BillCramer

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Happy editing! Kj cheetham (talk) 19:46, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

Photos of people

Bill, thank you for deciding to share your archive with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. These kinds of photographs are hard to come by, and for some subjects, impossible to create. The copyright maze is hard to navigate, but I think your approach of uploading lower-resolution images for free use is a good one that preserves your rights to the source images while allowing the lower-resolution ones to be available. The non-exclusive licensing of high-resolution images has been a difficult issue for Commons to navigate, and some end users (let's face it, lots of end users) have no idea of how to properly attribute images from Commons. This has led to issues with agencies going after users who've used the same images, which were also licensed with an agency. Your approach looks better.

It's a little confusing in your copyright summary in the metadata, which has a copyright statement "Bill Cramer/Wonderful Machine, photos by Bill Cramer©20XX Wonderful Machine Inc." that's at odds with the CC license you've used. I don't think you intend that the low-resolution derivative image is actually copyrighted via Wonderful Machine, only the original high-resolution source. But it's confusing.

One additional note: for images of identifiable living people, or for those whose images are controlled by their estates, you might want to add {{personality rights}} to the Commons file pages so there's an additional warning concerning the use of the images for the naive user. Acroterion (talk) 11:40, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Hi Acroterion,

Thank you for your comments which are very helpful!

I understand your concern about the CC summary - that was our mistake and we have corrected that moving forward.

Since we still have a lot of photos that we would like to contribute to Wikipedia (and we would also like to help teach other professional photographers how they can contribute their photos), we would love to learn more about exactly what information you'd like to see in each of the different fields and in different situations that come up.

It would be very helpful if you or another moderator might be available for a quick video call so that we could clarify all of these issues.

Please let me know if that would be possible.

We can be available whenever you are.

Thank you!

Petar Hotovec (for Bill Cramer) BillCramer (talk) 17:31, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

Peter (and Bill), thank you for your response and your willingness to help the project!

A couple of housekeeping things first:

Wikipedia accounts are expected to be used by single individuals, and can't be shared. Peter, please create an account for your own use. You are free to post here, of course, and you may speak for Bill with Bill's permission, but for copyright reasons and general clarity, you need to post from your own account. It need not use your own name (in fact, I'd recommend against it), it just needs to be yours.

Second, I think the conversation should primarily be with folks at Wikimedia Commons, the media repository for Wikipedia/Wikimedia projects, where those who are more deeply involved with issues of free content media can be found. I am active there, having uploaded thousands of images, some dating back to my college journalism days, but I don't claim to be an expert in the ins and outs of free content licensing. You'll get better help there, I think. Few of my images that have been used elsewhere on the Internet have been attributed correctly, and we have an active discussion going on there right now about another photographer's images that are being used for copyright demands by an agency on the basis of less-than-correct-in-all-respects attribution.

I can help to facilitate such contacts, and perhaps the Wikimedia Foundation may have a role too, since the WMF's mission aligns with yours.

The trick will be to align the legalese, and to thread the real and perceived barriers to participation. Copyright is a critical process here.

Keep in mind that not all Creative Commons licenses are acceptable - the Common History license, for instance, restricts commercial use.

I'm going to open a discussion over at Commons to figure out who's best situated to help you, and I'll let you know where that happens.

Again, thank you for your participation! Acroterion (talk) 12:25, 17 April 2024 (UTC)

Bill and Peter: I've opened a discussion at Commons to see if we can get a little more advice from those better-versed in copyright issues to allow you to contribute from the beginning without undue hassle [1]. Acroterion (talk) 14:28, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

Hi, In addition to what Acroterion says, and as told you during the Wikimedia Commons photographers zoom conference, I suggest that you verify your account here and on Commons through the c:COM:VRT process. This is to avoid suspicion about your claims on your pictures. We have regularly people claiming to be someone else. Please ask me or on Commons copyright board if you have any question. Regards, Yann (talk) 15:50, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for your response!

We will look into the verification options through the Volunteer Response Team.

Could we organize a 30-minute video call to review the best way to contribute images, handle the licencing and help other photographers?

Regards, BillCramer (talk) 19:22, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

Maybe ticket:2024030210004094 satisfies this? It's referenced on File:Mike tyson knocks out tyrell biggs.jpg. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:18, 20 April 2024 (UTC)