Copyrights
Do not violate copyright.[edit | edit source]
See our resources on this in our Observatory Contributor Writing Ethics and Standards and in our Style Guide’s General Writing Standards.
Originality of Writing[edit | edit source]
We want your spin, your analysis, your take on a topic, not someone else’s. If your entire article or a significant majority of it is someone else’s words, it’s probably not your article. This includes press releases and government websites.
You must properly identify and credit each organization, individual, or publication you have quoted. It’s best to intersperse your analysis rather than repeat their words, to add value and explanation beyond the original material.
Photographs, Images, Videos, Tables, Maps, Charts, Graphs, Audio, and Other Media[edit | edit source]
Do not insert any images or other special media (including photographs, videos, tables, maps, charts, graphs, audio, etc.) into articles or elsewhere on the Observatory website yourself. They must be pre-cleared by an Observatory administrator before they are uploaded to the Observatory media library.
Before you send an Observatory administrator an image or other media file you wish to upload to the Observatory media library so as to accompany an article or other content on the site, make sure you have the rights to reprint it (see the Images addendum to the Observatory Style Guide)—and it must be cleared for use by the Observatory and those who reprint its content under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). If it is your photo, and you are sending it so others can share it, then tell the admin in writing when you email it to them as an attachment that we have the nonexclusive rights to use it under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Include any credit or caption that must appear with the image or other media file. If no credit or caption is necessary, please indicate that. If someone else is the copyright holder (and this isn’t just the subject of the image or the photographer in all cases), then you must get their express permission to share and republish the image/media file, and tell the Observatory administrator that you have it (and include their required credit/caption).
Do not plan on including or send to an Observatory administrator or area editor any images/media files/text/content you don’t have the rights to.
