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.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

I gained further knowledge about the public domain by applying material about the public domain and copyright to the project. I also learned that works in the public domain are not that easy to find. It was difficult to find the right images on sites other than Wikimedia. Once the image was found, it was challenging to find out about its copyright. It was fun, however to link images to research. I can now identify with all the people that are trying to do things legally. In addition to copyright and public domain, I learned Soundslides and Garageband. I am getting better with a Mac too!

:)

I think this project was more about copyright, public domain, and the technology of the assignment and not so much about the research. Knowing about digital archives opens a whole new world of information if you did not know about them before. I also think the point of this assignment was to demonstrate how easy it is to “steal” stuff and how difficult it is to find stuff legally, in the public domain. People are very cautious when you approach them about copyright, even if they do not own the copyright. It is as if copyright is a naughty word. I tried to contact a few people that specialized in Mounted Archery and they were cautious about communicating with me when I said the word research. If I said school project they were more open with information. I think the requirement of talking to a librarian was in the assignment to encourage people to ask for help and feel comfortable contacting people they do know. This was easy for me, not only with the librarians, but also with the professor of the topic. I also emailed a few other people that have an interest or specialize in the area. I think I might have even made a new friend in Hong Kong… We’ll see!

Discussion Questions: Photo Archiving

From this project, I gained knowledge about fair use and how to know when things are in the Public Domain. It taught me how to refine my search to pinpoint what I am looking for. It also taught me how to relate a research topic to photos and give them captions pertaining to the specific research. It also taught me how many places have digital archives and that you need to go all the way to the real collection before you can give credit to a photo.

The point of the project was to familiarize ourselves with fair use and public domain and how to recognize it and gain access to it. It was also to teach us how difficult it is to find photos pertaining to our research topic as well figuring out whether it was fair use material. Overall, this project was very frustrating and difficult. I had a difficult time finding a website that had photos in the public domain and once I did, I didn't want to contact a librarian. I'd say I have a bit better understanding of copyright after this assignment, but I got lucky by having all my photos in the public domain because they were government works that I didn't have to worry about copyright issues.

Another thing this project was useful for was that for future classes, I have many resources that I can go to for projects I may do and not worry about copyright so much.

Discussion Questions

From this project I learned about alot of the different resources that are you there and that are fair use. I also gained knownledge on how to be a professional communicatior when it came to talking to the librarians.I feel alot more confident in my ability these resources that I have never used. I am also more confident now if I need to talk to a librarian. Like we discussed in class librarians are there to help us and are great resources.

One of the problems I had was just understanding some of the research on my topic. I am not a professional n the subject I was researching so it made it a little difficult to try to make sense of some of the things that I was reading about.I did however find alot of the things I did understand pretty interesting.

I feel one of the points of this project was to just try things out. You ever really know how much information is out there or how to use the things available until you try them. I learned alot about the rules of public domain and how to stay within those boundaries when I am using different digital archives.

Discussion Questions

I found this assignment incredibly challenging. Not only did I have one heck of a time trying to locate an article on the research I was assigned, but I found that the Public Domain is not as vast as I thought it was. I found it difficult to find images that I was looking for. I think the part of this reason is because the images I was searching for were pretty specific, and a little big gruesome. The topic of death is a popular one on the regular internet and the images are plentiful, but not located in the Public Domain. Sometimes I think the reason that it's in the Public Domain is that no one really needs to use it.
While I didn't have the chance to talk to a librarian, since I only got access to my material Monday morning, I do realize how much work they have to do. They are responsible for so much material that their job would be more than stressful. I know one of the points was to appreciate how much they are responsible, and I think now I get it. I cannot imagine being in charge of the Library of Congress. The amount of responsibility that rests on the librarian's shoulders is ridiculous.
I think another reason to do this assignment is to realize how important Digital Archives are. If we did not have them, teaching would be so difficult. If we were not allowed to have this images for academic purposes , or even creative purposes, think of all that would be lost. The potential for improvement decreases at an alarming rate.

Public Domain

This was a really interesting (as well as frustrating) project.  I definitely learned more about research, particularly image research.  I better understand how to find out if an image is under copyright or not whereas before I was always wary about using images because I felt like I could never be sure what was legally usable and not; after this project I can see a license like GNU and not think "yeah, that probably means I can't use it."  This project also allowed for an inside look at what image researchers (and almost a little of what fact checkers) do.  I now know that is not something I ever want to go into. :D

I feel that the whole purpose of assigning this project was to avoid pure lecture about Public Domain but throw us into the thick of it.  There really are some things that just can't be efficiently taught without any hands on involvement, and I know that, at least for me, I wouldn't be able to remember half as much of what we have discussed regarding copyright and public domain if it weren't for this project.  We also got familiar with these various digital archives.  Digital archives can be really overwhelming, but after doing this project I think most of us could return to these archives if we needed to without spending an extra hour or two just attempting to figure the site out.  I liked that we searched for public domain images instead of just whatever images you can find and cite; it really makes a difference in the type of research we do.  Also, as I already said, being hands-on like that does efficently teach us more about copyright and different possible licensing.

This project may have been a bit of a pain (I never knew searching for images could be so difficult!), but it really did help me to better understand the various aspect related to the project that we have been talking about in class.  So I guess there is the silver lining.

The Commons

Public Libraries are important for democracy because without this vast archive of free information, we would not be protecting our right to freely expand our knowledge and stay educated. Public libraries relate to the Internet, because just like the Internet, we must keep our free flow of information alive. This is shown in Bollier’s quote from the text stating, “For me, librarians have always embodied some of the most fundamental virtues of Western civilization. They are dedicated to the freedom to read and learn and share information. They are committed to the free flow of knowledge, which is indispensable in a democracy. Americans must not only have free access to knowledge and creative works, we must be able to re-use and share them in order to create still other works.” For years public libraries have been the way for any common man to gain knowledge at his or her wish, and the Internet provides us with that same ability, only in better, faster, more precise ways.

Vaidhyanathan compares the “anarchy” in the library to the chaotic way in which the internet works, and the ways that it has potential to be limited due to its nature. We have so much information and data at our hands that it can nearly be overwhelming at times, yet we need to preserve this means of acquiring information in order to not let it slip away to the powers at large trying to restrict it and its use. I like that both the authors refer to “the commons” and the ways that we must keep this forum alive, and yet they realize that it is not always easy to do so (in fact, it can be quite hard, due to what Bollier refers to as our “void in our cultural vocabulary”).

Public Libraries are not exactly a “hip” place to go anymore like Jeff pointed out, and in fact I would say that the numbers of frequent library visitors is dwindling by the day. However, I still think we need to find a way to preserve these information outlets, for they truly are a staple to democracy and Western Civilization at that. I feel weird thinking that I might have to reminisce to my grandchildren about what a public library is, yet at that point they might already have a Wikipedia program implemented into their mind computers that allows them to instantly access the information to any term (what a tangent that one is!) Also, just like Jeff pointed out, I think that the term “the commons” will become synonymous with piracy because more and more we are seeing the expansion of the file sharing of information and media formats, yet more and more it is being made criminal. We need to find a happy medium ground between today’s copyright laws and complete anarchy of file sharing.