The internet, digital recording devices and the ready availability of content production software have together drastically changed the creative landscape, making it easy for anyone, from every-day bedroom experimenters to professionals, to find and reuse content. As a result, linear models of knowledge and cultural production and commercialisation are rapidly being supplanted by more distributed, collaborative, user-generated and open networking models. In this context the ability to create, access and reuse digital content is paramount. Remixing, recycling and online distribution are integral to the digital environment’s creative capacity, and to the economic, educational and cultural benefits that it brings. Yet Australians have great difficulty gaining access to quality online content about their own culture and history. Unlike countries such as the US and UK, which have led the digital revolution and dominate online content, it is very difficult to locate Australian-specific content online that can be legally and safely viewed and re-used. This paper will follow the Venturous Australia recommendations to put forward an argument for increasing user rights to access and, most importantly, reuse government owned and public domain content held within Australia’s creative archives. Drawing on national and international examples, it will examine the limitations of the current mechanisms for accessing Australian content online and the benefits that could be gained in the fields of education, the creative industries and business innovation from allowing sharing, repurposing, remixing and reinterpretation of our national collections.

1. Making the most of what we’ve got
why we need an Australian Creative Archive
Jessica Coates
Project Manager, Creative Commons Clinic
April 2009
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2. The Problem
• the internet makes
much more possible
• but only if we have
material to work with
• v h d for Australians
hard f A t li
to find legal sources of
local material for
remixing

3. The Problem
• the internet makes
much more possible
• but only if we have
material to work with
• v h d for Australians
hard f A t li
to find legal sources of
local material for
The S l ti
Th Solution
reuse
• our national
collections have the
potential to fill this gap
• sure t e e a e costs
su e there are
for digitising etc – but
cheaper than creating
this material from
scratch

4. the traditional access model
• on-site access
s/343784334/
provided on a fair
/photos/procsilas
dealing basis
d li b i
• ‘access’ charges for
www.flickr.com/
off-site access and
re-use the material
culture exhaus anyone by procsilas, http://w
• everything decided
case-by-case basis
p
sts

5. the traditional access model
• on-site access
s/343784334/
provided on a fair
/photos/procsilas
dealing basis
d li b i
• ‘access’ charges for inefficient, costly, inconsistent
www.flickr.com/
off-site access and
re-use the material
culture exhaus anyone by procsilas, http://w
• everything decided
case-by-case basis
p
sts

6. it s
it’s already happening
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7. it s
it’s already happening
it’s still illegal to use most of this material - without going
through the same cumbersome clearance processes
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8. This is particularly
p y
frustrating when
the material is in
the public domain
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9. when it’s in
response to a
specific inquiry
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10. when
they want
to charge
you for it
As is international archival practice, we charge usage
fees on items that have been preserved by us. This, in
a very small way is designed to help offset the costs of
way,
obtaining, copying, preserving and storing the item.
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11. or when it’s funded and owned by tax payers
(and in the public domain and they want to charge you)
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12. why?
orphaned works
under-rating the p
g public domain
cost of copyright clearance
politics with contributors
cost of digitisation risk aversion
control
protection of revenue streams
asset tracking lack f
l k of expertise
ti
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13. Powerhouse Museum
• identified ‘easy’
easy
• Flickr Commons –
material – public
initially released 200
domain, new
photographs, now
acquisitions and
over 1500
material owned by
PHM
• ‘Play’ worksheets
available under CC
• examined business
models, to see when
• encouraged CC for
OA was appropriate
‘photo of the day’
• teamed with an
• collection
existing programs
descriptions and
(educational
data under CC
workshops) and
providers (Flickr)
Woman holding decorated bicycle, Phillips Glass Plate Negative
Collection, Powerhouse Museum, www.powerhousemuseum.com/
collection/database/collection=Phillips_Glass_Plate_Negative
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14. PHM benefits
• 20x increased visitation of
http:
Imag Services, Powe
Open Licensing and th Future for Colle
ge
://www.archimuse.com/mw2009/pap
n
material
• valuable tagging and comments
• promotion
erhouse Museum, S
he
• innovation
• research
pers/bray/bray.htm
ections, Paula Bray Manager
Sydney, Australia
• community engagement
• discoveries
ml
y,
• partnerships
• reduced costs for Australian
community (particularly
promotional + other b
ti l th benefits ~
fit
schools)
neutral effect on sales = net +ve $
• didn’t hurt sales
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15. don t
don’t just believe me
1. Resources should be made available for [To] Foster creativity in the development,
reuse unless th
l there i a j tifi bl reason why
is justifiable h use and application of the Internet, through
they should not. policies that . . . make public sector
2. The reuse of resources should be as information and content, including scientific
unconstrained as possible. For example, data, and works of cultural heritage
resources should b made available f
h ld be d il bl for more widely accessible in digital format.
commercial reuse as well as non-commercial - OECD Seoul Declaration
reuse wherever possible.
3. The range of permitted uses of resources To the maximum extent practicable, information,
should b as wide as possible, f example,
h ld be id ibl for l research and content funded by Australian
including the right to modify the resource and governments – including national collections –
produce derivative works from it. should be made freely available over the internet
- Common Information Environment
as part of the g
p global p
public commons.
– Venturous Australia Report
There is the potential to release huge
quantities of information for re-use by
As a guiding principle, information produced by
innovators in SMEs, the third sector and even
public entities in all branches and at all levels
big business . . Public information does not
business.
should be presumed to be available to the public
belong to Government, it belongs to the public
- UNESCO Policy Guidelines for the Development and
on whose behalf government is conducted
Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information
- UK Power of Information Taskforce Report
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16. so what should we do?
Institution Sector
• review licensing policies – • develop policies in favour
bias towards OA of OA – for all gov
• identify ‘easy’ material • joint lobbying strategies –
tying
t i access i t what’s
into h t’
• explore new business
hot (broadband,
models – eg premium prints
education,
education clean feed etc)
• l k at possible
look t ibl
• would we have more
partnerships with existing
success develop a joint
services – eg for cost
archive?
reduction, increased profile
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17. Thanks
http://www.cci.edu.au
p
http://www.creativecommons.org.au
info@creativecommons.org.au
Unless otherwise noted, this slide show is licensed under a Creative Commons Australia Attribution
licence. For more information see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/.
li F if ti htt // ti /li /b /2 5/ /
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