Thursday, April 19, 2001
tech.life@school | Joyce Kasman Valenza
How to use copyrighted media in Web publications
Students must document their sources and must obtain permission to use the materials.
When I wave my little red copyright flag, I know how to take all the fun out of creating Web pages.
And in Web-page creation, the copyright rules apply to graphics just as they do to words. Students, faced with millions of online copiable images, will be tempted to appropriate them. No problem, when it comes to desktop-published newsletters, flyers, or HyperStudio and PowerPoint presentations. Students may use images, and other media, as long as they are properly cited, and as long as they are conservative about the portions of copyrighted works they use. This noncommercial, educational use of media falls under the Fair Use Guidelines for Multimedia, www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html.
But the Fair Use Guidelines do not extend to Web publishing. If students want to use copyrighted media in Web publications, they must not only document their sources, but also obtain permission from the copyright holders, unless it is clearly noted that these materials are in the public domain or available for free use. This rule holds for multimedia presentations that may later be posted on the Web. It also holds when students distribute their projects over electronic networks.
This permission thing is so much more complicated than right-clicking and saving. Students must allow time to e-mail and get a response from a copyright holder. Add to this the complication that the Web is a virtual badland of pirated images. More than likely, the image a student wants will have been illegally posted. Students may choose to avoid these copyright complications in two ways. They may use their own graphics, by creating original art or by using digital cameras. Or they may limit their graphics searches to databases with a substantial number of images that are either copyright-free or in the public domain.
How is a student to determine which online images are in the public domain? It's not easy. But I've compiled a list of sites where students are likely to locate copyright-friendly images. Though I cannot guarantee that all images contained in these databases are absolutely free of copyright protection, and I urge students and teachers to read the copyright notices in those databases, as well as those attached to individual media, it's helpful to have a place to start.
When in doubt, students should opt not to publish an image.
Copyright and Digital Images: What Every Teacher Should Know About Copyright, at http://www.2learn.ca/copyright/images.html, is an excellent tutorial designed to help teachers understand and explain digital copyright to students. The site includes a sample letter requesting permission to copy.
And now for a quick tour of some of my copyright-friendly discoveries.
Images of American Political History, at http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/, is a group of more than 500 public-domain images dating to the colonial period. The collection includes a significant archive of images of U.S. presidents, as well as maps relating to the growth of our nation, and population and elections. Another favorite image source is Pics4Learning, at http://pics4learning.com. The site describes itself as "a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students." The collection consists of thousands of donated images, from animals to weather. FreeFoto.com, which is at www.freefoto.com, offers "one of the largest collections of free photographs for noncommercial use on the Internet." The 14,000 images are sorted into 40 main sections with more than 600 subheadings. Discovery School, at http://school.discovery.com/clipart/, offers a growing gallery of education-related clip art. Again, always read the copyright information; even the friendly Discovery School site includes restrictions. Art Images for College Teaching, which is at www.mcad.edu/AICT/index.html, is "a royalty-free image-exchange resource for the educational community." The database includes historical art and architectural images from the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Government agencies are among the best sources of copyright-free images. The American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress, at http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/mdbquery.html, offers rich media collections. Areas such as "Selected Civil War Photographs," "Touring Turn of the Century America," or "America From the Great Depression to World War II" are perfect for student projects. Begin your search by clicking on "Photos and Prints" and be sure to check the "Copyright and Restrictions" section for each collection.
The National Archives and Records Administration is a fabulous source of images. Its NAIL database, which is at www.nara.gov/cgi-bin/starfinder/0?path=images.txt&id=demo&pass=&OK=OK, offers keyword access to the extensive collection. But for those who prefer to browse, begin with a smaller exhibit, "Picturing the Century: One Hundred Years of Photography From the National Archives," at www.nara.gov/exhall/picturing_the_century/home.html. These photographs "vividly capture the sweeping changes of the last one hundred years," says the archives - from Ellis Island immigrants to former President Bill Clinton playing a saxophone presented by Boris Yeltsin.
The Department of the Interior Photo Library Resources, at www.doi.gov/oirm/photolib/, gathers materials from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service. If you're looking for bugs, fruit or livestock, try the Image Gallery of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, at www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/index.html. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's photo library contains more than 16,000 digitized images. The site "spans the world's oceans and atmosphere, carries you from the surface of the sun to the bottom of the sea, and travels through centuries of scientific thought and observations."
Students researching aeronautics or space science are in good shape. NASA offers several exceptional media databases. The NASA Image eXchange, at http://nix.nasa.gov/, is a Web-based engine that searches across one or more of NASA's image and photograph collections. Also check the NASA Multimedia Gallery, at www.nasa.gov/gallery/index.html, NASA Photo Archive, at www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/index.html, and NASA's Planetary Photojournal, at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/.
For more leads to copyright-friendly image sources, visit my list at http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/cfimages.html. Remember these are just leads. You and your students should always read the small print.
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Joyce Kasman Valenza is the librarian at Springfield High School in Erdenheim, Pa. Her column appears each week in tech.life.
E-mail: joyce.valenza@phillynews.com.
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