Review 1
BETA assignments | Assignment Unit #1: What is Creative Commons?
The Story of The Creative Commons by Lokesh Rajendran is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0
Description of the Work:
The Story of the Creative Commons is a visual timeline describing the driving factors behind the creation of the Creative Commons, starting with the Sonny Bono Copyright Act in 1997, landing in 2018, where collections on the CC Platforms have swelled to over 1.8 billion shared works. Along the way, major milestones are touched upon, including the Sonny Bono Copyright Act, the work of Lawrence Lessig, Eldred v Ashcroft Case, and the eventual formation of the Creative Commons as a non-profit. The information presented in this graphic is accurate, all milestones linking out to openly available resources and information providing more details to the learner. The material provided is incredibly informative, easy to read and digest for a newcomer to the Commons. The creativity is exceptional; visually stimulating with loads of embedded content, but without overloading the learner. The timeline is easy to follow, approachable, and well-designed.
Where Information Could be Added/Improved:
While the embedded links work in the downloadable .pdf, is there a way they could be embedded on the page where the timeline is hosted?
It would additionally be wonderful to have this timeline translated/available in Arabic العربية
Review 2
October 2018 class assignments | Assignment Unit #1: What is Creative Commons?
What is Creative Commons? by Greg Szczyrbak is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Description of the Work:
What is the Creative Commons? is a work created in bookcreator. Stylized as a comic book, it provides an extensive overview of the origin of copyright in a fun and approachable way. Comic-style onomatopoeia are sprinkled throughout the visual timeline provided; well-placed POWs and ZOOMs bring the reader in to a playful review progression of the Creative Commons, borne of necessity to maintain author rights while sharing work openly. The information provided in this work is historically accurate, with embedded links out to openly available detailed information outlining the timeline milestones presented. The overall work is very informational for the newcomer, including visual cues to myriad open repositories of shared and shareable content. The creativity of this work is off the charts! The playful nature of the comic book format removes barriers to those who may be reticent to approach what may seem dauntingly dense with legalese. This turns a timeline into a real story, which is enjoyable to readers at multiple levels. AND! the bookcreator platform includes an audio reader in multiple languages, making it even more accessible.
Where Information Could be Added/Improved:
The alignment on some of the panels could be cleaned up – the Aldred case page, for example, has some text overlap.
The attribution page could be reformatted to match the rest of the text, giving it a better flow/finish.
Review 3
January 2019 class assignments | Assignment Unit #2: Copyright Law
版權條例(著作權) Copyright Ordinance(Copyright) by Judy Wong is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0
Description of the Work:
版權條例(著作權) is a youtube video using Doodly and Amara, presented in Cantonese (廣東話), with English subtitles. The learner is walked through how copyright law applies to creative works, including trademarks, patents, and where and how fair dealing applies. The content included in this video is very accurate, providing reference to reputed government sites in Hong Kong for additional information on intellectual property. The three methods of protecting IP are covered, the Berne Convention’s impact on modernized copyright law is outlined, and fair dealing is explored. Overall, the video is incredibly informative, without overloading the learner with what can be very dense content. This video’s creative approach to visualizing a walkthrough of incredibly detailed information makes for an enjoyable view. It is approachable, and delivers a lot of content without feeling overwhelming.
Where Information Could be Added/Improved:
While the sound overlay/dialog starts out strong, it takes a real dip at the 0:09 marker, making it really hard to hear the narration, and then another big dip at the 2:54 marker, making it extremely difficult to hear. If the background music track were adjusted, that would help a lot (volume is up too far), but rerecording the narration altogether might be what need to be done.
The end of the video cuts off pretty abruptly – there could be a fadeout, or ending slide with more resources listed.
Review 4
October 2018 class assignments | Assignment Unit #3: Anatomy of a CC License
Anatomy of Creative Commons Licenses by Mélanie Brunet is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Description of the Work:
Anatomy of Creative Commons Licenses is an infographic created using Canva, which walks learners through the layers, elements, and types of Creative Commons licenses. It additionally covers exceptions and limitations of the licenses, as well as Public Domain and what some v all ‘rights reserved’ means in practice. The information accurately and factually depicts the anatomy of CC licenses, in an approachable, well-organized way. It is incredibly informative for the CC newbie, covering all the bases of licensing, while not being visually overwhelming. The creative visual representation of the license components, categorized in bright color blocks, makes following the path of information very digestible and not too dense.
Where Information Could be Added/Improved:
I actually don’t have any recommendations on this – the alignment looks great, information is accurate – all of the elements are there. I suppose one could consider alternative colour scheme for those who may be sensitive to bright colours and/or experience some level of colourblindness (try grayscale patterning..?).
Review 5
September 2019 class assignments | Assignment Unit #4: Using CC Licenses and CC-Licensed Works
Using CC Licenses and CC Licensed Works by Carsten Elsner is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Description of the Work:
Using CC Licenses and CC Licensed Works is an interactive presentation designed using Canva, which walks learners through the creation of new works, how to create a collection of shared works, and the process of adapting or remixing shared works. All information presented is accurate, providing instructional images and links out to more detailed information about NC restrictions, and how to use a the license compatibility chart to apply licenses with confidence. There are multiple examples provides in different formats – images, text, and audio files, that help learners to concretize concepts in real life. The creative (and adorable!) use of rabbits all throughout the presentation helps to not only tie together and unify concepts throughout, but makes what can be a complicated an intimidating lesson more approachable.
Where Information Could be Added/Improved:
The embed code for this presentation didn’t seem to work – was not able to resolve the HTML. It would be interesting to see how this presentation looked lifted out of the digisrv site, which has a layout that doesn’t really match the presentation (understand that it’s predominantly functional).
Creative Commons Attribution