23 Things: The Fifth Tool = Image Search

The next 23 Things assignment is to discuss a technology-related topic of our choice. Following on from yesterday's post, I thought I'd look at options for retrieving other relevant images online. A number of forced migration sites offer photo collections that are not available through Flickr. Here are a few examples:

• AlertNet Pictures [access]
• Forced Migration Online Photos [access]
• IRIN News Photos [access]
• UNRWA Photo Archive [access]

If specialized photo collections do not yield relevant images, the other option is to search across the web using an image search engine. This article provides a useful review of 13 different services. As it notes, size is not necessarily equivalent to quality! While some search engines clearly maintain the biggest indexes of images (like Google, Yahoo...), other services like Exalead and Picsearch offer more enhanced search features. Before launching a search, however, users should review the various strategies described in this article, to improve their chances of conducting successful searches.

Once a relevant image has been found, then questions should be asked regarding the image's copyright status: Is it copyrighted? Is it public domain? Is its use regulated by some type of license? You may have noticed the appearance of Creative Commons licenses associated with photo collections and other online content. This system allows creators to establish a set of conditions for how their work can be used. Read this section of the Creative Commons FAQ to learn about how you can use works licensed under their system.

For a tutorial that covers all of the above, and a bit more, check out the Intute/TASI "Internet for Image Searching" guide.