[WikiEN-l] [WikiEn-l] Image tagging followup

[Guettarda]

On 3/10/06, Stan Shebs <shebs at apple.com> wrote:
>
> Guettarda wrote:
>
> >
> >I would rather make it a requirement that the uploader list a source or
> the
> >name of the copyright holder.  Lots of images don't have a source clearly
> >marked, and don't have information about the copyright holder.  How can
> we
> >even hope to verify licensing if we don't know who holds the copyright
> (or
> >at worst, where it came from)
> >
> But then what's to keep someone from lying about the source any less than
> about license?
>
> Stan


Of course it won't solve all of our problems, but it might make matters
easier.  While some people don't care about copyright, in my experience a
lot of people are just clueless.  Most of the untagged (or obviously
mistagged) images I come across were uploaded by newbies - sometime all they
have done it upload a pile of images and add them to aricles (full sized,
and the top of the page...)  They generally are people who mean well - I
guess they just figure that we are the clueless ones who "don't know that
you can get images of X everywhere on the web" or don't know about Google
image search or...  These people are often apologetic when you explain the
situation to them.

The other thing I come across is people who upload images that are viable
fair use candidates, but they don't know anything about sourcing the
images.  Recently someone uploaded an image of the new head of the ruling
Jamaican political party (and next PM of Jamaica).  When asked about
licensing, he didn't know.  Since he provided the source, which was the
party website, it seemed reasonable to make a case for {{publicity}}.  If,
on the other hand, it had come from the Jamaica Gleaner, it would not be
something we can use.  Since he provided the source, it was possible to
determine copyright status.

What's more important though is when someone tags an image with a free
license.  If you force them to provide a source and they provide a false
one, it may be possible to check the website to see what it says with
regards to copyright.  Especially if it's {{GFDL}} - AFAICT, if an image is
GFDL, and you don't identify the creator, you are violating the license.
Identifying and credit image creators strikes me as important in and of
itself, let alone from the practical viewpoint of being able to verify the
accuracy of tags

Ian