Images, Copyright, and Fair Use

Updated Links and Info on January 23, 2019

See this post for more information: Blog Images

Images bring your blog post to life– it adds information and interest. But we can’t just reach up into the clouds and grab a colorful image. The images we choose and use must be those we have permission to use.

This is a challenge and concern for blogging for staff and students: copyright. Using images that are free to use is important– we must teach and model for students how to follow the rules of copyright and licensing.

This is imperative and constant lesson content; in my classroom, as I walked by and saw an image, the student would say, “I checked the copyright for use and cited my source!” I didn’t have to ask. Correct use of images and citing sources was a continuous expectation.

But what are the expectations?

The American Library Association explains copyright and fair use:

Fair Use Checklist

Fair Use Evaluator

and the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Fair Use Jan/2017

and Creative Commons

From Edublogs Support Team

One way to avoid issues with copyright is to download free use images from sites such as Pixabay, Wikimedia Commons, and Unsplash. More information:

Kathleen Morris, An Edublog Blogger, “Where to Find Free Images for Students and Teachers” — tons of links and resources – where to create and find images and eBook guide and student handout on Creative Commons to download.

Where to Find Images / Compfight Image Plugin Compfight searches Creative Commons images, and this post shares how to install a plugin so you can search within your post to find Creative Commons licensed images. –Be aware that the site also mentioned, UnSplash, has changed some of its policies, so check to be sure they are licensed for reuse.

PicMonkey Photo Editing How To

From Jennifer Gonzalez at Cult of Pedagogy:

Jennifer Gonzalez [Cult of Pedagogy] Teaching Students to Legally Use Images Online — tons of information, links, resources for legally finding and using images!

Jennifer Gonzalez Podcast with Transcription “Passion Tools” — scroll down for image creation tools and image editing tools

Your Own Images

Another way to avoid copyright infraction is to take your own pictures and create your own drawings and graphs. This spring, to help me become better at drawing, I participated in Sketch50 [#sketch50] and DoodleaDay [#doodleaday]. You can see my Sketch50 growth! Even though the challenges are over, people are still learning through the prompts and sharing their work! So think about doodling your own!

Drawing App Recommendations from CommonSense