Using Images on Your Website

 

I've been asked to provide some guidelines regarding the use of images and graphics on your school websites (particularly as it relates to copyright):

1.  BEST OPTION:  Use images/photos that you create.  Most everyone has access to a digital camera these days.  Frankly, the pictures we take are much better than ones we might use from other sites anyway.  Note:  If students are pictured in any of the images, make sure they have a signed media release on file before posting it to the web.

• I mentioned GIMP during our training.  It's a free image-editing program (like Photoshop) that's relatively simple to use.  You can download it from http://www.gimp.org/.  If any of you would like a basic workshop on using it, let me know and I can set that up.  It's very handy for cropping, colorizing, resizing, etc.

2.  Clip Art BEST PRACTICE: Use Clip Art Sparingly - This is not the 90's!  Excessive clip art is a faux pas!  Encourage teachers to only use a piece of clip art if it really adds something to a page.  Avoid cutesy stuff.  And for crying out loud, PLEASE no spinning globes!  Also, animations (animated GIF's) are out... (very 90's!).  Think about the major websites you visit today.  Most probably don't use cheesy clip art and animations.

• WikiMedia: - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - Features a variety of media, most of which can be freely re-used.
• Discovery Education:  http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/ - Please note their usage requirements (include a link back to their page, 10 images max per user, no manipulation of the image)
• Clipart ETC:  http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/ - a variety of images - A teacher can use up to 50 without special permission.
• Public Domain ClipArt - http://www.pdclipart.org/ - Huge collection of clip art.
• I was asked about copyright issues regarding the use of Microsoft's Clip Art.  Here's what it says regarding the use of it from the Microsoft site:  http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/permissions/default.mspx#E4.  Based on these guidelines, I think the non-commercial use on a school website would be acceptable.

3.  Images from the Web:  Don't just simply go out, snag a picture from a website, and throw it on your page.  If you are using an image from another site you really should contact the owner and ask permission and at a bare minimal you should cite the source of the image to give credit.  But again, ask yourself:  Does this add something of value to my page?  Could I do it better myself?  This may be a good opportunity to review the concept of Educational Fair Use.  I recommend the following site for teachers: 

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/code_for_media_literacy_education/

  It's pretty straightforward.  Also, if you're interested, you may be interested in learning more about Creative Commons (an alternative to Copyright).

 

Hope that helps!