I mentioned in my last post that I’ve recently been offered the chance to teach an introduction to web design course at the Midlands Arts Centre (or the mac) in Birmingham. Having just completed week 2 last night I am pleased to report the class is going well and I’m enjoying sharing my knowledge with a friendly and enthusiast group of adult learners.
Sharing Knowledge
From teaching the course I am beginning to realise that a good number of the web tools, services and shortcuts I use are not as widely known about as I first thought. With this in mind I have decided to make a conscious effort to share my knowledge through my blog whenever I find myself introducing people to things I take for granted. In doing so, I hope to help people achieve more using the web.
Compfight: A Daft Name for Seriously Good Visual Inspiration
One of the things I’ve observed from teaching my course at the mac is many people aren’t clear on how to find and (legally) use images on their websites.
Most people I’ve worked with in recent years are aware that is possible to use Google to search for images and typing in a search term will display a plethora of images from all over the web. A Conscientious minority will be vaguely aware of copyright and question whether they are allowed to download and use an image from another website. I would say a majority of people either don’t understand copyright or are willing to take a chance on using an image without formal permission.
When faced with this situation I explain to people what copyright is and that it’s bad form to use an image without permission, even if the odds of getting called up on it are fairly slim. I then go on to introduce them a convenient and legal alternative for sourcing visuals for their website. This is generally the point where people ask what on earth do I mean by Compfight.
For those of a less geeky persuasion than me, I’ll try to offer a simple explanation of what Compfight is and why you should consider using it.
Compfight is a tool which allows you to search through all the photographs hosted on the photo sharing site Flickr and quickly find images which you can freely and legally use in your work.
Like any search tool, Compfight allows you to locate what you are looking for by typing in one or more keyword. One member of my class is fascinated by dinosaurs and so typed the word ‘dinosaurs’ into Compfight the other week. This is what came back.
Creative Commons: from ‘All Rights Reserved’ to ‘Some Rights Reserved
So far, so Google Images, right? What makes Compfight different is it allows users to filter results to show only images labelled as ‘Creative Commons’. Creative Commons is the name given to a form of copyright licence which gives the public permission to share and use a creative work — on the conditions set by the creator of that work. Think of Creative Commons as a shift from ‘All Rights Reserved’ to ‘Some Rights Reserved.
The precise nature of the permission granted varies but typically the public are free to use Creative Common images for non-commercial purposes provided they credit the author and provide a link back to the licensing agreement. This makes Compfight a perfect source of visuals for your personal blog. With care you can also use images in professional settings, provided the Creative Commons licence allows for this.
Share Your Tips
I hope you’ve found this post useful. Please feel free to contact me if you have any tips or suggestions for any web-based tools, services or shortcuts you think more people should know about. I will look to take on-board you suggestions and share them with my class and in future posts.
Francis Clarke 