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May 18, 2006
Re-Releasing My Email List FAQs Under Creative Commons Licenses
Hi everyone,
Yesterday I got an email from Miguel Guhlin asking permission to use the Frequently Asked Questions guide to the WWWEDU email discussion list as a template for a new list he was creating.
I originally created the FAQ in 1994, back in the days when no one really worried about who was using your content, since the Internet was mostly noncommercial at that point in time. I've always offered to let people use the FAQ as a template for their own FAQs - I even adapted it myself six years ago for the DIGITALDIVIDE List FAQ - but for whatever reason it never occurred to me to assign a copyright license to it. I've never wanted to stop people from using it, but it would be helpful for people to understand exactly what my intentions are regarding my ownership of the text.
So, I've decided to add a Creative Commons license to the FAQ. Creative Commons is an easy way to assign specific copyright privileges to content, to encourage people to use the content in the spirit you intended it to be used. In this particular case, I've added what's known as an attribution-sharealike license to the FAQ.
This license means that you are free:
* to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
* to make derivative works
* to make commercial use of the work
Under the following conditions:
Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (ie, me).
Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. In other words, when you publish your new FAQ, that you include the same Creative Commons license in the FAQ so users can benefit from it in the same way I'm letting you benefit from it.
Hopefully the license will make it clear to people that they're encouraged to adapt the FAQ and use it for their own purposes. -andy
Posted by acarvin at May 18, 2006 9:24 AM
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