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Copyright in Art

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1. Resource: How Important is Originality in the Art Room?
2. Author: Andrew McCormick
3. Copyright info: The Art of Ed 2017

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Let's start with a truth. As teachers, we have so much to juggle: When do I step in and correct this behavior? How and when will I start the new project? Where should this student sit? The list could go on forever. In fact, it's said that teachers make

1,500 educational decisions every single day. I think it's fair to say that for everything we do as teachers, there's probably something we're neglecting or avoiding, as our time and energy is finite. We've got to pick our battles. It's all a balancing act.

One of the overwhelming, untouched laws of most art rooms is the sacred status of student originality. I think most people use originality and creativity interchangeably, but I think originality has a bit more weight and stigma to it. Originality, by its very definition, implies that nothing else like it exists-it is the first of its origin. Creativity can be a bit more inclusive, with such fuzzy exceptions like appropriation and parody.

If we as teachers demand originality of all of our students at all times, are we in fact neglecting or avoiding other issues? Think specifically about working with difficult or stubborn students and how frustrated they must feel when we adopt an unflinching adherence to originality. Do any other subjects during the day operate this way?
Are students expected to add something to the entire field of science that is completely original? Of course not. That's ridiculous.
But we still adhere to this notion that students, and here I'm thinking specifically of middle school kids, have to come up with something completely original in art on a weekly basis.

So let's look at the pros and cons of pushing originality.

The Pros of Pushing Originality

The pros of teaching originality are pretty obvious. An art program that only focuses on building skills by copying famous works or teacher examples is missing out on a huge piece of what the arts teach students-skills like creativity, critical thinking, and complex communication. These skills happen naturally and frequently when students come up with original ideas. But, I'd argue those same skills can develop, albeit on a smaller scale, even if students aren't always being 100% original.

The Pitfalls of Pushing Originality

So, what could possibly be wrong with pushing originality? Let's think about students that have a difficult time starting new projects. They struggle to come up with new ideas. They've been told what to do and how to think for so long that when we present them with limitless opportunities, they can get bogged down.

I've always been a firm believer that kids would rather be seen as tough than struggling, especially by their peers. So, when students feel stuck on a project, motivation drops and behavioral issues sprout up. The exception here might be some of our gifted and naturally engaged students. However, rarely is a class comprised only of these types of students.

What if instead of holding onto originality, we could find ways for students to ease into creating without feeling like they've got to reinvent the wheel? What if we tap into their interests and modify their assignments? I like to think about it in this way: I don't have a problem with students working around their own limitations in skill. This might include using a photocopier, light box, or projector to get assist with deficiencies in drawing. In the same vein, I don't have an issue with students borrowing and appropriating from pop culture when it comes to creating artwork, especially if it gets them out of the rut of self-doubt and apathy. In fact, one could argue that when our students use imagery from their visual culture it's akin to what Pop Art and Post-Modern Artists have been doing for some time.

Students experience joy and learning through making. If we place originality as the gatekeeper of making, then we're prematurely cutting off a good number of students.
So where do you stand on the issue of adhering to student originality? Have you ever lowered the bar or done away with originality to jumpstart your students' learning? Was it a successful gambit?

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How Important is Originality in the Art Room? - The Art of Ed

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Let's start with a truth. As teachers, we have so much to juggle: When do I step in and correct this behavior? How and when will I start the new project? Where should this student sit? The list could go on forever. In fact, it's said that teachers make 1,500 educational decisions every ...

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Resource 4: Finding the Copyright Holder

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Resource 4: Finding the Copyright Holder

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1.  Resource: New Media Rights
2. Author: New Media Rights
3. License info:  CC BY-NC 3.0 US

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How do I find the copyright holder? | New Media Rights

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In the US copyright rights are granted the moment the creator of the work fixes their work in a tangible medium of expression. In fact you likely create over a dozen copyrighted works a day. From the moment you type out an email or take a selfie you are granted a copyright in that work, no registration required.

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1. Resource: YouTube
2. Author: Pond5
3. License: Standard YouTube License, CC BY

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Join Pond5 now! - http://goo.gl/tGqmjz Ever wonder what Public Domain content is? Have you ever wondered what your usage rights are regarding Public Domain items in your own productions? Good, then this video is for you!

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1. Resource: Creative Commons
2. Author: Creative Commons Corporation
3. License info: CC BY 4.0

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What our licenses do

The Creative Commons copyright licenses and tools forge a balance inside the traditional "all rights reserved" setting that copyright law creates. Our tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative work. The combination of our tools and our users is a vast and growing digital commons, a pool of content that can be copied, distributed, edited, remixed, and built upon, all within the boundaries of copyright law.

License design and rationale

All Creative Commons licenses have many important features in common. Every license helps creators - we call them licensors if they use our tools - retain copyright while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work - at least non-commercially. Every Creative Commons license also ensures licensors get the credit for their work they deserve. Every Creative Commons license works around the world and lasts as long as applicable copyright lasts (because they are built on copyright). These common features serve as the baseline, on top of which licensors can choose to grant additional permissions when deciding how they want their work to be used.

A Creative Commons licensor answers a few simple questions on the path to choosing a license - first, do I want to allow commercial use or not, and then second, do I want to allow derivative works or not? If a licensor decides to allow derivative works, she may also choose to require that anyone who uses the work - we call them licensees - to make that new work available under the same license terms. We call this idea "ShareAlike" and it is one of the mechanisms that (if chosen) helps the digital commons grow over time. ShareAlike is inspired by the GNU General Public License, used by many free and open source software projects.

Our licenses do not affect freedoms that the law grants to users of creative works otherwise protected by copyright, such as exceptions and limitations to copyright law like fair dealing. Creative Commons licenses require licensees to get permission to do any of the things with a work that the law reserves exclusively to a licensor and that the license does not expressly allow. Licensees must credit the licensor, keep copyright notices intact on all copies of the work, and link to the license from copies of the work. Licensees cannot use technological measures to restrict access to the work by others.

Try out our simple License Chooser.

Three "Layers" Of Licenses

Our public copyright licenses incorporate a unique and innovative "three-layer" design. Each license begins as a traditional legal tool, in the kind of language and text formats that most lawyers know and love. We call this the Legal Code layer of each license.

But since most creators, educators, and scientists are not in fact lawyers, we also make the licenses available in a format that normal people can read - the Commons Deed (also known as the " human readable " version of the license). The Commons Deed is a handy reference for licensors and licensees, summarizing and expressing some of the most important terms and conditions. Think of the Commons Deed as a user-friendly interface to the Legal Code beneath, although the Deed itself is not a license, and its contents are not part of the Legal Code itself.

The final layer of the license design recognizes that software, from search engines to office productivity to music editing, plays an enormous role in the creation, copying, discovery, and distribution of works. In order to make it easy for the Web to know when a work is available under a Creative Commons license, we provide a " machine readable" version of the license - a summary of the key freedoms and obligations written into a format that software systems, search engines, and other kinds of technology can understand. We developed a standardized way to describe licenses that software can understand called CC Rights Expression Language (CC REL) to accomplish this.

Searching for open content is an important function enabled by our approach. You can use Google to search for Creative Commons content, look for pictures at Flickr, albums at Jamendo, and general media at spinxpress. The Wikimedia Commons, the multimedia repository of Wikipedia, is a core user of our licenses as well.

Taken together, these three layers of licenses ensure that the spectrum of rights isn't just a legal concept. It's something that the creators of works can understand, their users can understand, and even the Web itself can understand.

Free and non-free licenses

There's no right or wrong Creative Commons license. That said, some licenses are more appropriate for some applications than others-for example, only the free licenses (CC0, BY, BY-SA) should be used for public sector information. Sometimes licensors mistakenly think that the license they're using allows types of reuse that it actually restricts, or vice versa. For more information on this problem, see our page on the differences between free and non-free licenses.

When deciding which license to apply to your work, ask yourself what types of reuse you'd like to encourage, and license accordingly.

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Licensing considerations - Creative Commons

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What our licenses do The Creative Commons copyright licenses and tools forge a balance inside the traditional "all rights reserved" setting that copyright law creates. Our tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative work.

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Resource 1: Attribution & Creative Commons

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Resource 1: Attribution & Creative Commons

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1.  Resource: The Edublogger

2. Author: Sue Waters

3. Copyright info: Edublogs 2017, Powered by Wordpress

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The Edublogs support team regularly receives complaints and official requests to remove copyrighted content that users have placed on blogs.

The legal jargon with respect to digital copyrights can be confusing - especially since different countries have their own laws and regulations.

Understanding digital copyright is an essential skill we need to understand and teach our students.

With this post, we hope to dispel a few myths and pull together a complete list of resources for teachers and students to use when blogging and working with content online.
This post was originally written by Ronnie Burt, on the Edublogger, on Feb, 2012. It's been re-written with content and comments from the original post combined with updated content by Sue Waters. Dexter, the cat, is owned by Ronnie Burt 🙂
Rule 1: You Can't Use Everything You Find On the Web

This may seem obvious, but judging by the notices we have received, many teachers (and especially students) are under the impression that if it is on the web, then it is up for grabs.

If you and your students keep rule 1 in mind, then everything else should be fine.

Rule 2: There Are Resources You CAN Use

One of the myths out there is that you can't use any image, video, or content from another website on your blog.

That simply isn't true, and we'll cover our favorite sources of "fair use", "public domain" and "free to use" resources at the end of this post.

It is troubling that while copyright is important to protect the hard work of others, it can also stifle creativity and hamper educational goals.

Understanding Fair Use

You might be aware that as educators, we have a few more flexible rules, called "Fair Use", to play by.

That is, in some cases, if an image, text, video, etc. is being used for educational purposes, there might be more flexible copyright rules.

For example, a video that was purchased in a store can usually be shown in a classroom when the video is tied to the curriculum being taught. Otherwise, showing a class full of students a video would be considered a "public performance" and would be against the law.

The trouble is, most of the laws and rules that cover fair use and education were written well before the invention of the web.

While a textbook or curricula resource might allow for photocopying for classroom use, it most likely isn't going to allow you to make a PDF of the document and put it on your class blog or website for students to print themselves.

The end result would be the same, right? A student would have a printed copy.

But make sure to check specific copyright restrictions before uploading anything you've scanned to the web!

For more, check out the Fair Use FAQ for Educators here from the excellent resource site, TeachingCopyright.org.

What Can Be a Violation?

Here are the most common types of content that we have been contacted about and asked to remove on our blogs:

Images - mostly found through google image search

Curriculum docs and PDFs - especially handouts, student activities, chapters of textbooks and music sheets.

Music - usually mp3s that students have uploaded to share on their blogs

But I Won't Be Caught...

If only that were true.

Google makes it incredibly easy for companies and content creators to seek out those posting their work on the web.

Sadly, we are also noticing more and more "law firms" and organizations out there looking for copyrighted content as a way of generating business. They then contact the copyright holder offering their services to get the content removed (for a fee of course).

It is a ruthless (and apparently profitable) practice, and we'd be lying if we haven't argued with a few that contact Edublogs about how they are hurting the education of students. But let's keep on topic...

What If I Am Caught?

Well of course in this case a good offense is your best defense. Check your blogs and class websites for any potentially offending material. If you find anything, just remove it.

The law requires copyright holders to give you (and the host of your site, such as Edublogs, WordPress, etc.) an official notification. Take these seriously and act quickly to remove what they want if you are in the wrong. That should be the end of it.

We were once notified about a teacher with a blog on Edublogs that had a harmless world map image on his blog that he had presumably found using Google image search. When we contacted him telling him why we had removed the image, he asked if he and his students could write an apology letter to the copyright holder.

It was excellent - turning what could be a bit of an embarrassing mistake into a teachable moment for his students! Now this teacher had a good reason to discuss copyright and creative commons with his students...

So What Is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons, founded in 2001, is an organization which provides free content license known as a creative commons license that people can apply to their work.

When you license your work with creative commons, you are giving people the permission to use it without having to ask permission, provided they use it in the manner stated in your creative commons license.

The reason people use creative commons licenses is to make it easier for everyone to share and adapt creative work without the concern of copyright infringement.

Watch this video on Creative Commons.

Creative commons licenses are used for books, websites, blogs, photographs, films, videos, songs and other audio & visual recordings.

If an image, or website, doesn't include a Creative Commons license, or isn't public domain work, or indicates that the content is free to use than it automatically implies all content is copyright and you shouldn't use!

Unless a blogger includes a Creative Commons license, all content on that blog is automatically the copyright of the blogger.

Look for A Creative Commons License

One thing to look for when figuring out if an online resource (ie. image, video, text, etc.) is free to copy or embed on your blog, is to look to see if there is Creative Commons license.

This is what a Creative Commons license looks like!

That is fancy talk for letting you know that you are free to use anything on the site as long as you:

1. Give an attribution or credit that lets others know where you got the info with a link,

2. Won't profit in any way from using the content and use it for non-business purposes only, and

3. Anything you create with the content, you must use the same license.

Watch this video for a summary of the different creative commons' licences.

Finding Creative Commons Images

One of the most common sources of Creative Commons images used by bloggers is Flickr (an online photo sharing website).

Unfortunately many assume Flickr images are licensed under creative commons and allowed to be used. This isn't the case.

Images marked as "All Rights Reserved" are copyrighted and require permission from the person who uploaded it to Flickr. Images with "Some rights reserved" means the Flickr user has applied a Creative Commons license to their photo and you can use the image in the manner specified by the license.

If you look at images directly on Flickr always check to see which license applies to ensure you only use the image in the manner specified by the license.

The best option for finding Flickr Creative commons images is to use one of the following Flickr Search Engines:

Compfight - It provides a range of search options including search by tags only vs. all the text, licenses, the option to show or hide originals and turn on/off the safe content filter.

Photos for Class - A student friendly place for searching safe images from Creative Commons Flickr. The downloaded images include attribution of the photographer and the image license terms.

Multicolr Search Lab - Allows you to search Flickr images by color. This is a handy tool when you're trying to match specific colors. All you need to do is select up to 5 colors.

Creative Commons and Image Attribution

It's a requirement of all Creative Commons Licenses that you attribute the original author. This means you can't just use a creative commons image without acknowledging the person who originally created it.

Within or at the end your blog post you must attribute the image, include their copyright information and you should link the photo back to it's original photo page.
Here's an example of image attribution:
Photo by Chotda licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

The easiest way to add Creative Commons images with attribution is using either:

1. The Compfight Safe Images plugin - you'll find instructions here on how to use.

2. Photos for Class

Adapting Creative Commons Images

Some educators like to take photos from the Internet and combine them with text or edit the image to remix it. This is allowed provided you've attributed the original work, their Creative Commons License allows derivatives, and you've shared using the same Creative Commons License.
Here's of how you attribute material from which you created a derivative work.
This work is a derivative of ' Sask Scene' by Alec Couros used under CC BY 2.0. It is licensed under CC BY 2.0 by Sue Waters.

You'll find more detailed information on best practices for attribution here.

What are Free and Public Domain Images?

There are websites that provide public domain images that are free to use, or have their own free to use licensing.

Public domain works are those works that:

1. Automatically enter public domain when created because they are not copyrightable.

2. Their copyright has expired.

3. Their creator has assigned their work to public domain.

Public domain images are free and available for unrestricted use.

Attributing free to use and public domain images

Public domain images and free to use images may not have a strict legal requirement of attribution, depending on the jurisdiction of content reuse, and depending on the terms and conditions of use of content from the website, but attribution is recommended to give correct provenance. This means within or at the end your blog post you must attribute the image, include their copyright information and you should link the photo back to it's original photo page.
Here's some good free and public domain image websites to use with students:

1. Pixabay - A curated repository for finding and sharing public domain images. All of the images on Pixabay can be used freely in digital and printed format, for personal and commercial use. Attribution to the original author is not required.

2. Openclipart is a gallery of clip art images that have been released into the public domain that can be used freely, for personal and commercial use, without attribution.

3. Wikimedia Commons - Media file repository for public domain and freely-licensed educational media content, including images, sound and video clips. Images and other media on Wikimedia Commons are almost all under some kind of free license (usually public domain, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, or GFDL (GNU Free Documentation license) and may require attribution.

4. The Commons - Set up to help share photos and images from the World's public photography archives. Once you've located an image on The Commons you should click on the 'No known copyright restrictions' beneath the image. This takes you to the Rights Statement for the Institution who supplied the image. This is where you'll find information on how the institution would like the image to be attributed.

5. Getty Open Content images - Are all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required but they request attribution.

6. Getty Images - An American Stock photo agency which allows their images to be used for free for non-commercial use. Getty Images have no relationship with the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Getty Open Content images. Getty Images can be embedded into posts uisng their embed code.

Copyright and Videos

Video is more confusing than images because you see a lot of remixed videos online or videos using commercial music especially on YouTube.

You are free to embed any video from YouTube, Vimeo, BlipTV, WatchKnowLearn, etc. on your blog or website as long as it gives you the embed option.

That being said, you (or your students) can't necessarily use parts from videos on YouTube (or other sources) to make mashups or as part of another video. If you use any video that you are cutting, making changes to, or adding to a project, or adding audio, it is better to use creative commons content, free or public domain content or request permission from the copyright holder.

If you do use copyright content on YouTube this is what might happen:

1. The video and/or audio is pulled because of a DMCA complaint, copyright infringement or content ID match.

2. No action is taken but they might add an advertisement to your video that says 'Buy this song'.

The following videos are good for explaining video copyright to younger students.

Curriculum and Text

You can't upload student resources from most textbook companies or purchased curriculum - so be careful and make sure you have permission before doing so!

Here's some resources that you can use:

Related Posts and More Info on Copyright

Check out the following resources for more information:

Commonly Asked Copyright Questions

Here's answers to commonly asked questions we've received:
In private or for-profit institutions, how can we use images and video, if at all? Is it even okay to use YouTube videos in class? What about online articles? Is there a difference between a class of paying students and a training delivered to teachers?
First, any images, videos, or content under a Creative Commons license will let you freely use the material with your student, you just may not be able to turn around and sell any changes you make. Any video on YouTube should be fine for showing in class, and if an image is on the web, you can always display the website that contains the image - where the line is drawn is on copying that image and pasting it on your own blog or website.
Can the onus not be placed on those who post these potential classroom materials, to make it clear who can and can´t or used for and not used for, surely this would be the least time consuming option.
Excellent point! Awareness of copyright and the importance of website owners to make it clear their licenses is improving. I think sticking to trusted sources and using filtered searches is the safest option.
If you can't use images from the internet why is it that google can group all the images together for people to use?
Interesting thought for sure. Website owners can ask Google not to index their sites and images with a quick code. For bloggers, under Settings > Privacy, users can do the same thing. Not sure that really answers your question though 🙁
Is there a straightforward way to get the permission needed to use a 'clip' from a you tube video?
I've seen people leave a comment on the YouTube post, but there is no guarantee you'll get a response.

Some YouTube videos are licensed under a Creative Commons license, and there is an advanced search filter on YouTube that would let you search for these. If you find one, you could use it without permission as long as you follow what the license allows (ie. provide attribution and not make money on the project).
What about the LIBRARY!?
Not so much a question, but Elijah left an excellent comment down below remind us that this is exactly why our libraries can be such valuable resources. Libraries have access to tons of licensed materials and librarians are specially trained to help us navigate the difficult copyright laws. Thanks, Elijah, for the tip!
When I get permission to post something that's been copyrighted, am I supposed to share it a certain way so others that I have permission to use?
The answer here really depends on the license of the original content and the agreement you have with the original owner. Most of the time a link back to the original works perfect. The location of the link could be in an image caption, in the text itself, or at the end of your piece (like the "References" section of a formal paper).

Maybe APA/MLA/etc. should come out with a set of web publishing guidelines that include citations and reference lists! How would something like that even get started?
Can students read published books aloud, record themselves & publish recording on class blog?
The answer to this is probably not 🙁

However, many books are in the public domain - including most books written before the 1930s. These are all of the free books you see in the e-reader stores. Students would be free to record themselves and publish any book in the public domain. It should say somewhere near the beginning of the book if it is in the public domain (where copyright and publisher information usually goes).

Add Your Own Creative Commons License

And to finish with! Luckily, the CreativeCommons.org website has a ton of excellent information and makes it easy to grab the license you wish to have on your own blog.

If you (or your students) have blogs, then it is a good idea to choose the most appropriate license and make it visible on your blog. This a great activity for teaching students about Creative Commons licenses while telling others how to use content on your blogs can be used.
Here's how to add a license to your blog
1. Go to Creative Commons Choose A License page.

2. Select your License Features by clicking on the check boxes next to your preferences.

Below is the license features you would select if you wanted to add a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Watch this video for a summary of the different creative commons' licences.

You'll find more About the Licenses here.

3. Scroll down to ' Have a web page? ' and copy the code.

4. Go to Appearance > Widgets

5. Add a text widget to the desired sidebar.

6. Paste the code into the text widget.

7. Click Save.

8. You should now see the widget in your sidebar.

What Do You Think?
This post was originally written by Ronnie Burt, on the Edublogger, on Feb, 2012. It's been re-written with content and comments from the original post combined with updated content by Sue Waters. Dexter, the cat, is owned by Ronnie Burt 🙂
Have we missed any important tips or good sites to find resources that are free to use?

Let us know in the comments below and we will be sure to add it to the post!

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The Educator's Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons

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The Edublogs support team regularly receives complaints and official requests to remove copyrighted content that users have placed on blogs. The legal jargon with respect to digital copyrights can be confusing - especially since different countries have their own laws and regulations. Understanding digital copyright is an essential skill we need to understand and teach our students.

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1. Resource: Writtent.com, Noble Blogger: How to Cite Pictures
2. Author: Sasha Zinevych
3. Copyright info: Copyright © 2017 Technie

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Today's media is all about the visual. Your website is not likely to survive if it does not have striking graphics. Graphics are the spice in your reader's soup.

It's not always convenient, or even possible to use your own materials, so naturally you turn to outside sources. However, your effort to dress up a page will not end as soon as you find a proper picture, because now, you need to cite it correctly.

Many bloggers are really struggling with correctly citing the source of their graphics. Copyright laws are strict, and one small omission may result in a spoilt reputation or even a lawsuit. In order to avoid that, you must stop being an online Robin Hood and improve your blogging processes.

So, you need to use safe images in your blog post. What's the plan? I will explain everything with the help of the following guidelines, provided by a Noble Blogger.

1. You have found an image online. Start by checking its copyright status.

The first tool to use is TinEye, which comes into play when you need to find out the origins of the image and the availability of versions with higher resolution. TinEye will tell you who owns the image, where it comes from and who can use it. You can either upload the image or use its URL.

2. If the picture is under copyright, you can ask permission to use it.

It's usually not difficult to find the photographer's contact information and ask if you can use his or her images on your blog with the appropriate tribute. Make sure the permission is written.

3. If you want to find pictures that are free of copyright, there are several options.

You can use "Advanced Search" in Google Images Search, choosing "free to use or share" or "free to use or share, even commercially" depending on your needs.

Some free websites where you don't need any permissions for using images in blog posts are Flickr, morgueFile, FreeFoto, FreeDigitalPhotos and Pixabay. In many cases, you will need to include a link to the source and a small nod to the source. Pixabay offers images you can use without any links or attributions.

For example, if I find a photo posted on Flickr by Tori Siegel, I'll create my citation the following way:

Please note that there are several license types presented on Flickr, including Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike and No Derivative Works. Choose the best fit for your blog needs.

NOTE: There are paid picture services too. Stock Xchange, Fotolia, Shutterstock and Dreamstime will request a small fee from you ($1-2 for a small pic). You can use keywords to make your search faster. You won't need to attribute to the source in this case.

4. Name the person who owns the picture.

Do it right under each picture you use. It is a good idea to use full name and check if you spelled it right. The image credit should be put next to the picture, either right underneath it or on the right/left side, depending on what position looks best in your blog post.

If you find the original source of the image on the photographer's website, you should use the following format of your image credit:
Image by [Author's Name with a hyperlink to the image owner's website].
If, on the other hand, you find the image at a website that is different from the author's website, you should use the following format:
Image by [Author's Name with a hyperlink to his/her website] via [Name of the website where you found the picture with the hyperlink attached].
Here's an example of one way to handle this tricky, yet necessary process: I simply emailed Melody Miller, a talented designer inspired by vintage fashion, and Irene Suchocki, an amazing fine art photographer who is in love with London, Paris and New York, and they both helped me out.

When I found a lovely typewriter image on Melody's own website, I cited it like this:

But if I come across the artwork of Irene Suchocki - one of the most popular photographers in Canada - on a décor website, I need to include both links to Irene's personal website and the source where I found the picture:
Image by Irene Suchocki via Etsy Shop
5. Remember to use the links to the websites where the picture originally appeared.

You cannot just put "via Google," "via Pinterest," "via Flickr" or "via Tumblr." Sometimes you have to do some research on the matter; usually, it's an online gallery or exhibition that you need.

6. Name the image in order to show what it represents.

Make sure you get it right and do a double check.

When you'resaving an image that you want to use on your WordPress blog post, name it according to what is on it instead of tricky codes that are a default name of your save. This way, the name of your file will be recorded, and it will be a lot easier to find on Google and attract more traffic.

For example, if you use an image from a conference or other event, it is wise to add the conference's name, location and date. Let's say it's something like NMX 2013. Put "nmx_2013_las_vegas" as the picture's name. (However, if it's just a photo of a flower, you don't have to be too tricky about it.)

7. Use the attribute links both in the body and at the end of your blog post.

It will be super nice and very noble of you! Building relationships in business is, for the most part, extremely important for your company's promotion.

The image owner may be very pleased with your gesture and if so, will cooperate with you in the future.

8. Familiarize yourself with Copyright and Fair Use regulations.

It's better to avoid using somebody else's material that is under copyright, in case you cannot get permission to use it.

If you are using pictures frequently, or when it comes to unique photos of great value, it's especially important not to risk violating the copyright law, in order to prevent potential lawsuits.

9. Be aware of the gray areas in copyright laws.

Some of these rules are still unwritten and are more related to etiquette rather than law.

Fair Use is the most disputable area in copyright, as it assumes that you may not have to ask permission from the image owner if you're using it for getting feedback, criticism or comments, or for the purposes of teaching, educating, reporting news or research. At times, the bond between educational and commercial purposes is unclear on blogs, so it's better to ask permission and play it safe.

10. Learn how to use Creative Commons.

Creative Commons is a great platform to share creative materials for free with the help of user-friendly copyright licenses. The artwork you can freely use is not limited to pictures - there are also songs, academic and scientific works, and videos.

Before you start working with copyright, it's reasonable to spend enough time educating yourself on the issue. Copyright Law of the United States helps you out with this great extract. The expiration terms for copyright works can be found here.

Don't think you're simply going the extra mile - the benefits of being a nobleman of your industry are too intriguing to miss. Being a Robin Hood online is not as romantic as the legend implies, and copyrights represent a case when discretion is definitely the better part of valor. So put pen to paper and prove that you can do better by citing images on your blog using all the necessary attributes.

Do you love or hate citing images? What tools do you use for it? What do you think are the benefits of being noble in terms of image copyrights? Share your thoughts in comments please.

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Noble Blogger Guidelines: How to Cite Pictures | Writtent

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Many bloggers are really puzzled with how to cite pictures from outer sources correctly. Copyright laws are strict, and one small omission may result in a spoilt reputation or even a lawsuit. In order to avoid that, you must stop being an online Robin Hood and improve your blogging processes.

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1. Resource: Who Is Hosting This?
2. Author: Who Is Hosting This?
3. Copyright info: WhoIsHostingThis.com is operated by Quality Nonsense Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Company No. 05889123. VAT No. 879480072. Registered office: 27 Mortimer Street, London, W1T 3BL, UK. © 2007-2017 WhoIsHostingThis.com.

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For many bloggers, copyright law isn't always something that gets taken into consideration until some form of infringement occurs - either to them or in accusations against them. And this is a major problem.

For publishing and news professionals, copyright law is something that's taught very early on: here is what you can publish and here is what you can't. But in this digital age of Google images, social media photo albums, and lots of high quality content readily available online, bloggers may find themselves in a sticky spot if they don't familiarize themselves with the law.

In this article, we're going to discuss copyright law for bloggers. We'll explain:

What is legal and what isn't.

Tips for protecting yourself from getting sued as a blogger.

Tips for protecting your work as a blogger.

Understanding What's Right and What's Wrong

In order to work within the legal parameters of copyright law, bloggers must first understand the basics. Here is a high-level overview to get you up to speed:

"Copyright" is just that: it's the legal right to copy a work.

Copyright applies to any work, published or unpublished, at the moment of its creation.

Unless you have entered into a work-for-hire situation, you own the copyright to any piece of work you create.

Copyright notices and registrations are only necessary if you need to take legal action against infringement.

Infringement occurs when someone uses part or all of your work and claims it as their own.

If you want to learn more about copyright law, check out The Ultimate Guide to Copyright. If you're ready to move on, let's discuss how bloggers can determine if the work they've created falls within the parameters of the law.

The Slippery Slope of Fair Use

There is one important "exception" to copyright law that every blogger absolutely need to know about. This is what's known as Fair Use.

Fair Use basically says that a work is inherently copyright protected, but that there are certain circumstances when it's okay for others to make use of that work. These are some of the determining factors bloggers (and others) should use when deciding whether or not they can borrow from someone else's copyrighted work:

1. Profitability

If someone stands to gain anything monetarily from using the work, that will almost always be a violation of copyright law. On the other hand, non-commercial use is not always acceptable either, so it's important to consider other factors as well.

2. Market Effect

While this is technically the fourth point built into Fair Use, it's closely tied into the commercial and nature aspects of works, so it belongs here.

In sum, if a work can substitute and supersede by making use of someone else's original work, this is more than likely going to be a case of infringement. Consider the following:

It is highly advisable not to include works or even trademarked names of products or companies if they exist within the same industry or space as you. This can lead to consumer confusion and could potentially help you profit just by referring to the competition.

Nominative Fair Use, however, is when trademarked names are used for non-commercial purposes. Typically, the trademarked name or copyrighted work is referenced for the sake of clarifying an argument or story, and not for the purposes of profit.

Bloggers need to be careful when writing about well-known public figures or their work. This is known as the right of publicity and can be invoked by those public figures if they feel that your work stands to profit from using their likeness, name, work, or an insinuation that you are endorsed by them.

3. Nature of Use

This criterion for determining the nature of the use of copyrighted material can get a bit murky, so tread lightly and consulting professional legal advise is a good idea. Here are some important points to keep in mind:

Creative works are copyright protected at the moment of their inception. Ideas for works are not protected.

Facts included in educational, technical, or scientific work are not copyright protected.

Segments of unpublished works may be more acceptable to use (pending no other conflict with the rest of the law) than published works.

If a work is used as parody, criticism, or commentary, it is typically acceptable under Fair Use. That being said, satire is not acceptable.

The case for derivative or transformative works can also be made. In other words, if you've altered the original in some way that it becomes something else, then it may allowed under Fair Use.

4. Amount Used

If you use a larger portion of a work (or the entirety of it), you're more likely looking at a case for infringement than if you were to cite a short snippet or passage to help your argument.

Be Careful

While the basic tenets of Fair Use seem pretty straightforward, it's not always that simple.

Who's to say that your parody work won't be seen as a satire? What if the original artist doesn't approve of you making much more money off the derivation of his work than he did? What if you only quoted a single sentence, but the author still considers any copying of their words infringement? If you're looking for some clear-cut examples of what is legal and what's not, take a look at More on Fair Use and Fair Dealing.

Your Obligation as a Blogger

When it comes to copyright in blogging, it's better to be on the safe side and simply not use other people's work. However, if you should have a legitimate reason for including someone else's words or images within your own, follow these guidelines.

If you're going to use someone else's idea (not the actual content, but just the concept), always provide attribution and link to their original work.

If you're going to use someone else's facts, always provide attribution and link to their original work.

If you're going to quote someone else's words, review the Fair Use parameters first. Also be sure to review their website for a Terms of Use statement or Creative Commons license. If in doubt, reach out to the original author and ask for permission.

If you're going to include a video or an audio clip, always embed the file from the original creator's source page so that it links directly back to them. If you use one from YouTube or Vimeo, ensure that the original content does not violate copyright law.

If you're going to link to someone else's content, it is okay to provide either a "surface" link to their home page or a "deep" link to a specific page that includes the content. Deep linking was previously disputed, but has been deemed acceptable under Fair Use.

If you're going to use content from the government (eg, government documents, legal cases, federal or state statutes), these are all part of the public domain and acceptable to use.

If you're curious as to whether a work's copyright has expired and, consequently, entered the public domain, you'll want to verify this either with the U.S. Copyright Office or by referring to a website offering content from the public domain.

If you've encountered a Creative Commons license for images or content, note that the work is still copyright protected. What this means then is that the work is eligible for licensing by the author.

If you're going to use someone else's photos, but can't find proof that they're in the public domain or available for licensing, don't use them. Purchase the license to a photo from a stock photography website or take your own photos instead.

As a creative professional, you owe it to other creative individuals to treat their work with respect. Consider this the Golden Rule of blogging: what would you do or how would you feel if you discovered that someone ripped off your work - even in the most minor of ways - and profited from it?

Resources

Bloggers are no different than any other writer or content creator, which means they deserve the same amount of protection under the law. Whether you've already found an instance of infringement or you're nervous about it happening in the future, it's important to understand your rights and to take action now to protect your work and yourself.

Here are some resources and tools you should start with:

Creative Commons License: for bloggers that want to encourage others to use your work (with proper attribution, of course), you'll want to set up a Creative Commons license. You can set up your license for free on their website.

Google Alerts: this may be the most labor-intensive of all the tools, but it will help you easily track down cases of infringement if you don't want to pay for Copyscape's premium services. Just copy and paste a snippet of your content into a Google Alert and let the search engine identify copycats for you.

Copyscape: there are two reasons you'll need Copyscape: 1) to quickly search and find cases where your content has been stolen on the Internet, and 2) to ensure that any contributing bloggers (or yourself) has not intentionally or unintentionally stolen anyone else's content before publishing.

WordPress Plugins

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform. These plugins will help you manage your blog. If you use another CMS, you may be able to find similar plugins or extensions.

Footer Putter: create a copyright notice and place it in the footer of your blog with the help of this plugin. For a valid notice, you'll need to include three elements: the © (copyright symbol), the year the blog was created, and the name of the copyright owner.

Auto Terms of Service and Privacy Policy: if you do not want anyone to use the content found on your website, you can include this information within a Terms of Use page.

Yoast SEO: you might not realize it, but your RSS feed is highly susceptible to site scrapers looking to steal your content and rank higher for it than you. Make sure you've updated your site's Reading settings to only include summaries of your blog posts. Then use the Yoast SEO plugin to add a link back to your site in the header or footer of your RSS feed.

Image Watermark: one of the easiest ways to protect your images is to include a watermark on them. This also happens to be a great way to brand your images, too.

Knowing is Half the Battle

While you may be sure that you haven't violated anyone else's copyright, you might not be so sure about whether or not someone has violated your own. For bloggers that are serious about growing their website, business, and reputation, it's absolutely crucial to understand copyright law.

Further Reading and Resources

We have more guides, tutorials, and infogragphics related to copyright:

If you really want to understand copyright, we've created a great resource, The Ultimate Guide to Copyright And it really is the ultimate guide; it will tell most of what you need to know. After that, you'll probably need a lawyer.

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For many bloggers, copyright law isn't always something that gets taken into consideration until some form of infringement occurs - either to them or in accusations against them. And this is a major problem. For publishing and news professionals, copyright law is something that's taught very early on: here is what you can publish and here is what you can't.

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Resource 9: Finding Public Domain Images & Videos

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Resource 9: Finding Public Domain Images & Videos

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1. Resource: YouTube
2. Author: Ask The Techies, Host D. Lee Beard
3. License: Standard YouTube Licence, CC BY

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Ep. 111: How to Find Free Public Domain Video and Images

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http://AsktheTechies.com explains where to find free public domain images and video just like the ones he used in his iMovie `09 tutorial series. Public domain content is available for anyone to use freely for any purpose so there are no copyright problems to worry about! D.Lee also discusses the "Creative Commons" license.

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1. Resource: Karen Woodward
2. Author: Karen Woodward
3. Copyright info: Powered by Blogger 2017

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What would a blog be without artwork? Boring!

But artwork, like blog posts, is copyrighted. Unless the copyright holder gives permission, their artwork is off limits.

Fortunately, a wonderful group of people have set up the Creative Commons and given artists an easy way to license their work so that it can be used, free of charge, as long as certain conditions are met.

How To Attribute Art That Has Been Licensed Under The Creative Commons

1. Name of the work (keep intact any copyright notices for the work)
2. List the author of the work (If it's not obvious, look for it)
3. List the license under which you are using the work.

It isn't strictly required, but it's nice and best practices to:

a) link to the page where the artist is displaying the work, to
b) link to the creator of the work (e.g., her Flickr page) and to
c) link to the web page that describes the license the artist released his/her work under.

Also, it's nice to let the artist know you've used their work and thank them for making it available.

Unsure whether your attribution is correct? Here's the advice of the folks over at the Creative Commons:

Ask yourself whether an interested viewer/reader/listener/other user is able to easily discern who gets credit (attribution) for the original work, and the freedoms associated with that work (license notice). If they can, great! If not, consider whether you are making a good faith effort to use the licensed work according to its terms. (Is Your Attribution Good Enough?)

Examples

Example 1: Attribution Only

Let's suppose we find a gorgeous work of art like "Morning Fog Emerging From Trees" by A Guy Taking Pictures on Flickr. How would we attribute it?

You can see my attribution in the caption under the picture. That's how I did it because I didn't have a lot of space. Here is another attribution which would be just as good:

"Morning Fog Emerging From Trees" by Flickr user A Guy Taking Pictures. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Example 2: Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)

Here's a photo, "Playing with the ball 3", by the same artist I used in my first post today: Tambako the Jaguar. I love his work. The one I used this morning, "Roaring Lion" was under an Attribution Only license, but this one is Attribution No Derivatives.

No derivatives means if I wanted to tweak the oranges and blues in Photoshop I'd be out of luck. I can use it whole and complete, commercially or non-commercially, but it has to be attributed (of course!) and it has to be left unaltered.

I did the attribution for Playing with the ball 3 a little different than Morning Fog Emerging From Trees, but this one contains the same information, it's a stylistic difference. Also, I was, again, trying to get all the necessary information into a small space.

If I had more room I would have done this:

"Playing with the ball 3 " by Flickr user Tambako the Jaguar under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivs 2.0 .

(In the above I underlined where I would put the relevant links.)

Example 3: Attribution of an piece you altered

Sometimes I like to alter a photograph in a way that makes a certain color 'pop'. Or a photo might seem washed out and I want to make the colors more vivid.

Naturally I need to attribute the underlying work to the artist who created it but I also have to indicate that it has been altered. Additionally, even though I don't have to credit myself as being the one who altered it, it's probably a good idea.

I've looked for examples of how to do this but didn't find anything matching the situation, so this is my interpretation. In other words, I'm winging it! This is probably a good place to state that what I have written here in no way constitutes legal advice. I'm not a lawyer nor am I dating one. :-)

This is how I would word the attribution:

This work is based on "~~LoVe nEvEr SToPs~~" by "" under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. The above work is "Sapphire Night" by Karen Woodward and is also licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

That's a mouthful! (Underlining indicates the relevant links) I don't have room to put all that in the caption so I am hoping my shorter version is fine:

"~~LoVe nEvEr SToPs~~" by altered by Karen Woodward Both worksCC BY 2.0

I wanted to put Vinoth Chandar's name first because all I did was make the water blue. If I had extensively altered Vinoth's photo I would likely have put my name first.

Clear as mud?

I don't want to lead anyone down the garden path so if you notice I've done something wrong, or you're wondering why I did something one way instead of another, please do leave a comment.

What the folks at Creative Commons say about proper attribution

I wanted to make available to everyone what the folks over at the Creative Commons have to say about proper attribution, but I didn't want to copy and paste it here. So I'll give you the link: Best Practices for Marking Content with CC Licenses.

The licenses available under a Creative Commons copyright

This page describes the various kinds of licenses available from the Creative Commons: About The Licenses. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see them.

Links: Places to get creative commons content

There are many places to get creative commons content, here are just a few:

- Flickr: Creative Commons
- Creative Commons Search
- FlickrStorm

I just found FlickrStorm and, hands down, I'm finding it the best, easiest way to search for creative commons content. Highly recommended!

- Want to display your licensing information as an image? Or make sure it's machine readable? Select your Creative Commons license here.

- A good article that discusses proper attribution is Best Practices for Creative Commons attributions - how to attribute works you reuse under a Creative Commons license.

Other articles you might like:
- Making A Scene: Using Conflicts And Setbacks To Create Narrative Drive
- NaNoWriMo: How To Reach Your Daily Wordcount
- Dialogue: 7 Ways of Adding Variety

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How To Attribute Artwork Licensed Under The Creative Commons

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What would a blog be without artwork? Boring! But artwork, like blog posts, is copyrighted. Unless the copyright holder gives permission, their artwork is off limits. Fortunately, a wonderful group of people have set up the Creative Commons and given artists an easy way to license their work so that it can be used, free of charge, as long as certain conditions are met.

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1. Resource: Appropriation Art
2. Author: appropriationart.ca
3. Copyright info: Copyright © 2017 appropriationart.ca All Rights Reserved.

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Although you may have not realized it, you may have come across numerous instances of appropriation art. This is probably true because this particular art form has grown increasingly popular due to the startling rise in consumerism over the last decades. Of course, to truly appreciate this art form, you have to first delve into the very foundation of the style as well as where it originated. Here is everything that you might like to know about appropriation art:

What Is It?

Let's start at the very beginning. Appropriation art is a little different from most other artistic endeavors. This is because it tends to borrow from creative renderings that have already been produced. This 'borrowing' is referred to as re contextualization. These artworks are copied and then altered in some manner while still maintaining most of the aspects of the original piece of work.

While it may sound similar, art appropriation is not a form of plagiarism. This is because the artist intends on his or her viewer recognizing the original image. The artist wants the viewer to combine their original perceptions of the artwork with what has been created since.

There are different types of appropriation art, each dependent on the result that the artist wishes to create. Thus, appropriation art can take many forms, including visual, musical, literary, and even performing arts. One of the most popular forms, however, remains Pop Art, which was actually responsible for a creative movement.

The History of Art Appropriation

Artists have been borrowing from one another for years. This was either due to inspiration or an endeavour to become better from their craft. Regardless, it is certainly not a new or a modern concept. Of course, art appropriation is a little different from using others' artwork to influence your own.

For this particular art form, the origins can be traced back to 1912. In fact, it can be tracked all the way to Picasso and George Braques. These were more initial attempts, however, not really meeting the standards for current art appropriation. A few years later, from 1915 onwards, Marcel DuChamp, a French artist, began to build on this theme. Surrealism utilized by famous artists also included appropriation aspects in the final pieces. This too helped to boost its popularity.

The Pop Art Movement was possibly one of the most influential in garnering attention towards art appropriation. This trend began in the 1950s in America and Britain. It was modern artists endeavoring to create something that they felt was more relevant to the lives that they were living at the time. Hence, the use of brands, labels, and items that were considered daily parts of their life.

In terms of art appropriation by itself, however, the focus seems to narrow a bit. In fact, many would argue that this expression is directly placed upon a particular group of American artists during the 1980s. Most notably, this includes Sherri Levine and the Neo Geo group. Their techniques typically consisted of using modern, more familiar objects in older versions of art.

Famous Appropriation Artists

Andy Warhol was one of the most famous Pop Artists of his time. He continues to be so, even today. He was famous for borrowing well-known and easily recognizable images, and adding his own spin on them. Despite his enormous recognition to the field, Warhol was not considered to be a true appropriation artist.

This honour is bestowed upon Sherri Levine, undoubtedly one of the more famous appropriation artists of her time. There are others who join the esteemed ranks. This includes Barbara Kruger, Nam June Paik, Sigmar Polke, Yasumasa Morimura, and many others. Many modern artists such as Wang Guangyi have also been applauded for the contributions to this art form.

Appropriation is by no means waning in popularity. The more that people become familiar with corporations, labels, images, and brands, the bigger the scope that artists have to work with. It is exciting to see what these appropriation artists will create next.

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Although you may have not realized it, you may have come across numerous instances of appropriation art. This is probably true because this particular art form has grown increasingly popular due to the startling rise in consumerism over the last decades.