A Message from Social Alterations on Creative Commons Licensing

“Accessibility for Accountability” (Social Alterations)

From the beginning, Social Alterations was designed and developed for use as a resource for fashion/textile/apparel/garment educators and students.

We have aggregated information and created these resources because we believe that if/when designers have access to correct information on the social, environmental, cultural and economic impacts (both positive and negative) of their garments (as products), they will change the way in which they operate.

“There is amazing and groundbreaking research being done by experts within the context of responsible design. While this research should be shared, it must also be protected and respected.” (Social Alterations)

At Social Alterations we hope to not only educate you on this research, but also to encourage and direct you to read/watch/listen to the experts working within this complicated arena. These experts have inspired us, and we have strived to support their research and initiatives.

In many ways, if you visit Social Alterations and leave after just a few minutes because, for example, you have followed a link we have provided (one that took you on a journey toward Fashioning an Ethical Industry, The Designers Accord, the Fairtrade Labelling Organization, or the Asian Human Rights Commission, for example), then we know we have successfully directed you to the appropriate resource you came looking for in the first place.

Beyond the work we do aggregating content, we have and will continue to, facilitate a learning system that supports retention. At Social Alterations we believe that in order to successfully move forward toward actual change we must work together. The challenges facing both people and planet within the fashion industry are complex and interdisciplinary. Of course, these interdisciplinary problems call for interdisciplinary solutions.

Our learning and teaching materials have been created and designed for you to use under Creative Commons Licensing. We have done this for two reasons:

1) To protect the integrity and interest of the resources we have utilized and responsibly cited, as well as to protect our own integrity as researchers and learners;

2) To support an educational movement that believes access to open-source learning is a fundamental right.

The reasons why we have chosen to license our work through the Creative Commons should not be misunderstood. We are acutely aware of the lucrative nature ‘corporate social responsibility’ initiatives within the industry. That we have made certain information available for use and circulation for free should in no way undermine the integrity of our research.

For those of you who may not be familiar with either the Creative Commons or Creative Commons licensing, here is the deal: unless otherwise noted, all original content written by individuals, as specified through bylines, on this site, is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Copyright © 2012 Social Alterations.

What does that mean? Well, this means that you can take, use, remix, change, and build-upon this research, so long as you do so non-commercially (that means without profiting from it) and credit Social Alterations (don’t forget the bylines!). Furthermore, if you use this research, you must use the same CC license, meaning that “any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.” (Creative Commons, Licenses)

What is Creative Commons?

We hope that through this message we have made clear that we encourage you to share and distribute this work. All we require on your end is that you do so within the guidelines of the Creative Commons license we have chosen.

Thank you,

Social Alterations