Author(s): Molly S. Van Houweling
Year: 2013
Abstract:
Imagine: A budding amateur photojournalist captures the aftermath of a devastating storm using his mobile phone. He then uses the phone to enter a few terms that describe the photo (“hurricane,” “flood”), checks a box to indicate that he wants the photo to be displayed to the public, and checks another to indicate that he is the copyright owner and grants to the public a license to reuse the photo so long as it is attributed to him. He then hits a button to upload the photo wirelessly to the web server of his favorite photosharing site, where it is immediately available for anyone to view, download, and redistribute via their own favorite photo sharing sites, social networking applications, and news outlets covering the disaster. Wherever the photo goes on this digital journey, it carries information about its contents, its origin, and its ownership—including the date, time, and location where it was taken; the descriptive terms the photographer added; and his copyright ownership, license, and contact information. When the photo appears online—whether on the photo-sharing site where he originally posted it, or on another photo-sharing site, a social networking platform, a news service, or a peer-to-peer network—this information is communicated to anyone who might want to use the photo yet again. This “metadata” is digitally embedded in the photograph in a way that also makes it possible to find the photo easily by entering the descriptive terms or the photographer’s name into a search engine. The photographer uses this functionality to track the many places online where his photo has been used—with credit to him and his reputation. He receives email inquiries from news outlets who are interested in seeing more of his work.
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Link: http://btlj.org/data/articles/27_3/1471-1502_Van_Houweling_031013_WEB.pdf