PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO PROJECT

Personally, I found this project to be very difficult. I’m not whining, and I’m only stating that to give some background for one of my points. :) The primary reason it was difficult for me was because of my lack of relevant search results. What I mean is, what types of search terms (keywords) do I use to find good photo archives? I know they’re out there……
OAIster/WorldCat was somewhat helpful, and obviously it’s easy to find images in Wikimedia Commons, but how do I get into all of the university or library galleries? I tried just about every search terms you could imagine on Google and Bing:

photo gallery + library + history
“photo gallery” + library + history
Photo archive + library
Online + photo gallery
University image gallery

Just imagine all the combinations you could make with those words, and you can bet that I tried them all! As I said, I’m NOT whining, just curious as to why it is so difficult to search for these archives. Is it because they’re somehow “shielded” or too entrenched for search engines to find them? I’m dying to know. Someone please enlighten me. What’s the point of having a photo library if it’s not easily found?

Moving on, one thing that I definitely learned from this project was that Wikimedia Commons is an awesome resource. Maybe that answer sounds DUH and predictable, but it’s the truth. It’s a good resource because:

-People are regularly contributing to it (the wiki sites get used!).
-In most cases, the copyright status of the photo is clearly documented. Also, most entries generally attribute the original source.

I understand why Bettina limited the amount of pictures we could use from there. It’s EASY to find them.

Another thing I definitely learned from this work is that you HAVE to carefully verify whether or not something is indeed free to use. There were plenty of sites I found (through Creative Commons searches) that seemed ok at first, but eventually I ran into the copyright information. I suppose this would be true of even Wikimedia Commons. Theoretically, someone could have put a copyrighted image up there, and you might stumble upon it before it gets removed.

In closing, I’d like to speak freely about some thoughts this project stirred up in my head. As our class progresses, I grow more and more irritated by the strict copyright laws. If I were king, all material would be free to use for educational (non-commercial) work, PERIOD. There would be no need to get permission as long as the author was credited. I guess it all boils down to greed and dollars. As nerdy as it sounds, I really appreciate all the people out there who actually took the time to say, “You can use my work freely.” (Referring to those who put a CC license on their work or declared it open to the public domain.) I’d love to have a few words with some of the gallery holders I found during my searching………the ones with the big fat “ALL RIGHTS RESERVED” at the bottom. I’d like to tell them, “As with anything, you won’t be able to take all your dusty pictures with you after you die.” It’s one thing to claim authorship. It’s a completely different thing when some entity gathers a bunch of old pictures (that they didn’t take themselves) and then slaps a copyright on their gallery.