Creative Commons is conducting a study on the meaning of “NonCommercial” and you can weigh in by answering a detailed questionnaire on the subject. We’ve extended the deadline for participation to December 14 (originally December 7) as we’re still getting healthy response via all those who blogged about the questionnaire this week.
Full disclosure: taking the questionnaire requires a significant investment of time — 15 to 25 minutes, and it isn’t an “easy” questionnaire — you’ll have to think. Unfortunately the meaning of “NonCommercial”, or at least people’s understanding of the term, is a nuanced issue (we’ll see what the results actually say about that, after analysis), requiring nuanced, even difficult questions to tease out the sub-issues. So a huge thanks to those who have participated, and thanks in advance to those who will. If you’re ready, go on and take the questionnaire.
For a bit of further background, see our previous post on the questionnaire.
Thank you!
I don’t use Non Commercial on my works but I really would like to people that use it could reach a agree in a common understatement of this term.
There are a lot, really a lot of visions of what is Non Commercial. That’s bad because I can’t use those works mixed with my work.
Right now, is the only criticism I have about Creative Commons.
Thanks Silveira,
If that is your only criticism of Creative Commons, that’s pretty good news, as yours is a very common and well known criticism. 🙂
As I mentioned in the previous post about the questionnaire, we want feedback from everyone, including people who don’t like or for some other reason don’t use NC licenses. See that post for a bit more on that.
Thanks for the feedback!
I find it very irritating that it basically says “Your opinion is shit, go away” if you state to be below 18 years. This leads to angry people and to a distorted survey, as the people who are refused to take the survey will just delete the cookie, and then either submit completely shit results or take the survey stating an false age.
Just like Silveira, the -NC licenses are my only criticism of Creative Commons, a movement I support. But I took the survey, trying to define what I would think of as non-commercial. Glad to see the full disclosure now; when I took it, I was surprised at the length and the amount of thinking required (but it’s definitely worth it).
I’m so glad this questionnaire is still available. I took time to fill it out when boingboing first mentioned it, and have recommended some of my friends do the same. I don’t think I informed them of how long it took me, nor do I recall that being mentioned before taking it. It was important enough to me, though, to take the time – the non-commercial section is indeed a murky point, and getting a consensus would be great.
I felt the questionnaire focused too much on the “Who” of non-comm use, but to me personally, the “What” is the relevant question. Not that I want the nice, easy CC license further split, but I wonder if we won’t be walking away from this with an extra license type or two to separate types of non-commercial. I don’t know what they would be, but the questions left me thinking there might need to be an extra break-out to fully cover this. And then I wonder what happens to stuff already marked just non-commercial, and which subset they would go under (probably just remain in the murk).
hi,
sure full analysis and publishing results will take a little more,
but is possible any first feedback, on how many answers and so?
i took it, yes it was long but rich.
Should “noncommercial” CC licenses be replaced with “nonprofit” ones? “Nonprofit” is a better defined concept in law, I think.
I expect other people have already suggested this, but perhaps not…