Attribution
This page was adapted from "Open Educational Resources (OER)" by Abbey Elder which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and the Student guide to Open Educational Resources (OER) by Tacoma Community College Library and shared with a CC BY SA 4.0 license.
Reusing Multimedia
Whenever you reuse free images, videos, and audio/music from the Internet, there are two major considerations to keep in mind:
- Is the content actually free to share? Check for a license or reuse statement on the page or website where you found the image (video or audio) to confirm that you can legally share it.
- What are the attribution and reuse requirements? This information will likely be found on the same page or area where the license information is found.
For example, all Creative Commons (CC) licenses require a base attribution which includes an item's title, source link, author, and license. However, what you are allowed to do with a CC-licensed image depends on its specific license.
You can find more information about CC-licensed works and how to cite them on this Creative Commons Guide.
Diverse and Inclusive Image Collections
- Centre for Aging BetterPositive and realistic images of older people, available in the public domain.
- Disabled and Here CollectionPhoto collection featuring disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) across the Pacific Northwest. Images are licensed CC-BY.
- Disability:INDisability inclusive stock photography. Images are licensed CC-BY-ND (image editing is not allowed).
- The Gender Spectrum CollectionStock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models. Images are licensed CC-BY-NC-ND (image editing is not allowed).
- Images of EmpowermentPhoto library of women’s activities from around the world. Images are licensed CC-BY-NC.
- Nappy: Beautiful photos of Black and Brown people, for free.Photo library of Black and brown people. Images are licensed CC0, public domain.
- Open PeepsHand-drawn, mix-and-match illustration library. Images are available under a CC0, public domain license.
- PICNOIStock photo library of diverse multi-racial images. Images are available under a CC-BY license.
- Queer in Tech Collection"We created this photo set to promote the visibility of queer and gender-nonconforming (GNC) people in technology, who are often under-represented as workers powering the creative, technical, and business leadership of groundbreaking tech companies and products." Images are available under a CC-BY license.
General image Collections
- Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sounds, and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
- FlickrPhotos. Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.
- OpenverseThis tool connects to a variety of search engines to locate openly licensed images. Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license. You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link.
Subject Specific Images
- NIH BioArt SourceBuild figures, presentations, and illustrations with 2,000+ science and medical art visuals.
“The illustrations and content provided on the NIH BIOART Source are free for any use, including educational, research, informational, and commercial purposes. If the entry is licensed as ‘Public Domain’ citation is appreciated but not required (See ‘How to Cite Entries in NIH BioArt Source’). For licenses that require attribution (eg. CC-BY) we recommend using the entry DOI (should it be available) as well as the NIH BioArt Source citation style.” - NIH 3DAn open, community-driven portal to download, share, and create bioscientific and medical 3D models for 3D printing and interactive 3D visualization, including virtual and augmented reality.
- Smithsonian Open AccessWith new platforms and tools, you have easier access to more than 4.9 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections—with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
- Open Access at The MetData about The Met collection, including over 492,000 images of public-domain artworks, available for free and unrestricted use.
- J. Paul Getty Museum Open ContentNearly 88,000 images of artworks from its collection are now freely available to download, edit, and repurpose. These high-resolution images are in the public domain without any legal restrictions.
Video Collections
- TED-EdTED-Ed is TED’s youth and education initiative. TED-Ed Originals are short, award-winning animated videos about ideas that spark the curiosity of learners everywhere. (CC BY NC ND 4.0 license)
- TED TalksTED Videos have a CC BY NC ND 4.0 license, and TED encourages users to freely view, share, and download the videos without restraint. The website is provided as a public service to promote the spread of good ideas.
- YouTubeYouTube provides millions of Creative Commons-licensed videos (among their billions of video collections). The key is filtering them to isolate the Creative Commons-licensed ones.
Search tip: Once you search using keywords, use the filter to narrow down to the CC licensed videos. - VimeoLike YouTube, Vimeo hosts millions of Creative Commons-licensed videos. In addition, Vimeo provides a separate Creative Commons licensed video collection which makes the filtering process much easier.
See the Open WA page on Vimeo, http://www.openwa.org/vimeo/, for detailed directions and screenshots for different ways to filter down to CC-licensed videos in Vimeo. - List of open-source films on WikipediaOpen-source films (also known as open-content films and free-content films) are films which are produced and distributed by using free and open-source and open content methodologies. Their sources are freely available.
Audio/Music Collections
- OpenverseSearch for over 700 million free images, photos, and audio in the public domain and under Creative Commons licenses. Site used to be known as Creative Commons Search.
- Wikimedia Commons: Free media resources/SoundList of free/open source sound websites
- SoundCloudOnline audio distribution platform for users to upload, record, promote, and share their originally-created sounds. This link is to the new tracks tagged #creativecommons. Once you click on a track, click on "show more" under the description to find the CC license. You do have to sign for an account to download tracks, but the account is free.
- Free Music ArchiveFree downloads under Creative Commons and other licenses. The license can be seen by clicking on the title of the song.
