Freedom With CC-BY Licensed Images

So, why do I like the Attribution license best? First, here’s what the license says…

You are free:

  • to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to Remix — to adapt the work
  • to make commercial use of the work

Under the following conditions:

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

Three reasons for using the liberal Creative Commons –  Attribution (CC-BY) license.

1. You can use beautiful images to make cool posters or use just a portion of someone’s picture. (derivatives allowed)

This is my favorite reason! When I need a picture of the Eiffel Tower or the Coliseum, I don’t have to go there. I have friends all over the world who take photos and share them, entrusting their pictures to people like me! The last time I looked there were over 150 million photos on Flickr alone, of which we have permission to make derivatives.

Daunting Notebook” by Laura Coughlin (lauracoughlin) with CC BY-NC 2.0

2. You can change the license on derivatives. (no share-alike)

Although I can imagine a time when someone might need to do this, my guess is that most people fail to share-alike by accident. Here is a photo I took, and I suspect here and here, where this person kept “All Rights Reserved,” that it was done unintentionally. S/he shared this in the Flickr group Great quotes about Learning and Change, so perhaps s/he doesn’t know how to change permissions. Maybe s/he is new and just learning how to be a digital citizen. Maybe s/he has no idea what Creative Commons are. It would be ridiculous to believe it’s for any nefarious or money-making reason.

Plus, if I had a stricter license, I would feel obligated to complain to a user if he/she didn’t adhere to the license, and I don’t like to complain. If I am anything, I am liberal. Liberal with belief that most of my fellow humans are trying to do their best. Liberal with good will toward others. And liberal with the photos I’ve shared. That’s why even in derivative sharing, I choose the liberal Attribution license.

3. You can make money. (commercial)

I say this tongue-in-cheek, but it’s true. By using images (and sharing them with) the Attribution license, you are receiving (and giving) permission to use images commercially. I’ve never sold anything or benefited financially from using anyone’s images, but others have used some of my images commercially. You know something, it just makes me proud, not upset, jealous or angry. (See image below for some examples.) Maybe someday, a group I’m in will have reason to make a calendar for a fundraiser, and there will be CC images available for us to use.

It’s risky to share pictures with the Attribution only license, but I made the decision to do it because I’m serious about being a contributor. My friends Kris and Laura, whose pictures I used in this post, each share their images with a different license,  but they both gave permission to make derivatives and just asked me to give them credit and I appreciate that!

There are six different Creative Commons license, which are helpful to both the sharer and the user. Here are two simple questions to ask and answer to help you “Choose a License.” I would encourage you to read about each of them here: Creative Commons Licenses.

How to Cite a CC Image

Using and properly citing Creative Commons images is a characteristic of good digital citizenship. To cite a CC image…

  1. First find a picture you want to use that has a CC license. My favorite license to use is CC BY (Attribution) license, which allows for the most freedom. Search for CC BY images here on Flickr. (If you use other CC licenses*, be sure you understand the limits of each.)
  2. Credit the person who took the photo. I use both the real name and the username when available.
  3. Help your viewers get back to the original image. Take care so your viewers can find the original image without trouble. Make sure your links are working and go directly to the intended image. Notice on the two images below, both the picture and the title are linked back to the original photo on Flickr.

It really is simple.

Bubbles” by Kris McGuire (krismc2011) with CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Daunting Notebook”  by Laura Coughlin (lauracoughlin) with CC-BY-NC 2.0

That’s just one way to do it. There are other ways too, as long as you follow the licensing agreement.

Thanks to Kris and Laura for sharing their images with a CC license!

Creative Commons is great. However, don’t forget that sometimes, it’s also great to take and use your own photos.

* Other Licenses

CC BY-ND 3.0 – Attribution and no derivatives

CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 – Attribution, non-commercial and share alike

CC BY-SA 3.0 – Attribution and share alike

CC BY-NC 3.0 – Attribution and non-commercial

CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 – Attribution, non-commercial and no derivatives

 

Noticing and Appreciating

Yesterday my husband and I were out, and we had to stop for a train that was approaching. The first thing my husband said was not, “Bummer — this looks like a long train.” Instead, he said, “Hey, get your camera. There are some great pictures of graffiti on this train.”

You see, last week I had asked him to stop the car so I could take the picture above, because “graffiti” was one of our themes for August in the #T365Project photo group.

Well, I didn’t really need another graffiti picture, but I started snapping pictures anyway. They are in the mosaic below.

We watched the long train go by, commenting on and enjoying each new artwork, watching in anticipation of what would come next. We actually were a bit disappointed when it finished!

This was another reminder of the many benefits I’ve received from taking pictures and sharing them on Flickr: I’ve relearned to notice and appreciate all the beauty around me.

Besides both my husband and I doing more noticing and appreciating, I have also added over 2,000 Creative Commons photos to the pool of images available for others to use. My students now do the same, and we have also learned to properly cite photos of other people’s when we use their Creative Commons images.

There was a time not long ago when my students and I just Googled any images for our own use.

There was a time not long ago when I had heard of Creative Commons but didn’t know what it was or how it related to me.

There was a time not long ago when I wanted to properly cite images, but I didn’t even know where to start.

Well, now, a year later, I’m doing it! I don’t even know how I learned really, except I do know that mostly it came by doing — by creating and contributing. I joined Flickr, and I began to figure it out. You can too.

I posted the train graffiti mosaic picture in a group called #TFotoFri. It’s for teachers to post one picture from their week. If you are like I was not so long ago, maybe you’d like to join the #TFotoFri group to get started on your next adventure in learning.

21st Century Digital Citizenship

We are in the 21st century, and there are some new skills we must learn to be good citizens.

iPhone by William Hook
Attribution-ShareAlike License

Internet etiquette, or netiquette, is important for all ages, but as teachers we are in a unique position to teach digital citizenship, copyright laws in an age of plagiarism, and protection of our digital footprint.

Inspiration for my Netiquette rules is Virginia Shea in her Netiquette book, available online by Albion.

Literary cat by SuziJane
Attribution-ShareAlike License

With my class, I need to work on my Comment Guidelines, so I have taken inspiration from two exceptional class blogs. I’m hoping to use these guidelines this semester while my students and I gain experience in commenting enough to write our own. The teachers and students at Huzzah! and Scattergood Biology have some excellent commenting guidelines. Thank you for allowing us to learn and grow from your good work.

Since we have such a large job curating all the information about new digital literacy, I’m including several links in a Diigo List of Internet Safety and Acceptable Use and another list on Copyright.

We have a big job becoming 21st century digital learners ourselves. We have an even bigger job teaching our students to be responsible, safe, and effective digital citizens. Let’s help each other, shall we?

A Few of my Favorite Things

Diet coke and Nails.Inc.

My favorite things and people are many! Do not be concerned that the Diet Coke made the top of my list. It’s not my favorite of all. My family and friends and food are actually more favorite. However, I am practicing some new ways to use images in my blogging challenge, so I used a picture I found on Flickr in the Creative Commons. Jenny, The Style PA, decorated this classic glass Diet Coke bottle and is sharing it with the world with an Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 Generic license. Thank you, Jenny!

I also tried something new, which was adding a gallery of my own photos to my blog. It was quite easy and actually saved a step from how I usually do it. To upload a gallery on your Edublogs, just upload images to the gallery and do not push the “Insert Into Post” button for each one. Instead, when you get them all in, scroll to the bottom of the gallery and “Insert Gallery.” You can experiment with how many to have in each row. I found five was too many.

I have lots of wonderful favorites in life. Here are just a few.