Blogging 101

Words are nice, but pictures can say thousands of words. Adding complementary graphics and photos to your blogs really can make a difference in presentation and reader enjoyment. At the same time, you want to make sure you don’t use copyrighted material on your blog. That’s why I’m always on the lookout for free resources to use for my blog. Media which is in the U.S. “Public Domain” is free from copyright and available to use. My favorite place to find Public Domain material is Wikipedia. When you see an image on Wikipedia, click on it and your get sent to that image’s own page. The page will tell you the permission-use of the image which can range anywhere from Copyrighted (Do not use) to Public Domain (Free!). Other stops in between are Copyright/Fair Use, Copyleft, GNU License, and various forms where the author permits use but the work must be credited a certain way. Go for the easiest one — Public Domain. Instead of randomly finding images in the Public Domain, look for works created by the U.S. Government. Since these images, and the government which created them, are paid by U.S. taxpayer money, they are owned by the public, i.e. not owned by any single person. You can use them, sell them, change them — all to your hearts delight. Other works which are Public Domain are very old pieces (e.g. 200 years old) where the original copyright has expired and is now Public Domain. Age requirements vary by country and type of work, but usually Wikipedia is very good at documenting these requirements and displaying the correct status. Keep in mind, Wikipedia can get things wrong from time to time, but as long as you stick with U.S. Government works, they are most certainly in the Public Domain!

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