This is the Attribution mark. By putting this on my website, I am saying that people are allowed to take content from my website – images, text, whatever – and reuse it for their sites or projects. What I ask in return is that they attribute my name, acknowledge me as the creator of that particular piece of content, and put a link to my website.
This is the Noncommercial mark. By putting this on my website, I am saying that any content taken for use on other sites must only be for noncommercial use. No money can be made off of the use of this content. (If you are interested in licensing use of any content for a commercial purpose, please contact me.)
Instead, I have followed the lead of the Creative Commons, a new movement spearheaded by Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig. It is based on the notion that some people would prefer to share their creative works (and the power to copy, modify, and distribute their works) instead of exercising all of the restrictions of copyright law.
I believe that a standard copyright would be too restrictive for this site. It takes all the power away from you, the reader, and gives it to me, the creator. This creates an unhealthy balance of power, and precludes you from taking my work and building on it, possibly creating something better than either of us could do separately.
The other side of the coin, releasing my work to the public domain, shifts the power too far in the other direction. As the creator I should have some say in how my work is used, and I certainly don't want anyone to take everything I've made and call it their own.
In the past, there was no middle ground, and you had to choose between one of these. Full control, or no control. That's not the case anymore. Now, with the ideas put forth by Creative Commons, you have a choice.
In the sidebar, you can see that I've used the Attribution-NonCommercial 1.0 License for this site. It has been set forth by Creative Commons, and lets everyone know what they can, and can't, do with the contents of this website.
If you're intrigued by these ideas, you should read more at Creative Commons' website. I especially urge everyone to read through the parts on Public Domain and Open Content, and think twice about automatically copyrighting everything you create.
So, take anything you want from this site. Enjoy it. Do what you want with it. Just let everyone know where you got it.
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