Wednesday, July 09, 2008

It's a Thirsty World

Jeff Brenman, who created the amazing SlideShare version of the original Did You Know?/Shift Happens for their World's Best Presentation Contest last year, has an entry in this year's contest in the same style titled "Thirst."

While not directly related to the usual content of this blog, I thought I'd share it out for two reasons. First, I think it's an important issue to discuss. Second, I think it's another example of the power of imagery and how we should help students (and teachers) learn that PowerPoints/Keynotes/Slideshares don't have to have a ton of text on them to be effective (and, in fact, rarely should have a ton of text on them).



7 comments:

  1. I was just feeling like saying that this post is very interesting.
    I think it was good that you've posted it on your weblog.

    best regards from germany / bavaria,

    alex

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know what bugs me about this?

    Where'd they get the pictures?

    They clearly weren't Flickr CC released photos as there's no attribution, at least none that I saw.

    That makes sense, given that a professional company who designs slides made the slides.

    They probably paid big money for istockphoto.com pictures.

    As a teacher, I can't afford to.

    I wish I could, but I can't.

    So I'm back to attributing my photos and relying on CC.

    I wish some of these majorly good presentations (I'm needling you, Garr Reynolds) used more accessible photos.

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Chris,

    I'm glad you liked my presentation. You're right about the fact none of the photos came from flickr. You have to be very careful where you pull photos from on the internet. Most of the photos on flickr require attribution to use and things can get messy.

    To answer your question, almost every single photo in this presentation came from a COMPLETELY FREE stock photography resource, stock.xchng. (http://www.sxc.hu)

    I blogged an entry about stock photos and where to find them here: http://apolloideas.com/blog/archives/72

    I wish you the best with your future presentations!

    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Jeff,

    Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

    I'm curious, since Stock Xchng doesn't provide model releases, nor does it guarantee that pictures of models have the appropriate release obtained, are you worried that one of the folks in your presentation could sue?

    I realize that CC attribution is tricky, and it certainly does not absolutely prevent legal issues.

    Your thoughts on this?

    Thanks..

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chris,

    Stock.xchng has a little article explaining the need for attribution here:

    http://www.sxc.hu/forums/topic/12673

    Basically, if the author of the photo wants attribution, it is made known on the download page for the image. Otherwise so long as you follow their standard image license, the photos are free to use.

    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jeff,

    Thanks for continuing to engage me here.

    I just wonder about model releases specifically. What prevents the guy jumping in the water from suing you?

    I don't mean to sound harsh, but I really wonder about this. SXC makes no guarantee that model releases have been obtained. I understand there is a difference between that and a picture of a rock.

    I'm speaking specifically of people.

    How would you answer the question as to how to handle the lack of a model release and the possibility of litigation?

    Thanks again for helping me grasp this..

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd have to ask my lawyer once it gets that specific. From what I understand creative commons laws get tricky depending on how the photos are used.

    Just speculating, but I think if a model complained the fault would be on stock.xchng or the photographer since they are the ones distributing the photos to however many countless downloaders.

    As a note, I don't use photos from stock.xchng in my client projects. For those I use paid photos from stock photography resources, partially for the reason you bring up.

    I think that for a noncommercial, educational presentation (especially one you're using in a classroom), there is no problem with using these royalty free images since stock.xchng is granting permission in their image license.

    Like I said, I'm not a lawyer, but those are my two cents.

    Jeff

    ReplyDelete