The Creative Commons Foundation launched a much-needed database of case studies today, highlighting CC licensed content from around the world. Creative Commons licenses are built on top of international copyright law but let content producers offer their work with more refined permissioning for re-use than the de facto "it's mine don't touch it" sentiment of standard copyright.
When working to advance a new concept or technology, few things are as important as showcasing proven, inspiring use cases. The new CC database does a good job of that. If your organization is interested in making your content easier to distribute, this database is a great place to learn from the experiences of others.
The breadth of examples already available is very commendable and many of them are quite well developed. The one thing we wish was included in each profile is some discussion of the distribution metrics of each project and any information available about the CC license's impact on those metrics.
Creative Commons Business and Community Development Manager Jon Phillips says that the database has been in the works for months and was contributed to by quite a few CC community members. That's evident by how well developed the site is, too often things like this are launched while still bare bones.
The database is a part of the Creative Commons wiki, so anyone can add to it. Site navigation is very convenient, see for example the list of organizations using CC for video content.
Two of our favorite examples in the database are the page for the African Sleeping Sickness Test and for Architecture for Humanity. It's pretty great that content like that is available under CC license. The CC content we most often use is from Flickr, but the Flickr case study in the new database is not fleshed out at all. What are some of your favorites?
We expect that this database will prove very useful for people all around the world and for the Creative Commons Foundation.
