If you’re looking at a Flickr photo page, like this one,
look here:
That image is not Creative Commons (CC) licensed. The C in a circle symbol and the phrase “All rights reserved” mean the image is not CC-licensed, but copyrighted. That’s why I didn’t include the photo, just the area beneath it. I even blacked out the little thumbnails of the photographer’s other work above the “31 views”.
It’s true that you won’t likely get into legal trouble by posting a copyrighted photo in a Blackboard site and many professors won’t care. That’s because Blackboard course sites are private– you have to be enrolled in the course or teaching it to see them.
However, you may get into legal trouble using it on the live internet, because you’re violating copyright laws in reusing it. And that’s why I encourage you to learn about and use materials you have a legal right to reuse.
Besides, this course is about digital literacy, and the best practice is to use materials you have a legal right to reuse, and cite them properly!
What does a CC-licensed photo look like? You may look at this Flickr photo page and see this:
Image credit: Color Me Rad 5K Run Albany – Altamont, NY by Sébastien Barré, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license
The C in a circle is absent and replaced by a number of Creative Commons symbols. The phrase “some rights reserved” tells you to click that link and find out exactly what kind of CC license you have. Turns out it’s “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike“.
If those terms fit your use, you can use the photo, but remember to link out to the photo page on Flickr and cite the photographer and title and type of CC license. Linking to the photo page is a requirement of Flickr. I like to link to the CC license type, and link to the photographer’s page or photostream also.
These videos are a great resource for learning more about Creative Commons. In particular, I recommend the Creative Commons Kiwi video (from New Zealand) which explains the types of licenses and how they differ.
I hope this is helpful but please let me know in the QATC forum in the course site if you have questions!
Digital Literacy 