On Oct 29, 2007 2:59 PM, Gwern Branwen gwern0@gmail.com wrote:
On 2007.10.30 00:05:12 +1000, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com scribbled 0 lines:
It's about time we had this debate again. Morally, ethically, legally: what are we required to do to meet the "attribution required" aspect of certain free images we acquire from Flickr or other sources, including our own contributors?
Viewpoint #1: Provided the information is available on the image information page, which can be reached by clicking the image, then attribution information is available to anyone who wants it. Viewpoint #2: The attribution should be more visible, such as beneath the image in articles. This is the standard used by newspapers, for instance. People who licence their work under "attribution required" licences are expecting a bit more than a begruding source tag hidden behind a mouse click.
Question: why should we give special prominence and mention of the original author to a carefully composed, lovingly shot photo whose license requires attribution to the author(s), and not give special prominence and mention of the original author to a carefully composed, lovingly written article/text whose license requires attribution to the author(s)?
I'm 100% with Gwern. We should make every effort to credit creators and authors, and to filter up information about the provenance of an article, sketch, image, or media file.
Wikitravel is much better about this than we are. We should be indicating significant authors on every page, and a neatly-formatted small photo credit by a photo, as has been standard in many elegantly-prepared print publications, would likewise be good practice. We should be setting standards here, not concealing data that is at our fingertips.
SJ
SJ