Why
are Licenses a Good Idea for Poets ?
(e.g. Creative Commons, Common Domain)
The old
problem: You just discovered such a lovely poem on the web and want to share
with your friends
on your favorite heathen list, forum, newsgroup or kindred.
Oops, you canīt - by reposting it anywhere,
youīd violate the author's copyright. You'd have to ask her/him first for
permission.
Or the
other way round: Youīre the proud poet of a swell piece and want to get lots of
people to read it.
You can post it on your homepage or blog (provided youīve got one)
and hope someone stumbles on it;
or post it to a forumīs poetry corner. People love it, and would love to share
it with their friends by posting it
somewhere else on the web. But
unless they can contact you to ask your permission, they may not do that,
as it would violate your copyright. That means your poem itīs stuck where you
posted it, instead of travelling freely around the globe.
Now
imagine being able to let your poem travel freely round the web, from forum to
forum, from list to list -
passed on by people who love what youīve writte,
AND still keeping your proper copyright notice and credits,
without having to worry about losing your ownership or renown as an artist.
Thatīs
what Licenses, especially
Creative Commons Licenses, are there for.
You keep
your usual copyright and property rights. But you entitle people to pass your
work on without breaking the law -
provided they keep to some simple rules,
that are stated in your License.
They have to append your copyright notice and your License (sometimes including
a weblink) to your poem when they pass it on ("Attribution"), and you may
additionally state that you don't want your works to be used commercially ("NonCommercial"),
and/or that you don't want anyone to change or build upon your text ("NonDerivative").
Thatīs all.
You can
design your own "Document License" or "Deed", you may use or modify my short alternative
license which is under my poems,
or link to a
ready-made professional online license, e.g. this one:
Creative
Commons Deed.
The two images you see above are offered by Creative Commons as a visual
"shortcut" for your license.
An alternative is releasing a poem into the Public Domain.
The drawback is
that Public Domain means you abandon your copyright completely,
and people may e.g. change the wording and content of the poem, and don't have
to credit you as the author.
In short, a License helps:
- your poem to get around
and meet people, and thatīs what you wrote it for, no ?
- to retain your proper
rights and credit for your work
- and to make people happy
because they can share your poem while not having to worry about breaking your
copyright.
So, why not :-)?
Thanks,
Michaela
Dave Haxtonīs article about Copyright, Common Domain and Heathenry
A list of
poetry on Odinīs Gift which is under a License
CC Icon 1:
Licensed
CC Icon 2:
Licensed