When is public use not for public use? (and how can I be a responsible public media user?)

Today in both classes we discussed the use of images in our blogs and questioned what was legal, fair, right, and appropriate to use with and/or without permission and citation. Issues of copyright are complex, especially in regard to new technologies, especially in regard to public online content. I thought some good points were raised on some guidelines of what to post and when to cite, and the conversation mostly ended with the idea that everyone should think about each case separately and use common sense to make the best judgment.

But then I wondered...if we are new to this scene and have little experience blogging, then what would that common sense or judgment be based on? Isn't that idea a little flawed and suggesting that you can know the right answer without having done any research? Certainly instinct serves us well in some contexts, but this issue seems tricky, and I wanted a few "second opinions" from people who knew more than I do.

So I did a google search and found this great interview with an expert in the field. He cites two sources for finding "fair use" images: PhotoDropper and Wikimedia Commons. Of course, as mentioned in class, you can always use images from your own camera.



I actually got this photo from ARTstor, one of the SCSU's Library Databases that allows us to use the images collected there for educational purposes like our blogging assignments. (You can get to ARTstor through the library homepage, then clicking on the databases.)

Finally, two other takes on adding images to blog posts, specifically addressing the issue of how to do the citations, can be found here and here. These may be useful in not just thinking about the criteria for citation but also the format.

One last thought seeing that many of us use Google to find everything from articles to images: does Google have an official policy about using the images it finds?