Qatar Digital Library
The Qatar Digital Library is an example of an open access resource. It is a growing archive covering modern history and culture of the Gulf and wider region. It has hundreds of open access photographs that are free to use and re-use.
Centre & Western end of Masqat Town with part of the Harbour.', British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, f 766, in Qatar Digital Library
What is Open Access?
Open Access is a global movement to make knowledge freely accessible. This includes research, in its variable forms (journal articles, datasets, code), as well as visual knowledge such as photographs, diagrams and images.
As per SPARC, a non-profit advocacy organization, open access is "the free, immediate, online availability of research articles combined with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment. Open Access is the needed modern update for the communication of research that fully utilizes the Internet for what it was originally built to do—accelerate research. - Open Access - SPARC
"Open Access Week is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research." - About Open Access Week
This year’s Open Access Week theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?”, invites the global academic community to reflect on the present moment and ask critical questions about access, ownership, and equity in knowledge sharing. It challenges us to consider not only who has access to education and research, but also how knowledge is created, whose voices are recognized, and how communities can reclaim control over what they produce. As part of this global movement, UDST provides a platform for its staff and students to share their message with the world through a photography contest that raises awareness on access to information about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs).
Creative Commons Licensing
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works "to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing." For more information, you can visit (http://creativecommons.org/about/what-is-cc).The table below outlines what each type of Creative Commons license allows and restricts.
This table was adapted from "Wiley’s 5Rs and Creative Commons Licensing" by Abu Ahmed and is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
How are photography and open access connected?
Open access photographs can be used more freely as opposed to commercially licensed photos. Photographs, visuals, diagrams, tables etc. all contribute to scientific knowledge. If this knowledge is restricted, it impedes creativity and innovation. Photos in the public domain, i.e. those that are the most openly accessible, aid thousands of people around the world.
You may have used open access photos for your own research poster or presentation. You may have been cautioned by your professors to only use images from Wikimedia Commons or Unsplash in your presentations. Have you ever wondered why? It is because they wanted to make sure you were using photographs that you had permission to use.
Open access images allow users to download, share and re-use images a lot more freely than images that have stricter licenses. By making photographs more widely and freely available, open access photography contributes to the wider goal of making knowledge open. This is why many museums and archives — Qatar Digital Library, Smithsonian Institution, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard Art Museums —make their images openly accessible.
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This is an example of an open access photo. It uses a Creative Commons license that has no use restrictions. This image came from the Smithsonian Museum's Open Access Collection. |
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This image of Her Highness, is also an open access photo. It uses a Creative Commons license that has certain use restrictions: the photo can be used if the creator (the UNDP) is attributed. |
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This image is an example of a photograph that has a very restrictive license. It has to be purchased from Getty Images in order to be used. |
