or
the state of things
warhol's silver factory from here.
With NEW blogs springing up every day- Beautiful images & words are springing up with them. I try to credit everything I put on this blog. I know sometimes I fail. Many of the images I feature are scanned by me from an extensive library- I only scanned them. They are not mine to claim. I am always surprised, amused, dismayed when I see bloggers paste watermark images over images they have scanned, or even more surprising- claim ownership of images from magazines, the content of magazines barely having even reached subscribers- by adding footnotes to their blogs like:
All content, photos, images and text are the property of ..unless credited. Nothing shall be copied, altered, or reused in any way without.... (Many times these images are not credited)
I have the following added at the lower portion of my own blog:
LITTLE AUGURY2008-2011
ALL PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND ORIGINAL TEXT NOT TO BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF OWNER
It is really all I can hope for. I appreciate another blogger noting an image was found on my blog when they use it on their own. It isn't something I expect. I can not worry over an image I have scanned- when one does that it is part of the catalog of internet images- Simple fact. Better to credit the artist-painter or photographer than to credit a blog-I think. Photographers are in the cross hairs of this boon. The art they render is becoming no more than a paper airplane. We as bloggers should all be more conscientious about this, at least make the effort to note the artist whose work you are literally pasting in as your content.
Some bloggers claim property over the Comments readers leave. I do not. I leave comments often. I enjoy reading posts and I love leaving comments, getting comments and responding to my readers. I occasionally share comments on a subsequent post I may write with permission of the reader. For a number of months I used, with permission, a comment from a supportive blogger in my blog profile with the reader's sobriquet. In recent changes to my profile- rather than crediting the quote directly - I described and thanked them which I hoped would be appropriate. This wasn't enough and the commenter asked to have those words removed. I completely understand & I did so. I never want anyone to fear leaving a comment, worrying that I will snatch their ideas and words as my own.
There is a fine line here- I hope in interacting with readers and other bloggers-inspiration will follow- that interaction is why I participate.
There is a fine line here- I hope in interacting with readers and other bloggers-inspiration will follow- that interaction is why I participate.
I look forward to getting my latest subscriptions to more magazines that I like to admit. I use them for inspiration, I occasionally post their content-when I can create something to the topic.
How am I inspired? How does it relate to what interests me- the connectors of design, history and art?
I do make it a rule to never post about a magazine's current content until their next issue is published. I always get crazy when I see the beautiful photography and content of a new & current issue tossed out on a blog before I even get a copy of the magazine. I wonder if images are scanned, grabbed off magazine sites or offered up by publishers? I can not fathom a magazine's reasoning if that is the case. Yes- bloggers do promote magazines -alliances are formed. I know advertisers drive magazines and keep them going-but as a paying subscriber, I am infuriated by the practice. It has a great deal to do with bloggers' rush to be the "first" to get something out and numbers-Statistics. Those little statcounters floating about many blogs mean- they are counting You. You are there and therefore You are a statistic-registering your support of and readership of the blog. I have one on my blog, after a year of posting pages on Little Augury, I added the counter. I rarely air these numbers, they are for my own use and they are your numbers as well. Many bloggers are using them for the purposes of luring advertisers and sponsors to their blogs and publishing their numbers to do so.
Where the story of blogs goes is up to the blog community, the readers and the publications we all flock to for inspiration. As more bloggers enter the field in order to share, reflect and prosper- Less and Less is certain.
I am looking forward to heading to DCOTA the Design Center of the Americas to participate with fellow bloggers in discussing 'Redesigning Design' moderated by Allison Mezzafonte from Elledecor.com. If you are close by or will be attending the DCOTA Winter Market 2011 on January the 18th- join us a 2:00- we will discuss how the World of the Internet has changed the World of Design.
