I received an email recently to let me know about Creative Commons NZ:

The Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand licences are all up and running for Kiwis to use, and we have a brand new website where people can register as a licence user and promote their work, ask questions, find helpful guides and contribute to discussion forums.

The new site is at www.creativecommons.org.nz.

If you haven’t come across Creative Commons before, the fine folks over there have this clear explanation right up top on the home page:

Creative Commons aims to establish a fair middle way between the extremes of copyright control and the uncontrolled uses of intellectual property. It provides a range of copyright licences, freely available to the public, which allow those creating intellectual property — including authors, artists, educators and scientists — to mark their work with the freedoms they want it to carry.

I use Creative Commons licences on most of my work — I’m only too aware that most of my thinking and writing is based on the freely shared ideas of others. I also know that my words are unlikely to be the final definitive statement on anything. If someone else can build on what I’ve done then we all benefit.

At the same time I not only enjoy acknowledgement of my work and recognition of my achievements, but have also found that the supermarket have never yet said: Don’t bother paying for your groceries this week — we hear you’ve been doing some fine work recently. I need financial reward attached to my work.

Creative Commons allows me to share my work freely, but ask for recognition, and that others don’t take the financial benefit I need.

Community organisations in particular should consider whether a Creative Commons licence is useful for anything they produce. Collaborating, creating, developing and building are all promoted by sharing information. If your organisation hasn’t yet looked into Creative Commons this is the time to visit www.creativecommons.org.nz.

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