Part and parcel with being the “encyclopedia that anyone can edit” is Wikipedia's role as a repository for free and reusable images. Most pictures now used on Wikipedia are hosted by a sister project, Wikimedia Commons, “a database of freely usable files to which anyone can contribute” that boasts over 5,000,000 free files. This means two things for internet users: first, that Wikipedia is a tremendous source of copyright-free images; and second, that most images cannot be uploaded because they are not free.
Freely-Licensed and Public Domain Images
The vast majority of images found on Wikipedia are either in the public domain or freely-licensed media, with the only restriction on use being that proper attribution must be given. A smaller number of fair use images do have some copyright protection – these are typically corporate logos, movie posters and the like, and are marked as such.
- Public domain images are defined according to U.S. law as “any work published before January 1, 1923 anywhere in the world.”
- Freely-licensed images must not “restrict commercial use of materials or disallow derivative works,” but carry the expectation that any such derivatives would carry a similar license.
- Fair use images are those that cannot be replaced with a free version, but are judged necessary for illustration of a particular article.
Uploading Copyrighted Images to Wikipedia
Each image that has copyright protection and is uploaded as “fair use” must meet a number of tests to be accepted:
- There can be no free equivalent available
- The image should be low resolution
- It should fall within the definition of “fair use” in US copyright law
- It must be accompanied by a written rationale that explains why that specific image is necessary for use in a particular article. If the image is used in a second article, a new rationale must be prepared.
Other than images that have a viable fair use rationale, all pictures uploaded for use on Wikipedia must carry an appropriate free license or risk being quickly deleted. This is most easily obtained when the creators upload the images themselves, as the process of determining an appropriate license is relatively easy. Other avenues for obtaining free images to upload include:
- Finding the copyright owner and obtaining written permission to distribute the image. Simply giving permission for use on Wikipedia is not enough; images must have permission to be copied, modified, and used for commercial use.
- Providing an image of oneself, particularly if one is the subject of an article, is possible. The picture and a clear statement that the writer is the owner of the image and wishes to provide such a free license should be emailed to photosubmission@wikimedia.org in such cases.
- Searching through existing free and public-domain databases, although it is likely that most of the quality images are already present on Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Pictures
The Wikipedia community selects a picture of the day to be featured on the site's main page. These are “images that the Wikipedia community finds beautiful, stunning, impressive, or informative. Featured pictures are the visual equivalent to featured articles and, as such, are even more subjective.” Featured pictures are judged on these and other criteria:
- Visually interesting
- High resolution
- High technical standards are followed, such as composition and contrast
- Has a free license
- Not digitally manipulated
- Makes an article more informative
Featured pictures are deemed to be among the best work on Wikipedia, and many of the images are created and uploaded by the active volunteers (“Wikipedians”) who serve this free online encyclopedia and its related projects. Any images listed on the feature pictures page are sure to be interesting, high-quality, and free to use in any way whatsoever.
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