What is the Public Domain?
Allow me to answer that question in a minute...
The Public Domain Project began in early 2013; it began because I write web content for various publications and need to use photographs to illustrate these articles. While my work has neither been groundbreaking or controversial, my primary objective has been publishing useful and informative articles regarding how, when, and/or why to do something. In January of 2013, after making a mysterious discovery in the woods of Nashua, I even wrote a short but entertaining post for Nashua Patch.
As I mentioned, publishing these articles typically requires using relevant photographs and it was that requirement that led me to first to seek the photographic resources of the public domain. However, each time I searched for a photograph in the archives of Wikimedia Commons, I usually found myself coming up empty. Then, like a light bulb over my head, and in a flash of common sense, I decided to begin taking my own photographs to use in my articles. Great idea!
I know it seems obvious, but I felt like I won Bingo. Along with my iPhone's camera, I began carrying an inexpensive Samsung WF150F everywhere I went. Never really setting out to stage a photograph, I began to capture simple, single-subject images of everyday items and uploading them to Wikimedia Commons. What I found was that capturing these images was fun and easy so, as far as licensing goes, I began releasing my rights by using the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Ideally, I saw myself as helping the next web author who might find themselves writing the "How to Use a Fire Extinguisher" style of article. I want everyone to have free access to these useful photographs.
I decided to promote this idea of populating the almost empty shelves of the public domain and the endeavor began to be called The Public Domain Project. Liking to shoot for the stars, I set my sights on facilitating the addition of 1,000,000 or more images into the public domain. Possible? I believe it is.
To answer the question from the beginning of this post, according to Cornell University's Copyright Information Center, "[p]ublic domain is the legal name given to a work that is not protected by any intellectual property rules such as copyright, patent or trademark, trade secrets, or contract. In other words, anyone may copy or use the work freely..."
The general idea seemed simple. I snap photographs and people use them; that's it, right? Turns out, it really was that easy and authors and organizations from around the world quickly began to select my public domain contributions to illustrate their blog postings and news articles. I was surprised and elated to find that, although it's expressly unnecessary, the authors and organizations using these images were providing me with attribution! For me, that was more than enough consideration for the time I spent capturing and uploading these images.
What has also come as a surprise to me is that many people outside of the photography and journalism professions are unaware of the public domain, and even the people who are aware of this mythical media depository do not know how to contribute or are reluctant to make a contribution.
See where I am going here?
Writing simple how-to articles is what brought me to the public domain and the creation of the Public Domain Project. Now, it seems that I should publish and promote a useful and informative article about exactly how, when, and why to contribute to the public domain. With that realization, I have been able to see how this project comes full circle. Completing a great how-to page is the next stage of this project. However, if you'd like to get started now, I like to promote the First Steps page of Wikimedia Commons as a good resource.
If you are interested contributing your own work to the public domain or just want to watch how the project progresses, please feel free to follow the Public Domain Project blog and like the Public Domain Project Facebook page. Keep an eye out for useful information on how to contribute as well as hear about past and present success stories from other contributors to the public domain.
Thank you for reading. Please contribute.
Mark A. Buckawicki
Photo By MarkBuckawicki (own Work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
