Image Information

Image Information: Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, 1939.
Web Source: Rotten Tomatoes: Charlie Chaplin Quiz.

When you use an image for a blog post or a webpage in this class, you need to include image information: (1) there needs to be some kind of caption or description of the contents of the image, and (2) there needs to be a link to the web source where you found the image. See the Charlie Chaplin image above for an example of good image information and a web source link.

Images you create : If you are using an image you created yourself (a photo you took, a drawing or a painting you created, etc.), then you do not have to provide a link to a web source. Just make sure you provide a title for the image and give yourself credit as the source for the image. Here's an example of a personal photo:

(Image Information: Our cat Ralph;
photo taken by my husband, January 2013.)

Memes you create: If you use an image that you created with a meme generator, then include a link to the meme generator website in your caption.

(image created with the Einstein Generator)

In addition, please pay careful attention to the following guidelines:

LINKS TO WEBPAGES: The webpage link MUST be a link to an actual webpage (usually the file name ends in html or htm). You can NOT just link to the image file (jpeg, gif, etc.).

Example of a webpage link - GOOD - click on the link to see a webpage:

Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, 1939. Web Source: Rotten Tomatoes: Charlie Chaplin Quiz.

 

Example of an image file link - BAD - click on the link and there is only the image again:

Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, 1939. Web Source:  4109409_std.jpg.

IMAGE SEARCH ENGINES: Using Google Images or Yahoo Images or some other image search engine is a great idea - but remember that the webpage link MUST be a link to an actual webpage, and NOT to the search engine results.

DETAILS IN CAPTION: You may need to do some image research in order to come up with a good caption, especially if you are using a work of art. If you are using a painting, for example, and the web source where you found the painting does not give the artist's name, you can use Google Search-by-Image to find out who the artist is in order to include the artist's name in the caption. This is a relatively new service from Google. Before search-by-image, it could be nearly impossible to find out more information about an image - but now Google makes that much easier. So: do your research!

FLICKR SEARCH: One of my favorite image search engines is Flickr. One of the best things about Flickr is that many people have labeled their images as being freely available for re-use under a Creative Commons license. So, for example, here is a search of the CC-licensed area of Flickr for elephants: Flickr Elephants. You can just put whatever words you want there in the search box and you are bound to get lots of good results! 

COPYRIGHT AND STOCK IMAGES: It is not always easy to know the copyright status of images online, and it is also the case that that the doctrine of "fair use" allows for considerable latitude in the re-use of images, especially in education. At the same time, there are plenty of web sources out there which make it clear that payment is required for the use of the image. So, for example, if you find a stock image that has been watermarked with the name of the stock image company imprinted on the image, it is almost invariably the case that payment is required for the use of that image. In that case you need to find another image to use instead. For more information about images and fair use, see this informative article in the e-Literate blog: “Can I Use This?” How Museum and Library Image Policies Undermine Education. The article contains links to lots of great art image sources online, too!