Some of you will have heard that there has been a discussion of plagiarism in photography at Federation level and at National level, resulting from an L&CPU ruling on a case of rule infringement. Incidentally, the notes of L&CPU Executive meetings are now posted on the L&CPU website a couple of weeks after each meeting so that club members can find out what’s going on. This is a recent change in policy.
Plagiarism is a subject that has not often reared its head in Oldham PS, though I do remember a case many years ago when a member (long gone) had copied pictures out of Amateur Photographer magazine and entered them as slides under his own name….naughty naughty! A vigilant judge noticed the printers dots on the images!
With the popularity of digital photography and all that encompasses, especially in the “creative montage” style of images, a few people have accidetally or knowingly flouted the “rules”…in this case I am using the word “rules” rather loosely to mean “culture” or “what it’s Ok to do”.
Plagiarism is a very difficult subject because, in its wider sense it includes all kinds if things from copying other people’s ideas too closely in one sense right through to breaking the compettion rules by using images that are not entirely your own work or breaking the law by infringing copyright. Sounds a bit obvious and it seems like such people are setting out to cheat but, in reality, plagiarism can also occur accidentally and without any malice intended.
To try to clarifiy this subject, I was asked to write something to go on the L&CPU website…this has now been taken up by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain and will be published to all the other Federations in January. Plagiarism article.
Don’t get too worked up about it – most of the advice is pretty much common sense..it’s in the detail that sometimes people transgress…e.g. taking a little piece of clipart or freeware to finish off an image. With a clearer knowledge of what is and what isn’t acceptable, we can all steer clear of trouble!
Happy reading…and even happier image making!
Chris Widdall