Who Owns Knowledge? A Critical Zine on Creative Commons Licenses and Public Domain Tools

This publication presents a critical and accessible overview of Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools, developed as part of the Creative Commons Certificate (Unit 3). Structured as an independent zine, it explains the three layers of Creative Commons licenses (legal code, human-readable summary, and machine-readable metadata), the four license elements (BY, SA, NC, ND), the six CC license types, and the distinction between Creative Commons licenses and the public domain tools CC0 and the Public Domain Mark.

The zine also examines how copyright exceptions and limitations interact with open licensing frameworks, emphasizing that statutory rights and open licenses coexist rather than replace one another. Finally, it reflects on how Creative Commons licensing can support institutional practices in higher education, open education, and scholarly communication.

This work models transparent attribution practices and is openly licensed to encourage reuse, adaptation, and further discussion on the governance of knowledge circulation.