Q: Why haven't academics embraced Creative Commons licenses?

A: Creative Commons isn't well used in academic or entertainment circles because the old modes of thinking, where creation and ownership made more sense, are still in play. Before the internet and digital media revolution, academia operated on the concept of information scarcity. Under that rubric, owning one's course syllabi or research made sense because that was a person's valuable contribution to the field and to teaching.

Now, we're not in an information scarcity situation. Instead, we have an information overload and what's important is organizing, searching, connecting, and cross-referencing information. For that, making one's information (course information, syllabi, research) more available and usable is a better idea for personal financial stability and for the fostering of academic research and education.

 

Q: What is your background in relations to Creative Commons licenses?

Q: How do you use Creative Commons licenses?

Q: How does Creative Commons help establish the idea of intellectual property?

Q: What are the effects of Creative Commons outside academic arenas?

Q: Can Creative Commons be implemented successfully on a global scale?