Searching for pictures and other content online for study materials is relatively easy, but often copyright prohibits using the content freely. However, there is also a lot of publicly available content online made by people who have renounced their copyright and given others the permission to use their work. In most cases, publicly available content can be used by anyone for example, for copying, distributing, or performing the work. Creative Commons is the most well-known licensing system a creator can use to license their work to users. There are also other permits that allow the use of a work, so please, always confirm the terms of use from the websites.
With Creative Commons licenses, the creator can specify how other people can use their work. The creator will retain the copyright to the work, but with CC licensing they can grant more use rights to others than what basic copyright would allow.
There are different systems for doing this, but Creative Commons licensing system is the most widely used one. With Creative Commons it is possible to waive all rights or give limited permission to use the work. There are four different conditions (BY, NC, ND, SA) the creator can combine to grant access, which can form six different CC licenses. Apart from the CC0 license, each license includes Attribution (BY), which means credit must always be given to the creator. Based on the license conditions, anyone can use the work without the express permission from the creator.
 Attribution (BY) = Copying, distributing, displaying, performing, and modifying of the work is allowed. Credit must be given to the creator. |
 NonCommercial (NC) = Copying, distributing, displaying, performing and modifying the work is allowed. Commercial use of the work is forbidden. |
 NoDerivatives (ND) = Copying, distributing, displaying and performing of the original work is allowed. Modifying the work is forbidden. |
 ShareAlike (SA) = Copying, distributing, displaying, performing and modifying the work is allowed with the same license as the original work. |
 In addition to these licenses you can use the CC0 "Public Domain" license. Using this license the creator waives all copyright and anyone can use the work without any restrictions. |
The licenses are marked with CC + space + license abbreviation. If more than one license attribute is used, the abbreviations are separated with a hyphen. For example: CC BY-SA 4.0 means Attribution-ShareAlike. The number 4.0 is the license version.
The license is usually marked clearly with a symbol next to the work or at the bottom of the webpage as a symbol, a combination of letters or written out. By clicking on the license you can read the summary that tells you the terms and conditions that apply to the work. If you are interested in the legal code, the link to the code is in the summary page.
If you cannot find any indication of a CC license, the work is probably not shared with a CC license. CC licenses are not used in all resources, in which case, the work is protected by copyright. If you are unsure of the user rights, do not use the material or check the user rights directly from the creator.
If you use CC licensed material in your own work, please follow the terms and conditions defined in the license. You should always mention:
If the material is shared with a CC0 or Public Domain license, the creator has waived all rights to the work and released it to free common use. In principle this means that you do not need to state the name of the author or the license used.
NOTE: that if you use CC licensed materials in teaching or study materials, you need to always mention the author and license used, even if the material is shared using a CC0 license. This way the material can be distinguished from copyrighted material or for example from an image that you have created.
Examples:
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| Image: Kristina Alexanderson, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) | Image: Marco Verch, (CC BY 2.0) |
Materials licensed under Creative Commons licenses can be found in different content providers and search engines on the web. On this page, you can find sites that include different copyright-free materials and materials with some restrictions. Always remember to check the user rights of the site or material you are using.
With Creative Commons licenses you can define how you want other people to use your work, whether they are photos, articles, or any other materials. Anyone can use Creative Commons licenses and using them does not require any registration or other permit. Read more at creativecommons.org.
Pick a suitable license from the Choosing a Creative Commons license infographic, or use the CC license chooser. Follow the steps and answer the questions as they apply to you and the chooser will suggest which CC license you should use.
If you already know which license you are going to use, you can download the icon from the Downloads page of the Creative Commons organisation.
Video: Max Noble, Creative Commons (CC) licensing, (CC BY 3.0).
This guide helps you use digital resources provided by Turku UAS. Here you can find answers to e.g. the following questions: How can publicly available online resources be used? How should licensed articles and other e-resources be linked to e.g. Itslearning? What kind of terms and conditions do e-resources have?
This resource has been licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. It does not apply to photos or videos unless otherwise stated.