Open Access & Creative commons - Resources
Most of the links listed on this page offer resources with a less restrictive copyright licence under open access or creative commons rules.
What are Open Access Resources?
Open access resources are publications that have "free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, [allow search engines to] crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other then those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself". (Budapest Open Access Initiative)
What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons is an international non-profit organisation that provides free licences and tools that copyright owners can use to allow others to share, reuse and remix their material, legally. See Creative Commons Australia for more information.
Although these databases may allow some use of their work to be used for teaching purposes or for research they have specific terms and conditions that must be followed.
If you publish your work you would need to seek further permission from the copyright owners.
For assistance about any of the terms and conditions of these resources please contact copyright@cqu.edu.au.
There is also a Creative Commons Searching tool which you can add to your Mozilla Firefox browser and… always remember to reference accurately what you copy or communicate!
General links relating to 'open' content or flexible licensed content
This page is not an exhaustive list and is subject to alteration as sites change and develop. No guarantees are made about the quality of resources to be found on these external sites. If you know of a useful open-content site please let Copyright Services know so that it may be added to the list.
Creative Commons.org/Content_Directories
CQUniversity Library - LibGuides » Open Access Open access providers, eprints and institutional repositories, publishing.
Creative Commons Australia
60Sox - about this site (flexible licensed content including animation, audio, design, film, interactive media, photography, visual art, writing)
Geoscience Data Repository: Canada (refer to terms)
Creative Commons (USA)
Public Library of Science (PLoS)(refer to their terms of use) is a large rouser of scientific papers licensed under Creative Commons licences.
National Library of Medicine USA (refer to their terms of use)
PubMed Central (refer to terms)
iCommons (UK)
Creative Commons (International)
Open Educational Commons
Public domain day– List of work entering the public domain every first of January
Science Commons
GNU software
Open Sources softwares http://os.cqu.edu.au/oswinsdvd/doc/sites.html
Free Software Foundation Europe
The Australian Service for Knowledge of Open Source Software (ASK-OSS) provides a national focal point for advice, management, governance, storage and dissemination of Open Source Software (OSS) for research and higher education http://www.ask-oss.mq.edu.au/
Free educational software that is used in some schools. It is for kids from 2 to 10 years old. http://gcompris.net/-en-
Digital Library for Earth System Education (view terms)
Project Gutenberg Australiaand Project Gutenberg. Both provide access to over 100.000 public domain works.
Open textbooks
SOL*R – some B.C.-based projects and resources funded by BCcampus.
Orange Grove Text – Florida’s operational repository project of open source educational materials. m
The Assayer – largest catalog of open source textbooks and place to find free books about math, science, and computers.
College Open Textbooks – lists open textbooks by subject, many of which have been peer reviewed.
Connexions – Content Commons of free, open-licensed educational materials in fields such as music, electrical engineering and psychology.
Wikibooks – Wikimedia community for creating and sharing educational textbooks.
Merlot- free and open resource designed primarily for higher education.
OER Commons – worldwide learning network of shared teaching and learning materials.
CCCOER – Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources
Free Technology Academy
FLOSS Manuals – free manuals for free software
Free Book Centre – a collection of free books on the web
Global Text – open content electronic textbooks
The Saylor Foundation – a free and open collection of college-level courses.
CK-12 Flexbooks – K-12 open textbooks and resources
Jorum – Open Educational Repository in Support of Computer Science
Flatworldknowledge (US Open access college textbook publisher)
Open Educational Resources (US repository of open access material including textbooks and articles on open access in education)
Smarthistory (Free and open art history textbook)
Community College Open Textbook Collaborative (US community college open textbook site)
K12 Flexbook (US repository of open access textbooks)
Curriki (US repository of open access educational materials, including textbooks)
Open book project (US based IT open access resources)
The Open Access Atlas of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Operative Surgery (CC-BY-NC)
Open courseware or open resources for education
OpenCoursewareSearch (Search engine for open course content. No longer current but contains list of 10 Universities open content)
The OpenCourseWare Consortiumis a collaboration of higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model.
MIT Open Courseware
Open Learning Initiative (Carnegie Mellon)
Open Courseware Consortium (Course materials from universities and institutes, mostly US)
Connexions (educational or instructional content by Rice University US)
Learning Space (UK Open University) (refer to terms)
p2pu (open education project, learner driven content)
iUniv (audiovisual open courseware content)
TVET Australia (aka 'AEShareNet' : educational or instructional content)
UNSW: Teaching Resources - Medicine on the Internet (refer to terms of use)
WikiEducator: Exemplary Collection of Open eLearning Content Repositories (collection of links to various open content or flexible content repositories: subject to change as per usual wikipedida practices)
Teaching and educational resources - most of them are cost free. They are categorised by year groups and discipline http://www.nen.gov.uk/tandl
Video
Requires fees or special equipment
Links to broadcast content covered by Screenrights licence
- ABC TV documentaries for download Under the Screenrights licence documentaries from the ABC can be downloaded and used for educational purposes (eg made available in MUSO, on a DVD disk for inclusion in the library or sent directly to students). Just ensure the Part VA Screenrights warning noticeis appropriately displayed! Site offers a choice of MP4 or WMV file type.
- Podcasts for download from SBS Includes foreign language news broadcasts, some documentaries, some current affairs (Insight) etc.
- Podcasts from Nine News Audio and video podcast versions of the Nine network news service; direct to iPod or Mp3 player using iTunes or web browser to download - follow the instructions on the page in the above link.
- BBC podcast directory for BBC radio programs These can be used providing you do not have to agree to any terms and conditions that you will only access material from the UK.
Images
General
Open Clip Art Library (free content)
Wikimedia Commons
Flickr Commons
Library of Congress, American Memory
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Prodraw program graphics free for use unless otherwise stated
Monash University Image library(terms of use applicable)
Picture Australia
'How to attribute a Creative Commons photo', Bobbi L. Newman, librarianbyday.net - Very useful on how to correctly cite from Creative commons
Africa and Asia
In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa 1885-1960
Asia Network
Image Database to Enhance Asian Studies (IDEAS)
Japanese Old Photographs of the Bakumatsu-Meiji Period
Kamat’s Potpourri
Art history, architecture and photography
Art Images for College Teaching
Artcyclopedia
Asian Historical Architecture
Digital Imaging Project
Google Art Project - Images not cleared for downloading but suitable for viewing in lectures or for directing students to view. NOTE: Requires creation of Google account.
For tours of galleries and artworks on YouTube see http://www.youtube.com/googleartproject
Himalayan Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
National Portrait Gallery UK
Smarthistory (Free and open art history textbook, full of images)
Society of Architectural Historians’ Image Exchange: World Architectural History
Walters Art Museum
Web Gallery of Art
Yale Centre for Digital Art
Online collections (different licence conditions apply, check each item)
Digital Commons (content free for educational use, remember to cite source)
Astronomy and Physical Sciences
Compadre
Hubble Site
NASA
National Virtual Observatory NVO
Sloan Digital Sky Survey image gallery
Contemporary Laboratory Experiences in Astronomy (CLEA)
Biology and Life Sciences
The Open Access Atlas of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Operative Surgery (CC-BY-NC)
BiosciEdNet
Botany Database
Botanical Society of America Online Image Collection
Flybrain: Online Atlas and Database of the Drosophila Nervous System
Invasive Species
Microbe Library
National Biological Information Infrastructure’s Digital Image Library
National Center for Biotechnology Information - only US government information on this site is free for use. For other material check licence conditions.
Chemistry
Analytical Sciences Digital Library
Chem Collective: Online Resources for Teaching and Learning Chemistry
Crystal Lattice Structures
Classics
Maecenas: Images of Ancient Greece and Rome
Earth Sciences
American Geological institute: Earth Science World Image Bank
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Planetary Photojournal
NASA’s Visible Earth
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Image Collections
PASDA Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access: The Pennsylvania Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
History
Picture Australia
Perry-Castaneda Map Collection at U Texas, Austin
Languages
REALIA (Rich Electronic Archive for Language Instruction Anywhere)
Literature
Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Images (SCETI)
Music-Sound
ccMixter (Creative Commons Music, check licence terms)
Wikimedia Commons (some audio files, check individual licence terms)
Free Sound Project (collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds)
Josh Woodward creative commons music (some music also available for purchase)
National Jukebox (US Library of Congress streamed historical recordings, made available for listening only)
Research Resources
World map of Open Access Repositories and Open Access Journals
Library - Open Access Resources
Budapest Open Access Initiatives
AuseAccess is a wiki devoted to open access repositories in the Australasian region
Oak Law Project Open access Knowledge
Data.gov.au provides an easy way to find, access and reuse public datasets from the Australian Government and state and territory governments. Easy access to other government data catalogues offering open data is provided through their catalogues page.
