Plagiarism Primer

Albert W. Starkweather, Philatelic Communicator

Author’s note: This is intended as an overview to this area and does not constitute legal advice. Writers and editors with specific questions about fair use and copyright should seek legal advice.

Many philatelic writers and editors are unconcerned about legal and ethical issues. I, too, gave these little thought until I recently received two submissions for another publication that I edit. One was plagiarized in whole from Wikipedia, the free access online encyclopedia. While Wikipedia’s policy allows this, the problem arose when the author who submitted the article attempted to pass it off as his own. This is clearly unethical and guarantees an F in any freshman English composition class.

The second piece was more problematic, containing a pair of paragraphs taken entirely from other sources without credit — one from a U.S. Postal Service press release and the other from a Publishers Weekly book review. While their inclusion probably falls within the fair use doctrine, the failure to identify the sources also constitutes plagiarism.

Writers and editors should keep certain principles in mind in order to prevent repercussions after publication. The main points to keep in mind are: copyright; trademarks; image and, if online presentation is intended: audio use; rights and permissions; and libel.

Although the standard disclaimers that appear in many publications, including The Philatelic Communicator, may be sufficient to deflect most legal matters arising from material taken from other sources, they should not be interpreted as blanket protection. Scott Publishing Co. is notable for protecting its copyrighted Scott and Minkus numbers, demanding licensing for use in other catalogues. If one is in doubt about fair use of material from a particular source, the best policy is to first seek permission.

Copyright must be considered for both the work being created and for material incorporated into the work from other sources. Permission in writing is required in order for a photograph or other piece of artwork and text, other than brief quotations, to be reproduced. Copyright is protection provided by U.S. law to authors of original works and is applicable to both published and unpublished works.

The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives a copyright owner and anyone authorized by the owner the exclusive right to reproduce the work; prepare derivative works based upon the work; or distribute copies or recordings of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, such as rental, lease, or lending. Further protections are offered to material intended for public performance, such as plays, movies and other audiovisual works, as well as music — recorded and live.

These rights are not unlimited and there are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the fair use doctrine, which includes criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research. Most philatelic journals, newsletters, and other media would be allowed these exemptions.

Extensive use of previously published material, including unique numbering systems and information clearly attributable to a particular author or publisher does not. In all cases, the sources of material that is used should be clearly identified. Paraphrasing borrowed material is often preferable to importing direct quotes.

Copyright protection begins at the time the work is created in fixed form, such as a manuscript or recording, and immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can claim copyright.

An international copyright that automatically protects a work throughout the world does not exist. Protection against unauthorized use in a particular country depends on the laws of that country. However, most countries offer protection to foreign works under certain conditions, the most notable exception being China.

Even more problematic is the issue of protection for material published on the World Wide Web, where there is widespread plagiarism and copyright infringement. However, a Web master who uses the sound track version of Someday My Prince Will Come on a site devoted to Snow White on stamps may expect to hear from a Walt Disney Company representative other than the prince.

DPS Competition

The Fall American Stamp Dealers Association Inc. (ASDA) Mega-Event includes a new form of philatelic competition. Participants may submit a Digital Philatelic Study (DPS). Such studies allow collectors to broaden the basis for the presentation of their research and knowledge and to complete studies which might not be undertaken in the framework of a conventional philatelic display or exhibit. It is expected that such studies will become very popular with collectors and students and will lead to major advances in philatelic research and knowledge.

The DPS accepted for the show will be displayed on both individual computer stations and by public computer projections at the Mega-Event to be held at Madison Square Garden, New York, in October of each year.

Rules and Entry Form for the Fall Mega-Show in New York.

Who may submit an entry and team entries

A DPS may be submitted for entry in the show by an individual who is: over 18 years of age; an emancipated minor; or under 18, with the approval of his/her legal guardian.

Entries may also be submitted by a team comprising no more than four people, each of whom meets the criteria specified above. Each team should have a designated Captain and all communication about the entry and the DPS should be submitted by, and will be sent to, the Captain of a team.

The name of the applicant(s) must be made known in connection with their application, but, at the request of the applicant(s), may be given as an alias in any published communication about the DPS.

Types and number of applications

A specific DPS may be submitted for either the competitive or non-competitive show, but not both.

Anyone who meets the criteria specified above may submit multiple entries for an individual DPS or may be included on multiple team entries or both, but each DPS must be submitted on a separate entry form. A participant may enter no more than three digital philatelic studies (DPS) as an individual or as a team member, but only one entry on which the applicant is listed as a sole entrant or as Captain will be eligible for the first/second place or ‘Most Popular’ prizes.

Applications will be made by means of an official application form that must be received no later than the cut-off date for the given year.

Uses of the DPS

The applicant(s) who submit an entry for either the competitive or non-competitive show give(s) the ASDA the right to present the DPS during the Fall Mega-Event. In addition, applicants have the option to give the ASDA the further rights to reproduce the DPS as a whole or in part in electronic form on the ASDA website or on a CD.

The CD, containing all of the exhibits which the ASDA has been authorized to place on a CD, will be given to the individual participants, and to all team members of the team entries, where they have granted permission for the DPS to be included on the CD.

Technical Specifications

A DPS will be an electronic file or set of files that may not exceed a total of 200 Megabytes. It is recommended that it contain the material that would ordinarily be found on about 20 normal exhibit pages. The file(s) must be in a format or formats such as HTML (with relative paths), PowerPoint, PDF, or Word Documents that can be read or viewed by a Windows browser. It can include text and graphic images, including animation, but, it may not include sound.

The DPS should have a title page that describes the topic of the study and indicates how it should be viewed (scrolled, use of hypertext linkages, Table of Contents in a frame, etc.). DPS that are not easily viewed by a novice computer user may be rejected.

The individual or team of individuals need not own the material that is displayed in the DPS, but must have the legal right to include it in the DPS and allow its reproduction as described above. In addition to currently owning it, they may have scanned it at an earlier point in time when they owned it, may have obtained written permission from the current owner to include it in the DPS, or have obtained it from some public source. Signing the application form signifies that the individual or team has the appropriate legal rights to illustrate all material which is included in the DPS.

Every image that is included, with the exception described below, must have been taken from a real item and an original image of that item or part of that item must be included in the display. The original image is defined as an image that resembles as closely as possible the real item or that part of the real item that is given in the display. The original image may be magnified or reduced in size, but such changes in size must be noted in the text associated with the item.

Additional auxiliary images that are enhancements of any kind of an original image may be included in the DPS as long as the display clearly indicates the original image from which the auxiliary image was derived and specifies the way in which it was enhanced. For example, if a cancellation is lifted from a canceled stamp, then the canceled stamp would be the original image, and the lifted cancellation the auxiliary image. The study would have to indicate both that the cancellation was lifted and show the stamp from which it was lifted.

A constructed image that is one which is created by electronic means and not derived from an extant, real item may be included in the DPS if it plays a critical role in furthering the argument being made in the display. Such constructed images must be labeled as such and the critical point it makes must be clearly indicated. A DPS may be rejected if it makes extensive use of constructed images or if any of the constructed images do not meet the requirements specified above (critical to the argument and labeled as such).

Submitting a DPS

DPS accepted for the show must be submitted on a CD. Applications will be acknowledged as they are received.

Judging of the DPS

Judging of those DPS submitted in the competitive class will be undertaken by a panel of three judges. Several criteria will be assessed including, but not limited to, the intellectual merit of the subject chosen, the methodology of the study, the significance and appropriateness of the conclusions reached, the furtherance of philatelic knowledge and understanding, the completeness with which the story is told and illustrated, the concordance between text and illustrations, and the ease of use by the viewer.

The Jury will select first, second and third place entries. Prizes will be awarded for first place and second place. An additional prize will be awarded to the DPS selected by viewers as the ‘Most Popular’ exhibit.

Designated award certificates will be given to the first, second and third place entries and award certificates for participation will be given to the other individual applicants, and to the Captains and team members of all accepted DPS submitted, including those submitted as non-competitive DPS.

The decisions by the judges shall be final.

For further information, contact Dr. Edward Grabowski at 908-337-0039 (edgpe2003 @ yahoo.com), Richard Maisel at 212-982-6796 (rm3 @ nyu.edu), Colin Fraser at 845-679-0684 (frasers @ writeme.com), or Jim Roselle at 516-759-7000 (joroselle @ erols.com).

Defining Digital Philately

Fran Adams

My philatelic bookshelf is never wide enough for the number of reference books I aspire to. Binders with magazine cuttings don’t fit there and it never fails that some articles end up in the recesses of a bottom drawer, never to be found when needed. The question becomes: “How can I maintain a digital philatelic reference, with as much information as possible included, for a collecting interest?”

Over the past few years, I’ve been working with digital exhibits and as an outgrowth of that, digitizing articles of interest seemed a logical thing to do in attempting to assemble an electronic reference for each interest area. Early efforts didn’t work; a growing stable of electronic data became an organizational problem — not much different than the paper world.

Thinking someone else must have solved the problem, I stumbled through the world of philatelic electronic references looking for guidance as to what a digital philatelic reference should be and how it could be assembled.

As a novice, I decided to review different publishing methods including CDs, web sites, and online exhibits. My conclusion is: There is amazingly little information or consensus on what a digital philatelic reference should look like or how to assemble diverse information to make it reasonably useful, but mainly conveniently available electronically. I’ve likely missed something and I’ll know as soon as this is published and someone says, “Well, why didn’t you read xyz?”

Let’s start with definitions

In my mind, digital philately is a wide and all encompassing arm of stamp collecting. It can take the form of simple checklists, digital literature, scanning material for expertization purposes, electronic exhibits, web logs (blogs), web sites or any other use of the computer in our hobby as a tool to benefit our collecting habits. A very wide interpretation to be sure.

In a much narrower vein, I’d like to explore using the computer’s power to assemble information and prepare short studies on subjects and perhaps even expand those studies into full-blown digital philatelic references as additional information is added. The result is a collection of information which is useful for a number of the purposes above as well as a teaching tool. It makes sense that this digital philatelic reference tool be classified as literature.

A digital philatelic study (DPS) is therefore a short work on a specific facet of a subject and a digital reference is more akin to an encyclopedia on the subject.

A recent development in this arena is a competition sponsored by the New York based ‘Mega-Event’ for 2006 and 2007. The ‘Mega-Event’ defines the term Digital Philatelic Study as: “A DPS is an electronic file or set of files that tells a philatelic story, such as the change from traditional to pictorial designs in British Caribbean Colonies, the Pony Express, or mail from the Crimean war. It combines elements of journal articles, exhibits, and PowerPoint presentations into a final electronic presentation form (i.e., PowerPoint file, PDF file, etc.).

Like an article, the primary focus is on the story as it is told, but, like an exhibit or PowerPoint presentation, the emphasis is placed on the illustrations with the text as supplementary.

”Although that definition reflects both studies (mail from the Crimean War) and references (the Pony Express) in my opinion, it’s close enough to my end goal with two exceptions: (1) Illustrations and text should be reasonably balanced and (2) I want to include background data, checklists, maps, etc. beyond what may typically be found in the DPS examples I’ve seen so far.

Some DPS examples resemble exhibits and others don’t; it’s a matter of personal taste or final objective as to the format and content. Examples of previous DPS submissions to the ‘Mega-Event’ can be found online at the American Stamp Dealer Association (ASDA) Web site. Using the ‘Mega-Event’ DPS rules, the overall structure, purpose and components for a digital philatelic study/reference are now better defined.

Keep in mind that per ‘Mega-Event’ rules, a DPS doesn’t have to be a one person show. The power of comprehensiveness lies in collaboration between collectors of the same area, each contributing to the whole work.

Another interesting facet is the ability to include material you do not own to demonstrate points you might not be able to demonstrate using only material from your personal collection. This option opens up a world of possibilities allowing research and knowledge to be presented without steep material acquisition costs.

What references did I find?

The most directly associated guideline I’ve found on electronic formatted philatelic documents is the current Mega-Event Digital Philatelic Study “DPS Rules and Entry Form“. A second source with some how-to information on using FlipAlbum software is “Self-Publishing on a Dime” by Peter Elias (Philatelic Communicator, First Quarter 2005 - Writer’s Unit 30). A third along electronic lines (web sites) is “Let’s Get Visual!” by Albert W. Starkweather (Philatelic Communicator, Second Quarter 2006), and finally, albeit not specific to electronic formats, is the American Philatelic Society (APS) guideline for “Judging Philatelic Literature” found on the APS Web site.