Setting an open content / Creative Commons licence for your flickr images

flickr is a wildly photography website recently purchased by yahoo. It allows users of free accounts to upload 20 megabytes / month of images and users of paid accounts to upload 2 gigabytes / month. Once the photos are uploaded, the fun begins, users can comment on, add notes to and bookmark each other's images as well as join social groups to provide feedback and comradery. With thousands of users and millions of images, flickr is certainly picking up pace.

One of the best features of flickr is the ability to set a default licence for images, allowing users to completely restrict usage, or allow usage under one of the Creative Commons open content licences. Rather than give their own interpretation of the licences, flickr refers users to the very good licence choice wizard on the Creative Commons website, and gives users the option (shown) ot either set a default licence for new images or batch update existing images.

Creative Commons helps you publish your work online while letting others know exactly what they can and can't do with your work. If you already have a website loaded with your own work, follow the steps below, otherwise try one of our guides to publishing your licensed work at a variety of hosting services.

If you are a flickr user, I strongly advise you to set a default Creative Commons licence on your images, as it makes them available to others for teaching and research. If you are worried about the chances of missing an opportunity for getting paid for publication of your images, there are even licences which prohibit commercial use.