Setting Content FreeHow and why you should use open licences in science communication

Robert KileyRosie CoatesOli Usher

#SciComm14Free #SciComm14

Setting content free:How and why you should use

open licences in science communication

Science Communication Conference1st May 2014

Robert KileyWellcome Trust

r.kiley@wellcome.ac.uk@robertkiley

Agenda

1. Briefly discuss the Creative Commons licences

2. Consider how Wellcome content is licensed

3. Discuss why Wellcome supports open licences – especially CC-BY

Creative Commons Licences• CC licences cover all

media types – textbooks, photos, music, videos, articles…

• CC licences cover everything you want to do with content – copying, modifying, sharing, re-using

• CC provide tools for creators to grant permission ahead of time

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtallguy/182641756. Licence: CC-BY

Four Licence Conditions…

Attribution

Non-commercial

Share Alike

No derivatives

Attribution [ CC-BY]

Attribution, ShareAlike [CC-BY-SA]

Attribution, No Derivatives [CC-BY-ND]

Attribution, Non-commercial [CC-BY-NC]

Attribution, Non-commercial, ShareAlike [CC-BY-NC-SA]

Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives[CC-BY-NC-ND]

6 licences

+ Public Domain Mark And CC0

Wellcome Trust and open licences: CC-BY

• Trust funded research• When Trust pays an OA article

processing charge (APC) work must be published under CC-BY licence

• Trust owned images• Trust has released 100,000 images

held in Wellcome Images under a CC-BY licence

• Trust publications• Trust publications (e.g. Mosaic)

published under CC-BY licence

• Trust web sites• Content made available under CC-

BY

Wellcome Images, CC-BY, L0040558

Why does the Trust support open licences (1)?• Trust believes that full research

and economic benefit of Trust-funded research will only be realised when there are no restrictions on access to, and reuse of, this information

• Open licences facilitates text and data mining – which in turn helps to generate new knowledge and insights

Why does the Trust support open licences (2)• Much greater use – and

therefore impact of the research we fund and the content we produce

• Articles downloaded more – 89% when compared with access-controlled content

• Wellcome Images downloads – increase of 709% in downloads

• Mosaic MagazineMenstrual taboos article:30k views at Wellcome334k views at Jezebel + 650 comments

Wellcome Images, CC-BY, L0023780

Examples of re-use (1)

Content available from multiple platforms

Examples of re-use (2)

Female condoms article – translated into Spanish

Examples of re-use (3)

Re-packaged content for different and new audiences

http://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/plosable http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Open_Access_Media_Importer_Bot

Conclusion

• Publishing content under an open licence

• Increases the reach and readership

•Allows material to be re-packaged for different audiences

•Facilitates generation of new knowledge

Wellcome Images, CC-BY, L0023767

Creative Commons

A science communicator’s perspective

Rosie Coates

1. Quality

2. Mission

Motivation

Photo: Thelmadatter (CC-BY-SA)

Photo: Robert V Harrison (By Permission)

Photo: Xofc (CC-BY-SA)

Banana under white light

Banana under UV light

Banana under UV light with yellow filter

What do we want?

Using open licences to communicate science

Oli Usher

Communications, Marketing and Events Manager

Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

o.usher@ucl.ac.ukwww.ucl.ac.uk/maps-faculty/science-communication

Nothing to lose, a lot to gain.

Do you agree?

Postscript

• UCL in the snow, Steve Cadman, CC-BY-SA• Night-time view of La Silla, ESO/José Francisco Salgado, CC-BY• APEX image of a star-forming filament in Taurus, ESO/APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO)/A. Hacar et al./Digitized Sky

Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin, CC-BY• Artist’s impression of the magnetar in the extraordinary star cluster Westerlund 1, ESO/L. Calçada, CC-BY• Jets from a Brown Dwarf (artist's impression), ESO, CC-BY• The life of Sun-like stars, ESO/S. Steinhoefel, CC-BY• The VLT in action, ESO/S. Brunier, CC-BY• Guardian cover, astronomical guitar and dresses – fair dealing. (Credit: Guardian News & Media, Wrap Edge,

Ruffian)

• This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Unported licence (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

• All photos are available under the licences above

Exercise

• Each group represents a different person or organisation

• But each group has the same seven items• Decide which licence you think is most appropriate

for each, from the perspective of your organisation• You have about 10-15 minutes, then we will

reconvene and talk about our choices

The options:

• All rights reserved• Various Creative Commons licences (use the

flowchart!)• Public domain• … or maybe it makes no difference to you in some

cases.

The groups

• University press office• Academic• Funding body• Freelancer• Science festival• Publication