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, aka Rebecca Bollwitt. She often reuses other people’s photos in her popular blog, all of which are meticulously attributed and linked.
(Note: she has even created a screencast tutorial on how she gets captions under her photos in order to give proper attribution. You should check it out. Many of us want to do the right thing, but we are often too lazy or sloppy when using other people’s content. There’s really no excuse for not doing this.)
However, what happens when I want to reuse content I found on Rebecca’s blog, that is coming from someone else. I want to reuse the picture of Roger Bannister’s statue that Rebecca reused. Now, I could simply repost the picture from Squeaky Marmot and provide proper attribution.
Squeaky Marmot on Flickr
That would satisfy my legal and ethical requirement, but is it good etiquette? I didn’t find the picture on Squeaky Marmot’s Flickr account. I was reading Rebecca’s bog, and I never would have found Squeaky Marmot’s picture otherwise.
I think simply reposting the picture without some sort of additional attribution to Miss604.com loses vital information. Neither Squeaky Marmot nor Rebecca know that I found the picture through reading the Miss 604 blog. Both of those people have a vested interest in knowing how I found the picture. So, I should give attribution to both Miss 604 and Squeaky Marmot as per below.
Vancouver History: The Miracle Mile
Copied Source www.miss604.com Original Source Squeaky Marmot
I’m now kind of concerned with what to call “Attribution”. In the Creative Commons attribution is a legal term, but what I really want to relate is:
- From where did I find the content: Miss 604’s blog. (The Copied Source)
- From where did the original content come from: Squeaky Marmot (The Original Source or at least the source Miss 604 found)
Do you reuse content? Do others reuse your content? If so, what do you think? How would you like to see the “attribution”?