Public Domain Mark Unveiled by Creative Commons: Big Help in Finding Free Images for Your Blog

Vanity Fair's 1901
caricature of Leo Tolstoy
author of War & Peace, now
in the public domain
(Wikimedia Commons)

Finding images to use on your blog can be difficult, if you don't want to pay for them and you don't want to infringe on another's copyright. Previously, I've suggested the use of public domain images and within that post, provided links (and lists of links) on how to find them.

This week, the nonprofit organization Creative Commons (CC) announced the release of its Public Domain Mark (PDM). Through the use of a CC Public Domain Mark, photographers, graphic artists, and others can help others find their work via the use of a PDM -- see the mark, know that you're free to access the image.

Of course, the PDM isn't the only way to find public domain images already provided to you on the web. Wikimedia Commons (see my earlier post) has been coordinating this effort for years.

For more information, check out the FAQs at the Creative Commons site.