Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has celebrated the first anniversary and resounding success of the Creative Commons website with a major upgrade, adding a new searchable function and access to over 200 resources following positive feedback from users across the red meat supply chain.
The Creative Commons licensing system provides globally recognised licenses that allow users to print, use, share and build upon copyrighted material such as manuals, factsheets, online tools and videos, without cost to the user.
MLA Managing Director, Jason Strong, said MLA had adopted an ‘easy access creative commons’ approach to improve the accessibility of resources to industry.
“The new website will ensure important resources and information about the red meat industry are readily available for everyone to use. With over 200 individual resources available covering a range of different topics from Food Safety to Animal Health our aim is that everyone can find something relevant to them” Mr Strong said.
“Materials found on the site can be integrated into learning modules or coursework, used as part of advisory materials or embedded onto websites without cost to producers or advisers.
“Creative Commons opens up the possibility for the industry to share information and use resources MLA has developed for the betterment of beef, lamb and goat producers.”
In particular, the PROGRAZE ® manual and the Shelf-life Calculator offer producers, processors and distributors new access to important learnings for their industry sector, with new resources continuously being made available under Creative Commons.
Each item on MLA’s Creative Commons webpage has been assigned a specific licence that outlines how it can be used. Depending on the licence, materials on the site can either be shared or reproduced as is, or the licence may allow the user to adapt the resources into new materials.
In return, users are asked to attribute MLA when using all or part of the materials and offer any improvements or new derivative works back under the same Creative Commons licence. Users are free to use the materials for a range of purposes, including: embedding the tools and calculators on websites creating workshop materials for advisors and producers developing articles for publishing in newsletters and on websites creating course content for tertiary students.
