Due to the nature of Signpost work, we often need to refer to other information sources in our content. It helps audiences to verify information as well. However, we need to be careful about copyright infringement when we use others’ content. If you take information from a website or other source without the author's permission, you may be violating copyright law.
When creating content, credit needs to be attributed to all original author's, and can be done in a few possible ways:
- You can provide a link to the original website: This is the most common way to give credit, and it is easy for readers to follow the link to learn more about the original content. For example, according to the Signpost website, it provides a community-led information service that empowers its clients in times of crisis.
- You can paraphrase or summarize the original content: This is a good option if you only use a small amount of information from the original website. When you paraphrase or summarize, be sure to give credit to the original source by including a citation or link.
- You can use a quote from the original content: If you are using a quote from the original content, include the quote in quotation marks and give credit to the original source by including a citation or link.
- You can create a bibliography: You should also include a bibliography at the end of your content. A bibliography is a list of all of the sources that you have used in your content. The bibliography should include the author's name, the title of the work, the publication date, and the publisher.
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In regard to copyright material, the opposite may happen from above and you may see other websites and/or people using Signpost content without any attribution of credit. To prevent such cases, we can do few things:
- Add a copyright notice to your content: This is not required for copyright protection, but it can help to deter infringement. The copyright notice should include the copyright symbol ©, the year of publication, and your name. For example: © 2023 Signpost.
- Use a watermark: You can use a watermark in imagery and graphical content. The watermark can be your logo/text, etc.
- Monitor your content for unauthorized use: There are a number of ways to do this, such as using a search engine to find instances of your content online. If you find that your content is being used without permission, you can ask to attribute credit or remove the content.
- Use a Creative Commons license: A Creative Commons license is a way to permit people to use your content under certain conditions. This can be a good way to allow people to share your content while still protecting your rights. You can register your content as Creative Commons by visiting the website here.