Today we conclude the Open Culture Voices series, which over two years has showcased more than 65 open culture experts and practitioners from around the world. Over these two years we have had the privilege of engaging with remarkable individuals, each bringing their unique insights and stories to our community.

As we bid farewell to this enriching series, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to the interviewees who made this series possible. Your willingness to share your time, expertise, and experiences has left an indelible mark on our collective narrative. This journey has been more than a collection of interviews; it has been a tapestry of diverse stories that have inspired, educated, and connected us all. Your openness and authenticity have fostered a sense of community that goes beyond the digital realm: your perspectives are gathered in the CC report “What are the Barriers to Open Culture?” and several other resources which will continue to provide guidance and advice to the community.

Here are some of the experts’ insights:

“Standardized licenses support interoperability and compatibility with other collections. All of this means that users are able to find, access and use our content with fewer barriers and less friction, and this makes it easier for them to learn, share their learning, to create and innovate.” — Christy Henshaw

“When done right, the greatest advantage for open cultural heritage is digital equity. Removing paywalls means that more people can afford to access these materials. We live in a wildly inequitable world, and access to our culture should not contribute to this.” — Nicole Kang Ferraiolo

“Open culture is kind of a key building block for positive interaction and social inclusion” — Nkem Osigwue

“Weʼll often find that the benefits of being open with the collections outweigh the level of investment and cost, and the profit eventually made from generating income, selling, and controlling the use of collections.” — Dafydd Tudur

15, which ran from January 2022 to November 2023, the videos had more than 20,000 views on YouTube and more than 30,000 engagements here on the CC Blog. 

Thank you everyone who has watched and learned from these videos already. We hope they continue to be a valuable resource for the blossoming open culture community.

All episodes can be watched from the Creative Commons Blog. The videos are licensed CC BY 4.0 to be easily adapted, reused and shared across the web.

To stay up-to-date on all things Open Culture, subscribe to the Creative Commons Open Culture Matters newsletter and join the Open Culture Platform today!

The post Celebrating Two Years of CC’s Open Culture Voices appeared first on Creative Commons.

Dave talks about how many “institutions are on a mission to expose their collections to the world and make them available for everyone.” Dave sees this as a major evolution from a time not too long ago when it was only those with means who could access collections in any way.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Dave is the Executive Director at Authors Alliance which is a non-profit focused on sharing work broadly with the public together with authors in the US.

Dave responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Dave Hansen — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 33 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Kyle believes that “the artistic and creative expressions of humanity is the best way to experience our human efforts” and open GLAM makes this a reality for much more than what you can see on a given day in a museum. Open GLAM also helps drive more digitization of collections around the world in an effort to make institutions more known.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Kyle is a copyright advisor at Harvard library and helps people understand how material can be used in the library and online for users.

Kyle responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Kyle K. Courtney — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 32 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Maarten believes that “Open GLAM is a necessity of a disbalanced copyright framework.” Maarten talks about how open access policies help institutions achieve their public missions. Open access policies in instutions provides good evidence that society and communities need access to cultural heritage to flourish.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Maarten is an independent consultant and intellectual property lawyer who works with GLAM institutions on open access policies and implementing open information management systems.

Maarten responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Maarten Zeinstra — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 31 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Marike van Roon shares that “the main benefit of open culture is accessibility” because if you are not fortunate enough to be part of organization that pays for you to have access to collections and you don’t live in city with public collections it’s almost impossible to access a lot of cultural heritage. In this episode we learn about the institutions that support opening up collections in the Netherlands and how detrimental copyright laws and pay walls are to open culture around the world.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Marike van Roon is currently an independent art historian and has been part of the cultural heritage sector in the nNetherlands for more than 30years. She is also a Wikipedian and was a member of the board of Wikimedia Nederland.

Marike responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Marike van Roon — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 30 appeared first on Creative Commons.

“For researchers GLAM’s preserve primary sources” which is of great benefit when creating knowledge and research about the present and the past. Pierre talks about how open access policies in GLAM’s make knowledge shared and more widespread instead of just for the elite few with permission from the collecting institution.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Pierre is the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Al Hikma University in Lebanon where he teaches on intellectual property law and  information and communications technology law.

Pierre responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Pierre El Khoury — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 29 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Michael has discovered a lead-by-example way of working in Open GLAM which is that “friction and barriers that are faced are actually resolved by Open Access and Open GLAM which can be passed down to future users of creative works.” In this episode we learn more about the ways institutions conflate stewardship obligations and responsibility for  control how works are used as well as how to overcome the technical and practical challenges of opening up collections.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Michael Weinberg is the Executive Director of the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, NYU Law where he works to promote open access policies and copyright reform.

Michael responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Michael Weinberg — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 28 appeared first on Creative Commons.

“Open access is essential for education, innovation, and cultural participation.” Deborah believes that cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums are not just responsible for the preservation of material but in the access and promotion of material for the public good. Institutions should can choose to make their material available online and these policies can help culture to flourish.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Deborah is an independent lawyer who advocates for open access policies in Italy as the CC Italy Chapter Lead. Italy is known for cultural heritage laws that restrict accessibility which Deborah, CC Italy, and Creative Commons regularly discuss in blog posts and other material.

Deborah responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Deborah De Angelis — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 27 appeared first on Creative Commons.

“Open access means that we’re able to reach more people in a more equitable fashion.” Christy explains how the Wellcome Collection has been using Open Access to increase the engagement and shared value of an art and culture collection in a private foundation. Christy also shares some insight about the benefits of leveraging existing tools, such as CC Licenses and platforms like Wikicommons, to have a greater positive impact on society.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Christy is the Digital Production Manager at the Wellcome Collection which is a museum and library that is part of the Wellcome Trust, one of the largest trusts in the world dedicated to improving health outcomes globally. The Wellcome Collection has made 300,000 pieces from the collection available online, including procedures and software through Github repositories.

Christy responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Christy Henshaw — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 26 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Jennie says “one thing that I love about the internet is that it has allowed us to do things we weren’t able to in the past.” In this episode we learn about the differences between digital and physical collections and what it means to be open to the public online as well as in real life when the mission of the institution is to serve the public interest and share cultural heritage.

Open Culture VOICES is a series of short videos that highlight the benefits and barriers of open culture as well as inspiration and advice on the subject of opening up cultural heritage. Jennie Rose Halperin is the Director at the Library Futures project at NYU Engelberg.

Jennie responds to the following questions:

1. What are the main benefits of open GLAM?
2. What are the barriers?
3. Could you share something someone else told you that opened up your eyes and mind about open GLAM?
4. Do you have a personal message to those hesitating to open up collections?

Closed captions are available for this video, you can turn them on by clicking the CC icon at the bottom of the video. A red line will appear under the icon when closed captions have been enabled. Closed captions may be affected by Internet connectivity — if you experience a lag, we recommend watching the videos directly on YouTube.

Want to hear more insights from Open Culture experts from around the world? Watch more episodes of Open Culture VOICES here >>

The post Jennie Rose Halperin — Open Culture VOICES, Season 2 Episode 25 appeared first on Creative Commons.