When ever I speak about blogs and blogging to visual artists one of the first concerns they have is the possibility of their work being “ripped off”. I don’t think I have ever delivered a lecture or lab session without it coming up. For anyone working in the visual arts it is a very real concern.
Over on tenforty Deb has written a good article on do’s and don’ts of blogging and how to combat plagerism.
What do I tell my students and colleagues? I tell them it will happen but there are ways to combat it to a degree. I point them to Copyscape and thier guide to responding to plagerism page, but in the same breath point out that the benefits of a visual artist blogging as part of a strategy to establish a career far out weigh the problem of content theft.
Thanks for the link goes to Lorelle on Wordress who has her own take on it here.
November 16, 2007 at 4:16 am
Thanks for being one of the “many” not just one of the few who speak out on this subject of content theft. We need to spread the word that it is not okay to steal our words, whatever the end purpose.
To which I should add, there is a new stealing monster in town. SIGH.