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The need for an attribution trail

Started by Ddonat · 10 months ago

When content is being reused from one source to another, etiquette and ethics would insist that the content creator (the person reusing content) provide clear attribution and links to the original content while obeying the content’s license.

When searching for an example of proper attribution, I had to go no further than Miss 604’s blog, […] ... Continue reading »

8 comments

  • Raul

    10 months ago

    David, et al

    Guys, this is a great article. I wonder if we could do attribution as follows:

    "Photo by Squeaky Marmot on Flickr. Originally seen on Miss604.com"

    And then hyperlink to Squeaky Marmot's original Flickr photo and then Rebecca's article that links to this. I know that this requires a lot of work, but you guys are really touching on something key and relevant. Good stuff.
    reply
  • Ddonat

    10 months ago

    Thanks Raul,


    I think that language is very clear to readers.
    reply
  • Blaise Alleyne

    10 months ago

    I think that makes a lot of sense. I don't have a particularly methodology for attributed my sources (yet), but my general approach is to link generously, to try and link back to anyone who helped me find the information I'm sharing.

    In terms of the specific terminology though, I usually just use "via" if I'm referencing a middle-man... e.g. "Photo by Squeaky Marmot (via www.miss604.com)"

    Also, this reminds me of a Techdirt post on the importance of attribution.
    reply
  • Ddonat

    10 months ago

    Thanks for the link Blaise, the original post by Danny O'Brien is excellent.

    He is bang on with the statement:
    "Nowadays, copying isn't always the core part of remunerative creative business. But accurate accreditation very much is."

    This distinction is critical to understanding the copyright issues at hand.
    reply
  • Karen Murphy

    10 months ago

    At Strollerderby at Babble.com the policy was to credit the original source and then the secondary source. i.e.Photo Squeaky Marmot via Miss604. Linking to both.
    reply
  • Ddonat

    10 months ago

    Hi Karen,

    Nice. You and Raul have the same approach, I think it is sound. It reads well and is clear to the reader how the content was sourced.
    reply
  • Ddonat

    10 months ago

    Lucas Gonze has a great response to this post.

    He points out that "non-commercial users don’t care about copyright. They know zero about it." He has a point there and a number of my friends have said similar to me in the past.

    He states "[I]n practice the issue of attribution only has a real-world impact for derived works created by commercial entities. Source works which are licensed to allow both derivative works and commercial use are the ones we’re talking about."

    I agree this is the critical case. He also proposes a stack framework as mark-up for providing an attribution trail. Give it a read.

    I have to check the Trackback settings for the site.
    reply
  • Ddonat

    10 months ago

    Another Missing Trackback from Victor Stone.
    ...Maybe because my background in software is in development tools and call me Abraham Maslow but this problems looks very much like a nail to me.

    Attribution, on both ends, has to be brain dead simple. We’ve simplified it as much as we could at ccM (given my limited imagination for such things) with a search function during the content submission process. (In fact, the ‘Submit’ button is inactive until the artist posting the remix has attributed somebody ;))...
    reply

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