Stacia Linz

SLM 521

10/3/09

CLIPART: Elective #2

Clipart

Below are six different places to find clipart. They are vastly different, in functionality, permissions and the images they offer. Taken together, they provide good coverage for a range of grades, ages and student uses, as well as for instructional purposes.

DREAMSTIME—Features free stock images, many royalty-free. These are high quality designs, contributed by a community of professional and amateur designers, and would make secondary school projects looks polished. If you want to share and donate images to the community, there is a simple registration process, but you don’t need to register to use these images. Crediting the agency and the photographer/designer is “recommended.” Date visited—10/1/09

image credit: Andika18/Dreamstime.com

http://www.dreamstime.com/free-photos

ARTVEX--Boasts over 10,000 original free clipart images. You can search withing Artvex or within Google for images, and categories are alphabetized and nicely and cleanly laid out, in main and sub-categories, where totals of images are displayed. E.g. Main category, ”Anatomy (163)” links to sub-menu which includes “Bones (4),” “Brains (3),” and “Ears (4).” This would be exceptionally easy for younger or more concrete secondary students to navigate. You can use up to 15 images from all categories, with credit due. Date visited—10/1/09

http://www.artvex.com

MICROSOFT OFFICE ONLINE—Microsoft Clip Art & Media Home. Many many categories of images to choose from. Microsoft makes it very easy to copy to clipboard or download your selections, and to store them, by category. As long as you agree to the terms, you can use the images in school assignments and for instructional purposes. This is suitable for use with all ages, and is nicely categorized and searchable. This does pull from other sources (istockphoto, etc) too, so I would be very sure about checking to see where the images originate. If they are unlabeled, they come from Microsoft.

www.office.microsoft.com

I also really liked how easy to locate the use policy was, after comparing several sites (not always easy to find). I liked how straightforward this made things. Date visited—10/1/09

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx?ofcresset=1

CLASSROOM CLIPART – This collection of clipart can be used free for K-12 classroom use (limited and watermarked). If used on a webpage, images must be credited. Non-watermarked copies and unlimited availability for personal and business use is available for purchase (about $20/yr). Searching and results are all pretty straightforward, and useful across many grades. Contains a nice collection of free pen and ink bio pics, as well as useful icons, like this folder. Date visited—10/1/09

www.classroomclipart.com

KLAMBAKE-- Unique, Hi-res Clip-art, Illustrations and Music. “Download what you want. Do whatever you want with it - EXCEPT the following: don't try to pass it off as your own, don't sell it, don't include it in clip art collections, don't use it as a logo. Give credit where credit is due. Other than that, knock yourself out.”

klambake.com

Some of these images are really edgy, and would not be suitable for younger students, but I can imagine secondary students working on a literary magazine would really identify with the aesthetic and subject matter. A fun site, provocative images, fresh and unusual. Date visited—10/2/09

http://www.klambake.com/index.html

DOVER PUBLICATIONS-- Dover publications has been producing some of the absolute coolest images around for years. I have a huge collection of their books (including childhood First Ladies Paper Dolls) and CDs—and have also gathered an enormous file of their free samples over the years, which I have used for everything from art nouveau book plates for my daughter, to scrapbooking. I am not sure what their policy is for educational use (though “classroom handout” is a suggested use for the free samples. I contacted them, and inquired if educators can use the images they have made free, with proper accreditation. We’ll see! You have to be patient to collect the weekly freebies, but they do offer an enormous number of fascinating images in a vast number of subject areas, including historical figures, illuminations and horticulture…. I am hoping I will be able to use my collection and continue to add to it for my teaching. Date visited—10/1-09

http://www.doverpublications.com/sampler4