Attributing Content

There is no standard for attributing open (Creative Commons) licensed content that you reuse.

Best practices advise that you include:

1. Title,
2. Author,
3. Source, and
4. License (including the name of the license and a link to the license deed)

 

Examples

Example 1: Online content

This is an ideal attribution for online content...

"Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco Links to an external site." by tvol Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Links to an external site.

... because the required elements are all present:

• Title? "Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco"
• Author? "tvol Links to an external site." - linked to their profile page
• Source? "Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco Links to an external site." - linked to original Flickr page
• License? "CC BY 2.0 Links to an external site." - linked to license deed

^{The above edited excerpt of the "How to give attribution Links to an external site." page is from the Creative Commons website Links to an external site., licensed under CC BY Links to an external site..}

Example 2: Printed content

This is an example of an attribution for offline/printed content...

"Eid Mubarak" by Hamed Saber http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124425616@N01/1552383685 

... because the required elements are all present: 

• Title? "Eid Mubarak"
• Author? Hamed Saber
• Source? Full image link is available (since hyperlinks are not possible) 
• License? CC BY license image is added (license name can also be written out) 

^{The above edited excerpt of the "Attributing Creative Commons Materials Links to an external site." guide is from Creative Commons Australia Links to an external site., licensed under CC BY Links to an external site..} 

 

Learn More about Attribution

•  From Foter.com, an infographic on How to Attribute Creative Commons Photos Links to an external site. 
•   The Attribution Builder Links to an external site. from Open Washington allows you to enter information about content to automatically create an attribution
•  An example German lesson by Chantelle Warner and Chelsea Steinert Links to an external site. from the University of Arizona shows how attributions can be done in language learning materials. 
•  OpenAttribute Links to an external site. is a browser plug-in that makes it easier to re-use and attribute openly-licensed content (note, this only works on specific browsers)

 

 

Knowledge check question by William Meinke, published in the online book University of Hawai'i OER Training Course Links to an external site. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

 

 

Go to the next page to learn about choosing a license for the materials you create.