Creative production in the Net: sharing vs protecting

There is a general lack of knowledge among the cultural heritage and art community about the issues concerning the daily practice of online communication, most of which have legal implications requiring the utmost attention in the reuse pnline. In the era of global content sharing, we do not seem to be sufficiently aware of the extraordinary opportunities in terms of cultural, social and economic development for the community deriving from the adoption of open licenses on digital works in the public domain. In this paper, the author presents the state of the art about legal issues related to the use, reuse, modification and publication of creative digital content on the Net, with particular attention to the European context. Some tools, tips for instructors and students, and a list of best-known platforms offering open multimedia resources adopting open licenses are presented.