Quick licensing question

[Jennifer Jordan]

Hello you smart OER people,

I'm wondering what your opinions are about whether we can take OER material that is licensed ND and modify it to make it more accessible for other learners. Like, what if there is no alt text? Can we add that? I'm reading we can't change the material, but I am also thinking there is no harm in making something accessible, like it could fall under fair use.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Jennifer

[Martha Bailey]

Since current Federal guidelines require making materials accessible for students who need accommodations, it seems like this doesn't count as changing the material.

Martha Bailey

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[David Johnston]

The best option is probably to reach out to the content creator and see if they are okay with that modification.

 

David G. Johnston, PhD

Pronouns: he/him/his

 

Assistant Professor of Physics

Vice President, OT-AAUP

Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland-Metro Campus

Room 208H

Wilsonville, OR 97070

david.j...@oit.edu

503.821.1269

 

From: openo...@googlegroups.com <openo...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Martha Bailey
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2025 8:41 AM
To: Jennifer Jordan <nifers...@gmail.com>
Cc: Open Oregon Educational Resources <openo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [openoregon] Quick licensing question

 

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[Jennifer Jordan]

Thank you! That's a really good point about contacting the creator. 

[Jennifer Jordan]

Martha, 

I agree with you on the necessity of meeting those federal regulations. A lot of materials will need to be modified. Thank you!

Jennifer

[Kristin Whitman]

Hi all,

 

Contacting the author always seems like a good idea!  However, I will add that my understanding is that “No Derivatives” does have some flexibility and is not a complete bar to any modifications, only those that would rise to the level of a derivative work or adaptation (link is to an interesting passage on the creative commons blog).

 

The CC license itself says you are free to “Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.” If you were to move the material to a new format or tech platform, I would think that adding accessibility features, such as tagged headings for example, would be totally okay, as that is a feature of the medium.

 

The legal language used in the CC license uses the words “adapted material that is derived....” 

 

1. Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor.

 

By “in a manner requiring permission,”  we have to look deeper into US copyright law, I think.

 

In US law, according to Title 17 Section 101 of the Copyright Act:

 

A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.

 

In the excerpt above, it is only changes that would cause the work, as a whole, to be considered an original work of authorship, and as such, a derivative work.

 

On the other hand 1) I am not a lawyer and am applying a layperson’s understanding of all these legal terms… and 2) contacting the author seems like a great idea, if only because they may want to make the same modifications to the original work!!

 

So after like 13 paragraphs of email, I have to endorse David’s suggestion that the best option is to reach out to the author, haha! 😊

 

Thanks!

 

Kristin

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[Daniel Rockwell]

Hi Jennifer,

I would agree with Martha. Making an OER resource accessible by adding alt-text or using proper Headings and formatting would probably be fine.  “a derivative work must be different enough from the original to be regarded as a "new work" or must contain a substantial amount of new material."

https://pitt.libguides.com/openlicensing/cc-noderivatives

Daniel Rockwell, PhD
(he/him/they/them)
Director | WOU Center for Teaching & Learning
Western Oregon University

Land Acknowledgement: Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (https://www.grandronde.org) and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians (https://ctsi.nsn.us).

[Rebecka Daye]

Thank you to everyone for all the information. I'm also working on incorporating "derivative" course content into the development of a SAC course shell in collaboration with another faculty member who is using content from a book he is writing but hasn't been published yet. Thus, we're curious about OER licensing for these different approaches in the same course. 

kind regards,

Rebecka Daye, PhD

Anthropology

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