Image Use And Ethical Concerns

The following article discusses issues surrounding image use and how I avoided such ethical concerns in my role as Social Media Manager for Instagram.

There are many ethical considerations surrounding the use of images, including the need to “protect creators of original works from unauthorised reproduction or copying” (Cameron, no date). Stealing intellectual property without license or permission to use is unfair, and furthers a narrative of viewing the efforts of creatives as trivial.

As milk has no budget in which to pay for visual content, images used on the website, in the publication and on social media platforms must have the right permissions – either by obtaining “free or royalty-free images from reputable sources” (Kemp, 2015) or securing the written permission of the creator to feature the image. In the industry, this is secured via email.

In order to avoid complications with copyright in consideration to my role, I sourced images that were of my own making. These can be seen here. With the exception of a few images, the social feed I managed consisted of visuals that were my own intellectual property. On the rare occasion that images were sourced from third parties, they were created by the milk team. This made it far easier to obtain the correct permissions. To fit with my role as a social media manager, these secondary-sourced images were credited as due by tagging the creator in the photograph. For use in a publication or article, I would need to cite the name of the image owner, followed by a hyperlink to the owner’s website or the website where I found the image (Zinevych, 2017).

At Making Magazines, the need for attendees to consent to model release forms upon arrival was vital. It meant I could take photos for social media with the correct permissions. If this form wasn’t signed, I could not cover the event on social media as the individual did not give permission to be photographed and featured publicly across digital and printed platforms. A blank copy of the model release form used during the event can be seen below.

Evidence of ethical considerations.

Bibliography

Cameron, H. (no date) What Are the Copyright Laws for Images? Available at: https://info.legalzoom.com/copyright-laws-images-20135.html (Accessed: 3 April 2019).

Kemp, D. (2015) Three Ways to Avoid Copyright Infringement for Images on Your Blog. Available at: https://onward.justia.com/2015/08/26/three-ways-to-avoid-copyright-infringement-for-images-on-your-blog/ (Accessed: 3 April 2019).

Zinevych, S. (2017) Noble Blogger Guidelines: How to Cite Pictures. Available at: https://writtent.com/blog/the-honor-code-of-a-noble-blogger-how-to-cite-pictures/ (Accessed: 3 April 2019).