“Plate 82” from Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen der Natur (1904), in which are depicted a selection of liverworts. Public Domain.

As part of the Open Culture Platform’s 2024 work plan, we at Creative Commons are offering funding for community activities. We called for proposals and invited the community to vote on the activities. The projects needed to have a focus on building community through outreach and helping institutions move toward open. Here are the four…

“ An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe. Plate XXXI. ”. By Thomas Wright. Public Domain

On Wednesday, 8 May 2024, at 2:00 pm UTC, CC’s Open Culture Program will be hosting a new webinar in our Open Culture Live series titled “Open Culture in the Age of AI: Concerns, Hopes and Opportunities.”

Duria Antiquior by Henry De la Beche, National Museum Cardiff, Public Domain

Today we in the Open Culture Program are releasing a new publication: Don’t be a Dinosaur; or, The Benefits of Open Culture.

Last week, Creative Commons (CC) participated in the 45th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). In this post, we report on the session discussions on exceptions and limitations for cultural heritage institutions (CHIs), a topic of utmost relevance to our Open Culture Program.

Close-up of the Brussels' Atomium on a clear day By Geertivp, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Close-up_of_the_Brussels%27_Atomium_on_a_clear_day_(cropped).jpg

Last week, Creative Commons took part in the International Public Domain Day celebration at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. Two engaging roundtables were hosted, delving into copyright issues concerning the public domain and its future. The event united advocates for open access to cultural heritage, featuring presentations on topics like the monetization and decolonization of the public domain, as well as updates on the Europeana Public Domain Charter. Creative Commons introduced new guidelines published in February aimed at encouraging users to reference institutions when utilizing public domain cultural heritage materials.

“Irises, 1889” by Vincent van Gogh, The J. Paul Getty Museum is dedicated to the public domain by CC0.

The J. Paul Getty Museum just released more than 88 thousand works under Creative Commons Zero (CCØ), putting the digital images of items from its impressive collection squarely and unequivocally into the public domain. This is in line with our advocacy efforts at Creative Commons (CC): digital reproductions of public domain material must remain in the public domain. In other words, no new copyright should arise over the creation of a digitized “twin.”

CC’s new guidelines aim to encourage users to refer to host cultural heritage institutions when using public domain materials. Rooted in the Behavioural Insights Team’s EAST Model, they offer institutions practical design ideas to nudge users into referring back to them.

In 2023, the Creative Commons (CC) Open Culture Platform ran an open call for funded activities as part of our efforts to develop local, non-Western models of open culture, and to support the growth of the open culture movement around the world.

“Barrels of Money” by Victor Dubreuil. 1890s. Brandywine Museum of Art , Public Domain.

On Wednesday, 28 February 2024, at 2:00 pm UTC, CC’s Open Culture Program will be hosting a new webinar in our Open Culture Live series titled “Maximizing the Value(s) of Open Access in Cultural Heritage Institutions.”

“Andean Textile Fragment” by Peruvian. 1500. Walters Art Museum., here slightly cropped, is released into the public domain under CC0.

In January we hosted a webinar titled “Whose Open Culture? Decolonization, Indigenization, and Restitution” discussing the intersection of indigenous knowledge and open sharing. Our conversation spanned a variety of topics regarding indigenous sovereignty over culture, respectful terminology, and the legacy of colonialism and how it still exists today.