Group items tagged

Contents of this site: This site contains images of influenza, natural disasters, environmental health, bioterrorism, electron micro-graphic imagery, everyday activities, health behaviors, public health in action. The websites recommend that the site is good for those studying in the primary, secondary, or graduate levels. However, there is a "WARNING: This library includes subject matter that may be unsuitable for children. Viewing discretion is advised." This site would be ideal for science, health, social studies, language arts (research and informational writing) with regard to any of the topics listed above. Copyright and Protection: The site states with regard to copyright that most of the pictures are copyright free, but you need to double check. Below is a question answered from the websites FAQ that will help clarify the copyright regulations of the images in this website. "What regulations govern the use of images in the PHIL? Answer: Images are either "Public Domain" (free use) or "Copyright Protected" (restricted, obtain permission before use) Most of the images in the collection are in the public domain and are thus free of any copyright restrictions. If you look directly beneath the image you will see a fair use statement that tells you if the image is public domain or copyright protected. Permission is not required for public domain images, but we do ask that you credit the original institution and contributor, when known, whenever the image is used in any publicly distributed media. If the image is copyright protected, you will have to contact the content provider to obtain usage permission. PHIL does not have the authority to grant usage for any copyrighted images in the library. If you have difficulty contacting a content provider, we may be able to help, but we cannot act on their behalf."

Public Domain Photos contains both photos and clipart, and has several thousand of each that are in the public domain. While there are literally thousands to choose from, the search feature on the site isn't that great, and the organization of the images and clipart could be better. For example, if you do a search for 'wonton soup', it returns no results and only show professional images that link to shuttershock, which is subscription based. If you do a search on for 'wonton', it will return a few images from the free images on the site. If you can get past the hurdle of flipping through page after page within a specific category to find what you need, you will find tons of images that both you and your students can use, and lots of clipart options as well. All grade levels and all content areas can find useful images on this site, you just have to willing to sit and browse.

"The difference between "copyright free" and "royalty free" Given that at least part of the controversy surrounding the painting which was awarded the American Watercolour Society Gold Medal this year concerns copyright I thought it might be helpful to outline the difference between "copyright free" and "royalty free" - as this seems to be something people get confused about. What is copyright? I'm not going to try and define copyright as such - as meaning varies depending on which country's laws prevail over the work in question. You can find out more about copyright and access the different websites providing legal definitions in my information site Copyright and Orphan Artworks - Resources for Artists For the purposes of this post, the wikipedia summary will suffice. Copyright is a form of intellectual property which gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation; after which time the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete. Some jurisdictions also recognise "moral rights" of the creator of a work, such as the right to be credited for the work Wikpedia - copyright"

This website is a government site, so it is a public domain and provides all resources including photos, videos, animations and podcasts for free to the public. The acronym USGS stands for United States Geological Survey, which means the photos and resources on this site pertain to elements of the geologic structure in the U.S. This site would be useful for all audiences of school age in grades 4-12. I chose that range because with the real-life depictions of our country's geography, it could easily bore and audience that was any younger. They are excellent quality resources and precise photography at our disposal for nothing out of pocket.

Librivox might be my favorite of all open source, copyright free resources for the Language Arts classroom. Started as a non-profit to benefit the blind, Vibrivox has created an amazing database that allows readers to record individual chapters of a novel or story that is in the public domain. These files are then made available to the visually impaired or anyone in need of an audio version of a written work. I use this resource extensively for students who are reading below grade level or have significant processing difficulty. I have also had several students "donate" their readings to the database as a community service project to benefit the overall community. If you are looking for public domain eBooks for your classroom, Project Gutenberg is another great resource.

pdsounds.org offers a free sound library with a variety of interesting sound effects from a German bar to writing with an ink pen. The sound volunteers utilize recording equipment to capture hundreds of sounds for copyright free, public use and tag them with a set of tags that help in the search process. You do not need a membership to access the free sound files, and you are able to submit sounds to be added to the catalog. These sound effects are perfect for incorporation into presentations and videos. In my high school business education classroom, these sound effects will enhance our projects. For instance, if a student created a marketing video with still images of tea products, the tea pouring sound effect would be helpful. In commercials, the effects can be used to make the situation more lifelike...birds in the background of a kitchen scene, or cars in the background of a busy sidewalk. Students will enjoy searching the clip options and finding just the right combination. I give this site a 4 on a 1-5 scale, because of the variety of clips, the ability to post clips, and the ease of searching via tags and simple downloading. To improve, I would like to see thousands of sounds available for download.

This site is a public site that allows users to upload their own pictures they want to donate. All pictures are free and are copyright free. Pictures can be used for private or commercial use. Pictures are categorized into groups according to the topic of the photo. This site would be a great site to use with students because the pictures are taken by other amateurs, perhaps students. There is a large variety of pictures to pick from so students could create a power point, digital story, digital poster, or even video to name a few with these pictures. This site could be used for any academic area since there is a wide selection of pictures to choose from. Students and teachers could even add their own photos to the site so that others can use them for their projects. As a SLP, I would benefit from using these photos to help students develop language skills. Students could easily be presented with a picture daily and answer questions/describe the picture. I definitely plan to use this site in the future. One possible problem with this site is that there is no way of monitoring what type of photos may appear under a specific category. I searched the site for several minutes and only came across one photo that may be questionable for younger students. However, this site could easily be used with younger students with teacher assistance. I feel that the advantages of this site definitely outweigh the possible disadvantages.

Please note the following statement on the home page: "...please be aware that some photos do require a model or property release."

This online database contains very high-quality "Public Domain," "Copyright-Free" photographs that are easily accessible from 10 different category divisions on the "Gallery Index" page; Abstract, Architecture & Cityscapes, Food & Drinks, Industrial & Machinery, Miscellaneous, Nature, Sports & Recreation, Technology, Textures & Backgrounds, and Travel. In the "Terms of Use" statements, the creators state that "Picdrome.com is a growing Public Domain digital photography collection, free of copyright and licensed under Creative Commons…all images are free to download for personal, educational and commercial use, without restriction." They also advise users to check the "Disclaimer" statement link regarding any additional licenses; however, in the disclaimer statement there didn't appear to be any other restrictions listed. Students in upper Elementary school through High school would be able to easily navigate and download these photographs that were relevant to project work they were completing. For example, my Middle School students would greatly benefit from the close-up photos of food from all of the food groups in this repository, when they complete "Family & Consumer Science" class projects that present visual examples of nutritionally balanced menus. The only problematic portion of the website is the banner advertisement located directly below the title/search box and right above the category links…it often advertises products and sites that require purchasing but, the banner looks so much like the website heading that it is easily clicked on by "mistake." Educators would need to forewarn students of this obstacle before giving them free reign of the site's valuable images.

The Digital Public Library of America contains photos, film clips and other items from digital libraries around the country (including Georgia). Many of these items are in the public domain, and some are under rights restrictions. There's a link in the "rights" field for each items record that contains that information including where to secure permission to use if needed. This site could be tremendously useful for projects related to American culture or heritage. There's a wealth of historical artifacts (think primary sources) here!

A massive collection of digital reproductions of famous artworks, renderings of historical decorative objects, and more. Similar to the Getty's Open Content Program or Google Art Project, the National Gallery of Art's NGA Images site, "is a repository of digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art. On this website you can search, browse, share, and download," 37,000 open access images, many of which are featured at incredibly high resolution. Users can browse collections or perform an advanced search. NGA goes on to explain that it, "implements an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are now available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Users do not need to contact the Gallery for authorization to use these images," but are asked to include the following credit when using the aforementioned images: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library provides a collection of images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and videos. Unless marked for private use, most of the collection is in the public domain. Instead of providing artifacts entirely based on the variety of fish and wildlife in the U.S., the website mainly focuses on artifacts on the services provided by the department. The artifacts that are based on the fish and wildlife would make excellent items to include in science classes of all ages. The artifacts based on the services provided would be better suited for high school social studies classes or any type of community involvement subject. The collection is huge, with a lot of information that is too "specialized" (documents outlining conservation plans of specific complexes), users of the site should use the search function over the browse function.

Project Gutenburg is one of the oldest communities for the spread of the written word on the internet. For its inception, PG has been in the process of digitizing literature in the public domain and continues to update its library of over 45,000 free ebooks daily. This is an amazing resource for the majority of ELA courses, distance learning, and online classroom management systems. It has been truly invaluable in British Literature because almost the entire curriculum has been converted to digital form. It is also amazing for distance learning like Plato and Odysseyware that do not always provide the text with the learning software. If you would like these books in audio form, check out Librivox.

Project Gutenburg is one of the oldest communities for the spread of the written word on the internet. For its inception, PG has been in the process of digitizing literature in the public domain and continues to update its library of over 45,000 free ebooks daily. This is an amazing resource for the majority of ELA courses, distance learning, and online classroom management systems. It has been truly invaluable in British Literature because almost the entire curriculum has been converted to digital form. It is also amazing for distance learning like Plato and Odysseyware that do not always provide the text with the learning software. If you would like these books in audio form, check out Librivox.

8 Helpful Assistive Technology Tools for you classroom

PD Photo is a website that has a large collection of photos that are free and available for use under the public domain. There looks to hundreds of photos that fall under a variety of categories. Many photos are available for geography use and would be beneficial in a social studies classroom; there are also many images that can be used in a science classroom, like the Macros or Plants category. The images on this site are not limited to these two content areas as there are plenty of ways students and teachers can use these photos in an educational setting, for any and all grade levels.

Boasting thousands of digital clip art images, Openclipart does cater to teachers and other working professionals. The collections are sorted for optimum utility. The best part is that the images are all copyright-free and in the public domain, which means that there are no restrictions. There are no perceived limits on usage; resources should be suitable for K-12 and beyond, and useful for Digital stories, Prezis, PowerPoint, imbedding in other virtual documents, and educational websites. Potential Solutions to Perceived Problems: The problems lie not with the photo repositories themselves, but rather lie in the educator's own ability to think creatively, and to work with raw digital materials. I can think of no better solution than for an educator to spend time examining how the available resources can be used to encourage a student to think about the subject matter. A teacher can plan for an elaborate lesson but discover there is a dearth of photo content; therefore, since time and money are not unlimited, the teacher would be wise to consider this before planning a lesson. Further, a teacher would be wise to search for as many resources as possible and add them to a list, as we have done for this assignment. Quality: B If you are looking for good clip art for no money, and with no restrictions, this collection seems much better than anything you will find packaged with a Microsoft product.

Originally shared by Julia Hollins on 15 Jul 13. The original post was removed and this one shared instead, due to technical issue with the original post. Thumb creator is source for royal free clip art. The first criterion used in selecting this website is that it had open access. The term "open access" is a new technology used with digital repositories. Most universities and libraries use repositories for educational purposes in hopes of becoming more engaged in developing scholarly communication. Second, open access is defined as free availability of scholarly literature on the public Internet, permitting anyone to read, download, copy, distribute, or print in full the text without restrictions (other than to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited Scherlen & Robinson,2008, p. 58 (as cited in Shields, Rangarajan, & Stewart, 2012). The clip art is royalty free and is apart of the open access. I thought it was a good resource for this class assignment.

Ookaboo provides almost one million images that are searchable by concepts. The pictures are licensed under various Creative Commons licenses or are public domain, and are free to use for educational and other non-commercial use. You can find more information about using the photos at http://about.ookaboo.com/a/. This site would be great to use for high school students in a variety of subjects: world history, U.S. history, biology and environmental science. It could also be used for middle school geography classes. The photos appear to be of very good quality, and the website is easy to use.

WPClipart is a collection of images for students and others that is free of copyright concerns as well as safe from inappropriate images. There are currently 50,526 images on the site. I can see students in grades K-12 using this resource. The site is easy to navigate and search for images. There are tons of categories such as medical images, geography images, historical figure images, computer images, and on and on which is why I see this being helpful to all students grades K-12 and all subjects. Unlike some clipart sites, there are images on this site that are not cartoon like making them better for older students. According to the terms and conditions, the site is Public Domain and the images can be used and edited. No direct user-uploaded images are allowed. The only concern I see is that this site is trying to get donations through PayPal which I haven't seen on other sites.