Copyright
Copyright acts as protection against others using your literary, artistic, education, or musical work without permission. Posting anything on the internet automatically grants you an “All Rights Reserved” copyright, protecting your idea and creativity. There are exceptions to how people use your work when granted permission. These exceptions can be followed by licensing your work through any Creative Commons license.
Choosing a Copyright License
I chose the CC BY-NC-SA copyright license because I am always open to seeing what others can do to add to my ideas and opinions. The Internet would not contain different perspectives on a single topic if others did not build upon the basis of that topic. I would appreciate credit and for people adding onto that person’s ideas to respect it in the same way. If I were able to profit off of my work, I do not want someone else to take the essence of my work, make it better, and profit even more. Therefore, I do not want someone using my work non-commercially. The CC BY-NC-SA license is perfect for how I would like my work to be protected and shared within the digital world.
Attribution
Using the Work of Others Ethically
When using someone else’s words, thoughts, or ideas it is always ethical to give them credit where it is due no matter if their work is licensed or not. This means adding captions to pictures you found online even if you just Googled it; there is always a source on Google images. It also means adding a link to the website or citing a source where you found information that you are using for your work. If a person’s work is protected under a copyright license the user of that work should have a full understanding of the fair use policy. Fair use includes limited access to copyright work intended for transformative uses. For detailed information on transformative uses reference Law of Fair Use.
Happy Learning!
