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It’s just as well that the Teacher Challenge is including something on copyright and images ’cause I admit that this is an area that baffles me! Unfortunatley copyright issues are in the same league as insurance policies for my stubborn brain! These kinds of issues just sit there and stare at me, taunting me to fully comprehend them!
So now that I’ve gotten that ‘truth’ off my chest ….. here goes …… a best possible effort to make sense of what I can and can’t do with images!
I’ve found some of the notes on Sue Water’s post about images and copyright quite helpful. Her first three points seem clear enough:
- Use Creative Commons images
- Use your own photos
- Create your own images using a range of different tools
Working backwards ….. I’ve fiddled around quite a bit in the past to create a range of images for my blog having had heaps of fun in the process. Some of the ToonDoos were a great challenge: Holiday Times and Saving Toons in particular. Other tools such as Animoto, Wordle and Slideshare are a great way to add interest and appeal to a blog. In my Tools page though, I have an incredibly long list of tools that I need to play with. All on my ‘to do’ list.
Moving along ….. Using my own photos seems simple enough. If I take photos and then use them in my blog, nobody can quibble that I’ve broken copyright, because the photos are, like my toons, my own creation. Re-sizing before uploading photos is important though. Too big and it will take ages to load the page. OK. Got that one down pat.
Next and last is what presents to me as the most confusing! Creative Commons ….. what on earth is this and what does it mean I can and can’t do?! Well ….. here is my best effort to summarize the salient points and then to drill them into my head so that I can clearly and easily explain to someone else!
Creative Commons has been developed for the common good of all. When someone creates an image it can be ‘licensed’ with Creative Commons allowing others to use that image without having to seek permission from the original creator.
- sounds good to me
- saves having to track down the creator/owner of the image to seek permission
- the only proviso is that the image is used in the manner stated in the creative commons license
Now we get to the nitty gritty: Where does one find Creative Commons images?
Flickr is a good source we are told.
Simple! Well …. kind of ….. The long list that Sue lists in her post starts making me nervous. There are lots of do’s and don’t here, with asterisks and qualifications that need to be heeded. Think I’ll steer clear of Flickr to save myself the headache. (You can probably tell that I’m an inexperienced Flickr user!) But just in case I get brave, here’s a ready reference to Sue Water’s summary statement about copyright and Flickr:
OK ….. I think I get it. The bottom line is that if an image is used then the author must be acknoweldged by the user. Restrictions according to the CC License notes above may mean that there are restrictions on how or whether or not the image can be modified.
Moving right along: Some great tools have been developed to help us find Creative Commons Flickr images:
Alright! I’m gunna give it a go!
I can’t go past experimenting with some of the tools I’ve just listed. First up I’m using Wylio because it looks quite simple and straight forward. It says on the site that it does all the work for me, inserting the attibution and all. Let’ see…..
photo © 2005 Ioan Sameli | more info (via: Wylio)
Not bad. Now let me try another tool to add in a second picture. I’m not quite sure how this has worked as I started with Compfight.com, but it took me directly to Flickr. Nevertheless here’s the pic that I’ve grabbed.
Unfortunately this time the attribution hasn’t been included. So, giving credit where credit is due, this second pic is by Thomas Hawk and is titled: ‘Why I’m going to work for Zoomr’. I do hope I’ve credit this correctly.
I’m not sure how I got the text to wrap around the pics. Possibly more accidental than intent. I’d love to know how to do it properly though. Once I’d posted the HTML for the pic, I discovered that I could move the pic in the ‘Visual’ mode. When I looked back at the HTML though, I discovered that it was a mess, so I did a manual clean up. For some reason the text remained wrapped around the pic. It’s a mystery to me as to how it happened!
At least I got there though!! Phew!!!!
