Images

On campus many instructors utilize visuals to reinforce concepts and to provide exemplars to students. Often times the image that you may want to display are copyright protected and even by posting them in the password protected LMS you are infringing on the copyright associated with that image. However, there are solutions available.

The Commons on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/commons
Flickr is a social image site. It allows users to upload, view, tag and organize images online. It has a large participating community and can be a great source of photos. Be sure you navigate to the commons are to pull photos for use in your projects. Photos not contained on the commons area will contain copyright. You are able to type in your search or you can choose to search via a tag cloud. When you stumble upon a photo you want to use, the site will provide you with various information about the photo including a description of the photo, the rights information, who posted the photo as well as persistent links to the photograph.

Morgue File
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/
This site has a unique search and filter process that allows you to drill down and search for photos. You should keep in mind that Morgue File is run in association with Dreamstime.com which is also a photography site; however Dreamstime sells their images for profit. When you find a photo to use, check information underneath the photo. You will find the page and image web addresses as well as the rights information and any other request from the owner of the image. Be sure to read all the info. Some photographers simply require that you inform them you are using the photo.

World Images Kiosk
http://worldimages.sjsu.edu/
When you enter this site you are immediatley presented with categories. You can drill down into a number of specific niches to find what you are looking for. The World Images Kiosk is quite art oriented, and many of the photos you will find are of different works of art including paintings and sculptures. All the photos on the site are protected under the Creative Commons license. If you are not familiar with this license, you can read more about it here.

Animal Photos
http://animalphotos.info/
This is a great resource if you are looking for nothing but pictures of animals. Some photos are very poorly composed, while others seem professional. All the images are categorized and you search for photos by drilling down via categories. All photos are protected by the Creative Commons license.

As you utilize these sites and photos, it is always best to take caution. If there is no copyright notice explicitly stated then you should always ask for permission. One other good practice that could save some grief in the long run is to always credit the owner of the photograph. This does not take a lot of effort and it shows that your appreciate their efforts for making the photo available.

Audio

As education is evolving, so are the projects students are working on. Finding media for students to work with can be challenging. Like the image sites listed above, there are also a variety of audio sites available with royalty free music. Many utilize the Creative Commons licensing and do not allow for commercial use. A couple of these sites are explored below.


Free Music Archive
http://freemusicarchive.org/
Upon arriving at the site, you will notice that the site is structured with a blog on the opening page. This blog updates users about new music and the artists that created and sumbitted the works. At the top of the screen you will find that you can search by genre or by using the music search bar in the top corner. Once you get into the search you will see that there is a wealth of categories. The search we conducted provided us with a wide breadth of music, with many artists to choose from; however, there seems to be no quality control for the songs uploaded and sometimes we stumbled across poor quality files. The user interface allows you to listen to the file, download the file, as well as add it to a playlist, if you choose to register on the site. The only draw back was that you could not scrub and scan through the song to help you make your decision more quickly. Overall a great audio resource.

Sound Bible
http://soundbible.com/
No this is not a resource of quoted scripture, but simply a great place to get free sound effects. Unlike the Free Music Archive, the Sound Bible does not have full length songs. Instead this site specializes in providing copyright friendly licensing. Each sound is available in wav and mp3 format. The title, creator and rights license is all listed on the page with the download links. If you do not understand what the license entails, an explanation of the license details are listed in the Royalty Free Sounds section of the Sound Bible site

Video

Often times the best way to provide perspective on a subject is to show a video. Below are some resource you can use to show videos in class. Keep in mind that just because the videos are online, does not mean they are available for download and editing.

PBS Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
PBS shows a great deal of innovative documentaries and news related programs. Frontline allows the visitor to watch entire documentaries online in a variety of genres. The great part about this site, is that not only do they provide the full length documentary for free, but they also supply each chapter or segment individually. This allows instructors to show a limited segment of the video without having to fast forward or violate copyright by pulling a clip using an editing program.

Blip.tv
http://blip.tv
This site is recommended on the Creative Commons website and actually links directly to it from search.creativecommons.org. The site promotes independant film makers, animators and those who have a passion to work in the video medium. You can search with their built in search engine or you can view the clips by category.

Neither of the above video sites actually allow you to download video clips, but they do allow you to embed them in web pages. With the web widely available on campus this should not be an issue. You can simply embed the videos or the links to videos within a presentation or a supply it as a link within the institutions Learning Management System.