Finding and using Images with Creative Commons

A few posts and tweets recently have discussed how easy it is to get caught using copyright images and the consequences that can follow.

This term I have been working with a few classes developing skills about how to search for and then attribute images. We have looked at what Creative Commons is, some of the dedicated CC sites and how you can use the right search with Google to find CC images.

Two tools that I have been using for the past few years that are very good if you want to attribute or embed images are:

1. ImageCodr works with Flickr images. I wrote about this tool back in 2010 and have used it many time to correctly attribute images I am using.
2. Wylio. This tool provides users with a very easy way to quickly search through the huge number of free images from different sources and then allows you to generate a code so that you can insert those images directly into a blog post. I wrote a how-to post last year. I also encouraged our students to use it for some of their assignments. Since last year it you login with a Google account but other than that it still works in the much the same way, with steps easy to follow.

I put a Creative Commons page on my wiki as well as our library site, listing some of the places where you can go to find images, with a second page explaining what the CC symbols meant.  HeyJude site also has a great list of sources here and the Creative Commons organisation has a good list here

Thanks to an RSS feed, today I saw a post on Richard Byrne’s Free Technology for Teachers site about a new tool that you can use when choosing a license for your own work.

It has been created by Creative Commons and is a great addition to this very informative site.

“Creative Commons licensing can be a good way to explicitly state the terms by which people can use and re-use your creative written, audio, and visual works. But selecting the license that is right for you can be confusing. “

I love how easily it steps you through the process. In less than a minute you can have the correct license for your work completed and ready to use. It also offers explanations along every step.

As Richard Byrne comments it is also a great way to explore what different features of the licenses mean, even if you are not going to use them for work. The tool allows you to choose different combinations and then check what this will allow others to do with something with that particular setting.

If I have something that might be useful for others I am always happy to share and a lot of students love the idea of sharing their work. Flickr made it simple to share your CC licensed images a long time ago (in owner settings) but things on other sites were a bit more of a problem. Now there is a tool we can use that will make it easier to understand and create the correct licenses to share with others.

Wylio: another way to get free embeddable images

There are quite a lot of ways to search for images on the internet. I am always on the lookout for something that makes it as easy as possible for me and/or my students to obtain good CC images to illustrate my sites (wikis, blogs, etc). I have been using ImageCodr to find CC images for my wiki and blogs (and it works very well) but I have only been able to use Flickr images.

Wylio offers a very easy way to quickly search through the huge number of free images from different sources and then allows you to generate a code so that you can insert those images directly into a blog post.

 It is very simple to use and therefore useful to use with students.

 

• enter a keyword
• browse through the thumbnails Wylio finds
• find an image you like
• click on it to re-size it according to your requirements as well as set the alignment
• click on ‘Get the code’ to obtain the HTML code that can then be used to insert the image in your blog post. The code also includes an attribution to the original photographer 

You do not need to download anything to you own computer. There is (of course) a premium version that is not free but the simple version I have used is enough for me.  Below is an image I found to illustrate some information on Kindle e-readers
photo © 2010 Mike Licht | more info (via: Wylio)