Hi Steve,

Sorry for not being clear, I was referring to publisher requirements, not
author or estate requirements (as in most cases said author is dead).
Unfortunately, in the case of photographs and art there is another group you
have to deal with: the collection that owns the physical media.  This is
often a big deal since you have to negotiate access to high resolution
images for print.  Since the collection controls the original artwork, they
also typically control the high resolution images.

(Complete aside: For a chapter on technical illustration and informative
graphics of the never-ending book project, I'm in the process of translating
a few of Da Vinci's anatomical sketches.  Even though the images themselves
are in the public domain, getting high resolution copies that can then be
modified into vector art has been very difficult.  I've been trying to
negotiate it with the Royal Collection for the better part of three months.
Coming to an arrangement which satisfies the collection and doesn't break my
wallet is proving difficult.)

Of course, these comments are just based on my own personal experience, and
what was on the Wikipedia policy page.  But it is usually a good idea to
follow them.  When I was the production editor for one of the journals at
the University of Utah, we required that all images have proper attribution
as a safeguard against plagiarism or inappropriate use of the material.
Having the attribution makes it much easier to verify that the work is
indeed in the public domain.  Other publishers I've worked with have had
similar requirements and I saw it mentioned in the Wikipedia policy page.
Thus, I just ass-u-me-d that it was more or less an industry standard (which
is always a terrible idea).

Cheers,

Rob

Reply via email to