THING #23 - Creative Commons

It seems that the 23 Things website was created under an attribution license.


                                         This is the license that allows others to modify your work as long as they attribute the original work to the author. The logo above, from the CC website and its description match the CC license marker shown on the 23 Things website.

I think Creative Commons is a safe alternative for reproducible content from the web, especially content like photos and clip art that we all use in our work. Even though you do a reasonable search for free (as opposed to for fee) work, you can never be sure that there isn't some fine print that could get you in trouble. CC licenses all of their contributors so that any risk is born by them, not the end user. While we, as educators, are unlikely to have to worry about our work being used commercially, you can never tell where your work might end up. If you use content that is not appropriately licensed, and later decide to share your work with someone else, at that point you lose any control of its use. For the classroom teacher Creative Commons is not only an easy resource, it is also a safe one.