The Commons

Help us catalog the world’s public photo archives.

The Commons Help us catalog the world’s public photo archives.

Register with The Commons

Thank you for your interest in joining The Commons on Flickr! We need to know a little about you and your institution. Also, if you can direct us to any existing online photography collections you currently display, that'd be great.

Once you've submitted your registration of interest, we'll send a confirmation email to the address you specify. Simply click on the included link to complete the registration process.

Things you should know before you register:

There must be "no known copyright restrictions" on the content you publish. You will also be expected to have a page hosted on your website that outlines your organization's understanding of "no known copyright restrictions". You can see examples of other pages like this here.
Your institution will need sign an additional Terms of Service agreement with Yahoo! Inc. related to your participation in The Commons.
You'll need to tend to your account and love it like it's a newborn lamb. This means that you'll have to set aside time to curate new photos to add on a regular basis, and read and respond to feedback given by the Flickr community. It’s rewarding and a lot of fun, but like most things worthwhile it does take time and effort.
We welcome institutions from all around the world, but ask that you please fill out the form in English only, as the team that handles the program is based in the U.S.
Please note: we require institutions to have a dedicated account for participation in The Commons. This means that any of your recent event photos or similar will need to be hosted in a separate Flickr account - the upside is that you get a whole account dedicated to your Commons loveliness.

About your Institution

What's it called? Required

The Commons on Flickr is only open to cultural heritage institutions at this time, and not to individuals.

If your organisation has a website, what's the URL?

Do you have any photography collections online already? Required
No
Yes, the URL is:

What's the URL for your organisation's Flickr account? Required

This will look something like http://flickr.com/photos/xxxxx/

And where are you located? Required

Please tell us about your institution (including the size of your collection) Required

It's useful for us to hear about things like your history, your mission, and how much digital content you hold.

About you

Your first name Required

Your last name Required

Your Job Title Required

Your Email Address Required

We will not share your email address with anyone. It will only be used for Commons-related correspondence.

Your own Flickr Account URL

You, the applicant, are not required to have a separate Flickr account.

Agreement

FLICKR SERVICE AGREEMENT

Thank you for your interest in contributing your photographs to the Flickr Commons ("Commons"). The Commons is a feature of Flickr that permits various institutions to submit collections of photographs to Flickr subject to the terms below. Most notably, institutions that submit photos to Flickr must do so only after representing to Yahoo! that the photos are not associated with any known copyright restrictions that prevent an institution from fully participating in the Commons. We refer to that concept as "No Known Copyright Restrictions." - found at http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage. Part of what makes Flickr one of the best ways to upload and share photographs is that Flickr members can tag, favorite, comment on, download and share photos they find throughout Flickr, including photos that are part of the Commons.

This Flickr Service Agreement ("Agreement") sets forth the terms and conditions that govern your access and use of Yahoo!'s Flickr's services ("Service") for this purpose as well as the terms and conditions governing your submission of such collections of photographs to the Commons. For good and valuable consideration (the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged), Yahoo! and you hereby agree to the following:

Service Access. Yahoo! hereby provides you with access to the Service for your use, subject to the terms of this Agreement, and subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service ("TOS") https://www.flickr.com/help/terms and the Flickr Community Guidelines ("Guidelines") http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne, both of which are hereby incorporated into this Agreement by reference. In the event of any conflict between this Agreement, the TOS or the Guidelines, this Agreement shall first control, followed by the TOS and then the Guidelines. Furthermore, in order to contribute photos to the Commons, the institution or entity in question must currently have a valid Flickr account dedicated for No Known Copyright archival photography.
Additional Representation and Warranty. Yahoo! understands and agrees that notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Guidelines or the TOS, you did not create all of the content which you are submitting to the Service. Further, Yahoo! understands that your employees or agents will be submitting the content on your behalf through a Flickr account. Accordingly, you agree that any actions taken on your behalf by your employees or agents with regard to your Flickr account(s) or your Yahoo! account(s) are deemed to be actions taken by you for which you and the employee or agent acting on your behalf are jointly and severally liable. Further, in addition to the representations and warranties provided by you pursuant to the TOS, you represent and warrant that:
- (a) you have the right to submit the content, which you are submitting to the Service;
- (b) you have the right to allow such content to be displayed on the Service and to be subject to all of the functionality of the Service in each of the jurisdictions in which the Service operates;
- (c) the concept of "No Known Copyright Restrictions" found at http://www.flickr.com/commons/usage is applicable for the content you submit to the Service in each of the jurisdictions in which the Service operates;
- (d) you have reviewed and approved the pages created by Yahoo! on your behalf utilizing content provided by you, including, but not limited to, those pages within the Service that are identified as "The Commons" and you have requested that Yahoo! present such pages on your behalf; and
- (e) none of the foregoing activities, including, but not limited to, the submission of photographs to The Commons, violate any laws or otherwise violate the rights of any third party. You agree to indemnify and hold Yahoo! and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, partners and licensors harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys' fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of or otherwise related to your breach of any of the above representations and warranties.
ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER. IN ADDITION TO THE DISCLAIMERS SET FORTH IN THE TOS OR GUIDELINES, YAHOO! AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, PARTNERS AND THIRD PARTY LICENSORS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE SERVICE, THE COMMONS AND/OR THE CONCEPT OF "NO KNOWN COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS," INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
Choice of Law; Forum. This Agreement shall, for all purposes, be governed by and interpreted and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. You agree to and will hereby submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the State and federal courts located within the county of Santa Clara, California.
Yahoo! may update the TOS, Guidelines and concept of "No Known Copyright Restrictions" from time to time without notice to you and any such changes are effective upon posting at the noted URL. You may review the most current version of the relevant document by clicking the applicable links above.

By entering your details and hitting 'submit,' you acknowledge that you are an authorized representative of the institutional entity named above, entitle to bind such entity to the terms of this Agreement and that such Agreement is accepted and in effect as of the click-through date.

Please note that your submission and completion of this Agreement is the first step in the process of joining the Commons. Completion of this Agreement does not guarantee that your institution will be allowed to participate in the Commons. If deemed eligible for participation, Flickr will contact you to discuss further steps.

I agree to the above service agreement with Flickr. Let's do this!

Or, cancel.