[Oer-community] On-line education is using a flawed Creative Commons license

[Stephen E Carson]

MIT OpenCourseWare likely has as much experience as anyone in using the NC license, and for all the discussion it generates, it has worked remarkably well for us for ten years now.  It provides for a clear zone of reuse that a great many people take advantage of, a gray area of uncertainty that drives a small volume of quasi-commercial efforts to contact us, and a zone where uses are clearly forbidden.  The volume of inquiries we receive is quite manageable, and it's not at all unusual for us to forward some requests on to the faculty who own then content in question so that they can provide a separate permission for a commercial use of their content.

The NC license has allowed us to involve more than 70% of MIT faculty (most of whom would not have participated without the NC protection); it has supported the creation of more than 1,000 translated versions of our courses, which has vastly increased the audience we reach; and in practice it has been easy to administer.  If you judge it on the above merits, it holds up very well.

Steve Carson

Director of Communications and External Relations
MIT OpenCourseWare
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Cambridge, MA 02142
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P: 617.253.1250 | C: 617.633.4659 | F: 617.253.2115
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On Nov 28, 2012, at 5:36 PM, "Albright, Susan" <susan.albright at tufts.edu<mailto:susan.albright at tufts.edu>> wrote:

Hi David,
I can't help but comment.  I miss seeing you at the open education meetings.  I'm going to get in my car right now and go to my next meeting right  thinking about  Tuition as a movie ticket and OER as the popcorn.  That will be fun.

Susan Albright

-----Original Message-----
From: oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca<mailto:oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca> [mailto:oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca] On Behalf Of David Wiley
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 5:05 PM
To: oer-community
Subject: Re: [Oer-community] On-line education is using a flawed Creative Commons license

Brian,

The answer to your question is no, charging tuition for a class that uses an NC licensed textbook does not violate NC. I'm trying to keep my contributions on this open, so I've posted the actual response on my blog - Tuition is a Movie Ticket, OER are Popcorn (http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2618).

This is nothing but publisher FUD and we simply need some case law to put this argument to bed. But you will never see a publisher litigate on this issue because they know they will lose, and for their trouble will have paid the legal fees necessary to establish the case law that undercuts their FUD.

David

On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 1:00 PM, Brian Lamb <brlamb at mail.ubc.ca<mailto:brlamb at mail.ubc.ca>> wrote:
I am finding this discussion on the NC clause to be provocative and
fun to read.  I find points made on both sides worthy of
consideration. I am confused by this point of comparison by Rory:


RORY>>> Not true. NC does NOT prevent commercialization. It encourages it.
Private companies want the exclusive right to distribute so they
license it directly from the author a la Flatworld.  NC promotes and
supports commercialization. People in Canada have free access to
water. Others bottle it and people pay for it. The fact that some
companies choose to sell it does not make water unfree. Granny can bottle her free water and sell it.
Others can take the free water and use it gratis.


...Water is free you can use if as you like or you can sell it. NC
restricted content limits the selling option to one person.



In most places I've been, water is a publicly regulated commodity. "Granny"
either pays a water bill, or helps support a public utility through
her taxes. She can bottle her free water and sell it, but if she were
doing it on such a scale that it exceeded a reasonable personal usage,
she would likely face legal sanction. In places where water is scarce,
water rationing is common.  And I would hope corporations or
individuals would not be permitted to engage in commercial activities
that endanger the careful management of a limited and valuable
resource - whether by polluting it, or by excessive use (or control) of it.

On another note, have y'all read this post by Mike Caulfield?

http://hapgood.us/2012/10/31/coursera-cc-nc-and-ocw/

Turns out the application of an NC license does not absolutely forbid
all commercial use for all time. "A CC-NC license is not a blood oath;
the license holder can negotiate exceptions."  Wow, who knew? But we
would have to talk to each other. And this mailing list just
demonstrates how much educators hate to talk to one another.

Finally, can somebody tell me if an NC license forbids reuse by
non-profit public education institutions that charge tuition? Seems
like a fairly simple question, but I've heard authoritative responses
that wholly contradict each other on that point. If such basic
definitions of use are this unclear, I suspect we will not find consensus on this discussion.

Though again, I am enjoying following the debate. Thanks to all the
participants.

Brian

Brian Lamb
Director, Innovation
Thompson Rivers University
Kamloops, BC, Canada
(On leave from UBC)






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