Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


New CC Search Offers One-Stop Access to 300 Million Images

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/02/19
CC Search

A new CC Search front end debuts this week. Developed by Creative Commons and a community of volunteer developers, the tool allows users to find and use some 300 million images from openly licensed and public domain works.

The search function provides a single place to look for images from 19 collections, including Flickr (which is currently the source for the bulk of the content — some 289 million pictures), Bēhance, Geograph Britain and Ireland and DeviantArt.

CC Search result

While the search currently encompasses only images, the effort will eventually add other media types, such as open texts and audio, later this year. The eventual goal: to allow people to find any of the 1.4 billion Creative Commons-licensed and public domain works on the web through the search page.

Thanks to feedback provided by beta testers, the search page now provides a cleaner design and "better navigation and filters," according to Jane Park, CC's director of product and research, who leads the work for CC Search. Attribution options have been streamlined and "clear channels" have been added for providing feedback on the functionality of the site and specific image reuses.

"Under the hood," she added, search loading time and search phrase relevance have been improved, and analytics have been added "to better understand when and how the tools are used."

According to the CC Search roadmap, later this quarter the search function will sport advanced filters, the ability to browse without entering a search term, improved accessibility and a mobile user experience.

CC Search is part of the Creative Commons website.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • digital brain with network connections

    Microsoft Moving to Internally Developed AI Models in Office Apps

    Microsoft is reportedly using its own in-house artificial intelligence models to handle some workloads in Excel and Outlook, offering new evidence that the company is moving its AI strategy beyond model development and into large-scale cost reduction.

  • Digital Network of User Profiles and Data Connections

    Microsoft, RSA Make Identity Security Push in the Age of AI

    Two of the bigger authentication announcements to come out of the recent RSA Conference both point in the same direction: Organizations need a more flexible, unified approach to identity security, especially as AI agents start acting alongside human workers.

  • large cloud icon on the right in an abstract world above a polygon with a dark blue background

    Cloud Security Alliance Expands Focus on Governance and Assurance for Agentic AI Systems

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) recently announced a series of CSAI Foundation milestones aimed at securing what it calls the agentic control plane, including a new catastrophic risk initiative, CVE Numbering Authority authorization, and the acquisition of two agentic AI specifications.

  • artificial intelligence on laptop

    OpenAI to Combine AI Products into Desktop 'Superapp'

    OpenAI is reportedly developing a desktop application that would combine several of its emerging AI products into a single platform, according to reports, marking the latest step in the company's effort to transform ChatGPT from a standalone chatbot into a broader productivity and automation environment.