Open licensing of creative work in an online environment

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the market potential of open licenses among Finnish creative professionals. Market potential has been viewed as the target market’s willingness to use open licenses for both professional and private purposes for now and in the future. This thesis also estimates the current state of knowledge that the market has about open licensing and investigates if it needs more education about the subject. This sort of research was necessary to conduct because it provides valuable information about one of the biggest potential user groups of open licenses, creative professionals. This information can be used in license development and to improve the marketing plan of open licenses. Open Innovation and Knowledge Management form the theoretical background of the study. The research was conducted as a part of the Open Rendering Environment- project of Laurea University of Applied Sciences.

A quantitative research method was chosen and conducted in the form of an opinion survey. A questionnaire was sent to the members of ATL (The Association of Finnish Architect’s Offices), SIO (Finnish Association of Interior Architects), TKO (Industrial Designers of Finland) and Satu Ry (Association of Independent Producers in Finland). The first page of the questionnaire contained eight questions that investigated the personal and professional background of the respondent. These questions enabled a comparison between the respondents and gave information about the features that might influence their opinions. The second page of the questionnaire contained 17 claims. The respondent was instructed to answer the claims on a scale of 1-5 (1= totally disagree, 5= totally agree). The third page of the questionnaire contained three open questions.

The results of the research show that the Finnish creative professionals who participated in the study do not seem to believe in the organizational use of open licenses, at least in the companies they currently represent. This target market seems more willing to use licenses in their private life. It was also discovered that there is a lack of knowledge about open licensing among Finnish creative professionals. This target market still seems willing to get education about the subject. Open questions provided some exact development suggestions for the licenses and gave information about the desired form and source of the education.

In the light of the research results, the author of this thesis suggests that additional education should be organized about open licenses for Finnish creative professionals. The author also suggests that the subject should be investigated further and in more detail in the future, especially from the perspective of license development and improving the marketing plan of open licenses.