So, should I feel flattered or ripped-off that a for profit business included one of my flickr photos from Glenelg beach in a travel site?
Well, let me tell you - I take it as a compliment and this is EXACTLY why I license my stuff cc:by not cc:bync or anything sharealike. To me, it is the greatest form of flattery to have my digital work remixed into new work that gives it a greater chance of surviving as culture evolves. Just last week, I was honoured to have one of my podcast episodes sliced up and pushed forward. I’m certainly no artist, but my kids just might be and I think it is important for me to test out and model smart ways to live and work in the digital, read/write world.
It is quite likely that the people searching for relevant photos to include in schmap used something like the ‘advanced search’ in flickr to find images they could use without asking permission:
Stuff licensed cc:by,nc or cc:by, nd just doesn’t show up in a search like that.
Furthermore, the people from schmap have created a little process that I think is quite smart, first they e/mailed me so that I could ‘opt-in’ for possible inclusion. Then the followed up with a ‘you have been successful’ (a little cheesy but not too bad) e/mail which included a permalink to their use of my work in context. I think this is very smart and a good example of the way things should be. Even though I deliberately relinquished some of my ‘rights’, the consumers of my digital content took ‘responsibility’ to make sure I was happy with what they intended. And look what happened, I responded by writing this blog post that will pass forward some of the link love they have shown to me.
Everybody wins.
Nobody loses.
Comments please?
technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang
p.s. Here are the e/mails I recieved (in addition to comments on my flickr photos):
From: editor@schmap.com
Subject: [Flickr] Schmap: Adelaide Photo Short-list
Date: 22 August 2007 6:03:44 PM
To: mseyfang@mac.com
Reply-To: editor@schmap.comYou’ve been sent a Flickr Mail from Luke Ritchie:
————————————————————
:: Schmap: Adelaide Photo Short-list
Hi Mike,
I am writing to let you know that one of your photos with a
Creative Commons license has been short-listed for inclusion
in the third edition of our Schmap Adelaide Guide, to be
published early September 2007.http://www.schmap.com/shortlist/p=31477768N00/c=SE50051710
Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos has been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photo from our final selection
phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse online or download the second edition of our
Schmap Adelaide Guide.Our submission deadline is Sunday, August 26. If you happen
to be reading this message after this date, please still
click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated
frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be
considered for later releases).Best regards,
Luke Ritchie,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides————————————————————
To reply to this message, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/messages_read.gne?id=72157601599882037To update your email settings, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/notifications/The Flickr Team
www.flickr.com
and…
From: editor@schmap.com
Subject: [Flickr] Schmap Adelaide Third Edition: Photo Inclusion
Date: 2 September 2007 9:42:18 AM
To: mseyfang@mac.com
Reply-To: editor@schmap.comYou’ve been sent a Flickr Mail from Emma J. Williams:
————————————————————
:: Schmap Adelaide Third Edition: Photo Inclusion
Hi Mike,
I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo
has been selected for inclusion in the newly released third
edition of our Schmap Adelaide Guide:Glenelg Beach Resort
http://www.schmap.com/adelaide/lodging_budget/p=161330/i=161330_10.jpgIf you like the guide and have a website, blog or personal
page, then please also check out our schmapplets -
customizable widgetized versions of our Schmap Adelaide
Guide, complete with your published photo:http://www.schmap.com/schmapplets/p=31477768N00/c=SE50052833
Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please
enjoy the guide!Best regards,
Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides————————————————————
To reply to this message, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/messages_read.gne?id=72157601812338143To update your email settings, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/notifications/The Flickr Team
www.flickr.com
technorati tags:schmap, flickr, glenelg, remix, ccdrm, readwriteculture, readwriteweb
8 responses so far ↓
1
John Connell
// Sep 3, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Mike - I have now had 3 or 4 photos ‘accepted’ by Schmap from various parts of the world, including one from Sydney. I quite like the way they do business, a process you outline very well. After their first request to use a pic, I took them to task for not having a Mac client for their brochures. I received back a very friendly and personal email from one of the Schmap team explaining that they were working very hard on a Mac client and that they would let me know when it arrived. Sure enough, they contacted me to let me know that the Mac client had been launched recently.
John
2
mseyfang
// Sep 3, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Thanks John - more evidence that they are trying really hard. I hope my kids follow in a similar vein with their online business adventures. Tricky stuff tho - I’m sure it is just a matter of time before someone gets their work re-used in a context they don’t like and get all snarky about it.
3
Stephen Downes
// Sep 3, 2007 at 11:14 pm
I have had a large number of photos selected by Schmap and have granted them permission to use them in every case.
I have never had any objection of the commercial use of my materials (my papers also appear in journals, and my guide to the logical fallacies has appeared in any number of publications).
Yes, Schmap had to ask me for permission. This is why I provide contact information, and this is why I enable free and open access to my photos. They use what amounts to an almost completely automated system, showing that permission-granting need not be onerous.
They preserve what is most important to my - my own ownership and continued use of my own photos. They do not steal them, the way publishers steal papers from authors by taking them and then prohibiting the authors to post them or to publish them elsewhere. My work remains my own, even when it is in a Schmap guide. Everybody wins!
Schmap makes a few dollars collecting photos and information and producing city guides. I have purchased guides (mostly Frommers, from bookstores) to help me in my travels, so I know it’s a useful service. I am happy to see them make money, and I’m happy my hotos are helping both them and their readers.
4
Dave the Lifekludger
// Sep 4, 2007 at 7:26 am
No ‘isolating’ creative work in that scenario!
http://lifekludger.net/2007/09/04/isolation-kills/
Dave
5
Jerry
// Sep 4, 2007 at 10:57 am
Hi Mike,
love your work - keep going!
6
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// Sep 10, 2007 at 3:23 pm
[...] Uncle Mike talked about this last week: why you tag your photos (cc) and geotag your photos. [...]
7
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// Sep 24, 2007 at 1:56 pm
[...] Uncle Mike talked about this last week: why you tag your photos (cc) and geotag your photos. [...]
8
Alpha Release » Blog Archive » Flickr-Fotos bei Schmap
// Jul 2, 2008 at 5:53 am
[...] vorher noch nie was von Schmap gehört habe, hab ich mal ein bisschen gegoogelt und u.a. da, da, hier und dort verschiedene Meinungen über Schmap gelesen. Die Diskussionen sind schon ein bisschen [...]
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