Openclipart Explained

Openclipart
Type:Media repository
Registration:Required for posting & uploading
Content License:
Unless noted, content is waived of all copyright and related or neighboring rights under this license.
Author:Jon Phillips, Bryce Harrington
Current Status:Active

Openclipart, also called Open Clip Art Library, is an online media repository of free-content vector clip art. The project hosts over 160,000 free graphics and has billed itself as "the largest community of artists making the best free original clipart for you to use for absolutely any reason".

The website was brought down for several months by a reported DDoS attack in April 2019;[1] access to the library via other means was still possible, including partial copies of the library that were hosted on several mirror sites. The site's search feature was restored in May 2020.[2]

History

The Openclipart library (OCAL) was established in early 2004 by Jon Phillips and Bryce Harrington, who had worked together to develop the open-source vector graphics suites Sodipodi and its successor, Inkscape.[3] The OCAL project initially grew out of a project started by Christian Schaller (Uraeus), who, on October 26, 2003, issued a challenge on the Gnome Desktop website for Sodipodi users to create a collection of flags in SVG format.[4] The flag project progressed very well, resulting in a collection of over 90 flags made publicly available in SVG format,[5] and broadened the project's goals to include generic clipart. The project became known as Openclipart by April 2004, with the stated aim of making all its contributed images freely available in the public domain.[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

In the early stages of the Openclipart project, the website lacked thumbnails and was difficult to browse. Downloadable Openclipart packages were released to help propagate the images in the library, and were available directly from the Openclipart website: as an add-on for various Linux distributions such as Fedora, and as an NSIS installer for Windows.[11] Each package included most of the clipart to date, and they were manually sorted into categories.[12] The Openclipart package version 0.20 was released in 2010.[13] The Openclipart packages received a few more incremental updates during 2010, mostly for seasonal clipart.[14] [15]

An overhauled Openclipart 2.0 website went live as a beta in February 2010 with a full release in March 2010.[16] The site introduced a change from the old ccHost software to the new AGPL-based Aiki Framework,[17] a content management system made for Openclipart 2.0. The new site allowed anyone to easily browse and add to the Openclipart collection. Jon Phillips, Andy Fitzsimon, Bassel Safadi, Michi, Ronaldo Barbachano, and Brad Phillips added image thumbnails and improved search functions made the Openclipart library more user-friendly, which contributed to higher site traffic. The site was receiving over 5,000 unique visitors and 50,000 page views daily.[18] [19]

The 3.0 website release incorporated allowed members to "favorite" clip art, and provided an image-editing feature that made image remixing significantly easier.

On April 15, 2013, Openclipart launched a new logo and updated their website design with a "scissors" logo.[20]

On March 12, 2014, Openclipart announced that Inkpad, an open-source drawing app for iPads, had released library integration to make the entire collection available to its users.[21]

Lockdown and attempts at mirroring the library

On April 19, 2019, the site was taken offline by what was initially reported as a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack),[22] [23] [1] though Jon Philips, one of the site's founders, appeared to be a victim of identity theft.[24] [25] All pages on OpenClipart were redirected to a page asking users to donate money "to support protection". The message was updated on December 25, 2019, with a statement that the site was being "gifted to the community" and that new files could once again be uploaded to the library.

By scraping, most of the library was recovered and hosted on FreeSVG.org.[26] A second mirror was established at FreeSVGClipArt.com.[27]

In early May 2020, the website's Twitter account announced that the search feature had been re-enabled.[2]

Packages and apps

Some Linux distributions, including Mandriva and Ubuntu, include many of the Openclipart collection releases packaged as SVG, PNG or OpenDocument-format files.[38] These distributions are based on the 2005 pre-ccHost release, since regular releases stopped after the switch to ccHost software. Openclipart 0.19, the first version released after the switch, was released in March 2009. With the release of version 2.0 and updated packages, distributions have bugs filed in their respective bug trackers to begin packaging Openclipart once more.

Openclipart was included on the cover discs in Linux Format issues 123 and 132 as a package of browseable SVG files from the Openclipart collection.[39] [40]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Finding an OpenClipart fallback. News from JURN . David . Haden . 9 May 2019. 2019-05-22.
  2. Web site: Great news! The search feature on the site is now LIVE! Search clip art at openclipart.org/search/ Colorful geometric line art by GDJ . 2022-12-23 . Twitter . en . May 2, 2020 . Openclipart .
  3. Web site: JonPhillips . Inkscape Wiki . en. 2017-01-29.
  4. Web site: Join the SVG Flag revolution!. Christian . Schaller . GNOME Mail Services . 26 Oct 2003 . 2013-10-26.
  5. Web site: Show us your flag!. gnomedesktop.org . Uraeus. 2013-10-26. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20040513120118/http://www.gnomedesktop.org/article.php?sid=1421&mode=&order=0&thold=1. May 13, 2004.
  6. Web site: [Clipart] Thoughts on what Clipart needs for Project Management]. lists.freedesktop.org . Harrington. Bryce. 2017-05-01. 2017-01-29.
  7. Web site: Open Clip Art Project - First Meeting . Phillips . Jon . 2004-11-04 . freedesktop.org . 2017-01-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20041104052634/http://www.freedesktop.org/bin/view/Software/FirstMeeting . 2004-11-04 .
  8. Web site: [Clipart] Introduction to the Open Clip Art Library - OOoCon2004 Paper Abstract]. Phillips. Jon. 2017-05-23 . lists.freedesktop.org . 2017-01-29.
  9. Web site: Open Clip Art Project - FAQ . 2017-01-29 . dead . freedesktop.org . Jon Phillips . 11 April 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20041020183407/http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/FAQ . 2004-10-20 .
  10. Web site: Open Clip Art Project roadmap . freedesktop.org . JonPhillips . 29 April 2004 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20041020182730/http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/Roadmap . 2004-10-20 . 2017-01-29.
  11. Web site: Introduction to the Open Clip Art Library . 2017-01-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070106134944/http://rejon.org/media/writings/ocalintro/ocal_intro_phillips.html#packages . 2007-01-06 .
  12. Web site: Case Studies/Open clip art library. Creative Commons . 27 August 2016.
  13. Web site: Roadmap . Open Clip Art Library Wiki . 2010-02-11 . 2017-01-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100211002626/http://openclipart.org/wiki/Roadmap . 2010-02-11 .
  14. Web site: downloads. Openclipart . 27 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20110402214909/http://download.openclipart.org/downloads/. 2011-04-02.
  15. Web site: Past milestones . Open Clip Art Library Wiki . 2010-12-18 . 2017-01-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101218193936/http://www.openclipart.org/wiki/Past_milestones . 2010-12-18 .
  16. Web site: [Clipart] OCAL 2.0]. Safadi. Bassel. 2017-02-24 . lists.freedesktop.org . 2017-01-29.
  17. Web site: [Clipart] ocal 2.0]. lists.freedesktop.org . Phillips. Jon. 2016-10-03. 2017-01-29.
  18. Web site: Open Clip Art Library 2.0 is Here!. 2010 . brad . Fabricatorz. 27 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20120921102105/http://fabricatorz.com/2010/03/open-clip-art-2-0-is-here/. 2012-09-21.
  19. Web site: Open Clip Art Library 2.0 is Here! . 2010-03-08 . 2014-12-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100312092732/http://rejon.org/2010/03/open-clip-art-library-2-0-is-here/ . March 12, 2010 .
  20. Web site: We are a design & technology company . Fabricatorz . 2013-04-14 . 2014-12-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130518234740/https://fabricatorz.com/2013/04/openclipart-scissors-logo-and-clipart-opportunities/ . May 18, 2013 .
  21. Web site: Draw with Openclipart on your Ipad . Openclipart . 2014-03-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130518234740/https://fabricatorz.com/2013/04/openclipart-scissors-logo-and-clipart-opportunities/ . May 18, 2013 .
  22. Web site: UPDATE: Our plan is to get the site back online early next week. Under DDOS attack from some unknown forces, the simplest thing to protect our beloved Openclipart is to keep offline at present. Your CLIPART is SAFE. Donation & Love Accepted. . Openclipart . Twitter . May 3, 2019 . 2019-05-22 .
  23. Web site: ((Openclipart / 404 Page Not Found1)). https://web.archive.org/web/20190419012439/https://openclipart.org/. 2023-04-13. 2019-04-19.
  24. Web site: Have you ever been the victim of identity theft? That is the world we live in now. It will increase! Recent events have forced me to cleanup my accounts everywhere .... Phillips. Jon. 2019-06-11. @rejon. en. 2019-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20190621090412/https://twitter.com/rejon/status/1138644240219512832. 2019-06-21. dead.
  25. Web site: Hello, this is @rejon. The founder of Openclipart. I have taken back control of this account. I unblocked accounts that were blocked.. Openclipart. 2019-06-11. @openclipart. en. 2019-06-20.
  26. Web site: Kenlon . Seth . How I used the wget Linux command to recover lost images . Opensource.com . 28 October 2019.
  27. https://freesvgclipart.com/welcome-to-freesvgclipart/ Welcome to FreeSVGClipart!
  28. Web site: Inkpad iOS App. 2016. 2016-02-10.
  29. Web site: Inkscape latest build with Import OCAL support . 2013-03-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130419010542/http://www.oss-marketplace.com/index.php/downloads-mainmenu-63/Inkscape/Entwicklerversionen/ . 2013-04-19 . dead .
  30. Web site: Microsoft Office app . 2014-11-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141110200608/https://store.office.com/openclipart-WA104199826.aspx?assetid=WA104199826 . 2014-11-10 . dead .
  31. Web site: Google Docs Add-on . 2014-11-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190807174931/https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/openclipart/jhlifdiflonnipfdneahhngjdcaloajn?hl=en . 2019-08-07 . dead .
  32. http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extensions/openclipart-org-integration LibreOffice Openclipart.org integration
  33. https://itunes.apple.com/be/app/clipart/id588303554?mt=8 Clipart
  34. https://itunes.apple.com/ag/app/postermaker-real-printable/id423574589?mt=8 PosterMaker
  35. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=apps101.co.za.openclipart2 Free Clip Art - Android Apps on Google Play
  36. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/clipart/ Clipart plugin
  37. Web site: Moodle plugin that allows the user to search and import clipart . 2013-03-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140112092954/https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=repository_openclipart . 2014-01-12 . dead .
  38. http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/openclipart Ubuntu openclipart Packages
  39. Web site: October 2009 . Cool Linux projects . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230926193900/https://linuxformat.com/archives?issue=123 . Sep 26, 2023 . Linux Format . Issue 123.
  40. Web site: June 2010 . Try any distro! . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230528002958/https://www.linuxformat.com/archives?issue=132 . May 28, 2023 . Linux Format . Issue 132.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Openclipart".

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