Cc-au mailing list

[Jessica Coates <j2.coates AT qut.edu.au>]

From the CCau website:

This week marks the fifth birthday of ccAustralia's fabulous animated mascots, Mayer and Bettle. So we thought it was a good time to give them a bit of love.

I'm sure you're all fans, but for those new to CC, Mayer and Bettle are the stars of a 5 minute animation, first commissioned for the QUT Smart Train back in 2005 to provide a simple and friendly introduction to CC. Created jointly by local animation team Blackbrow (aka Pete Foley and Chris Perren) and our own Elliott Bledsoe, the film has the little blue guys travel through land, sea and space while discussing what Creative Commons is and how it works. In 2008 Mayer and Bettle returned in glorious 3D in a sequel, joining Bettle's biggest fan, Flik, in a through the looking glass CC world to talk about how to apply the CC licences to your material.

They grow up so fast. Over the last five years the exuberant Bettle and the long suffering Mayer have been viewed more than 20,000 times (and that's on Youtube and Revver alone). Not bad for a couple of cut outs talking about a copyright licensing system. And thanks to their CC licences, the videos have also been subtitled, translated into French and dubbed into Taiwanese. Not to mentioned shown in innumerable workshops, lectures, classrooms, conferences, festivals and even a pecha kucha, by CC family and friends.

So we tip our hats to the little duo (and now trio) and encourage you to revisit them every once in a while. And it's never too late for more translations, mashups and remixes. May they continue to educate and inform people about more flexible copyright options well into the next decade.