it4L

At the last secondary ICT subject leader meeting we discussed copyright and that many students and teachers use photographs they find using Google Image search.  We discussed the legalities of this and I recommended the use of Flickr Advanced Search, this allows you to search for creative commons images.

Yahoo, who own Flickr, have taken included this and many other options into their Image Search.  These options include:

• Size of image
• Colour or Black & White
• Site/Domain, you can select a suggested site or domain type e.g. .gov, .edu or flickr.com etc or you can enter the site/domain eg. .sch.uk or .ac.uk
• Creative Commons Licence
• Safe Search

I think these options really make this an excellent search engine for images, what do you reckon?

Whilst browsing some sites related to film-making I came across one or two more bits on copyright including an interesting document presented as a comic  . The comic is American but raises many of the issues that we face in the UK. Different formats of the comic can be found here  . The Creative Commons website is also worth a visit especially as it has a search facility that allows users to search a variety of repositories and search engines such as Google and Flickr for images and content that have Creative Commons licences.

Are you allowed to use that picture you just downloaded in your work?  The Internet makes it so easy to grab digital information and re-use it – but did the people who put it there intend for you to be able to use in your own materials?

Students and teachers alike are often confused about what they are allowed to use.  The UK Intellectual Property Office makes some comments here that help to untangle the issues surrounding copyright.  It can be a minefield, but raising the issue with colleagues and students might raise a few eyebrows and give a starting point for  considering best practice.

Finding images got so much easier when digital images were put onto the Internet.  Photographers could share their pictures and sell them online, families could share their photos easily and quickly freely.  But using copyrighted images in public work is not only unethical (photographers need to be paid too, y’know), it’s illegal.  How is the distinction drawn between free-to-use and copyrighted images?  Many people find it difficult to identify whether they can use an image or not.

The Internet for Image Searching resource from TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images – part of JISC) is an online tutorial that informs the reader on how to search for copyright-cleared images.  Although aimed at HE/FE, it would be an excellent resouce to use for many teachers and KS4 students needing guidance on the legal use of images in their work.