I can remember endless projects throughout my middle school and high school years that were composed mainly of images taken directly from Google Images. I used other peoples’ photos for everything without even thinking about it, and I didn’t have a teacher who said a word about it until my first year of post-secondary. I had many teachers that would talk about the seriousness of plagiarism, but not one mentioned any issues with the uncredited use of someone’s photographs.
It is important to be aware of the rules and regulations regarding copyright and copyright infringement. There are many different copyright license types – one being a Creative Commons license. More information can be found here. The website is clear and easy to use, and allows users to search for materials that can be used and shared for their own purposes. On my blog, I have been using images from Unsplash, an image website that grants users “an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or to Unsplash” (Unsplash, 2019). Due to the licensing nature of this website, it is not necessary to grant credit to the photographer, but Unsplash makes it easy to include a credit within a photo caption, which gives the photographer and the site exposure.
In my own classroom, I will make sure to discuss copyright, Creative Commons, and licensing with my class so that they have a better understanding of the rules and regulations regarding media and image use.
Mara Cox 