Understanding Creative Commons Attribution License Types

Creative Commons for Bloggers

Creative Commons (CC) licenses provide a standard way for content creators or bloggers to grant someone else permission to use their work. What this means for webmasters and bloggers is that they can use hundreds of millions of photos free of charge.

There are currently over 227 million CC photos available with 90% of them not attributed. Of those that are attributed, 99% of them are not preformed correctly. A CC license allows bloggers to copy and distribute the work of others but must be displayed publicly. This is acceptable for worldwide users and is not exclusive, lasting for the duration of the work’s copyright.

Different Conditions of CC Licenses

1. Attribution (BY) – Allows you to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work with credit provided to the author or licensor. This license allows you to remix, tweak, build upon, or distribute with credit. It is considered the most accommodating of licenses offerd.

2. Non-Commercial (NC) – Allows you to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work only for noncommercial purposes. The work can be remixed and tweaked but with acknowledgement of the original work and for non-commercial based purposes.

3. No Derivative Works (ND) – Allows you to copy, distribute, display the preform the work but no derivative works based on it. It must be passed along in its original form and given credit to when used.

4. Share Alike (SA) – Allows you to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to that governing the original work. All new works based on the work must carry the same license. This is the license used by Wikipedia.

The Non-Commercial license can be combined with the Share Alike and No Derivative licenses. The latter is found to be the most restrictive as it does not allow you to alter or use commercially.

Most Popular CC Photo Categories

1. Travel
2. Wedding
3. Art
4. Music
5. Party
6. Nature
7. People
8. Beach
9. Family
10. City

30% of creative commons allow for commercial use. All creative common photos require that you attribute in some form or another to the original author. In order to attribute photos, you should include the author name and profile link, title of the work and link where the original work is found, CC license type and link to the full license, and a copyright notice. This information can be placed under the photo which is preferred or at the end of the post which is still good.