Finding Media on the Web: Important Information About Following Copyright Rules

Most of the media you find on the web will have a copyright holder and you will need to ask for permission to use the media (image, sound or movie). It is not ok to just refer to where you found the media file in your treehouse. This page lists some links to sites that contain materials that are in the public domain that you can use without obtaining permission, and also goes over what to do if you find copyrighted media on the web that you want to ask for permission to use in your page.

• Copyrighted Media on the Web
  • If you can't find the media that you want in the ToL database, or media in the public domain from the sites listed below, and you do a web search to find media elsewhere, be aware that before you upload any media file to the ToL to use in your treehouse you must first obtain the copyright owner's permission in writing. You cannot use images/media files in your treehouse page that you did not create yourself unless you receive permission in writing from the copyright owner. Use this letter to ask for permission to use an image or media file (the letter also asks the copyright holder to indicate what the licensing options for the media file will be). You will need to put the proper copyright and source information in the image editing form. See Copyright Issues for more information on following copyright rules.
• Media in the Public Domain on the Web
• This page lists several sites on the Web that post images and other media files that are in the public domain. When a media file is in the public domain the original copyright owner has released the work to the public, which means that you may use the media file in your treehouse page and that you can modify it to your liking. However, you should always check the copyright notice posted on the site, and if the media file is not in the public domain or the file isn't clearly designated as in the public domain, you will need to contact the copyright holder and obtain permission in order to use the image, sound or video file. Read more about public domain media. You will need to put the URL (web address) of the place where you obtained the public domain image in the image data entry form under credits: acknowledgements. You will also need to add any other information that the site requires.

Information you need to upload media files you find to the ToL Database

Before you can use a media file in your treehouse page you must first upload (add) it to the ToL database. When you upload a media file to the ToL database you must fill out information about copyright, terms of use, media type and more.

• You will need to put the URL (web address) of the place where you obtained the public domain image in the image data entry form under credits: acknowledgements. You will also need to add any other information that the site requires.

See Help Filling Out the Image and Media Data Entry Form for assistance with compiling all the information you need to upload a media file to the ToL database.

Tips for Finding Media on This Page

At the present time the majority of the sites listed on this page will help you find images in the public domain. There is only one site listed for audio files, and no site listed for movies.

• Generally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Digital Library System, Gateway to Digital Media http://images.fws.gov is a great place to look for public domain images.
• The "Organism Type" field listed for each database will give you an idea of what type of media files you will find there. For example, if you are looking for ocean life, when you browse or search the list you will see that for the NOAA the database summary shows
  Organism Type: Ocean life, including marine mammals, fish, and shellfish.