Image via CrunchBase

This morning I was reading Tom Barrett’s blog over at Edte.ch.  He recounts a story about Creative Commons licensing that went terribly awry.  Tom is a former classroom teacher and educational technology evangelist.  In fact, he and his colleagues originated a series of Google Docs presentations that are know world wide for ideas to use some technology in the classroom.  For example, I often reference the “40 Ways to Use QR Codes in a Classroom” when discussing mobile teaching and learning. While Tom and a colleague gets the work going, teachers from around the world add to the presentation with new slides. For example, when I first became aware of the “QR Code” presentation it was at 26 ways, now it’s up to 40.

All of the “Ways” presentations are licensed through Creative Commons with attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial as the restraints.  Creative Commons in its genius allows authors of original works to allow others to use their works when the restraints are adhered to.  Specifically, this means that all uses of the “Ways” presentation are available for use when the author is noted, when the use is shared with the same restraints, and when the presentation is used for non-commercial means.  While it appears that Creative Commons allows “free” content, this is a bit of a misnomer.  Instead, Creative Commons allows royalty-free use of works.  So, breaking the licensing negates the licensing altogether for the user.

Back to the problem at hand

In Tom’s blog, he relates how a company used one of the “Ways” presentations — one on iPads — in a sales presentation.  Also, from the photo Tom has on his blog (and as he describes), the authors of the individual slides were removed and the company logo was added.  All very poor judgements.

Copyright infringement and plagiarism are synonymous. This is completely evident here. This is a great lesson for students. Referencing and citations are important. As more and more original works move to digital production and as more and more works are being self published, it is incumbent upon us as professionals to respect the original works, respect the authors, and respect the licensing. Using Creative Commons licensing allows us as authors of original works to go ahead and allow others to use our works without them having to ask.  You still have to include the referencing (i.e., attribution) if that is a restraint on the license, though.

There could be a sticking point. There is another restraint that can be added to licenses that says no derivatives can be made of the original work. While the “Ways” presentations do not have this as a restraint and this may have been more stringent, I believe the intent of the license was certainly violated.  The intent of the “Ways” presentations is certainly sharing, but the intent is also to empower classroom teachers with tools and resources that improve teaching and learning royalty free. When anyone hijacks your ideas and promotes them as his own, then copyright infringement and plagiarism have occurred.