[Digikam-users] digikam's "Settings, Configure, Identity" IPTC fields

[Martin Laberge]

On January 21, 2008 12:52:19 elle stone wrote:
> 
> Under digikam's "Settings, Configure, Identity" is found "Photographer
> Information": Author, Author Title; "Credit and Copyright": Credit, Source,
> Copyright.  I checked around the internet to see what these various fields
> are supposed to mean, be, do . . . and thought I would share.  Please
> correct my mistakes, as I don't want to lead anyone astray.  And if this is
> the wrong place to share such garnered information, please tell me and I
> apologize in advance!
> 
> 1. The "Copyright" field"
> 1a. An example of how to fill in the "Copyright" field is found here:
> http://www.controlledvocabulary.com/imagedatabases/iptc_naa.html
> © Juanita Doe/Parador Times, all rights reserved
> 
> 1b. That pesky little copyright symbol.  I can't find any way to get the
> copyright symbol into digikam's "Configure -digikam, Identity: Default IPTC
> identity information", Credit and Copyright, Copyright" field.  According to
> here: http://www.iusmentis.com/copyright/symbol/ substitutes for the symbol,
> like (c), or abbreviations, are not "legal" substitutes.  But you don't need
> the symbol, as the word "copyright" serves just as well.
> 
> 1c. "All rights reserved".  According to here:
> http://www.iusmentis.com/copyright/allrightsreserved/ this phrase has not
> much legal meaning.  However, everyone else, including the "IPTC Core Schema
> for XMP" (see
> www.iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpCore/1.0/documentation/Iptc4xmpCore_1.0-doc-CpanelsUserGuide_13.pdf)
> tells you to  include the phrase "all rights reserved" if you intend to
> protect your copyright.  
> 
> 1d. Why bother with the "Copyright" field at all?  The short answer is it
> seems to be the way to avoid having one's work "orphaned."  See
> http://imagemetadata.com/ for helpful links about the controversy.  (One
> also needs to include contact information as part of the image metadata, to
> avoid the "orphan" problem.)  And the copyright field also seems to be the
> appropriate place to release a photograph to the creative commons, with a
> specification of the "rights granted", as the copyright laws presume rights
> are reserved unless specifically granted.  Or so it seems to me.  I am not a
> lawyer.  
> 
> 2. "Author", "Credit", and "Source" sound an awful lot alike, but they are
> conceptually different, though in fact often the same person/entity. 
> Information and quotes in 2a, 2b, 2c below are from: 
> http://www.iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpCore/1.0/documentation/Iptc4xmpCore_1.0-doc-CpanelsUserGuide_13.pdf.
> 
> 2a. "Creator" and "Author" are "shared fields", meaning whatever is entered
> into the one appears in the other, in the upcoming/developing (Adobe-led)
> XMP standards.  Likewise "Author Title" and "Creator's Job Title" are shared
> (these "shared fields" are a "backwards compatibility" thing as XMP evolves
> to include more than IPTC and EXIF).  So if you work for an organization,
> your job title goes here.  If you work for yourself or take pictures as a
> passion rather than as a profession, I suppose "Photographer" or "Starving
> Artist" might go here.  
> 
> 2b."Credit" is the same as "Provider".  "Use the Provider field to identify
> who is providing the photograph. This doesn’t have to necessarily be the
> owner/ creator. If a photographer is working for a news agency such as
> Reuters or the Associated Press, these organizations could be listed here as
> they are “providing” the image for use by others. If the image is a stock
> photograph, then the group (agency) involved in supplying the image should
> be listed here. Note: This field is “shared” with the “Credit” field in the
> Origin panel of the Adobe Photoshop File Info field."
> 
> 2c."Source".  "The Source field should be used to identify the original
> owner or copyright holder of the photograph. The value of this field should
> never be changed after the information is entered following the image's
> creation. While not yet enforced by the custom panels, you should consider
> this to be a “write-once” field. The source could be an individual, an
> agency, or a member of an agency. . . . Source may also be different
> from Creator and from the names listed in the Copyright Notice. Note: This
> field is “shared” with the “Source” field in the Origin panel of the Adobe
> Photoshop File Info field."
> 

Thanks for the information, this is very well phrased,
and it helps me very much in the understanding of these fields.

I am sure many others too.

I would suggest that this whole explanation be included somewhere
in the digikam documentation, if it were possible.

Using this as a reference, we could have some yellow-popups
over these fields to describe them.

What do you think, Gilles ??


-- 
Martin Laberge, 30 years of unix admin... and still learning!
mlsoft at videotron.ca
(418) 575-2945