Problems
The information given with each photo on Wikipedia is far too long to copy.
It take an hour or two to read all the pages, digest, re-read to grasp the essentials.
The information is constantly expanding.
I used to copy photos and it was fine. Now they are all blured. Why? How can this be fixed.
Answers
Every now and then I go back. Here's a summary of my conclusions which are relevant to use on a travel blog.
COPYRIGHT
Many amateur, professional or retired photographers and writers would be glad to allow their photos to be reproduced without charge in exchange for a photo credit. They want the status, which might lead others to commission paid work. So you can use their work without paying on condition that you name the photographer and equally importantly don't pass the work off as your own or try to get paid for selling it and copyrighting it.
There are at least three strings to copyright.
PERMISSION
One is having the palaver of writing to the author for persmission. Why would you do that? Why would they ask you to do that if they are not charging? If I put a free photo ofmy local high street or church up on the webs, and it never gets used, I might not bother to put up any more because it seems like a waste of time. If I am doing it to get famous, and nobody tells me they've used it, I might be disappointed.
On the other hand from a user's point of view, if I have to write to ten people for permission to use photos in a book or a blog, that's another hour or so of my time. It would be quicker to photograph a pack of butter from my fridge, or a rose from my garden.
Would it? I have to edit my pictures. Remove my foot, my shadow. Even allowing the time to edit out the litter and too much sky, and bring it into focus, and enhance the colour, sometimes I would rather take my own photo than send off emails and waiting for replies - or look for the person who took the online phoot to give them credit.
CREDITING THE AUTHOR
Look at it this way. William Shakespeare's sonnets are out of copyright because so much time has passed that they should be out of copyright in every country. However, you can't pass off a Shakespeare sonnet as your own or charge people for it.
Why hide the name of the author of the quotation? Your painting of the rose is probably enhanced by a short quotation from somebody famous.
But you have to look up the copyright owner of the text. I wanted to quote a ballad in a book of poetry. It sounded like it had been written in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I was shocked to find that it was written by an American academic, who was still alive.
A very clever man. Wonderful to write a poem which becomes a classic in your own lifetime.
I quickly had to cut out most of the poem. I left, an opening line and the ending line, added lots of comments on the style, and gave attribution to the author and said where you could go to see more.
Wikipedia talks about derivative works. What's a derivative work? If you were to publish an out of copyright text such as, 'my love is like a red, red rose', the original text is still to be attributed to the original author. You might sell a drawing of a giant rose, with the text small in one corner, but you should put the name of the original writer or the words at the end of the words.
(Post being expanded - I'm saving it so as not to lose it and so you can benefit from what I have written so far.)
Information on High resolution in my next post.
I used to end my blog posts with 'please share my blog posts'. However, I don't want people copying my words as if it were their own. I want to get more readers for my posts.
Why does the number of readers matter?
1TIME ALLOCATION
Because if I had fewer than three readers my family would tell me, 'Stop wasting your time and make lunch'.
2 MORALE
Because an increase in readers raises my morale. I used to wodner if writing a blog was inrerior to spending time wirting a book. But I can see instantly if one subject rather than another is popular. I've had article published in magazines and newspapers which claim to have a million readers, but no evidence that a single person unknown, or a single person I know, has ever read the article.
But a writer's reputation is cumulative, and enduring. People come up to you years later.
A PR lady for Cumbria said, "I read something about you and the Kennedy museum in Dallas years ago. I don't read American newspapers. I read the Guardian. They must have copied it from a news agency."
I was thrilled. I was famous? An end to the lack of confidence which somebody clever later labelled as 'imposter syndrome', feeling I was just pretending to be a writer.
3 Because I want to help readers, and restaurant owners, and share news of great discoveries. If a tourist board has given me help, they deserve to be given a mention. If a new restaurant opens, they deserve a mention, a boost. The readers need to know if it is worthwhile going, and what is good value, and whether it is worth the money to splurge.
4 When I go onto affiliate programs they tell me that I must have so many readers here and there, on Facebook and other media, on a blog.
COMPETITION
Other writers boast that they have so many readers. If you want a bigger readership, you write about fashion and football. But BBC2 and BBC3 and BBC4 operate on the principle that lovers of minority interests deserve to have their subjects mentioned.
COMPETING AGAINST YOURSELF
5 I watch my readership all the time. I find it more exciting than playing a lottery. I always win. I compare readers all week, all day, and right now. I compare the numbers of readers in the US, Russia, Italy, the UK and ... A general post gets more readers from the USA - because there are more of them. But a review of an Italian restaurant brings in readers in Italy and they stay all month. Write about a Russian statue and the Russian readers leap up the league table.
I can see that I am getting more readers today than yesterday, more this month than last month, more this year than last year.
Should I write a post about a subject which gets most readers? Or turn to writing about a country where I have few, to boost my readership there?
You, my dear reader, are contributing to my daily excitement. Thank you.
USEFUL WEBSITES
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts.
The information given with each photo on Wikipedia is far too long to copy.
It take an hour or two to read all the pages, digest, re-read to grasp the essentials.
The information is constantly expanding.
I used to copy photos and it was fine. Now they are all blured. Why? How can this be fixed.
Answers
Every now and then I go back. Here's a summary of my conclusions which are relevant to use on a travel blog.
COPYRIGHT
Many amateur, professional or retired photographers and writers would be glad to allow their photos to be reproduced without charge in exchange for a photo credit. They want the status, which might lead others to commission paid work. So you can use their work without paying on condition that you name the photographer and equally importantly don't pass the work off as your own or try to get paid for selling it and copyrighting it.
There are at least three strings to copyright.
PERMISSION
One is having the palaver of writing to the author for persmission. Why would you do that? Why would they ask you to do that if they are not charging? If I put a free photo ofmy local high street or church up on the webs, and it never gets used, I might not bother to put up any more because it seems like a waste of time. If I am doing it to get famous, and nobody tells me they've used it, I might be disappointed.
On the other hand from a user's point of view, if I have to write to ten people for permission to use photos in a book or a blog, that's another hour or so of my time. It would be quicker to photograph a pack of butter from my fridge, or a rose from my garden.
Would it? I have to edit my pictures. Remove my foot, my shadow. Even allowing the time to edit out the litter and too much sky, and bring it into focus, and enhance the colour, sometimes I would rather take my own photo than send off emails and waiting for replies - or look for the person who took the online phoot to give them credit.
CREDITING THE AUTHOR
Look at it this way. William Shakespeare's sonnets are out of copyright because so much time has passed that they should be out of copyright in every country. However, you can't pass off a Shakespeare sonnet as your own or charge people for it.
Why hide the name of the author of the quotation? Your painting of the rose is probably enhanced by a short quotation from somebody famous.
But you have to look up the copyright owner of the text. I wanted to quote a ballad in a book of poetry. It sounded like it had been written in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I was shocked to find that it was written by an American academic, who was still alive.
A very clever man. Wonderful to write a poem which becomes a classic in your own lifetime.
I quickly had to cut out most of the poem. I left, an opening line and the ending line, added lots of comments on the style, and gave attribution to the author and said where you could go to see more.
Wikipedia talks about derivative works. What's a derivative work? If you were to publish an out of copyright text such as, 'my love is like a red, red rose', the original text is still to be attributed to the original author. You might sell a drawing of a giant rose, with the text small in one corner, but you should put the name of the original writer or the words at the end of the words.
(Post being expanded - I'm saving it so as not to lose it and so you can benefit from what I have written so far.)
Information on High resolution in my next post.
I used to end my blog posts with 'please share my blog posts'. However, I don't want people copying my words as if it were their own. I want to get more readers for my posts.
Why does the number of readers matter?
1TIME ALLOCATION
Because if I had fewer than three readers my family would tell me, 'Stop wasting your time and make lunch'.
2 MORALE
Because an increase in readers raises my morale. I used to wodner if writing a blog was inrerior to spending time wirting a book. But I can see instantly if one subject rather than another is popular. I've had article published in magazines and newspapers which claim to have a million readers, but no evidence that a single person unknown, or a single person I know, has ever read the article.
But a writer's reputation is cumulative, and enduring. People come up to you years later.
A PR lady for Cumbria said, "I read something about you and the Kennedy museum in Dallas years ago. I don't read American newspapers. I read the Guardian. They must have copied it from a news agency."
I was thrilled. I was famous? An end to the lack of confidence which somebody clever later labelled as 'imposter syndrome', feeling I was just pretending to be a writer.
3 Because I want to help readers, and restaurant owners, and share news of great discoveries. If a tourist board has given me help, they deserve to be given a mention. If a new restaurant opens, they deserve a mention, a boost. The readers need to know if it is worthwhile going, and what is good value, and whether it is worth the money to splurge.
4 When I go onto affiliate programs they tell me that I must have so many readers here and there, on Facebook and other media, on a blog.
COMPETITION
Other writers boast that they have so many readers. If you want a bigger readership, you write about fashion and football. But BBC2 and BBC3 and BBC4 operate on the principle that lovers of minority interests deserve to have their subjects mentioned.
COMPETING AGAINST YOURSELF
5 I watch my readership all the time. I find it more exciting than playing a lottery. I always win. I compare readers all week, all day, and right now. I compare the numbers of readers in the US, Russia, Italy, the UK and ... A general post gets more readers from the USA - because there are more of them. But a review of an Italian restaurant brings in readers in Italy and they stay all month. Write about a Russian statue and the Russian readers leap up the league table.
I can see that I am getting more readers today than yesterday, more this month than last month, more this year than last year.
Should I write a post about a subject which gets most readers? Or turn to writing about a country where I have few, to boost my readership there?
You, my dear reader, are contributing to my daily excitement. Thank you.
USEFUL WEBSITES
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share links to your favourite posts.
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