This is a post for the Edublog Challenge activity 5.
I can copy any image and use it online…right? NO!
You can use pictures that you make or take yourself BUT images on the internet that someone else has photographed or drawn are protected by COPYRIGHT. Using someone else’s work without their permission is called ‘copyright infringement’ and you can get in trouble for this.
However some people are happy to share their work and use their images in a blog as long as you attribute who originally created it. One such place is Creative Commons. This is an organisation that gives out licenses for people to share their work.
Creative Commons is an organisation that was founded in order to create a more flexible copyright model, replacing “all rights reserved” with “some rights reserved”. Creative Commons has been described as the forefront of the ‘copyleft movement’. A movement that seeks to provide an alternative to the ‘all rights reserved’ copyright.
This means you can use images with a Creative Commons license in your blog as long as you ATTRIBUTE the image. This means that under the image you say who made it AND where it came from.
I would also suggest that when you come to a website to always check out the terms and conditions as this will specify where you can use the content and how you need to attribute it.
We covered copyright and Creative Commons quite a bit last year in my Grade 1/2 class.
Below is a list of sites that we use at school to obtain images with a Creative Commons license.
1. FlickrCC.
All images on this site are released under a creative commons license. You can also search for images you can edit and for images that can be used commercially. All these images must be Attributed.
Again photos are free as long as they are attributed. The site is very clear as to when and where to make the attribute.
luigi diamante@FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Another way of searching for images that can be reused or edited is through doing an advanced search with Google. I like this as you can select ‘free to use or share’ or ‘free to use and modify’.
Don’t forget to attribute the image and check out the terms and conditions.
Happy Blogging everyone
Did you know about Creative Commons?
What sites do you use in the classroom to obtain images?
How do the kids at your school use images?
I'm Still Learning 
Really excellent post Jodi on explaining Creative Commons and use of images. In many ways better written than mine!
Dear Sue,
Thank you so much. I am really enjoying the challenge.
All that I learnt about creative commons was from the recent post and challenge. I’m looking forward to the next post, learning more and connecting with others.
Many thanks
Jodi
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