This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
At first I must admit that I thought, "License my blog? Who cares? Nobody reads this, anyway...and what do I have to say that is worth 'protecting'?" Well, the truth is, in the United States in the 21st century, a vast number of us are sitting with the libraries of the world, a graphic design center, and a post-production facility right in front of us, and we are heavily engaged in creating content...whether we regard it as content or not.
We've gone from wordprocessing, spreadsheet filling drones to bonafide creatives in a very short period of time. In his book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink posits that America's great economic export is and will increasingly become its creativity and innovation (Pink, 2006). I just spent five days at a project-based-learning conference in Napa, and the creative energy in that relatively small space was AMAZING. I thought I was pretty progressive in a Boulder-coordinated-hiking-boots-and-backpack-granola-gnashing sort of way...but until I score a tattoo and a skateboard, I am nothing.
But seriously...lots of us have something to say and something to show for all of our musing and creating, and we deserve to acknowledge that in ourselves. Publishing is no longer for those who finagle a lunch with Harcourt-Brace...samizdat had a role in freeing the Soviet Union...so is it freeing our creative spirits...overground. So it's not just about "protecting" anything...it's about celebrating the legitimacy of our uniquely individual voices. It is about saying, "Thank you for liking my work...and yes, you may use it...but I thought for a great while before committing it to public view, and would like you to credit me. And...by the way, please don't make any money from it, because if anybody does that, it should be me." And, while two days ago I assumed I would assign the least restrictive license, as time went on, I thought that perhaps I would prefer it if people didn't change what I wrote or created. I mean, afterall, if they are going to cite me, I'd like it to be a citation about what I actually said or did. So, much to my own surprise, I ended up with a MOST restrictive license.
As a teacher, I will teach my students about Creative Commons licensing. They are third graders, so our understanding and application will be limited...but think how POWERFUL it will be for them to think of themselves as creators making something worth sharing purposefully and legally...something worth PROTECTING purposefully and legally. I would expect buy-in and performance to increase significantly once there was an assumed outside market and audience.
Exploring Creative Commons licensing gave me a whole new appreciation for where we are as a creative culture. I am beyond THRILLED to have so many resources to draw from as I create reality-based, engaging learning experiences for my students. My son returns in August from Africa with some gifted writing about his experiences. The Smith-Corona part of me called my Olivetti-friend-in-publishing and asked what avenues we should explore to "get him published." "Does he have a blog?" she queried. Done deal. Now it's just the marketing...and that's sitting on my desktop, too.
There is a big part of me that believes creating an avenue for "owning" and "sharing" drives "creating" and "sharing" to new heights. And that is the unique power and mystique of our particular American culture.
Pink, Daniel H. (2006). A whole new mind. Why right brainers will rule the future. Penguin.
New York, New York.
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