I’ve put up a new paper draft exploring the patterns in CC license selection behavior by users on Flickr. You can access it here:
Understanding the CC License Selection Behavior of Flickr Users
I’d love to hear what you think. I mean to clean it up for “formal publication” after I get your feedback…
I really enjoyed reading this paper. It is an interesting study to think about. Some small errors you should correct in the “The Sensitive Test of WiSH” section:
Minor – that By-NC would be the most popular of the two-conidition licenses
Major – Only one of the predictions appears to have been accurate – half-false
According to your data By-SA fell fifth of the sixth licenses as predicted. it was out of place among the two-condition licenses, but in the right place overall. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I think it should be acknowledged in your paper.
My HTML was stripped in the last comment so my minor error is not clear – there was a typo in your paper – condition was spelled conidition.
Four things:
First: In the fourth sentence, of the first paragraph, under the Flicker heading, you have “photos” twice in a row.
Second: 0.997 R, holy smokes Batman! (Are we still in the realm of the social sciences?)
Third: I notice that you choose the same license for this article as the majority of Flicker users did for their photos (i.e. By-NC-SA). What was your reasoning behind this choice?
Fourth: Have you considered mining the Creative Commons Find section for data?
Nice work and idea David.
In your opening, why mention only US law. The whole world more or less models US law anyway. Would be nice if the paper set up as a more global analysis.
David, Marie, Leigh, thanks for your comments! I’ve made changes inspired by those you recommended. 🙂
Hi,
I post my photos on Flickr using the CC copyright. I also use the CC copyright for some of my writings.
I have benefited from a lot of open source software and many other materials that are free on the Web. Using this type of copyright is one way that I say thank you for the materials that others have generously allowed me to use.
The CC I use allows people to use my photos for any noncommercial use and they must always acknowledge me. If they want to use it for commercial endeavors they must contact me first.
Sincerely,
Alan
Regarding the simple test of WiSH:
The current copyright system says that no one can ever, ever reproduce, reuse, or redistribute my work (well, at least not until I’ve been dead 70 years). There are no choices for me to make about how my work will be shared or reused.
The most commonly chosen licenses in this case allowed the originator of the work to make the most choices about how his/her work will be shared with others. I’m not sure that this is necessarily because this allows the user to “reserve more rights” as much as it is the user’s opportunity to express their freedom to choose and then express how their work will be shared.
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That’s amazing about the stability of the data regarding the selection of CC licenses. I guess some social phenomena really are measurable, and maybe even predictable…
-shel