development of an education license or license option for Creative Commons

["Zachary E. Chandler" <zechandl AT colby.edu>]

Hello,

I just joined the list, but please consider this a reply to David's
message:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/cc-education/2003-July/000007.html

Of the various issues raised in the above message, I wish to address only
one:
>- "this license option might attract copyright holders who wouldn't
>otherwise consider CC." (Hallman)

I am an instructional technologist at a small college with around 175
faculty members. Many are innovators who would make their work widely
available with a little encouragement.

Most are not aware of CC (until they work with me), but are often
receptive once it is explained. Here is my point: an "Education License"
is easier to explain and promote than "Attribution, Share-Alike". I do not
mean to belittle my faculty's intelligence by any means, but they are
pressed for time and are already information-saturated.

Here's an example: Andre Siamundele from the French department was leaving
in a few moments for Africa for a year-long sabbatical. I showed him that
I chaptered a movie he shot and narrated, and that I made it ready for
streaming over the web, with hsi permission. I briefly explained CC
licensing, adding that it would allow other _educators_ to use the
resources we develop. "Sure, of course,"he replied.

I don't mean to suggest that Colby faculty are so pressed for time that I
only have 60-second intervals to explain things, or that they wouldn't
appreciate the nuances of "Attribution Share-Alike", but a separate
education license would without a doubt make my work -- and that of anyone
in higher ed inclined to share innovations -- much easier.

While the faculty are largely sympathetic to CC, I don't know that the
same would be true of administration. Most college and university
websites, except personal pages, bear the institution's copyright notice.
I plan on licensing as much of the media I generate as possible under CC,
but I am not certain that the senior administration would approve. Many
schools are overly restrictive of who can view their content. For example,
Stanford's language resource center only allows access to tech help pages
(multilingual computer, character encoding, etc.) to those with a Stanford
login, while many other schools give away this kind of info for free.

While sharing and collaboration seem like common sense for academia, there
may be resistance. A license for explicitly educational purposes would
make it an easier sell, and foster a wider adoption, imho.

best,
Zach Chandler

==============================
Zachary Chandler
Language Technology Consultant
Colby College
Waterville, Maine 04901
http://www.colby.edu/lrc/
zechandl AT colby.edu
207.872.3898