Originally introduced as part of a presentation at the Computer Connection of the CCCC 2008 conference in New Orleans, this website is meant to be a resource for academics as perform their academic work: putting together presentations, websites, class discussions, etc. Although the doctrine of fair use covers our use of resources for much of what we do as academics, I argue that using public domain resources, or resources where copyright restrictions are relaxed through methods such as Creative Commons licensing, promotes values such as sharing of knowledge, and detangling knowledge production from corporate interests. Additionally, you can support low-profile artists who want to disseminate their work more widely, and make your own work more unique in the process. If you agree with my argument, listed below are some places to start your projects!

Feel free to contact me at avee [atsign] wisc dot edu with additions to the list or comments.

-Annette Vee

Advanced search on Flickr allows you to limit your search to images with Creative Commons licenses. You can also perform this search on the CC website.

MorgueFile "provides the public and creative community with free raw photo materials." The name comes from the reference files that photographers sometimes keep, and it's filled with seconds from great photographers, free for commercial use because (I love this):

This web site follows in the tradition of the world wide web. It is dedicated in the proposition of free thought and exchange.

Liam's Pictures From Old Books has a lot of images scanned from books out of copyright.

Public Domain Pictures is a repository for free images, although I don't think they're really in the public domain. The site says:

If you intend to use an image you find here for commercial use, please be aware that no model release was obtained and pictures featuring products or property should be used with care. The pictures are free for you to use and you should feel good about doing so.

PDPhoto claims to have pictures in the public domain free to use, although they are probably not in the public domain. From the website, you can see a misunderstanding of copyright, although it's still probably all right to use the images in academic contexts:

PDPhoto.org is a repository for free public domain photos. Unless something is clearly marked as being copyrighted, you can assume it is free to use. But if you intend to use an image you find here for commercial use, please be aware that standards for such use are higher. Specifically, you should assume no model release was obtained. And pictures featuring products or property should be used with care. The photos are here to be used, but I don't want you to get either of us in trouble over it.

Wikipedia has a decently-organized list of image resources under the heading Public Domain Image Resources. Listed there are stamps, flags, photographs, paintings, and other wonderful things.

CCMixter is a Creative Commons-based community, where people offer up their songs under CC licenses for remixing, etc. Remixes are also available here.

The Freesound Project is a database of sound samples (not songs) offered under CC licenses.

NPR offers a list of sound resources to help with podcasting.

Creative Commons offers a way to search for sounds, too.

Wendy Warren Austin of Edinboro University offers a list of "podsafe" audio, meaning that this music and sound can be remixed and broadcast, although artists generally like to be credited for their work.

Podsafe Audio "aims to provide a location where musicians can upload music under the Creative Commons license for use in Podcasts, Mashups, Shoutcasts, Webcasts and every other kind of 'casting' that exists on the 'net."

Podsafe Music Network offers a lot of music for podcasting as well.

Royalty-Free Music has a lot of sound samples available for free, although they're all copyrighted by Shaun Harris of BMI. Here's what Shaun says about the use of this music:

Anyone may use the following royalty free music loops in their personal and private projects. However, Award Winning Music requires that clients using these free loops give credit to RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, and must also provide a link to the site. Anyone that wants to use the loops for professional, for-profit projects must purchase them from RoyaltyFreeMusic.com.

A1 Free Sound Effects has a lot of sound samples available. Their terms of use:

Non Profit  /  Personal Use: Everyone can download and use the sound effects for FREE... any School, Church, Student, Teacher or Non Profit Corporation can use the sounds for free in any Home Use, Church Event or Classroom Project. Direct linking to a sound is not allowed!!!!

Commercial Use: Any Commercial use of the Sound Effects requires permission from A1 Free Sound Effects. We will grant you the right to use any of the sound effects with the purchase of Our Commercial CD. 

DaFont.com is my go-to place for downloadable fonts (like the "Airstream" font in the header.)

Font Empire has a lot of fonts, too, although they warn that the fonts might be not be suitable for commercial use.

eknp.com also offers thousands of fonts for download.

The Prelinger Archives, hosted on archive.org, has tons of quirky videos, including old health class, public service message goodness, available for re-use. The best part? Here's their use policy, from their FAQ:

Are there restrictions on the use of the Prelinger Films?

There are no restrictions. You are warmly encouraged to download, use and reproduce these films in whole or in part, in any medium or market throughout the world. You are also warmly encouraged to share, exchange, redistribute, transfer and copy these films, and especially encouraged to do so for free.

Any derivative works that you produce using these films are yours to perform, publish, reproduce, sell, or distribute in any way you wish without any limitations.

Public Domain Comedy is hosted by TheVoiceOfReason.com and contains comedy they think is in the public domain. TheVoiceOfReason.com also hosts some non-comedy videos supposedly in the public domain. Here's what they say about that:

theVoiceofReason.com believes that these movies are in the public domain. If you have any evidence to the contrary please e-mail us urgently at the above e-mail address. By saying that these works are in the Public Domain, we mean that copyright of these pieces of intellectual property have expired because they were not renewed with the correct authorities.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation offers a legal guide for podcasting that is useful in presentations and Internet publications in general.

Creative Commons, in association with the Berkman Center and others, have put together a legal guideline for podcasters. This "Podcasting Legal Guide" is, ironically, copyrighted:

© 2006 Colette Vogele of Vogele & Associates, Mia Garlick of Creative Commons and Berkman Center Clinical Program in Cyberlaw. This Guide was produced as part of the Non-Residential Fellowship Program of the Center for Internet & Society at Stanford Law School.

Media Commons has a lovely assertion of Fair Use posted on their site:

Fair Use

MediaCommons is a strong advocate for the right of media scholars to quote from the materials they analyze, as protected by the principle of "fair use." If such quotation is necessary to a scholar's argument, if the quotation serves to support a scholar's original analysis or pedagogical purpose, and if the quotation does not harm the market value of the original text -- but rather, and on the contrary, enhances it -- we must defend the scholar's right to quote from the media texts under study.

A blog post by librarian Joyce Valenza on schoollibraryjournal.com argues for a much wider interpretation of Fair Use than is usually assumed in academia. Most of the information here is secondhand, however.

Audacity is a free, open source program that enables you to edit sounds and speech.

GIMP is the unfortunately named (it stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program) free, open source image-editing software.

The OpenOffice Suite (including Writer, Impress, Calc, and others) is a free, open source equivalent to Microsoft Office, without the closed, proprietary formats.

Google Docs allows you to store and edit word-processing and spreadsheet documents online with multiple users; it's free, but not open source.

SCite is a source code editor that will allow you to organize html, javascript and other kinds of code.

If you still want more resources, here are a few other good portals to turn to:

A Copyright-friendly page on Wikispaces. Their description:

Most of the media in these collections are in the public domain or are attached to generous copyright licensing. Though you may not need to ask permission to use them when publishing on the Web for educational purposes, you should cite or attribute these images to their creators unless otherwise notified! If you see any copyright notices on these pages, read them for further instructions.

Springfield Township High School (Erdenheim, PA) has a lovely list of copyright-friendly sites.