More thoughts on copyright

I got in a discussion behind the walled garden of Facebook about hymns, copyright and what we (as ministers and content providers) and I’ve brought some of my comments here. In particular, what do we do with hymn texts we think are in the public domain, and thus subject to republication, reuse or adaptation. But… Continue reading More thoughts on copyright

Creative Commons-licensed Unitarian Universalist sites and resources

Following up on the Creative Commons theme. Here are some congregational websites and like resources that are covered in full or part by a Creative Commons licence. The headers to each section go to a human readable version of the license, presented here starting with the most permissive. (Check the version of the individual licenses… Continue reading Creative Commons-licensed Unitarian Universalist sites and resources

What else here has a Creative Commons license?

So, again on Facebook, a discussion about Creative Commons licensing and the problem (both real and imagined) of using another person’s copyrighted work without permission. As I’ve written before, this unauthorized, unlicensed use has a special place in our history (The 1811 “pirate edition” of the Treatise on Atonement), and that our forebears made a… Continue reading What else here has a Creative Commons license?

Easier to find images for reuse

The BoingBoing-noted launch of a Google image search feature makes finding images sorted by Create Commons license much easier. Take, for example this search for images labled unitarian or universalist that are available for reuse and modification, but not in commercial applications. Useful, too: found this nineteenth-century picture of old First Universalist, Minneapolis, which looks… Continue reading Easier to find images for reuse

NYT: Lessig on orphan works copyright

Stanford Law professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig had an opinion piece in the New York Times today worth reading, even if copyright issues aren’t your first concern. (“Little Orphan Artworks“) The problem is that there quite a few mature works that are not old enough to be in the public domain but where… Continue reading NYT: Lessig on orphan works copyright

UUMA letter: creative crisis control?

I’ve got little to add to the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association decision to move their before-General-Assembly meetings to a location outside the port security area, and thus avoiding the brouhaha around an ID check for General Assembly proper. The UUMA decision seems right, the tone of the letter is appropriate and avoids it the lugubrious… Continue reading UUMA letter: creative crisis control?

Boy in the Bands, now under a liberal license

After ages of thinking and talking about it, I licensed the content of this blog under one of the Creative Commons liberal licenses: the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States license. The Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license seems to be the best and most popular for bloggers to use a Creative Common license. (Roll call!)