Finding CC Licensed Content
The Creative Commons Search Portal
Creative Commons has developed a search engine Links to an external site. to scan specific sites for CC licensed materials. We have created a step-by-step guide Links to an external site. to using search tools in the CC Search Portal Links to an external site. to find content released under Creative Commons licenses. The CC Search Portal allows users to return very specific results from a number of sources by reading the metadata embedded in the digital files of content licensed under Creative Commons. The search portal can find content that is available for certain kinds of uses, including works that are available for commercial reuse and works that are available for remixing. By limiting the search to specific sites that only include one type of content (e.g., videos, photos or music), the CC Search portal also lets you search for specific types of material. This can give it an advantage over the CC search tools provided by other search engines.
Before we move on ...
If you have not seen the Creative Commons search tool, we recommend you review the document How to Find Creative Commons Materials Using the Creative Commons Search Portal Links to an external site.. Then, try searching for images, and other media using the Creative Commons search engine Links to an external site..
Finding Images Online
The Internet is a powerful tool you can use to find visuals to complement your work. If you simply click on “images” for your topic in a search engine (e.g. Google), you will generate both royalty-free and copyright-protected images. However, if you include a term such as stock images, stock photos, or royalty-free images along with your topic, you may be able to narrow your search to royalty-free items. Some search engines can help you filter your search by license type as well.
For example, Google images includes a search tool that allows you to filter the results by license type. However, these strategies are not perfect, and you should check the source of the image directly for its licensing requirements. You should not take an image from a search engine unless you are sure that the creator has provided a license that allows you to do so. When searching Google Images, you can search for images with specific permissions by clicking “Search Tools,” then “Usage Rights.
Other Options to Find CC Licensed Materials
The search engine provided by Creative Commons and popular search engines such as Google are not the only way to find CC licensed material for educational purposes. Increasingly, websites that house publicly viewable content (e.g. documents, photos, slide decks) allow visitors the ability to filter CC licensed materials as part of the website's search function. For example, the screenshots below illustrate the the search and filter features on Flickr.com and YouTube. Alternatively, other sites have CC licensed materials, but do not offer the ability to filter CC licensed material as part of their search function (e.g. Slideshare.net). In addition, there are even specific repositories for educational resources, which we will discuss in more detail in Part 4: Open Educational Resources.
| Flickr.com Search Links to an external site. | YouTube.com Search Links to an external site. |