Comments for Obama Puts Change.gov Under Creative Commons

Obama Puts Change.gov Under Creative Commons

2008-12-01T18:17:31Z

Last week Barack Obama's Presidential transition website Change.gov added OpenID login for commenters and now the entire site has been put under a Creative Commons license. These concepts are no longer just the dreams of "crack-pot fringe case" advocates - they're the official policy of the US President Elect.

The particular Creative Commons license chosen by Change.gov, the "By" license (one of many options), means that instead of the default US Copyright of "all rights reserved," visitors are now allowed to reuse any of the content from the site as long as they give attribution back to the original source. Standard Copyright is for protecting scarce content but Creative Commons is a legal framework set up to make sharing and reuse as easy as possible.

]]> We frequently post Creative Commons licensed photos in posts on this blog, for example. The CC "By" section on photo sharing site Flickr is filled with images that can be used commercialy and in derivative works, just as long as attribution is given to the original photo publisher. Travel social network Dopplr recently began using images from this same section of Flickr to create beautiful city profile pages on their site. Creative Commons recently created a new case study collection to demonstrate in detail how the various CC licenses have served publishers around the world.

Introducing Creative Commons to More People

The license on Change.gov also states that anyone who posts anything to Change.gov (like comments) must accept that their content will be under Creative Commons as well. This could be the first introduction to the CC concept for millions of people. It would have been good to see the CC license listed on the bottom of every page instead of just on a relatively obscure "copyright policy" page. In all likelihood though, the Obama team chose CC because it makes the most sense to use, not to prove a point.

This act of support for progressive intellectual property policy is big news, but it also makes us wonder - what's next? That's exciting to think about.

Check out CreativeCommons.org to learn more about this new publishing paradigm.

Comment from Ben Tremblay on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T18:54:05Z

Congrats ... a nice gesture.
But is it more than a gesture?
For folks who have all the cred in the world for great use of tech, well, I dunno ... I've been seeing gestures but not much else.

For e.g. when the Agenda items blinked out of existence, some of us noticed, and some of us blogged about it, and from inside the tent ... nothing. (For a while there was a major disconnect between the items in the sidebar and what actually existed. I mean before it all disappeared. I sent some feedback about that. Like "Hey, folks, your footer is broken in Firefox" there was no sign anybody was on the other endof the line.)
And then the Agenda pages were refreshed.
And everyone celebrated.
Uh-ehrr ... most everyone celebrated.

And more recently they implemented IntenseDebate to thread the comments. And (most) everybody celebrated. (3.8K comments last time I checked, on the health issue post ... 53 pages ... now, really, who thinks that's effective? Jim-dandy gesture, but ...)

Sorry, but I want my team to win because they play ball real well, not because they've got fabulous PR and cheer-leaders.

My experience stands uncontroverted: the four Is of conventional social engagement remain Invite, Involve, Inform, and Ignore.

Spin2.0 won't keep Spaceship Earth from crashing in flames.

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T19:10:33Z

Ben, thanks for your very thoughtful comment. Generally speaking I'd agree with you, but there is some tangible benefit to Change.gov going CC - reuse of content will occur far more in places where it might not have otherwise (academia, for example). And that's good. But agreed, not sure who's the public face engaging from the Obama team with the community of technologists long working on this kind of change. This move and the OpenID/IntenseDebate thing just kind of sprung up on people, it seemed, not sure who the Change.gov team is talking to about all this, if anyone at all.

Comment from Fabrice on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T19:30:23Z

Great post Marshall, looks like you guys are going to take a shortcut to XXIth century democracy! You're living some historical moments, and this needs to be documented and commented.
I feel like I'm living in a absolute monarchy here in France, compared to what's going on in the US.

Keep us informed about that! Please :)

Comment from Todd on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T19:37:46Z

"...the dreams of "crack-pot fringe case" advocates..."

Hey that's me!

Comment from Wogan on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T19:39:46Z

Great - I'll be borrowing that design, then. It's incredibly sexy. With attribution, of course.

Comment from Russell Heimlich on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T19:42:18Z

Change.gov is a government publication right? Therefore it can't be copyrighted just like anything else the government produces.

Comment from michaellambie.org on 2008-12-01

2008-12-01T22:51:48Z

This is great that the new regime is cc'ing the site. what i wonder, is who is advising this change? is it the CTO of the US of the future?

isn't skynet supposed to be self aware by now?

Comment from Anrkist on 2008-12-01

2008-12-02T01:35:07Z

@Russell Heimlich - Interesting point... I didn't believe it at first but I checked a few .gov sites and didn't see a single copyright notice on the bottom. I guess we paid for it... it's ours to use heh.

Comment from Mark on 2008-12-01

2008-12-02T03:14:59Z

A Stunning Prophetic Revelation About Barrack Obama!

This Is A Must Read!

http://www.prophecies.org

Comment from mobilya on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T09:43:48Z

thanks...

Comment from HTTP status codes and If-Modified-Since on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T13:22:58Z

It will be a great accessibility tool for the public & brings the White House out of the stone age. Can't wait to see how it develops!

Comment from Chris Messina on 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T15:04:36Z

"crack pot fringe case" advocates eh? Hey..! I resemble that remark!

Of course Descartes was thought to be a heretic in his day too. Not that I'm making a personal comparison, only pointing out that what might seem mad to some without the ability to see beyond present-day convention will inevitably see alternative ideas as of the "crack-pot fringe".

Comment from Cory O'Brien on 2008-12-03

2008-12-03T08:44:52Z

Love that they're doing very proactive moves this, but I just hope that this tech-friendly streak continue when he's in office too, because I wonder how much of this is being done by a tech-friendly Obama team, and not actually supported/understood by the man himself.

Not that it's a bad thing for a team to be running the show, I just don't want to see it all go away once the eyes of the world are upon him, and the team is put under more scrutiny for their decisions.

Comment from Wes Snyder on 2008-12-09

2008-12-09T19:53:47Z

I AM A CASE MANAGER FOR THE SALVATION ARMY IN KNOXVILLE,TENNESSEE. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE WE ARE SEEING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE ENTERING OUR TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROGRAM. THESE MEN ARE ARRIVING FROM VARIOUS STATES AND COMMUNITIES. OUR PROGRAM EMPHASIZES WORK AND HOUSING AS THE GOAL FOR EACH PARTICIPANT. THE PRIMARY JOBS THAT ARE AVAILABLE IN OUR AREA ARE SERVICE JOBS AND ARE LOW PAYING WITH LITTLE OR NO INSURANCE. THE LOCAL HEALTH PROVIDERS FOR THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE SWAMPED WITH NEW CLIENTS. WITH THE CURRENT DOWNTURN IN THE ECONOMY I ANTICIPATE A SWELL OF PEOPLE NEEDING OUR SERVICES. WE RECEIVE FUNDING FROM HUD TO HELP IN ERADICATING HOMELESSNESS. I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL NEED ADDITIONAL FUNDING IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE TO DEAL WITH THE NEW CLIENTS ENTERING OUR PROGRAMS. THIS IS TRUE OF OTHER PROGRAMS AS WELL. IN ADDITION TO ADDED FUNDING FOR THESE TYPE PROGRAMS IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE COULD USE A STIMULUS TO AID THE WORKING CLASS MEET SOME OF THEIR BILLS AND ALSO TO USE SOME OF ANY MONIES TO HELP STIMULATE THE ECONOMY BY PURCHASING GOODS AND SERVICES AT THE LOCAL LEVEL. I THINK THAT YOU CAN TRUST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO SPEND WISELY.