Moodle

Allow searching for particular Creative Commons licenses in the Flickr repository plugin

Details

  • Type: Improvement Improvement
  • Status: Closed Closed
  • Priority: Minor Minor
  • Resolution: Fixed
  • Affects Version/s: 2.0
  • Fix Version/s: 2.0
  • Component/s: Repositories
  • Labels:
    None
  • Affected Branches:
    MOODLE_20_STABLE
  • Fixed Branches:
    MOODLE_20_STABLE

Description

The Flickr repository plugin is pretty neat, however I think a small change could be made that would help educators using Moodle all around the world. Many teachers are being made fearful to use images from the Internet due to possible copyright issues (I was surprised to hear how often this was a topic at the Moodlemoot UK earlier this week).

The Flickr API allows you to limit your search to only get results with a particular (set of) Creative Commons licenses. See:
http://www.flickr.com/services/api/flickr.photos.search.html (the optional "license" argument) and here:
http://www.flickr.com/services/api/flickr.photos.licenses.getInfo.html

I would propose to do the following:

1. Allow for searching for specific licenses. It would be too much to have a checkbox selection of each possible license. It is probably better to give three options: All images, CC-Licensed images, CC-licensed images which allow commercial use. I will try and use Balsamiq to create mock-up of what that could look like (see http://www.compfight.com for an example of how this could be done).
2. Find a way of using this information so that educators automatically comply with the CC licensing terms. This could be done in a couple of ways:

  • Use GD to change the image and add a line at the bottom with the licensen information and the name of the Flickr user that provided the image.
  • Append the username/license to the filename/filetitle when it is stored
  • Use a title attribute when the file is inserted into the HTML editor and store the license/username in that attribute
  • ... other options

What do others think?

Activity

Ascending order - Click to sort in descending order
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

Added UI Mockup: <2009-04-10 14:42 License added to Flickr search form>

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Hans de Zwart added a comment - Added UI Mockup: <2009-04-10 14:42 License added to Flickr search form>
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Dan Poltawski added a comment -

This is available in the API http://www.flickr.com/services/api/flickr.photos.search.html

But at a casual glance it doesn't look like the library we are using supports that.

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Dan Poltawski added a comment - This is available in the API http://www.flickr.com/services/api/flickr.photos.search.html But at a casual glance it doesn't look like the library we are using supports that.
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

Thanks for reporting, Hans, I will add licenses to flickr soon.
I think the GD approach makes sense, because both filename and title attribute are clear enough.

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - Thanks for reporting, Hans, I will add licenses to flickr soon. I think the GD approach makes sense, because both filename and title attribute are clear enough.
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

Yes using GD would make by far the most sense. That way teacher would automatically comply with most CC licenses and the license information would stay available if the image was re-used in another (part of the) course.

Look forward to seeing this done. Please let me know here: I would like to help you test.

Show
Hans de Zwart added a comment - Yes using GD would make by far the most sense. That way teacher would automatically comply with most CC licenses and the license information would stay available if the image was re-used in another (part of the) course. Look forward to seeing this done. Please let me know here: I would like to help you test.
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

Add license searching, will add GD later

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - Add license searching, will add GD later
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

I have tried to use it but only get one radio button with "License" in front of it. Is the UI finished yet?

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Hans de Zwart added a comment - I have tried to use it but only get one radio button with "License" in front of it. Is the UI finished yet?
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

Hi, Hans, the UI was finished, see attached screenshot.
You need to update repository module, I changed a lot recently.

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - Hi, Hans, the UI was finished, see attached screenshot. You need to update repository module, I changed a lot recently.
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

I thought I had done an update: guess I did something wrong. I will try again a little bit later on.

Just one question: shouldn't it be possible to select multiple licenses (turning it into check boxes instead of radio buttons)? It is not often that people look for one specific license. I guess It would have to be first a radio button choice between "All" and "Creative commons" only. After selecting Creative Commons a bunch of checkboxes for all the licenses would "ungrey" and become available.

What do you think?

Show
Hans de Zwart added a comment - I thought I had done an update: guess I did something wrong. I will try again a little bit later on. Just one question: shouldn't it be possible to select multiple licenses (turning it into check boxes instead of radio buttons)? It is not often that people look for one specific license. I guess It would have to be first a radio button choice between "All" and "Creative commons" only. After selecting Creative Commons a bunch of checkboxes for all the licenses would "ungrey" and become available. What do you think?
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

Hello Deng,

Just another thought on the interface for choosing a license. I really think the user should not have to know too much about the licensing and can get confused by all the different option.
When you create a piece of work with a creative commons license you only have to make two choices (one with two options and one with three options, see attachment). Together these lead to the the six different licenses. It would be great if you could design something similar on the search side of things. Just two choices should be enough to know what people are looking for.

What do you think?

Kind regards,

Hans de Zwart

Show
Hans de Zwart added a comment - Hello Deng, Just another thought on the interface for choosing a license. I really think the user should not have to know too much about the licensing and can get confused by all the different option. When you create a piece of work with a creative commons license you only have to make two choices (one with two options and one with three options, see attachment). Together these lead to the the six different licenses. It would be great if you could design something similar on the search side of things. Just two choices should be enough to know what people are looking for. What do you think? Kind regards, Hans de Zwart
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

Two options x three options makes for six licenses...

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Hans de Zwart added a comment - Two options x three options makes for six licenses...
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

Hi, Hans, this interface looks very good, I am working on it

Thanks

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - Hi, Hans, this interface looks very good, I am working on it Thanks
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

Hi, Hans, I implemented your proposed UI, please have a look, thanks

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - Hi, Hans, I implemented your proposed UI, please have a look, thanks
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

Hello Dongsheng,

I will be going offline for a couple of weeks and haven't had a chance to look at the UI yet. I will do it late July/early August and will let you know what I think!

Thanks again!

Hans

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Hans de Zwart added a comment - Hello Dongsheng, I will be going offline for a couple of weeks and haven't had a chance to look at the UI yet. I will do it late July/early August and will let you know what I think! Thanks again! Hans
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

Feel free to reopen it if have got any problems

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - Feel free to reopen it if have got any problems
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

Hey Donsheng,

I finally had the chance to download a development version of Moodle and (after some PHP trickery) managed to test out the searching for creative commons based images. I really think it is great that this has been included in the Flick repository plugin, I am very impressed!

After playing with it, I have a couple of comments/suggestions:
1. There is a small typo in a language string in the general Flickr public repository plugin settings. It says: "Add watermark (Author ID and original URL) to downloaed photos?". I would change that to "Add watermark (license and original URL) to downloaded photos?".
2. The watermark links to the static image location. This doesn't give a lot of information to the person trying to find the image on Flickr and that URL strips the image of all context. I would write as a watermark the standard Flickr URL (should also be available through the API) as this page actually has the license information and the URL has the username (not the ID). It basically is the difference between: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3509476853_2d9d440d11_b.jpg and http://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/3509476853/. The second URL is shorter too!
3. What will happen to the watermark if the image is white at the top? It won't be legible... Would it be an idea to create a white border of x pixels high at the bottom of the image, which will then be watermarked with black text? To comply to the license it should also say what license is used for the image. That can be done in short form (should be available through the API). So final watermark could look like: "BY-NC-ND ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/3509476853/".
4. Currently the search form is created exactly like the example I uploaded (from the Creative Commons site). This example assumed that you are uploading something instead of downloading something. I took a look at how the advanced Flickr search page does it and they have found the optimal way of describing the search form (see attachment). Note how the bottom two check boxes only become available once the top box is ticked. This way it allows a user to search for all possible combinations.

I have reopened the issue. I assume that you will just close it again, if you feel that my suggestions are too much work or over the top!

Thanks again for taking this issue so seriously, it really is an honour!

Hans

Show
Hans de Zwart added a comment - Hey Donsheng, I finally had the chance to download a development version of Moodle and (after some PHP trickery) managed to test out the searching for creative commons based images. I really think it is great that this has been included in the Flick repository plugin, I am very impressed! After playing with it, I have a couple of comments/suggestions: 1. There is a small typo in a language string in the general Flickr public repository plugin settings. It says: "Add watermark (Author ID and original URL) to downloaed photos?". I would change that to "Add watermark (license and original URL) to downloaded photos?". 2. The watermark links to the static image location. This doesn't give a lot of information to the person trying to find the image on Flickr and that URL strips the image of all context. I would write as a watermark the standard Flickr URL (should also be available through the API) as this page actually has the license information and the URL has the username (not the ID). It basically is the difference between: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/3509476853_2d9d440d11_b.jpg and http://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/3509476853/. The second URL is shorter too! 3. What will happen to the watermark if the image is white at the top? It won't be legible... Would it be an idea to create a white border of x pixels high at the bottom of the image, which will then be watermarked with black text? To comply to the license it should also say what license is used for the image. That can be done in short form (should be available through the API). So final watermark could look like: "BY-NC-ND ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/3509476853/". 4. Currently the search form is created exactly like the example I uploaded (from the Creative Commons site). This example assumed that you are uploading something instead of downloading something. I took a look at how the advanced Flickr search page does it and they have found the optimal way of describing the search form (see attachment). Note how the bottom two check boxes only become available once the top box is ticked. This way it allows a user to search for all possible combinations. I have reopened the issue. I assume that you will just close it again, if you feel that my suggestions are too much work or over the top! Thanks again for taking this issue so seriously, it really is an honour! Hans
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Hans de Zwart added a comment -

The way that the Flickr advanced search page does the form for Creative Commons.

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Hans de Zwart added a comment - The way that the Flickr advanced search page does the form for Creative Commons.
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Dongsheng Cai added a comment -

implemented

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Dongsheng Cai added a comment - implemented

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Dates

  • Created:
    Updated:
    Resolved:
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