[WikiEN-l] Re: Image permissions, a case study

[Haukur Þorgeirsson]

All right. Here's a very specific example
of what I want to do. There's a species
of bird called the Horned Grebe or the
[[Slavonian Grebe]].

Our current image of it, [[Image:Slav.JPG]],
is a low resolution scan of a drawing with
no licensing information. It is currently
tagged as "unverified" with the suggestion
that it "may be usable under fair use".

Now, here are three recent photographs of
the same bird species:

http://www.aves.is/birds/loons/grebe_horned.php

The first one nicely illustrates the distinctive
colours of the Slav Grebe's head. The bird is in
focus and the resolution is reasonable. It's not
featured material but it's a pretty decent picture.

I can upload this image with the following license:

"© 2005 Jakob Sigurðsson. Anyone can use this image
for encyclopedia articles and other educational
purposes as long as it is attributed to me."

This is not a completely free license but I'd
argue that it's good enough for >90% of our
downstream users - most of which would want to
use the image in the context of encyclopedia
articles or other educational materials.

Now, I regret that I was unable to obtain this
image under a GFDL-compatible license. When a
(reasonably good) picture of the bird under such
a license comes along I'll be happy to use it as
a replacement. I'll take it myself if I get the
chance.

But, you say, using a not-quite-free image in
the meantime scratches the itch and discourages
people from trying to obtain a free one. Now,
I've never completely bought this argument to
begin with since a "fair use" image gives me a
worse itch than no image at all. But in this
case I'm talking about *replacing an image*,
one which which has *no licensing information*.

So, if anyone else thinks that this suggested
replacement would be a good move then please tell
me. If no-one says anything I will assume that
the consensus is that I should not add images
with this license under any circumstances. Then
I will not attempt to obtain images under such
a license in the future and end my efforts when
the contacts refuse to license under the GFDL
(as they are wont to do).

That would be a somewhat frustrating conclusion
for me but I won't stomp off in anger or anything
like that so please tell me what you think.

Regards,
Haukur


> Dear colleagues,
>
> One of my primary interests on Wikipedia is
> to increase and improve coverage of matters
> related to Iceland, my native country. Recently
> I've become interested in the fauna of this
> barren land - which consists mostly of birds.
>
> I came upon a webpage by a countryman of mine
> which has a number of good bird pictures in
> high resolution. I thought it would be nice
> to include some of them in Wikipedia since
> some of the species are currently not illustrated
> and many only have a low resolution picture.
>
> The web page in question is here:
>
> http://www.simnet.is/jakobs/birds/birds.html
>
> I contacted the photographer and asked him if
> he was willing to license the pictures under
> the GFDL or CC-BY so they could be used on
> Wikipedia. He took the matter under consideration
> and told me that he felt those licenses were
> too broad, but he was willing to license the
> pictures for use on Wikipedia.
>
> I told him that Wikipedia doesn't currently
> accept exclusive licenses and added a squirt
> of ideology. As a last resort I asked him if
> he'd be willing to license his pictures with
> the following notice:
>
> "© 2005 Jakob Sigurðsson. Anyone can use this image
> for encyclopedia articles and other educational
> purposes as long as it is attributed to me."
>
> He agreed.
>
> Is this "free enough" for Wikipedia or will any
> images I upload with such a notice be deleted?
>
> Regards,
> Haukur