The OER Policy Development Tool is really useful and definitely one of my top takeaways from the course. Building an open policy is something that my workplace, and department in particular, feel very strongly about but it can be hard to know where to start. Again this resource helps to put theoretical learning into action and is definitely a tool I will be exploring.

I found this example case particularly useful even though the challenge was unsuccessful in this case. It helped to set the ‘theory’ of CC into a real-world context for me and gave me an example to use in my teaching. It is easy to talk about hypotheticals with something like CC but having a concrete case to hang things on really help. It was also interesting to hear how this fit into the development of CC as a movement.

This unit was probably the most useful for me overall and certainly one of the most relevant to the work I do. I was interested to learn from this section that CC licenses should not be applied to software as this is something that regularly comes up in my interactions with researchers. I had not really thought this through before but the explanation provided made sense. The link to the FAQ is useful and I have added it to our webpages so that it can be easily referenced.

New resource: This video could potentially fit in either unit 1 or unit 3 but I think it definitely needs a place somewhere in the course. Created by Creative Commons staff in New Zealand it provides an accessible guide to both the CC movement and the licenses themselves. It could replace or be provided as an alternative to the text based content.

New resource: Copyright the Card Game: https://copyrightliteracy.org/resources/copyright-the-card-game/ This interactive game was designed to help both researchers and librarians develop copyright literacy by turning a sometimes dry subject into something fun. The resource (available under a CC-BY-NA-SA license) features cards representing copyright works, usages/restrictions, licenses and educational exceptions and allows players to better understand how CC licenses are used in practice by applying them to real life situations.

I would like to see the following added: Copyright User.Org: https://www.copyrightuser.org/ This website is dedicated to making UK copyright law more accessible to all and offers a range of resources aimed at demystifying aspects of copyright. It has a special section dedicated to those undertaking A-Level qualifications (ages 16 - 18) which is useful if copyright concepts need to be explained to a younger audience. The short series of Sherlock Holmes inspired videos outlining various aspects of copyright offer a useful way to prompt discussions with younger audiences on what can often be a confusing topic. It also contains good information on using and reusing content which would fit well in this section. This can be adapted into another training session or shared as is.

I would like to add another FAQ here as it’s something I think will become increasingly relevant for academic librarians. When dealing with researchers in arts and humanities disciplines we often come across concerns around how Creative Commons licenses will impact them. Many in the arts and humanities publish exclusively in monographs rather than journals and are concerned that the licences mandated by funders (such as CC-BY) will impact negatively on them. Specifically they are concerned that as so much of their work relies on their interpretation rather than the reporting of results, a license requiring only attribution will result in their words being twisted. I would suggest the following FAQ: As a researcher in the arts and humanities I am worried that attaching a Creative Commons license will negatively impact my reputation if someone were to twist my words in some way. How can the licenses protect me? The answer would be that although under a CC license others can use the work they must abide by certain conditions, including any changes made to the original work. All of the licenses have a ‘no endorsement or sponsorship’ clause which legally prevents those using a work from implying that the original author endorses their work in any way. There are also a range of CC licenses available which authors can use to control the use of their outputs. For more information see the report Guide to Creative Commons for Humanities and Social Science Monograph Authors for more information.

Although Peter Suber is an excellent voice on Open Access issues I would like to see more variety in this resource page as there are currently three works authored by him. I would also recommend more interactive content as this can be a dry subject which needs careful explanation. Perhaps a video such as the one from PhD comics would be a useful addition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5rVH1KGBCY