[Opensource is] More Than Just Images

By Thomas Hammerlund -
Happy Face by Me



While looking for more waysI am violating copyright laws to legally use copyrighted materials, I came across this post on Edublogs explaining copyright law for educators.

Ironically, while I was looking through Compfight for an image to use for this post, I saw an ad for a stock photo site that featured a photo that looked very similar to one I have taken. It could be a coincidence, but I emailed the support team to find out. After doing some searching of where I may have posted that image, I don't think it's mine after all.

I wasn't so concerned that the photo was being used, but rather that it was being used for profit.

Let that be a lesson for me.



Searching for More than Images
As I was reading some COETAIL posts for this week, I continually read about how people are really happy to have been introduced to CompFight.

While it is a handy tool, I kept thinking to myself, "It's great. But what happens when I want a video?"
Then I wondered, "Sometimes I really need some good clipart. If only ..."
"That's excellent. Now I am making a movie for my class and I want to add some music to spice it up ..."
How about music? (most via Making it Educational)

http://www.freeplaymusic.com

http://www.jamendo.com

http://www.freesound.org/browse

http://soundcloud.com/creativecommons

http://vimeo.com/musicstore

http://www.purple-planet.com



One More Question
There is one more thing I am still unclear about. What can I use for my class? I make my own materials sometimes. A few months ago we were studying fairy tales and I downloaded some images of some characters for the students to cut out and color. Was that OK? Should I have put a link on each image so the first graders could find it for themselves?

Fair Use of Images in the Classroom: How Far is Fair? by Christine L. Sundt has led me to believe that as long as what I use stays inside the school [not reposted on the web], it should be OK. After all, I am not selling anything.

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