I've been on the Creative Commons band wagon for quite a while now, but I'm not sure that I've ever been particularly good at explaining to others why.
In responding to an email this morning I think I managed to put my thoughts together on the topic in a fairly coherent manner and I'd like to share those thoughts.
For me the most interesting and important part of a CC licence is the “Sharealike” aspect. If you publish something under Sharealike licence, derivative works must also be published under a sharealike licence. That is if someone takes a document that I've published under a sharealike licence and then adds to it or improves it, if they publish it, they have to publish it under a sharealike licence too.
Now, if a few people benefit from my work directly that’s OK.
But, if people benefit from my work AND the work of the people who have benefited from my work that's even better.
BUT, if people benefit from my work AND the work of the people who have benefited from my work AND the work of the people who have benefited from the work of the people who have benefited from my work - that's a chain reaction of benefit that has the potential to change the world.
That's why I use creative commons and advocate for others to do so too.
Wayne Eddy
Melbourne, Australia
LGAM Knowledge Base
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