Thursday, September 15, 2011

A Slice

of life, that is. 

I don't court confrontations and controversies, certainly not here, but I know I end up doing so from time to time.  I've hidden the original post, the one before last, and edited the last post.

I apologize for any hurt caused.  But I stand by my bewilderment of finding my photos in places I wasn't aware of, and will continue to consider the risks/benefits of Internet existence in general and posting of weaving and drafts pictures in particular. 

And I stopped apologizing for freaking out from time to time some years ago.  That's also what I do.  And I know some of you get a bit of a laugh from it.  That's fine, too. 

7 comments:

  1. Meg, get a Creative Commons copyright. In the image caption field include your copyright, and how you will allow your images to be used. Also request a link back.
    Should take care of that.
    Only beautiful work gets copied on the internet.

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  2. Thanks, Yasmin. Overall, I'm starting to find out the pace of changes on the Internet too rapid and overwhelming. I've been contemplating a one page website with a downloadable PDF brochure and an email address.

    In the end, I think it's the powerlessness of not being able to prevent stuff that gets me down. For e.g. even Blogger help forum said if a blog is closed and I don't know who the owner is, there is no way of finding it out.

    I need to collect my thoughts on the issue for now. Oh... and the heavy rain just arrived. Yay! I don't have to go water the plants I put in the ground on Tuesday.

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  3. I quite understand your bewilderment and astonishment at finding your photos in an unauthorised place. It comes down to respect in the end. Maybe a courtesy note to say I've done this would have helped. Its been a wakeup call to many of us, I would think.
    But please don't stop talking to us. Your conversations may seem one sided at times but they do trigger thought paths and inspiration.

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  4. Dianne, shouldn't you be packing your suitcases??? :-)

    Well, I'm slow on the technological uptake, and for e.g. I won't ever go beyond phones that can talk only, (and prefer one where we can't text); I'm looking to possibly purchase Kindle-like gadget that is ideally around A4 size so I can make the letters big and still get more than half a sentence on the screen. But there have been stuff I've decided not to bother with, which includes Weavolution for the time being, Google+, all iPhone apps unless I can get a version on the laptop and someone can install and explain it/them to me.

    I'd like to think my understanding of Internet etiquette isn't too far off the mark, and courtesy among weavers more so. But I do hate offending or hurting folks unintentionally. I do realize some of my posts may potentially offend because I have strong opinions, but this wasn't one. I still don't think I was at fault, but when translation software is involved, it could skew things.

    And then there is that unsmall matter of my using images found on Google for inspiration, and now this leads to appropriation, and in some cases, cultural appropriation, and goodness gracious me, I so don't want to go there...

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  5. With all due respect to the issue of having your image pilfered online (and you watermark yours, don't you?), I think/I suspect/I hope this doesn't happen very often in general. Perhaps I'm just naive because it hasn't happened to me. I have a Copyscape thing on my blog, but what good does it do in the end? Nobody's policing these things.

    I can count on one hand the artists online who've had a similar thing happen within the last 4 years that I've been blogging. Maybe it's really not such a big deal...unless the thief says your work is their work, or uses your image blatantly in commercial artwork of their own and doesn't credit you.

    The internet is a place for sharing. My advice is to not worry about it.

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  6. Aw you've just popped my bubble. I'm a tech dinosaur compared to you and I always have in the back of my mind I can ask you for help.
    I'm packing, and ironing, and sharpening sketching pencils - I'll get there :)

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  7. Connie, first thought: convent school. We were taught to say Please, May I, and Thank you until the cows came home, so after the initial shock, the courtesy thing came to mind.

    I have a friend whose photo was cropped to cut off the @ line at the bottom used by a major airline. Couple others had their local newspaper pinch their stuff with newspaper @ inserted. I read about someone (weaver?) finding her family photo in an insurance company. But the most shocking was a weaver who discovered a photo of her work used for a regional/municipal tourist promotion on another continent in the mid-90's, from memory.

    Ben and I've had a few request here and there if they can use our pics for school projects, blogs, or once, on as the cover of leaflet they hand out at their wedding. (What's that called?) Our standard answer is, "Knock yourself out." That's an affirmative. I think I had text copied some time ago, once, but funny I don't remember as much about what happened to me directly. I still prefer courtesy to anarchy, but I know that's asking for a lot.

    Dianne, look for art students in the first instance, not so much computer students, and then under 40's who speak similar languages to us.

    ReplyDelete

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