CC licenses. There were three categories: Society, Nature and Portraits. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges including famous photographers, professors and other notable people. The photographs were amazing. There is a web page of the winning photographs. Don’t forget to click the link underneath the winning photos for the second place winner gallery.
While we have silly people in the West saying that for every free photo on Flickr a professional photographer loses their job, we have professional photographers in China licensing their best works under CC licenses. As far as I could tell, the amateur and professional photographers seemed integrated and supportive of each other.
After the awards ceremony, we have a workshop with presentations from an illustrious and interesting group of speakers. Overall a groundbreaking and well executed event. Congratulations Chunyan and the CC China team!
I’m uploading photos from my trip in a Flickr set. I found out yesterday that there is a Firefox Plugin to bypass the Chinese block on Flickr. Yay!

JUMP: 系列 Photographer：老0

From Joi Ito‘s blog:

I landed in Beijing yesterday at 5AM from Los Angeles and am leaving today at 1PM for New York. From a logistical and environmental perspective, I think this was one of my stupider trips. However, from a content perspective, this was one of my best trips ever. I really met more interesting people, saw more interesting things and had more interesting conversations in a single day than I’ve had in a long time.
I started out the morning yesterday by giving at talk at cnbloggercon organized by Isaac Mao. I gave a talk about the sharing economy and got some interesting questions and hallway conversation about sharing in the context of China. I also got to meet a lot of the Chinese bloggers I only knew by name. Many thank for Isaac and his crew for organizing this excellent annual conference and sorry I haven’t made it over before.
Then I went to the Creative Commons China Photo Content ceremony at the National Library in Beijing. There were 10,000 submissions of professional and amateur works licensed under various CC licenses. There were three categories: Society, Nature and Portraits. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges including famous photographers, professors and other notable people. The photographs were amazing. There is a web page of the winning photographs. Don’t forget to click the link underneath the winning photos for the second place winner gallery.
While we have silly people in the West saying that for every free photo on Flickr a professional photographer loses their job, we have professional photographers in China licensing their best works under CC licenses. As far as I could tell, the amateur and professional photographers seemed integrated and supportive of each other.
After the awards ceremony, we have a workshop with presentations from an illustrious and interesting group of speakers. Overall a groundbreaking and well executed event. Congratulations Chunyan and the CC China team!
I’m uploading photos from my trip in a Flickr set. I found out yesterday that there is a Firefox Plugin to bypass the Chinese block on Flickr. Yay!

Continue reading →

So Creative Commons desperately needs an new accountant. Our trusty and excellent current accountant is moving on. If you have any ideas, please refer him/her to the job posting. Thanks. Continue reading →

Continue reading →

We’re pulling together an important (as in it is important it succeeds) strategy to enlist blogs in the work we’re doing to support CC. Thanks to Jardel who has a corner of the Brazilian blogspace. He beat us to the punch.
Continue reading →

As I mentioned last week, we have launched CC‘s annual fundraising campaign. You can get support buttons for your site or your blog here. They’re all based upon the new layout to the CC site. As you can see above, each button frames a different part of the world.
This is an important year for us — 5th anniversary, etc. It is a difficult time of the year for me. You don’t go into academics because you like market tests. And each year, I cower from the test that this campaign is. If we can’t grow the number of people supporting CC, we’re not doing our job. Period. That sort of simple test doesn’t stalk a professor.
But there is no tenure for nonprofits. So we can’t avoid this push, and test, each year. Please help make it as simple as possible. Give way more than you can afford. Often.
Continue reading →

Monday was an insane day, and I had no time to remark to important facts. First, Creative Commons (new page!) launched its third fall fundraising campaign. The theme is 5. We’re five on December 15 (big party, stay tuned). And we’ve set $500k as our goal — way beyond what we’ve targeted before. So please help, any way you can. SupportCC. Continue reading →

Creative Commons announced yesterday that we have hired a new General Counsel (and Vice President).
I can’t adequately describe the happiness (and relief) that announcement gave me.
The General Counsel is crucial to CC’s success. Virginia Rutledge is our third. We’ve had fantastic general counsels before her. And when each left, while I wished them luck in their new life (at Google), I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me.
Our first had been the entrepreneur who founded the place. That quality couldn’t be replaced. But I was extremely happy when we found someone who could give us something else that we needed then. Like our first, this GC was brilliant and could write extremely well. But she was also a very experienced lawyer (she had practiced and had practiced in other jurisdictions), and she let that experience translate into a very strong will in guiding and protecting our most important asset — the legal brand.
When she left, I again had doubts we would find a replacement. But again, I am extremely happy to have my doubts proven wrong. Virginia, too, has the tough-lawyer experience that our last GC showed us was so critically important. But beyond that, she also had an extensive life in the community of artists and museums before she turned to the law. Of all the candidates we considered, none could match the breadth and significance of this experience.
From the press release:

“I applaud Creative Commons for its inspired choice of Virginia Rutledge as Vice President and General Counsel,” said copyright expert William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel, Google Inc. “Virginia’s background in academia, the art world, and the white-shoe corporate law firm environment is unique. Her ability to forge consensus, her love of learning and commitment to the public interest will serve Creative Commons and the rest of us exceedingly well.”
“I commend Creative Commons for this excellent choice to help further the worthy purposes of the organization,” said patron of the arts Martin E. Segal. “Virginia’s commitment to the arts and her scholarly and practical background make her a wonderful addition.”
“Creative Commons couldn’t have made a better choice,” said Joel Wachs, President of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. “Virginia has deep knowledge of contemporary art practices and institutions, and the practical experience of working within a highly competitive corporate culture. She will do an excellent job of helping to build relationships between communities that have a common interest in promoting vibrant cultural production and exchange.”

She will. And as I understand now, this is precisely what we now need.
Continue reading →

Click on the image to get your tickets. Continue reading →

It’s pretty here. Watch. Continue reading →