Development of Creative Commons licenses

["Kevin Phillips (home)" <tacet AT qmpublishing.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Linksvayer" <ml AT creativecommons.org>
To: "Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts"
<cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: [cc-licenses] just share alike


> On Tue, 2007-05-15 at 09:53 -0400, Evan Prodromou wrote:
> > It would be nice if you didn't have to use the URL, but could just use
> > the name of the license ("Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0")
> > or even the "initials" ("CC by-sa 3.0").
> >
> > In 2007, it seems that the CC brand is well-known enough, at least to
> > Internet people, that it's really not necessary to include the URL. For
> > non-Internet people, including an URL isn't going to help, anyways.
>
> I think Internet/non-Internet is the wrong breaking point, more like
> savvy/non-savvy.  Many of the non-savvy do have net access, so a URL
> does help.
>
> That said, Google has the correct #1 result for both BY-SA and
> Attribution-ShareAlike, and doing that lookup is easier than typing a
> full URL.
>
> Another interesting case is use of only the icons to identify a license.
> I've seen people do this, e.g., in video bumpers or in CD booklets.
>

For what it's worth I very much agree with this, the icons visually "define"
the license quickly and work beyond the internet.  Those who are interested,
curious or whatever can simply search on google (or their chosen engine) to
find the license particulars for the rare occasions where there's no
link/url.   I think Eric was right when he said "We do what we can (those of
us with respect for the licenses anyway) to keep the web addresses within
handy reach of the files. ".

Interestingly BY-SA on google shows the 2.5 license at position #3, not #1
for me here in the UK.  The Berlin Youth Soccer Association are amusingly at
#2, and Bayonne Youth Soccer Assn. at position #1 :)

I wonder if it would be possible to persuade google et al to add a "special"
search for the CC nomenclatures, something like the calculator which you get
when you search for "1cm + 1in".

Something to point out also : having reached the 2.5 "deed" document via the
link from google, there's a note at the bottom which states there's a new
version of this license  - "new version" shown in black/bold text much the
same as  "to share" "to remix" "Attribution" "Share Alike" on the same page,
however "new version" here is a hyperlink.  Not obvious until you mouseOver.

I also note that flickr is pointing to the 2.0 license (!) from my fiancees
pictures :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaffamedia/493617436/in/set-72157600204223323/

wow....2 generations behind! :/   I'm not aware of a choice of license
version when you choose one on flickr, so possibly they need a poke in the
ribcage.  Isn't there a mechanism to alert content hosts when license
versions change?  It's not like it's a new new license.  Flickr also link
with the text "some rights reserved", which when searched for on google
shows the entry for by-nc-sa/1.0/  the other licenses are nowhere to be seen
in the results!  omg!  It's a non-commercial conspiracy, tin foil hats
everyone! :)  Drew.....duck! :D

Anyway, my 2p :)

Kev