Please Read: Regarding Ambleside Online's Copyright Policy

[LynnBruce]

Cheryl, I cannot give you a full response tonight because it is late and I am recovering from a chemo infusion and I am very tired. Of the examples you linked, one of them is a URL that is actually owned by AO, one is the blog of someone from the AO community whom the Advisory has authorized to help our families with high quality Picture Study prints which she provides free of charge as an AO volunteer, and the third link does not appear to be from a legitimate website.

I or another Advisory member will address your other concerns as soon as we can find the time. We are in the middle of retreat registration at the moment and we are all very busy. Goodnight.

[ccsdg]

Cheryl, I cannot give you a full response tonight because it is late and I am recovering from a chemo infusion and I am very tired. Of the examples you linked, one of them is a URL that is actually owned by AO, one is the blog of someone from the AO community whom the Advisory has authorized to help our families with high quality Picture Study prints which she provides free of charge as an AO volunteer, and the third link does not appear to be from a legitimate website.

I or another Advisory member will address your other concerns as soon as we can find the time. We are in the middle of retreat registration at the moment and we are all very busy. Goodnight.

I'm so sorry to be taking your time away from your many commitments and recovery Lynn.  Thinking of you all and please take your time, forum posts are not urgent things. Goodnight and please rest. Cheryl

[NaomiG]

What do you (or we) do about the various materials around the internet that use the words "Ambleside online" in graphical, non-official ways?  There are websites, blogs, stand-alone graphics etc that use the words "Ambleside Online" in graphical ways that aren't the official logo.  Do you object to these?  Do you like them but want them moderated?  For that matter, is the official logo permitted for use, or can we only say the name in text?  Our highly connected world is an increasing stream of images and ideas.  It is very challenging to sort through that stream and know when each specific thing is permitted and when it's not.

I think Wendi and Lynn have been very clear about the uses of the AmblesideOnline name, logo, letters, etc. AO considers each violation on a case by case basis so it's hard to answer your questions in a general context. With that, I am going to close this thread. If you have any specific requests for permission - ie., you have a specific use you are seeking permission for, please contact AO by email with as much detail about your request (image, site, links, etc) and we will be happy to respond to your request upon review.

[KarenG]

Cheryl, it's morning for me, but Sunday morning, so I don't have a lot of time, either.

I genuinely hope your questions are not asked for the purpose of finding some kind of loophole to do something that we don't want anyone to do. Even if a legal loophole is out there (and there probably is), it isn't in keeping with the ethics and spirit that is AmblesideOnline. I know that's difficult sometimes for people who don't share our vision, but all we can do is try to help you see the vision.

We love Charlotte Mason's methods philosophy and methods. When our kids were small, there was no Charlotte Mason curriculum available at all, anywhere, and every one of us who liked CM's ideas had to patch together a curriculum plan or try to massage an existing curriculum and use it is a CM way. The idea for writing a curriculum based on the PNEU programs was born (that's a whole story in itself). We originally thought it would mostly be a guideline--"This is what a CM curriculum looks like" (we only had years 1-6)--but to our surprise, people started using it as written. Right then, the possibility of turning our enterprise into a for-profit venture was also born. We looked at that innocent-seeming little thing, and let it die. AO was going to be a free curriculum, always, so that anyone, anywhere, in any financial situation, could have access to a CM education. We took CM's vision for "a liberal education for all" a little further than she did herself.

We have been repaid a thousand-fold with blessings that money could never buy. We're not sorry we kept AO free, and we invested even more time and energy into extending the curriculum to a full 12 years. Plus extras, like the riches, the HELP plan, holiday book suggestions, and more. Most of us, with the help of some additional volunteers and a host of experienced, willing AO moms, are still here, providing CM knowledge to newcomers and giving free consulting on the forum and on facebook so that families can make AO work for them. All for no compensation of the monetary sort.

We just love CM and we want everyone to enjoy her ideas.

But, we have learned the hard way, it's not just that simple. AO has grown and to many it represents, not just a community of learners, but a potential market. People have wanted to make study guides, audio materials, and I don't know what all, to "help" people do AO, and those things might even do that--help--but they have wanted to sell. It simply doesn't fit our paradigm. If you want to help the AO community use the curriculum (which is given for free), then the help must be free or it is jarring, a note struck out of tune. And many people have given freely and enhanced the curriculum. We are grateful for them--we wouldn't force anyone to do anything--and are convinced that they will be blessed as we have been.

We know that "stuff" is different from resources--merchandise such as AO mugs, totes, pencils, stickers, notebooks, hats, keychains, magnets, t-shirts, and who knows what else can't be free. But the right to create and distribute or sell that stuff belongs to the AmblesideOnline Educational Foundation, and no one else. It doesn't mean you can't use the word "AmblesideOnline" in a blog post. That's not the same thing at all.

The bottom line is, if it were your work, would you want somebody to do the thing you are proposing to do? That's the golden rule, right? You treat others as you would want to be treated, and that standard, and not heaps of legal protection about minutia (this word, that variation) is our standard.