In the past few years, we have seen some big picture changes in the role of free licenses on the internet. A growing number of platforms have thriving communities that are empowered to share and remix content using the Creative Commons licenses. Wikipedia, as a large platform with CC content, provides valuable insights into the importance of free licensing. The Wikimedia community has used CC licenses for encyclopedia articles, incorporating free and public domain images, video, sound, and other media.
Part 1 - 35 min
We will cover importance of CC for Wikimedia. We will discuss which licenses are used on Wikimedia projects (and how often), the advantages of of free licenses for Wikipedia contributors and users, and some lessons from hosting a large repository of CC content. We will then discuss issues and considerations for upgrading Wikipedia from BY-SA 3.0 to 4.0.