Spec: Creative Commons Module - simplepie/simplepie-ng GitHub Wiki
Editor's Note: This is version 1.11 of this document, published Oct. 18, 2006.
The Creative Commons namespace enables a syndication feed in RSS 2.0 format to indicate the copyright license that applies to an entire feed or specific items in the feed.
Although the namespace takes its name from the Creative Commons set of content-sharing licenses, it potentially MAY be used with other licenses.
Creative Commons offers 11 licenses that could be applied to the content of an RSS feed.
This namespace requires the http://backend.userland.com/creativeCommonsRssModule declaration in the RSS element.
<rss xmlns:creativeCommons="http://backend.userland.com/creativeCommonsRssModule">A sample feed demonstrates how to incorporate elements from this namespace in an RSS 2.0 feed.
In this documentation, the key words MAY, MUST, MUST NOT, OPTIONAL, RECOMMENDED, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, and SHOULD NOT are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
The <license> element, when present in a channel, indicates that the feed's content has been made available under a copyright license (OPTIONAL).
The element's value MUST be a URL that identifies the license.
<creativeCommons:license>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/</creativeCommons:license>A channel MAY contain more than one <license> element to indicate its availability under additional licenses.
The <license> element, when present in an item, indicates the item's availability under a copyright license (OPTIONAL).
The element's value MUST be a URL that identifies the license.
<creativeCommons:license>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/</creativeCommons:license>An item MAY contain more than one <license> element to indicate its availability under additional licenses.
The item's license takes precedence over the feed's license when both are present.
Here's a file that illustrates the use of the <license> element.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0"
xmlns:creativeCommons="http://backend.userland.com/creativeCommonsRssModule">
<channel>
<title>Scripting News</title>
<link>http://www.scripting.com/</link>
<description>A weblog about scripting and stuff like that.</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 1997-2002 Dave Winer</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Mon, 16 Dec 2002 13:00:02 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs>
<generator>Radio UserLand v8.0.5</generator>
<managingEditor>[email protected]</managingEditor>
<webMaster>[email protected]</webMaster>
<creativeCommons:license>http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/1.0</creativeCommons:license>
<item>
<description>Creative Commons <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/3476">press release</a>. "People want to bridge the public domain with the realm of private copyrights," said Stanford Law Professor and Creative Commons Chairman Lawrence Lessig. </description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:48:41 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/12/16#When:4:48:41AM</guid>
</item>
<item>
<description><a href="http://www.creativecommons.org/"><img src="http://www.creativecommons.org/icon/sa/standard.gif" width="32" height="32" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5" border="0"></a>This morning Creative Commons opened up a formerly private part of their site containing enumerations of the different <a href="http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/">licenses they support</a>. It's very simple. A document, a weblog, a RSS file, a PDF or whatever, can specify which license applies. On the CC site, they tell you how to do it with RDF, but I'm interested in a solution that can be used in RSS 2.0 files, so we can in turn add a user interface to Rado and Manila (and others can do it for other authoring tools) that tie into the CC system. I totally support the idea of lawyers helping creative people instead of imprisoning us, but I can't convert everything I do to RDF to do that. Tonight is their launch. I'm toing it. If we can get a namespace defined and vetted today, I can announce our support tonight. An <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=%22on+internet+time%22">Internet-Time</a> solution to remind us we used to have a Can-Do attitude. </description>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Dec 2002 12:21:08 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://scriptingnews.userland.com/backissues/2002/12/16#When:4:21:08AM</guid>
<creativeCommons:license>http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0</creativeCommons:license>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>Copyright 2006 RSS Advisory Board. Redistribution and reuse of this document is permitted under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.
The Creative Commons Namespace for RSS was created by Dave Winer. Comments and corrections regarding this document are encouraged on the RSS-Public mailing list.