"The Power of Open: Stories of Creative Commons success"

via blog.mises.org

'This is a fantastic book. Some of the more interesting and inspiring profiles include TED Talks, Nina Paley, Bloomsbury Academic, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s “Classical Music for the Masses” (see their amazing podcast, The Concert, which “has made world-class performances recorded live at the museum available to listeners across the globe”), Khan Academy, and the Public Library of Science. A common theme among many CC users is the importance of spreading ideas: as TED executive June Cohen says, “When we decided to open our library, we had one single goal: to spread ideas.”

“Sharing online was a very controversial decision. People feared it would capsize our business, discourage people from paying for our conference, and be rejected by speakers.

“The first year after releasing videos of talks for free, we raised the cost of the conference by 50 percent and sold out in one week with a 1,000 person waiting list,” Cohen says. “Not only do speakers lobby for the talks to be posted as soon as possible, but paying conference participants are anxious to share talks they just heard with family, friends and colleagues.”

TED Talks featuring Swedish medical doctor and statistician Hans Rosling and his presentations on developing countries show how CC licenses can popularize a subject. “Hans told me that posting his “rst TED Talk online did more to impact his career than all of the other things he had done previously,” Cohen says. “It opened up a whole new world for him.”

'I think they missed one important one: the phenomenal growth and influence of Mises.org since adopting CC-BY.'

The Power of Open: Stories of Creative Commons success

Jane from Creative Commons says,

Since last fall, we’ve been talking at length to various creators about their CC stories–the impact Creative Commons has had on their lives and in their respective fields, whether that’s in art, education, science, or industry. We are thrilled to announce that we have cultivated the most compelling of these stories and woven them together into a book called The Power of Open. The stories in The Power of Open demonstrate the breadth of CC uses across fields and the creativity of the individuals and organizations that have chosen to share their work via Creative Commons licenses and tools. The Power of Open is available for free download under the CC Attribution license. It is available in several languages, with more translated versions to come. You can also order hard copies from Lulu. We hope that it inspires you to examine and embrace the practice of open licensing so that your contributions to the global intellectual commons can provide their greatest benefit to all people.