Now in the great sweep of history there are plenty of events that have saddened me, made me angry and alternatively given me a smile.
On the downside I continue to be appalled at the degree to which people can be abused, hurt, and killed, while on the upside there are countless examples of self sacrifice, and “good acts” which benefited humanity.
Of course all those acts have happened whether I liked them or not, and constitute the “big things”.
But there are also the small things, and here I open myself up to ridicule and may look to some as silly or petty, but I can get cross and angry at the cavalier way some people appropriate the work of others with no reference to where it came from, no attempt to put the image or the article into a context and no acknowledgement of the author.
Given that all knowledge should be freely available to broaden our knowledge and understanding that may seem quite backward but there is a point, in fact several.
First it is courtesy to recognise the work of another, and ask permission to use that work. More than that by quoting the source, you allow people to make a judgement on its historical validity and its usefulness.
I well remember someone using a series of images I had posted, and putting them into a collage of Chorlton, sadly one of the photographs was of Blackpool which rather destroyed the attempt to produce a historical narrative of the area.
While at much the same time, some snapped a photograph of a local cinema in 1924 taken from a blog story and reposted it with no reference to the date or the details of the story making it nothing more than a picture of funny looking building.
All of which rendered the image useless, and missed the point that the photograph had been taken by a local photographer but appeared in the archives of a local study centre in East Scotland, which made the account of how it got there, the real story.
At which point some may be wondering the source of my comments, suffice to say it was on social media, concerned the cover of a book I had written and was used to advertise an event.
And if I want to be really picky the reproduction of the book cover posted on social media, had been done badly.
End of rant ...... but a comment on how we should all approach the use of historical material because that material deserves to be treated with care and respect.
Location; everywhere.
Pictures; Manchester and London in the 1970s and 80s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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| Manchester 1980/81 |
Of course all those acts have happened whether I liked them or not, and constitute the “big things”.
But there are also the small things, and here I open myself up to ridicule and may look to some as silly or petty, but I can get cross and angry at the cavalier way some people appropriate the work of others with no reference to where it came from, no attempt to put the image or the article into a context and no acknowledgement of the author.
Given that all knowledge should be freely available to broaden our knowledge and understanding that may seem quite backward but there is a point, in fact several.
First it is courtesy to recognise the work of another, and ask permission to use that work. More than that by quoting the source, you allow people to make a judgement on its historical validity and its usefulness.
 |
| London 1979 |
While at much the same time, some snapped a photograph of a local cinema in 1924 taken from a blog story and reposted it with no reference to the date or the details of the story making it nothing more than a picture of funny looking building.
 |
| Manchester, 1979 |
At which point some may be wondering the source of my comments, suffice to say it was on social media, concerned the cover of a book I had written and was used to advertise an event.
And if I want to be really picky the reproduction of the book cover posted on social media, had been done badly.
End of rant ...... but a comment on how we should all approach the use of historical material because that material deserves to be treated with care and respect.
Location; everywhere.
Pictures; Manchester and London in the 1970s and 80s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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