Creative Commons Chaos

In an attempt to bring some order to the chaos of Creative Commons licensing, I've created a list of resources that educators might share with students as a starting point for all manner of creative projects. To explain a bit about each resource, I've appended a 3 word summary to each CC tools/resource.

If these don't suit your purposes, check out the ever-expanding CC Content Directories.



Audio
ccMixter: sample-remix-create
CC Mixter Dig Tool: simple-search-sample
Free Music Archive: free-music-radio
Free Sound Project: FX-variety-sounds
Sound Bible: licensed-sounds-FX
opsound: music-soundtracks-voice
Sound Transit: samples-environment-sounds
BeatPick: listen-think-create
Free Loops: loops-loops-loops
SoundClick: music-downloads-community
Jamendo: music-artists-sharing
Owlmm: music-search-simplified
Magnatune: listen-download-license
FreePlayMusic: free-music-library
Audacity Tutorials: teach-audacity-podcasting
Sutros: musicians-share-music
The 61: independent-music-democracy

Photos & Images
Wylio: photo-attribution-embed
Flickr: choice-photographers-community
Compfight: search-Flickr-safe
Vezzle: free-stock-search
FlickrStorm: search-Flickr-licenses
Behold: search-Flickr-safe-history
Simple CC Flickr Search: search-Flickr-safe-attribution
Idée Lab: Multicolor: search-Flickr-colours
Image Codr: attribute-cc-images
Cool Image Bank: share-collection-images
EveryStockPhoto: global-stock-photography
More CopyFriendly Media: copyleft-media-education
Sprixi: embed-attribution-automatically

Movies
Big Buck Bunny: animation-remix-share
Elephants Dream: animation-creative-shareable
Nasty Old People: film-torrent-donation
Star Wreck: movie-clips-original
Insecurity: film-online-download
Prelinger Archives: public domain-remix-archive
RIP: remix-manifesto-movie
Khan Academy: lessons-blackboard-teacher


Text
Free Culture: Lawrence Lessig-copyright-creativity
O'Reilly Open Books: choice-book-publishing
Bound by the Law: copyright-comic-remix
Tree of Life Web Project: contribute-wiki-life
Little Brother Cory Doctorow-share-remix
Abracadabra!: book-Beatles-Revolver
Samandal Comics Magazine: comic-magazine-creative
21st Century Technology Tools: Liz Davis-tutorials-ICT
55 Ways to Have Fun with Google: Philippe Lenssen-Google-ideas
Open Thinking Wiki: Alec Couros-wiki-ICT
MIT OpenCouseware: courses-lessons-multimedia

License Your Creative Content
Internet Archive: archive-public domain-media
Blip.tv: simple-video-upload
Slideshare.net: slideshow-CC-downloads


Plenty more CC licensed content is available from the Creative Commons Content Directories. What other Creative Commons resources do you recommend?

CC logo: Drew Baldwin

Which changed first? My Brain or the Book?

Has anyone else noticed that books are changing?

Chapters have become strings of bullet points rather than paragraphs. Paragraphs have been condensed to simple-to-read sound-bites on paper. Many books of today provide multiple headings supported by short paragraphs and are page-turners more for their white space and graphic nature than for their engaging content.

Is it because readers don't have the time? Do we fear missing out on something being written or said elsewhere? Amidst the sea of information, I find my eyes continually scanning for keywords and ideas rather than taking time to allow the full of an idea to wash over my brain. Things are changing both in the content and in the way I process the information.

I now scan e-news summaries clicking only the occasional full article; and when reading the full article, settle for the topic sentences rather than giving myself over to the full story. The advertisers think it's a limited attention span, serving up micro-commercials in comparison to the 60 or 90 second ads of my youth. But amidst a world giving itself over to text messages and Twitter, I think something different is going on here. Human beings are processing information differently!

Dare we teach this type of reading? Maybe Father Guido Sarducci's University is closer than we think?