Filtering for School and Work Use

Here at Storyboard That, we know that art and images are at the core of the incredible projects our users create; we wanted to make sure students and teachers have a safe way to search for photos. We have created a system that is not only safe for schools, but also for those using Storyboard That in the work place.

Why Did We Make This Filtering System?

At Storyboard That we firmly believe in the freedom of speech. We also believe there is a right and wrong place for certain content. In a school setting, especially elementary school, there is an abundance of content out there that is not age appropriate.

Specifically, we are concerned with doing our best to minimize exposure to scantily clad men and women and racially offensive material. At a personal level, while working on Storyboard That, our team spends a lot of time researching time periods and costumes. It can be frustrating being constantly barraged with inappropriate and offensive images.

We are less concerned with imagery of alcohol, drugs, and violence, since the user is typically specifically looking for that content. It is usually not accidentally shown, and can also be the focus of educational papers.

How Our Filtering Works

We use a four step filtering system that grows stronger as our community helps us.

1. Pixabay has done an amazing job pre-filtering content as "globally safe for all ages".
2. We ban certain search terms that contain restricted words like "sexy" (i.e: sexy outfit, sexy lady, etc.).
3. We ban certain keywords but only if they are used by themselves. For example: we won’t let you search for "butt", but you can search for "butter".
4. Our community reports images as inappropriate. If we agree, we will remove it from our searchable content.

Contact Us

We would love to hear your feedback and opinions on this subject; listening to people’s perspectives helps us grow our own. Please drop us a note at Hello@StoryboardThat.com.

Frequently Asked Questions about Photos for Class

Will images slip by?

Yes, there will always be images that slip by, but if you compare a search with Photos for Class vs. Google images (even with safe search on), the amount of inappropriate content is greatly reduced. We also monitor the top searches and are making sure they are extra safe. Give the system a try and you will see our commitment to safe, universally view-able content.

Can a clever high school student outsmart the system?

A sufficiently clever and tenacious student can almost certainly outsmart the system. It will also be very obvious that they were intentionally looking for inappropriate content and it was not an accident. They could also simply go to another website.

What about images of alcohol, drugs, and violence?

As stated in our beliefs and goals we believe the issue is primarily focused on students being barraged with unacceptable sexual and racial imagery. That being said, due to Pixabay's incredibly strong filtering, content relative to alcohol, drugs and violence are more PG than R rated.