It turns out that I have been quoted on a piece of literature relating to Birmingham’s Big City Plan - essentially a City Centre Masterplan brochure. I do a LOT of photography for regeneration, architecture and other fields relating to the progression of Birmingham - so I have had numerous clients asking me how and why I was involved with the Big City Plan. Well, I wasn’t.To be honest, I have never been asked for a quote, but I did write a comment to a third party - and it was this comment that was used. I’m not sure about this…I am happy to be quoted… but would it have been nice to be asked?…you bet.
There is also the fact that I have worked for nearly every newspaper and magazine this side of Fleet Street, so as soon as members of the press see that a photographer they know has been quoted - it kind of takes away the assumption that it is the view of an ‘independent person’.
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Me too (Page 44). I don’t mind either, being as I have Brummie lineage going back two centuries, but the quote implies I was at a meeting which I wasn’t, and that I’m a resident, which I am not at the moment. It would have been nice to have been contacted. But it’s a good cause.
100% agree. I am also quoted as being a resident - which again, I am not. I spend all day, every day working there, but I don’t reside there. Imagine if I had used a photograph by another photographer in an advertising brochure, without their permission - all hell would break loose. Are words any different?
Deep down, I think it is out of order to quote me, inferring support for a scheme/project which I am not involved in, and hence, taking a quote out of context.
Hi Craig, Paul. I had an email from one of the people who wrote the document asking if it would be okay to use some of the blog posts quotes in their work.
I can’t find my response because I was out of the office, but perhaps I didn’t stress the need to contact each of you individually. So - they did attempt to get in touch with _me_ about it, perhaps it was a mistake on my part not taking the time to write a considered response back, perhaps it was a case of them not getting the netiquette. Either way I’ve emailed them a link to this post. They’re quite responsive…
@Paul - I read out your blog post comment (I read out a few on the day) as the last thing that was said at the conference because it summed up for me what it should all be about. It got a nice round of applause so that’s why they wanted to use it, I guess.
So, sorry both - I should have stressed that they needed to contact you, but I assumed that they would have.
That is fair enough Stef - I don’t hold you to blame! You are right though, the person working on the copy for the brochure should have been in touch.
Ultimately, I think both Paul and I are simply saying, we are happy to support Birmingham in any way we can, but being asked is always a nice thing to do.
Hi all,
Stef is right about me not be totally au fait with ‘netiquette’ and I apologise for not being able to get your individual consents for using your quotes. As I did not know how to get in touch with you individually I emailed Stef to find out if it was OK to use your quotes and to find out more about who you were so that I could reference you properly. Unfortunately, Stef was unable to get back to me before the print deadline and given that your quotes 1. gave a valuable contribution to the document, and 2. were publicly available on the web I thought it would be ok to go ahead.
With regard to Paul’s comment, we actually promised the attendees of the Big Ideas Event that we would use to the quote in the charter after it received such applause at the event!
All the blog comments have been a really useful source of information and opinion I hope that this doesn’t deter you from continuing to post your views on the Big City Plan. I promise next time to post something on the Blog asking for your permission.
Life is too short to worry about something for more than 24 hours, so best to move on…
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