http://jonpattonmusic.com/2012/10/05/midway-fair-and-the-creative-commons/
I don't really make mention of it in that post, but it was partly the DIY community that convinced me to do this ... seeing all the neat stuff people come up with by building on things that CAN'T be copyrighted was pretty illustrative. I also used to be a science editor, and I was thinking about how absurd it would be if you could tell other people they couldn't replicate your study without paying you. Instead you just do your own thing based on their work and credit them for it. Reminds me a bit of sampling or doing what folk artists did a long time ago, which was just use a tune they already knew and write their own version.