 This is Learning in Hand. I'm Tony Vincent, and this is the show where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for using today's digital tools for teaching and learning. Episode 29, Free Images for Your Projects, recorded September 2014, happens now. If you're creating a digital project, chances are you will want to use images. I think the best images are ones you photograph or create yourself. Then you know your work is original and that you have permission to use it. But there are times when you don't have the time, talent, or resources to photograph or create your own. That's when you'll turn to the internet to use images photographed or made by someone else. You should not just steal images you find online. You need permission from the copyright holder. I'd like to tell you about three websites that are great for finding clip art, photos, and icons. These sites feature images that you already have permission to use on your website, blog, poster, slideshow, video, animation, etc., etc. First, let me tell you about open clip art. You can search thousands of images and use any of them for free. Every single image is public domain, so they don't even require you to give attribution. Though it still could be a good idea to label your public domain images as public domain so that others know you did not steal it. Open clip art may be used for free without restriction for any purpose for commercial or non-commercial reasons. Open clip art has a chart that explains if you are permitted to use images you find for various uses. It turns out you can use open clip art for any and all uses because all images have been released into the public domain. You can easily search open clip art. Let's search for the word search. There are eight pages of results. While you could save the small thumbnail image, chances are it will look blurry in your project. It's better to download a large image that you can then shrink than to download a very small image and try to make it larger. So I click the thumbnail of the image I want to use in my project. Now I can see a larger version. This isn't a bad size and I could copy or save this image. But instead, let's get an even larger image by clicking the PNG button. PNG is a great format for clip art because most of the time the images have transparent backgrounds, which means there's not a potentially ugly white box around the image when you use it in a project. There are a variety of ways to save an image. If you're on Windows or Mac, you can right click to save the image. On a Chromebook, tap the mouse pad with two fingers. On iOS and Android, press and hold the image. The second free image repository I want to tell you about is Pixabay. It has clip art and photographs. Just like open clip art, images on Pixabay are all published as public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute these images all without asking permission and without giving attribution. Pixabay's search box has some options to help you find what you're looking for. You can even filter your search to specific categories like animals, people, education and emotions. You'll probably see images that look great and might be perfect for your project at the top of the results. If you look closely, you'll see that these are sponsored images. Sponsored images linked to Shutterstock. Shutterstock's images are not public domain. They cost money. So when using Pixabay, train your eyes to ignore those beautiful sponsored images. Click an image you'd like to download. You can save the image on this page, but you can get higher resolution photos by selecting a size on the right side of the screen and clicking download. You'll have to complete a captcha before the download can start. If you don't want the frustration of a captcha for each download, you can sign up for a free account. You can even use your Google account to sign up. The third library of free images I'm excited to show you is the Noun Project. The Noun Project is filled with simple icons and symbols. Some of those icons and symbols are licensed as public domain. Most of them are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution. You are free to use these images, but you must give credit to the designer. The Noun Project makes it clear who to credit. You can copy their wording to include as credits in your project. Saving images from the Noun Project is a little more complicated than saving from OpenClipArt and Pixabay. Like OpenClipArt and Pixabay, you enter your search and click one of the thumbnail results. You cannot download the image on this details page. The Noun Project has programmed their site so that you have to log in before you can copy or download their images. You can sign up with a Facebook account or with an email address. After logging in, you can click the download button. You can choose to buy the image. Now, if you purchase it, you don't have to worry about attribution requirements. If you use the image for free, you'll have to agree to attribute the designer. After you agree, your download begins. The download is a zip file. On Windows, Mac and Chromebook, it's easy to unzip the file and turn it into a folder. Inside that folder is a PNG image you can import into your project. Unzipping on an iPad requires an app to be installed. One of the free apps you can use is called Documents 5. So on an iPad, you just first find your icon in Safari and click download. Choose to open the zip file in Documents 5. In Documents 5, click the newly downloaded zip file to unzip it. Then open the newly unzipped folder. Click the icon's PNG image to view it. Then click the share button and save to gallery. After all those steps, the image from the Noun project is finally in your photo library and ready to be used in your project. iPad apps like a zip viewer work in much the same way. You'll open the file in zip viewer, open the zip file, and then find the PNG file and save it to your photo library. On Android, the zip file goes into your downloads. So after clicking download in your browser, simply open a free app like Android zip or WinZip. Browse to find the zip file in your downloads and extract it. Inside, you'll find a PNG image that you can then use in other apps. And a little hint, if you'd rather have white or gray icons instead of the black ones the Noun project has, in an image editing app, turn up the exposure and decrease the contrast. So yes, the Noun project's icons and symbols take several steps to access, but I think they're worth it. The images are highly recognizable, helping you communicate your ideas. In projects, keep in mind there is a difference between illustrations and decorations. The best projects have visuals that illustrate ideas presented. Images that illustrate show, explain, or serve as an example. I've been using images in this video to illustrate what I'm talking about. Images that decorate are added as an extra element that are there maybe just to fill up space and look pretty, but do not help explain the idea you're trying to convey. This kitten is super cute, but she's a decoration because I'm filling up space with a photo that doesn't have to do with the ideas I'm talking about. Yes, OpenClipArt, Pixabay, and the Noun project are massive libraries of images, but they don't have images of everything. Sometimes you'll need to try different key words to improve your search results. If you're not happy with your initial search results, reword with synonyms, or think of other things you can search for. Alan Levine calls refining your search image seeking, and I like his suggestions for finding an image to illustrate your word or concept. Searching for a word might not display an image that illustrates your idea, so Alan suggests that you search for actions that demonstrate what you want to illustrate. Search for objects, people, or animals that are associated with what you want to illustrate. Search for locations where what you want to illustrate occurs. If you're like me, you've spent a lot of time searching for just the right image to illustrate an idea. Instead of using Google to find images that I may not have permission to use, I tend to stick with using OpenClipArt, Pixabay, and the Noun project to find free and copyright-friendly clip art, images, icons, and symbols. That's it for episode 29. I'd love for you to like Learning in Hand on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. And of course, I highly recommend you head on over to learninginhand.com. Thanks for watching.