Creating Content- Images

My use of online images and videos has almost entirely revolved around facebook. You can't log in to facebook without seeing multiple pictures, either on your own page or at least in your newsfeed from other people's postings. I will admit that I enjoy browsing through another perspective of an event or some experience that one of my friends wants to share, because if I was there, I can reminisce and/or see another side of it, and if I wasn't.....well, I always enjoy vicarious experiences! :) I try to keep up with random photos of everyday life here and there, but my biggest and most purposeful use of online images happened during my semester abroad. I let everyone know the URL for my personal blog, but in my blog I posted links to picture albums and videos that I had uploaded to facebook. Facebook allows public viewing (when the author allows that feature) to items even to people without an account. This was perfect for my parents, in particular. Other than that experience, I really don't post things just to post them- especially videos. I will be intentional if I really want to document something specific, or may post if something happens so spontaneously that I simply MUST share it with the world. Otherwise, I do still maintain some of the caution about how much of myself I put out in front of the world.

In the classroom setting with public images, creative commons licenses come into play. Wikipedia describes Creative Commons licenses as "several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution." These various types of licenses provide tremendous flexibility in the use of online videos and photos, but could also provide a large amount of confusion for the teacher and student. The first step of any Web-based, image project would be to ensure clarification of licenses recognition and individual use policies. Once the students know what they are allowed to search for, and the teacher can properly monitor the students' use of online materials, the students will still be left with immense potential for creativity in their learning. Everyone just needs to start on the same page.