Most young Canadians spend far too much time dwelling on US politics. Perhaps its because of the whole war thing. Perhaps growing-up in a one party Big-L system bred envy of the fourishing 2-party democracy next door. Perhaps the Daily Show is just more accessible than Mercer Report. Whatever the reasons, political distaste has been misplaced for long-enough.

Jeremy and Alex provide a weekly podcast of the relevant and irreverant world of Canadian politics. And don’t worry, their observations tend to stretch beyond “5 Priorities”. The podcast is licensed under a brand-spanking-new Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada licence. The way the Hill is going, it doesn’t look like they’ll be running out of material any time soon.

CRTC please take note. CANCON is alive and well.

What better way to teach a course on globalization than to broadcast it free of charge to anybody with an Internet connection, anywhere, at any time. The University of Lethbridge offers a course in Globalization Studies that does just that. Every Wednesday at 8PM EST, the lecture is streamed from their website. Past lectures are then archived as a podcast in your choice of format (Quicktime, an iPod formatted version or an audio only MP3 format) . Miss the lecture? Just download it to your iPod and catch-up while commuting the next day.

The course materials are licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Canada licence. This means that the lectures can be used, reused, and shared around the World in a noncommercial context and so long as the user properly attributes the source. And just like that, a small lecture theatre in Alberta welcomes an infinite audience.

Universities have embraced Creative Commons as a means of broadly distributing publicly subsidized content while retaining control over the copyright. The technology exists, the content is ready, and a Creative Commons licence makes it feasible. Consider using Creative Commons with your univesity’s research or coursewares and join a field including MIT, Rice University, Stanford and now the University of Lethbridge. May the educational commons prosper.

Do you remember the days when you could expect consistently objective news media? Well, neither do we. In a world where political affiliation cloaks itself behind such harmless descriptors as News Corp, the least that we can expect is that the source disclaims their bias before they begin to lay-out the “facts”. The Filter.ca, Canada’s Alternative News and Opinion Filter, aggregates news into a beautifully concise summary. While the content tends to be drawn from a consistent world view, the collection itself links to a wonderful mix of civil-society, local, national, and international sources.

The Filter.ca also includes a Features section with original content licensed under an Attibution-Noncommercial-Sharealike 2.0 Canada licence. Unlike the major media protectorates, these editors and authors want you to spread the word. It’s more than just news… its a message.

This week’s featured work, the W3C Multipage Validator comes courtesy of the good people at Proze Network. The Validator is used to scan a website’s code to ensure that it meets the standards of the World Wide Web Consortium. Such a tool promotes consistency accross the web and allows web designers to improve their sites. I guess you could say that this Validator is a pretty good metaphor for Canada: available in both official languages, unassuming, globally minded, effective, and looking for acknowledgement. They’ve licensed the Validator under an Attribution 2.0 Canada Licence, meaning that you’re free to copy and reuse the code so long as you give credit to the Proze Network.

La vedette de cette semaine , le Validateur W3C Multipages, vient des gens au Résau Proze. Un validateur est utiliser pour guarantir que le code comforme aux normes duWorld Wide Web Consortium. C’est un outil pour promouvoir la cohérence générale du web et pour améliorer des sites individuels. Sous Contrat Paternité 2.0 Canada la seule condition c’est qu’il faut attribuer les auteurs du Résau Proze. Et on n’a besoin– notre site a eu des résultats terribles.

K’AN is a writer. He writes novels and would be most pleased if people read his novels. While he probably wouldn’t object to making money, Oprah’s book club is an afterthought compared with a) publishing a physical copy of his book b) arranging distribution for his book and c) convincing readers to buy the book. Unlike Margaret Atwood, K’AN cannot meet with his publishers at whim and expect a comfortable advance. And yet, there is only ONE Margaret Atwood, one Dan Brown, a partial James Frey, and no Pierre Bertons. So where does that leave every other aspiring author?

Following in the footsteps of fellow Canadian novelist Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing editor and Creative Commons evangelist, K’AN has posted “soft copies” of his work for general public consumption. To protect his property rights and secure future commercial interests, K’AN has released his first novel “The Space Between Dreams” under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Canada licence.

Read it. Share it. Love it. Hate it. Welcome to the Commons.

Les buts de Creative Commons ne sont pas des efforts isolés. On est accompanie par des diverses organizations, corporations, et individus qui sont attentifs au dangers présentés par les lois du droit d’auteur traditionelle. W3Québec est un group Québécois engagé avec:

…promouvoir les normes, standards ouverts et bonnes pratiques du Web et du multimédia au Québec.

Leur site est un gabarit pour les communautés du Web, intégréant un Wiki et plusieurs blogues avec une structure conventionelle. Pour encourager “les bonnes pratiques du Web” ils ont choissi le contrat Paternité - Partage des Conditions Initiales à l’Identique 2.0 Canada. C’est comme ça qu’on mène.

The goals of Creative Commons are not isolated efforts. We are accompanied by many other organizations, corporations, and individuals conscious of the dangers posed to the Web by traditional copyright laws. W3Québec is a Quebecois group trying to:

…promote norms, open standards, and best-practices to the Web and multimedia of Québec. [CC.CA translation]

Their site is an excellent template for online communities with a Wiki and several blogs integrated into an otherwise conventional format. To encourage “best-practices” they’ve chosen the Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Canada licence. Now that’s how to lead.

notes

c’est créer une ville
des poèmes aux réverbères fluorescents
comme les doigts de montréal
sur ma nuque

fièvre étoilée l’été
si on se prend aux îles
ou fantômes du parc
près des étangs
où le temps s’arrête

c’est citadin
reprendre sans cesse
le mouvement de vivre
escalader les colimaçons
pour la chaleur
la douceur de vivre
sentir le poul
le sang de la ville

ces laideurs magnifiques
transparentes sous les pas
quand mille fois parcourue
saint-denis

Dans l’âge de l’information, les multimédias deviennent un moyen écrasant de s’exprimer créativement. Nous savons maintenant qu’un film ne rendra jamais justice à un bon livre. Le pouvoir des mots ne peut simplement pas être imité par la technologie. C’est pourquoi la poésie reste et lest poètes continue à developer même quand ils embracent des nouvelles technologies de distribution.

Le travail en vedette de cette semaine est la poésie de Tony Tremblay. Tony est un écrivain, poète, journaliste, animateur de radio et de tout coté quelqu’un d’artistique. En autre mots, Tony est un exemple pour une enterprise modèle dans les industries artistique.

Vivant à Montréal, la poésie de Tony est disponible à tous sur son blogue sous un contrat Creative Commons Paternité - Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 2.0 Canada. Il publie également ses œuvres en format imprimé. Bien qu’il n’est pas sous Creative Commons, ses récents efforts au radio mérite aussi d’être en vedette. Tony est animateur sur Bandeapart.FM qui produit des Podcasts fantastique et qui est maintenant en direct sur le service Sirius Radio Satellite. Lisez de la poésie en écountant Bandeapart.FM. C’est come propager un petit peu de Montréal autour du monde.

In the information age, multimedia is becoming the overwhelming means of creative expression. Yet we all know that a movie will never do justice to a great book. The power of words simply can’t be imitated by any technology. That’s why poetry remains and poets continue to thrive even when they embrace digital mediums. This week’s featured work is the poetry of Tony Tremblay. Tony is a writer, poet, spoken-word performer, journalist, radio host and all around artistic guy. In other words, Tony is the role-model for a new business model in the creative industries

While living in Montreal, Tony’s poetry is available to anyone on his blog under a Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence. He also publishes collections of his work in print form. Although not under Creative Commons, his most recent effort also deserves a feature. Tony is a host on Bandepart.FM which has been producing fantastic Podcasts and is now live on Sirius Satellite Radio. Read some poetry and have a listen. It’s like spreading a little Montreal around the world.

Special thanks to Annie Binet for translation.

Le mouvement de l’informatique libre ne connaît ni frontière géographique ni barrière linguistique. FACIL est un organization fondée à Montréal dans le but commun de:

“La promotion des logicviels libres, des formats de fichiers ouverts et d’autres concepts pouvant s’y apparenter.”

L’idée est dérivée de plusieurs groupes d’intérêt du Québec et Linux-Québec.org en particulier. Leur site web est particulièrement intéressant comme utilisation du format Wiki. FACIL publie un bulletin en format PDF au sujet de l’informatique libre qui est disponible içi . Le bulletin est disponible sous contrat Creative Commons Paternité-Partage à Conditions l’Identique Canada 2.0. On les félicites pour leur qui encourage la communautée Creative Commons du Québec à s’engager avec l’informatique libre.

Free software is not limited by geographic or lingual boundaries. It is a common resource whether it is compiled in China, Poland, France or Canada by a student, a hobbyist or IBM. The Canadian free software movement is flourishing thanks to groups like FACIL, a Montreal-based organization with the goal of:

“Promoting free software and other open source objectives.”[CC.ca translation]

The project results from several interest groups including Linux Quebec in particular. Their implementation of Wiki tools on their website is worth the visit in itself. FACIL publishes a PDF newsletter freely available here. In keeping with the ideals of free software, they’ve licensed the newletter under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Licence. Their achievements certainly deserve a “feature” and we encourage the free software community of Canada to contribute to these efforts.

Krystel Rose Tretter makes music. Music for people who remember when instruments were more than keys on a synthesizer or an adjustment in Logic Pro. Music for people who listen to the music itself rather than waiting impatiently for a catchy refrain. Classical music. Music that is best heard echoing though a 17th Century cathedral rather than the earbuds of the latest iPod.

Krystel lives in Ottawa where she teaches vocal music and sings with the Cantata Singers of Ottawa. Her personal website includes original music licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Canada licence. This enables her to publicly release her work to the widest possible audience while ensuring that some rights remain reserved. In other words, a Creative Commons licence empowers creators to determine in advance how their work can be used. This leaves artists like Kristel Rose Tretter free to do what they do best: make more music.

On y va pour les vacances. Pour ceux et celles d’entre vous qui sont un peu fatigué de la musique traditionelle du saison, on vous offre un spécial fin d’année de web radio P45.

“C’est un grand moment pour toute l’équipe, où tous y vont de palmarès et de réflexions à propos de l’année 2005. J’ai envie de vous faire l’accolade, et de vous cuisiner un petit gâteau aux fruits dont vous me donnerez des nouvelles… L’excès de sentiments, Noël, c’est fait pour ça.”

Même si leur site web n’est pas complêtement sous contrat Creative Commons, ils ont choissi un contrat Paternité – Pas D’Utilisation Commerciale – Pas de Modification 2.0 Canada pour faciliter la distribution de leur programme radio. Félicitations à P45 et joyeux vacances de la part de Creative Commons Canada.

Before leaving for the holidays, let us offer a final Featured Work of the year. For those of you sick and tired of smaltzy Christmas music P45, a Montreal-based webzine, offers a festive MP3 holiday special licensed under an Attribution-Noncommerical-Sharealike 2.0 Canada Licence.

Keep posted in the New Year as we roll-out version 2.5 of our licences and increase our efforts to showcase some of the best Creative Commons licensed works that Canada has to offer. Season’s greetings from the staff at Creative Commons Canada.

They say that “anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.” So it is that Blogaholics.ca presents fifteen different blogs under such diverse themes as coffee shops and blogging advice. Imagine the diversity of the Internet and the consistency of a newspaper in a single source. Now imagine that its all produced by one couple from Vancouver.

Ianiv Schweber and Arieanna Foley are the couple behind Blogaholics. They’re the lens through which the content of the world is being filtered and reposted. Being passionate about a hobby is one thing, but making money is even better. They’ve turned their interest in blogging into a full-blown blogging business including consulting, blog development, media sales, and event blogging. To share their prolific postings accross the web, they’ve chosen to license their work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike 2.0 contract. Only one question remains: why stop at fifteen?

Félicitations à La Vie Rurale, notre première oeuvre en français qui figure en vedette sous contrat Creative Commons Canada. La Vie Rurale est une merveilleuse ressource éducative et sociale avec la mission de:

Diffuser rapidement de l’information de première qualité sur la ruralité au Québec afin de faciliter la concertation, le maillage et les discussions entre les intervenants, la population et les décideurs de l’ensemble des régions, de valoriser les réussites du monde rural et de démystifier le mode de vie rural auprès de la population urbaine. Aussi encourager la participation citoyenne de la population, des intervenants et des décideurs provenant des communautés rurales du Québec à des débats importants sur les événements locaux, régionaux et nationaux qui touchent ces communautés.

Pour faciliter leurs échanges, ils ont choisi le contrat de Paternité – Pas D’Utilisation Commerciale – Pas de Modification 2.0 Canada. Ceci est une continuation de l’esprit communautaire des villes rurales sur l’Internet. C’est un excellent exemple d’un effort à partager des resources culturelles distinctivement québecoise avec des diverses régions rurales francophones étendues au Canada.

Creative Commons Canada est présentement en train de multiplier ses efforts au Québec. Si vous êtes un artiste Québecois et voulez diffuser vos oeuvres sur l’Internet, vous devriez considérer un contrat Creative Commons. C’est une occasion de présenter les succès culturels du Québec devant une audience mondiale.

Congratulations to La Vie Rurale, our first French-language Featured Work under a Creative Commons Licence. La Vie Rurale is an amazing resource, a cross between townhall and a newsroom, with the goal of:

Quickly spreading quality information about rural Quebec in order to facilitate cooperation, connectivity, and dialogue between community members and leaders in order to give value to rural issues and explain the rural lifestyle to urban populations. Also, encouraging participatory citizenship between the public and leaders of rural communities in Quebec on important local, regional, and national debates.

To facilitate their collaboration they’ve chosen the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 2.0 Canada licence. This is a continuation of the communitarian spirit of rural society transferred to a digital platform. This project is an excellent model for sharing technical and cultural resources with French-speaking communities across Canada.

Creative Commons Canada is currently trying to improve our advocacy efforts in Quebec. If you are a Quebecois artist trying to spread your works on the internet, please consider licensing your work under a Creative Commons Canada licence. It is an opportunity to display a unique and flourishing culture before a global audience. We are currently in the process of preparing a bilingual website to ensure that we can meet the needs of all Canadians; rural and urban in French and English.

Special thanks to Annie Binet (CIPPIC) for translation assistance.

Like TV but bored of American content? Like the CBC but turned-off by the lockout? Imagine your favourite comedians without the inhibitions of a global media distribution infrastructure. Rocket Ace Moving Pictures is an innovative digital media group out of Toronto that is exploiting the power of the Podcast to give you TV on your terms. A video Podcast can distribute shows without being impaired by the size of the studio. Their first hit Dead End Days proved it was possible. Their newest project, Cerealized: Part of your unbalanced breakfast, is posted every Monday at 3AM EST. The website describes this ongoing project as:

Part character study, part social satire, and part poignant reflection on our own daily grind, this ambitious live-action comedy chronicles the weekly trials and tribulations of three average twentysomethings as they stumble through life wearing sensible footwear. Join Rocket Ace every Monday morning for Cerealized, now part of your unbalanced breakfast.

To promote their work they’ve licensed the show under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Canada licence. They’ve also posted a version locally and answered some FAQ about use. Have a look at Episode 4 of Cerealized and feel free to make it part of your weekly diet

With video podcasts and Creative Commons, prime time is ANY TIME

Photo by Jerome Lavigne under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-Sharealike Licence.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year, we remember the fallen men and women who sacrificed everything for their country.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields By John McCrae 1915

Look HERE for more remembrance themed photography on Flikr.com.

Photo by Jeremy Hessing-Lewis

We at Creative Commons wish you a Happy Halloween! May your evenings be filled with ghoulish delights and plentiful candy.

Why not post your Halloween pictures on Flikr under a Creative Commons Licence? or

For a list of wonderful DIY Halloween projects, see our Creative Commons Licenced friends at: Boing Boing

Happy Trick or Treat’ing

Halifax graphic artist Jennifer Romita will scare you stiff. Quoting from her website:

These figures, hybrids between real humanity and manufactured uniformity, are surreal. They are creepy. They are disturbing in their beauty and unsettling in their sexuality.

And they are meant to be.

Her art is on display at her website where she has prints available for purchase. To increase exposure while retaining specific rights to her creations, she has chosen the Attribution-NonCommercial-Noderivs Licence.

Salmon Falls was composed by John L. Hoben, an up-and-coming young Canadian poet from Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. The poem recently won a 2005 Arts and Letters Award (Senior Division Poetry) from the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador.

John is also an accomplished teacher and post-graduate student at Memorial University. He has prepared the following lesson plan to “help students gain a broader conception of poetry, cultivate a more favourable affective disposition to poetry, and gain an intuitive understanding of some of the main structural elements of a poem such as rhythm, rhyme, meter, symbol, etc.”

Poetry Appreciation and Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.

Additionally, John offers a two-part lesson plan which teaches “timeless humanistic themes expressed through a culturally responsive drama”.

Greek Myths, Oedipus, Antigone … and Star Wars.

Jumping Salmon image above by Margot Hessing-Lewis

Creative Commons Canada is pleased to announce the launch of the first Canadian academic monograph to be offered under a Creative Commons Licence (Attribution, No-Derivatives, Non-Commercial):

From Grokster to Google, copyright has emerged as one of the Internet’s most challenging legal issues. Once limited to a select group of scholars, copyright now captures front page headlines as millions of Canadians consider its impact on education, technology, communication, and culture. As Canada embarks on a new round of digital copyright reform, this collection of 19 essays from Canada’s leading copyright experts provides context and analysis of the latest reform proposals. Edited by Professor Michael Geist, an internationally-regarded authority on Internet and technology law, the collection reviews international copyright norms, assesses dozens of specific Bill C-60 provisions, and identifies potential future copyright reform initiatives. Completed immediately after the introduction of Bill C-60, this timely volume provides policy makers, lawyers, judges, educators, and interested Canadians with the tools and knowledge they need to participate in a copyright debate that will shape the future of the Internet, culture, and education in Canada.

For more details about this book, please look here or for Prof. Geist, here.

This Vancouver Band licences their entire site under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives Licence. Take a listen, send a copy to a friend, share it online and do it all legally. Don’t worry… they WANT to be heard.

DJ Nonsense (aka Tal Zimerman) of Toronto, Canada (in background) presents an educational compilation titled: “here’s another sample”. This CC-licensed compilation traces the history of the use of samples in the context of the contemporary music industry. (Shout out to DJ Nonsense Fan Club President Stephen Perzow shown in foreground - notice the matching lime green undershirts)