The twenty-first century has ushered in new debates and social
movements that aim to structure how culture is produced, owned, and
distributed. At one side, open-knowledge advocates seek greater freedom
for finding, distributing, using, and reusing information. On the other
hand, traditional-knowledge rights advocates seek to protect certain forms
of knowledge from appropriation and exploitation and seek recognition for
communal and culturally situated notions of heritage and intellectual
property. Understanding and bridging the tension between these movements
represents a vital and significant challenge. This paper explores possible
areas of where these seemingly divergent goals may converge, centered on
the Creative Commons concept of some rights reserved. We argue
that this concept can be extended into areas where scientific disciplines
intersect with traditional knowledge. This model can help build a
voluntary framework for negotiating more equitable and open communication
between field researchers and diverse stakeholding communities.