Danièle Bourcier, Pompeu Casanovas, Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay, Catharina Maracke

The development of affordable computer technologies coupled with the advances in multimedia technology enable the transformation of users in cultural actors. The notion of "Intelligent Multimedia" - which is the title of this book - summarizes this social and technical transformation. The Semantic Web, among other technologies, facilitates access to and processing of multimedia and informational works. Consumers become prosumers in the new stages of the Web. However, the possibilities offered by the technologies are not always accompanied by the law. Lawrence Lessig, one of the Creative Commons founders, pointed out a paradox in the Foreword of our previous book International Commons at the Digital Age - La création en partage (Romillat, Paris, 2004): ? First, copyright is essential to the dignity and often the incentives of creative authors. Second, the existing system of copyright is insanely complex and often harmful to the interest of creators?. Today, copyright law could change towards an ecology of innovation and open access leading to the transformation of both technical protocols and governance. Creative Commons is one instrument to overcome legal barriers for disseminating, sharing and reusing all this knowledge and creativity.