A teacher wrote me today with a question I’ve heard a lot–so I thought I’d put my definitive answer here on my blog! This question usually comes in the form of two questions, with the same answer.
Where can I find great pictures for kids to use online?
Can we use Flickr.com?
First, yes, Flickr is a wonderful website for photographers. It’s a leading “star” in the concept of Web 2.0, not only for its huge base of avid photographers, but for its use of folksonomized tags for organizing the photos (and now videos) folks are uploading to the Yahoo-owned site.
Second, it’s a good source because millions of photos have been tagged with Creative Commons licenses, meaning the photographers are willing to share their photos with others, including use in projects that our students may undertake in school.
There are two areas where you can do the search for Creative Commons-licensed photos. First, there’s a Attribution Only license. You can use the photos, but have to link back to the source page on Flickr. This is easy to do on the Web, and in print, you can simply list the URL on a slide or in a document like a book citation.
Second, there’s the attribution, non-commercial license, which means you can use the photos, including the provision for attribution, as long as you don’t profit from the photo’s use. Both of these seem appropriate for use within a school setting.
One caveat: while the truly gross photos folks may post are policed by the “crowd,” it is possible to find explicit photography using Flickr (just the same, really, with any mainstream search tool). So–be forewarned. Setting kids loose on Flickr isn’t always a wise proposition. My advice is, at the elementary level, search for the photos yourself and share them via iPhoto off your laptop, or via a USB stick, or CD-ROM. At the high school level, I think the searching aspect is important. Preview what comes up before class starts, and at all times, keep your eyes out for what students are doing.
Under no circumstances should pictures be dragged from the browser window at Flickr, and out onto a project (in Word, Keynote, etc.). Photos should be collected and the attribution stage should come before the photos appear within a project.
If you have further questions, let me know.