Section 8 · Sourcing & Image Ethics

Creative Commons Licenses

Definition

A standardized set of licenses through which creators grant advance permission to use their work under stated conditions. The conditions combine: BY (attribution required), SA (share-alike — derivatives carry the same license), NC (non-commercial only), and ND (no derivatives).

Why it matters

The conditions materially affect what can be done. ND in particular forbids the derivative work that collage requires — a CC BY-ND image cannot legally be altered and incorporated into a composite.

Example

CC BY-SA permits remixing and sharing provided the creator is credited and the result carries the same license. CC BY-ND permits no remixing at all.

Teaching note

The ND clause is the one that ambushes students, because it appears on images that are otherwise clearly marked as freely available. Teach it before sourcing begins — discovering it after a composite is built means starting over.