Image+Viewing+&+Searching

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Digital Images
Why Images Getting Images

I would wager that their are billions of images available online that we can see;however,a much lower number that we can use in our work. (31 Billion hits searching the letter A; however that reduces to 1.5 million searching for those tagged with creative commons licenses.)

We have several amazing tools available to view the world. The advent of the visual internet has opened up our eyes to see uncensored photos from people living and traveling the world. (Instead of just published books, encyclopedia, and TV news) We do need to be aware that when students use an image that someone else has taken or made, it can alter the writing or story they were originally going to tell.

In addition to the images potentially changing the story, we need to teach students about fair use and copyright.

Google is an amazing search engine.

Flickr is an amazing repository that Compfight.com searches.

Pics4Learning are amazing databases.

We do need to be careful how we use these tools to ensure that we get accurate images and that we search with the view to being able to use the images found in our writing.

Creative Commons is a relatively new form of copyright that specifies some rights reserved. Users are uploading their work so that others can re-use, repurpose, and mash their work into new personal work. I look for ways to explicitly have students searching for creative commons images and eventually sharing their work back to the creative commons.

The easiest first step is to add creative commons whenever doing a search in Google.

Flickr.com has a built in Creative Commons search engine by going to the Advanced Search and selecting the Creative Commons.



Images can tell amazing stories. Students having images chosen for their story can help to develop the story. Sharing images and the words generated from the images activate prior knowledge.

You can show the students the image through:


 * a webpage they navigate to or linked from your page
 * projected on the screen
 * a processed photograph
 * a printed image

What story does this image tell?

Consider the options with a Flickr Creative Commons Search http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=stormy+night&l=cc&ct=0

Used with Creative Commons Permission from - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsevilla/136094581/

Sources of images
 * student brings in a bring
 * student emails a print to school
 * Google Images
 * Flickr
 * Panoramio (through Google Earth)
 * Topic specific website
 * using digital cameras

Sunrise- a time to re-energize, start over... Road - a theme of travel, movement, going somewhere Despair - devastation, loss of hope, travesty Grandmother- someone special in your life http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryIdeas

Copyright and Fair Use Don't forget to consider appropriate copyright and fair use. Students should be encouraged to always have permission to use images from the web and provide attribution. One way to have permission is to add either "Public domain" or "Creative Commons" to their search terms.

Part of Incorporating media into our projects means having permission to use the media. Cog Dog Roo has provided several ideas http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryMedia

Additional Resources Check out - http://delicious.com/amboe_k/images

Added Note Oral Language Fluency - Students can collect images in iPhoto (or other) and then write what they will share with the class about the images. While they write to prepare, the intention of this would be sharing orally what they have researched.