Anyone who has been in a classroom or board meeting where PowerPoint was present has certainly seen images that were found through probably simple image searches. It’s easy. For many, the need for an image leads to the search, which leads to a download of an image found on the first page of results; credit is sometimes given to image creators, but it is not always known if the credit is going to the right person when it comes to online imagery. The ability to search for images on the web is perhaps taken for granted today, as most any traditional search engine worth mentioning has some sort of image search capability by now. Most image search tools are quite indiscernible, though a couple, like Google’s or Yahoo!‘s, do stand out from the crowd. One way some are standing out now is by bringing the concept of intellectual property to the forefront of image searching. This could very easily change the way people use image search over time.
In May, Yahoo! added Creative Commons filtering to its image search, inheriting this feature from Flickr, which has had this capability since 2006. Google has now not only working to follow suit in its mainstream image search, but also in Picasa Web.
The competition between two search leaders will most likely always lead to good things, but perhaps especially so in the case of the copyright issues Creative Commons seeks to address.
Recognition of Creative Commons
One of the most important results of Google and Yahoo! adding Creative Commons filtering is that it brings CC licenses, or at least their concepts, to the mainstream public. When students and businessmen find themselves in a pinch for an image, the concept, and hopefully the importance, of virtual property ownership will not be so alien to them in time. Yahoo! has done an especially beautiful job at simplifying the CC licenses in its search interface, making the concept usable for those who may have not encountered it before.
Widespread knowledge of Creative Commons, or similar licensing structures, will be positive, hopefully resulting in discussions regarding copyright and intellectual property laws. In time, this knowledge may indeed pose a problem for industries that depend almost solely on people’s lack of knowledge regarding these issues.
The (Slow) Return of Intellectual Property Rights
A problem that easy-to-use image searching has produced is the illusion of there being no creator behind the images. Many image searches bring up one or two results that are exactly the same, but are to be found on different sites. Rarely is there an obvious answer as to whether the image is a stock photo, being inappropriately used by one website or both, or whether both website owners had particular permission from the creator; if credit is even given, it is often buried deep within an about page. Over time, this has become a bane to image creators, and it has given a false security to image searchers who sometimes think that whatever results from their search is theirs to use.
Having a simple Creative Commons structure restores not only the concept of the creator, as a whole, but also what the creator actually wants. The way that Yahoo! takes this a step further by breaking down all the Creative Commons licenses into two simple check boxes is also very helpful. Google will have to work hard to make their Creative Commons filtering as simple and elegant.
I think as tools like these develop, we will see a lot more attribution on everyday websites, which is a very positive outcome for visual artists of all sorts.
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Tagged under: new-media, copyright, creative-commons, google, yahoo, search
1 Comment
ted on Jul. 02, 2009 at 09:07am
Creative Commons is definitely a nice tool for the photographer to let the world know about the rights attached to their images. You should also check out http://www.youtils.com which extends the Creative Commons model by allowing images that are licensed through the service and posted online to be measured. So now you get both the attribution required from a Creative Commons license and the ability to see where/how frequently your images are being used online. This was a nicely informative article on Creative Commons.
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