NationStates Jolt Archive

Have you guys seen The Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)? As an educator, I'm finding it very difficult to get the rights to use images in my courses...in Canada, we have no fair use policy for education the way they do in the US. Some of us have been talking for a while about creating a central repository of images that are 'copyright free' for educators...but I think it would be great to have the same thing for music clips, and other media as well. Unfortunately, so many of the so called 'free' images and media clips are not free at all...this is the first example of 'free' meaning free. Does anyone have other examples?

Screw copyright, it's fair use. You're an educator, you can get away with using a photo of a building on a worksheet without worrying about it belonging to an image bank. No-one is going to come after you.

Screw copyright, it's fair use. You're an educator, you can get away with using a photo of a building on a worksheet without worrying about it belonging to an image bank. No-one is going to come after you.
Actually they have. And will continue to do so. There is no fair use policy in Canada. Oh sure, we can use it in the classroom with no one the wiser...but when developing online courses...even FREE online courses, we are severely restricted. We had to pull a whole bunch of courses for copyright infringements. So now, we are extremely careful.

If you did use a copyright protected image, i don't think it would stand in court as you were using it for education purposes, not for profit, but im a Brit and don't know a lot about Canadian law.

If you did use a copyright protected image, i don't think it would stand in court as you were using it for education purposes, not for profit, but im a Brit and don't know a lot about Canadian law.
We still need permission to use an image in our courses, regardless of whether it is for profit or not. At least, that is what our lawyers have told us.

In any case, these photos are phenomenal!

example (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:2004-tsunami.jpg)

another example (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pfau_imponierend.jpg)

i think the modern course that intellectual property rights are taking is one of the most troubling of reactionary trends. there seems to be an ever increasing attempt to commodity and control greater and greater parts of what was once considered the common pool of knowledge and ideas and even language. when the apprentice and donald trump can trademark the phrase "you're fired", we have come to a sad watershed in capitalist ownership of our common culture. a bit of a tangential rant, but...

In any case, these photos are phenomenal!

example (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:2004-tsunami.jpg)

another example (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pfau_imponierend.jpg)
i wonder it cemetery photography would be something they would want, i've got tons of local photos of my hard drive but i'm not sure if its of broad enough interest.

Admittedly, I am not your lawyer; I am not even A lawyer. But I am a law student, and copyright law was one of my courses last semester. There are certainly fair use exceptions- especially for schools. I'll quote.

Educational Institutions
29.4 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution or a person acting under its authority

(a) to make a manual reproduction of a work onto a dry-erase board, flip chart or other similar surface intended for displaying handwritten material, or

(b) to make a copy of a work to be used to project an image of that copy using an overhead projector or similar device

for the purposes of education or training on the premises of an educational institution.

Reproduction for examinations, etc.


(2) It is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution or a person acting under its authority to

(a) reproduce, translate or perform in public on the premises of the educational institution, or

(b) communicate by telecommunication to the public situated on the premises of the educational institution

a work or other subject-matter as required for a test or examination.
I would read the Canadian Copyright Act, where it's published here
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/126289.html#rid-126301

i think the modern course that intellectual property rights are taking is one of the most troubling of reactionary trends. there seems to be an ever increasing attempt to commodity and control greater and greater parts of what was once considered the common pool of knowledge and ideas and even language. when the apprentice and donald trump can trademark the phrase "you're fired", we have come to a sad watershed in capitalist ownership of our common culture. a bit of a tangential rant, but...Hey, when there is a patent system out there that allows people to own the patent to HUMAN GENES (aboriginal genes), you know it's gone too far. The internet was going to bring an explosion of freedom of information, and it really has...but I see that slowly being eroded. So far, there are still many things that are in the public domain, and I hope that the laws won't be changed so much as to restrict these things (music, literature, images etc). Anyway.

i wonder it cemetery photography would be something they would want, i've got tons of local photos of my hard drive but i'm not sure if its of broad enough interest.
I am going to be sifting through my holiday pics and uploading them...someone out there is going to want your pics, and mine...don't worry about broad interest...there will be some interest, and that's enough!

Admittedly, I am not your lawyer; I am not even A lawyer. But I am a law student, and copyright law was one of my courses last semester. There are certainly fair use exceptions- especially for schools. I'll quote.

I would read the Canadian Copyright Act, where it's published here
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/126289.html#rid-126301
We've been through so many copyright seminars here...I've read the Canadian Copyright Act through and through. The main problem we have is that when we develop our courses, the course itself is free for the student(paid for by the government), but the materials cost money. As in, for access to our online course, or for the print version, as well as the multimedia stuff, we have to charge a fee. Most of this fee is refundable upon successful completion of the course...but not all of it. Therefore, we don't quite fall under the non-profit category. As well, the fair use exceptions we USED to have for schools has been radically changed. Even in the regular classroom, teachers are being warned not to use copyrighted images in worksheets as, and I shit you not, "a student could conceivably sell the print material, which would violate the copyright of the image and the fair use clause". Now, whether this is just asshattery at the school board level, and unreasonable paranoia or not...we must abide. And it's killing us.

Sinuhue, I develop free online courses in a somewhat similar type of situation, but we are a non-profit educational organization (not a school) and you can't just use whatever, copyright be damned, in the name of "educational use". I find that if you can find the owner of a photo (or whatever else it is) that you want to use, you can simply request permission to use. They usually grant me use of the image with appropriate acknowledgement of the owner, and they rarely ask for compensation when they learn what it's for.

Sinuhue, I develop free online courses in a somewhat similar type of situation, but we are a non-profit educational organization (not a school) and you can't just use whatever, copyright be damned, in the name of "educational use". I find that if you can find the owner of a photo (or whatever else it is) that you want to use, you can simply request permission to use. They usually grant me use of the image with appropriate acknowledgement of the owner, and they rarely ask for compensation when they learn what it's for.That's actually what we've been doing. A lady here works fulltime just tracking down the owners, and getting permission. But just finding out who owns an image can be very hard sometimes...as many people using it are doing so 'illegally':). We are keeping files of the permission letters, and placing the images in a bank for use, so eventually we will be fine. Right now, however, I'm looking at inserting hundreds of images into the course I'm developing, which translates to about 300 working hours for this one employee in terms of tracking them down and getting permission. It's a pretty expensive proposition...it's probably cheaper to just buy stock photos.

In any case, these photos are phenomenal!

example (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:2004-tsunami.jpg)

another example (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pfau_imponierend.jpg)

Hmmm, the first image explicitely states that it is copyright-free at 600x800 pixels, and the second is also states as being available under GNU.

I think that for images you will find that many copyright holders will allow its use for educational purposes without charge if you ask. the exception being trying to ask about images that are clearly listed as being for sale on a professional photographer's website.

Sure, it can be a pain to ask for every one, but you might also find some people with libraries that they will let you exploit in exchange for proper credit given. but searching some of the big online photo repositores (flickr etc) for relevant images and asking nicely is not THAT hard a task to do....

http://citationmachine.net/
BAHAHAHAHA!!

There's a lot of photogs on the boards here. Maybe, if you give us an idea of what you want, we can dig through our archives and find stuff you can use. I'll give you anything you want for nothing more than a credit.

I shit you not, "a student could conceivably sell the print material, which would violate the copyright of the image and the fair use clause". Now, whether this is just asshattery at the school board level, and unreasonable paranoia or not...we must abide. And it's killing us.

Sounds like ass-hattery to me. I have some random nice pics i took myself with a Canon EOS 20D (vari-focal lens & tripod). You can do what you want with the pics and give them to who you want for any purpose as long as I get the original photo cred.

I tend to take pics of cityscapes when I can and pictures of ships & shipping.

Send me a PM if you want any.

CDA

Hmmm, the first image explicitely states that it is copyright-free at 600x800 pixels, and the second is also states as being available under GNU. That's the point. This is the first copyright free bank of images I've found...and they are of very high quality.

I think that for images you will find that many copyright holders will allow its use for educational purposes without charge if you ask. the exception being trying to ask about images that are clearly listed as being for sale on a professional photographer's website.

Sure, it can be a pain to ask for every one, but you might also find some people with libraries that they will let you exploit in exchange for proper credit given. but searching some of the big online photo repositores (flickr etc) for relevant images and asking nicely is not THAT hard a task to do....
Again, factor in the salary of the woman who is doing all of this fulltime (getting permission and such)...they are unlikely to continue spending this much on it.