We live in a visual society, and using graphics to communicate our message is not only commonplace, but expected. Long blocks of text make eyes glaze over, and the inclusion of images not only engages the reader but also provides an additional layer of communication.

Pressed for time, too often we quickly scan Google images for something to liven up teaching resources or blog posts, but this is highly problematic, as many of these images are copyrighted, and reproduction is prohibited. This is where Creative Commons licences come into their own.

I’ve written extensively about Creative Commons previously, and as an educator and Teacher Librarian, I believe that it is vitally important that we model the use of Creative Commons licenced materials in our practice, and encourage our students to understand and use Creative Commons also. Although here in Australia we do have some flexibility in education due to various copyright exceptions, if students wish to publish their work publicly, or if teachers choose to share resources online (which is fabulous)  these exceptions no longer apply.

Fortunately there is an amazing collection of Creative Commons images that are available on Flickr, which are perfect for students (and teachers!) to use when creating any sort of visual content.

Attributing CC images from Flickr

Correctly attributing Creative Commons licenced images can be a bridge to far for students (and busy teachers, but thankfully Alan Levine has used Github to create a bookmarklet, which is super simple to use and makes the process of attribution (and inserting Flickr images into a blog post) quick and easy.

To get started using the Flickr cc attribution helper, simply go to his page, click on the Bookmarklet button and drag it up to your bookmark toolbar.

Now, when you go to any page on Flickr which has a Creative Commons Licenced image on it, click on the bookmarklet button, and a window will pop up with all of the attribution information you need! Too easy!

It looks just like this:

If you are completely new to this world of Creative Commons, attribution, blogging etc, I’ve created a short video tutorial that steps you through the process of setting up the helper and using it in different situations.

This process makes it so easy to attribute creative commons images found on Flickr – and this is thanks to the work of others sharing their scripts and work generously under a Creative Commons Licence which allows us all to benefit from their technical skills. So thank you Alan Levine and thank you also to all of the other creators who share their work via Open Source or under a Creative Commons licence; together we is bigger than me!

creative commons licensed ( BY-SA ) flickr photo shared by opensourceway