Many instructors ask about pulling together CC-licensed materials to create collections or remixes/adaptions for their classes. Not all CC-licensed materials can be pulled together to create a new work or OER. We have discussed different licenses and their limitations, so let’s look into creating collections and remixes using CC licensed materials.

How Do Collections Differ from Remixes?

Collections

A collection gathers different works together while keeping them organized as distinctly separate objects. Each individual work is clearly credited to its creator and its licensing information is provided, if applicable. Example:

88 Open Essays by Tina Ulrich & Sarah Wangler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Remixes

A remix (or an adaptation/derivative) is a new creation that is based on/derived from one or more other works. It is sufficiently original for itself to be protected by copyright. Unlike a collection, the various works used to create the new work are blended together and it can be difficult to discern them from one another. Example:

Introduction to Physics by Beta Keramati is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Can you combine material under different Creative Commons licenses in your work?

From the CC Commons: "It depends. If the combination does not create an adaptation, then you may combine any CC-licensed content so long as you provide attribution and comply with the NonCommercial restriction if it applies. If you want to combine material in a way that results in the creation of an adaptation (i.e. a “remix”), then you must pay attention to the particular license that applies to the content you want to combine."

For Collections:

You must comply with the NonCommercial (NC) restriction of any work that you reuse and license your collection as NC.
You may include NoDerivatives-licensed (ND) works in your collection as long as you do not alter them.
You are not required to apply a ShareAlike (SA) license to your collection even if reusing an SA-licensed work within it.
The copyright of the new collection applies only to the new contributions you made, e.g., the selection and arrangement of the collection, your introduction, and the cover design, and not to the individual works that you reused.

For Remixes:

It is best to comply with the NC restriction of any work you remix.
You may not share remixes of ND-licensed works with others.
You are required to apply an SA license when adapting an SA-licensed work.
The copyright of the remix applies only to the remix and not the elements from the original works adapted to create it.
It is best to apply the more restrictive license of the works you adapted to your remix.

Remember, if a reuse of a CC-licensed work is allowed under an exception or limitation of copyright law, such as, the "Fair Use Doctrine" (Section 107), there is no obligation to comply with the terms of its CC license. Revisit the Copyright, Fair Use & Public Domain for Instructors module for more information about using Fair Use for limited copying of copyrighted works for your OER.

Tools to Help You When Remixing CC Licensed Works and Licensing Remixes

The chart below shows which CC-licensed material can be remixed. To use the chart, find a license on the left column and on the top right row. If there is a check mark in the box where that row and column intersect, then the works can be remixed. If there is an “X” in the box, then the works may not be remixed unless an exception or limitation applies.

The Creative Commons compatibility chart explains which Creative Commons licenses may be used together and which licenses are incompatible. "CC License Compatibility Chart" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

The Adapter's License Chart below details the CC license(s) you may use as your adapter’s license. When creating an adaptation of material under the license identified in the lefthand column, you may license your contributions to the adaptation under one of the licenses indicated on the top row if the corresponding box is green. CC does not recommend using a license if the corresponding box is yellow, although doing so is technically permitted by the terms of the license. If you do, you should take additional care to mark the adaptation as involving multiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users are aware of their obligations to comply with the licenses from all rights holders. Dark gray boxes indicate those licenses that you may not use as your adapter’s license.

The Adapter's License Chart explains which licenses may be used by creators who adapt an existing, licensed work. "CC Adapter's License Chart" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Giving Attribution

All CC licenses include the Attribution (BY) element, requiring that attribution be given to a work's creator. Include as much detail as you can and retain the creator-supplied attribution notice, if possible. Using the TASL approach of "Title" + Author + Source + License makes it simple for you to attribute any CC-licensed work.

T = "Title"
A = Author
S = Source (Link to the source in the title when possible.)
L = License (Link to the CC license description.)

For example,

"OER is sharing" by giulia.forsythe is marked with CC0 1.0

See Best Practices for Attribution for additional examples.

For help with building attributions, go to Open Attribution Builder by Open Washington.

Although not legally required, it is best practice to also give attribution to the public domain and CC0-dedicated works that you use.