Tips by Tony

When you or your students find images from the Internet to use in a project, you need to make sure you have permission to use them. Most of the images you find using Google Image Search are probably copyrighted and restricted. Visit the website the image came from and look for a copyright notice for the image. If you can’t find one, you can try contacting the image creator or website owner. Be careful, though. Many blog owners use images illegally, so getting their permission doesn’t do you any good.

Luckily, there are many sources for free copyright friendly images. Use these sources for you own projects, share them with your students, and be sure to teach your students about copyright and fair use.

Top 5 Sources for Copyright Friendly Images

Flickr

Copyright notice on a Flickr page

Flickr is one of the most popular photo sharing sites on the Internet, with millions of photos available for viewing. These images vary in quality, and in copyright status. When searching for images on Flickr, always look in the sidebar of an image page for the “Additional Information” section. Here you will find the copyright information, including a link to the full license information (usually labelled “Some rights reserved” or similar.) Always click the copyright link to find out if you can use the image. If the image required attribution, be sure to include one wherever you use the image (in a report, PowerPoint presentation, blog post, etc.)

Here’s an excellent article that explains how to use Flickr to find images, including how to create an account, searching strategies, group pools, and using the images you find:
Finding Images on Flickr: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/stillimages/advice/finding-images-on-flickr/

There’s a specific group pool called “Free Use Photos” on Flickr that contains photos that are completely free to use. No need to give credit. The quality varies, but this is a great source to quickly find images to use without having to research the copyright terms.
Flickr Free Use Photos Pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/freeuse/

Pics4Learning.com

Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. Every image in their collection is free to use. Images are organized by topic, most popular, and lesson plans.
http://pics.tech4learning.com/

4FreePhotos.com

4FreePhotos is another collection of user-submitted photos that are free to use in your projects. Photos are organized by category, and the collection is searchable.
http://4freephotos.com/

The Library of Congress American Memory Project

Alexander Graham Bell's design sketch of the telephone. (Source: Library of Congress)

The American Memory Project is a treasure trove of media, from speeches and audio interviews, to video and photos and more. There is no better source for content relating to American History. There are more than 100 collections, lesson plans, and more. The Learning Page for Teachers includes tips for searching the archives, lesson plans, features and activities, and more. If you don’t spend some time exploring the American Memory Project, you’re cheating yourself and your students. Sites like this are what make the Internet great.

American Memory Home: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
The Learning Page for Teachers: http://memory.loc.gov/learn/

Naval History and Heritage Online Library of Images

Another great resource for public domain (free to use, no attribution required) historical images. Aircraft, ships, people, places. Need a photo of a British Navy ship from the 1800’s? You’ll find it here. Looking for World War I era photos of women in the U.S. Navy? No problem.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org11-2.htm

Additional Resources and Information

• Kid’s Image Search Tools: http://www.kidsclick.org/psearch.html
• University of Cambridge list of freely available image sources: http://www.caret.cam.ac.uk/copyright/Page75.html
• Internet for Image Searching: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/imagesearching/
  (A free interactive tutorial to improve your image searching skills.)
• Using Images in Education: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/stillimages/advice/using-images-in-education/
  (A presentation that shows some of the uses and considerations when using images and how they relate to pedagogy.)
• Images in Blogs and Wikis: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/stillimages/advice/images-in-blogs-and-wikis/
  (An overview of blogs and wikis, considering how they can be used as both sources of images and as tools for managing and presenting your own images.)

Updates:

Jason Flom pointed out some great additional places to find images. Definitely worth checking out:

• http://search.creativecommons.org/ – Great way to search multiple sites (Google, Yahoo, Flickr, etc.) at once.
• Wikimedia Commons – Images, sound clips, video…all freely available.
• Stock.XCHNG – A free stock photo site.

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