Thought Picnic: The cattle rustlers on my blog

My fresh tomatoes

I cannot say that I am the best self-promoter of my abilities especially those that pertain to writing and that might inform why I have not made a living from it to date.

In some ways, I have taken this as a pastime even though many have tried to persuade or encourage me to take up technical writing in relation to my professional expertise, general writing as can be seen on my blog or even writing my own story which appears as snapshots in the many blogs I have written.

As a proof-reader, there is something natural first and then academic about how one feels for the English language, I have found myself offering that service many a time for free.

A farmer at heart

Now, I have been blogging consistently for over 7 years and that is good while longer than many more popular blogs and meeting places within the social networking environment, I believe that probably must count for something and maybe it is a testimony and profile of the things I cover.

The other day, I added a page to my http://akinblog.nl site which I called Blogging Trophies to showcase citations I have received from different websites by reason of what they might have found useful about my writings.

There is a reason why I jealously guard my material, I like the way it appears, I like the way I format my copy and I like to maintain control over what I write without the threat of it being edited, misrepresented or excerpted out of its particular context.

Sowing on my land

I can only enforce such strict control on my blogs or on blogs were I have been given a modicum of administrative control to ensure that the material does not lose my fingerprints.

I am usually inspired as I write and so there first publication might contain errors that need correcting over time, I have been known to review blogs that have been published for over a year and more because they are all posted for posterity, I publish and damn the consequences, like Pontius Pilate, I have written what I have written contextually but refinement is required in spelling correction, inscrutable grammar and some other foibles that writers might be prone to.

Rustlers on my corral

I have gotten into a good few spats about seeing my complete blogs appear on websites I have not given the permission to use my material. It grates when consent is implied by offering back-references to the original material, it is just not good enough – there is a reason why my blog exists, it contains itself well enough not to have to be replicated for the bolstering of other lack-lustre duplicators of material.

The links below show how much of a fuss I am ready to kick up.

NaijaLive - PS. Aggregation not poor duplication

Sahara Reporters has infringed my copyright

Courtesy demands that express permission be sought and it is my prerogative to grant permission if I am so inclined, at the very least, those who wish to showcase my blogs or my writing have engaged me in conversation and communication to determine if our goals and objectives are suitably aligned.

No matter how inconsequential, I do have a reputation that I guard jealously, it would be advisable to those who have crossed the bounds of ethical conduct to make amends or expect consequences – I always win the battles I chose to fight.

Sahara Reporters has infringed my copyright

Prologue: I first wrote this blog on New Years Day in indignation about the copying of my blog and the savage commentary that followed the publication of my blog on the Sahara Reporters website, I then pulled down this blog because I did not feel despite my right to go on the warpath with Sahara Reporters.

The study of the comments on my material then became the source of the blog I wrote for Nigerians Talk titled Nigeria: Can we engage politely?

The demands I make in this blog are not being exacted, this blog has been revived, just for the record.

Attribute as per the rules

When I published a blog noticing Sahara Reporters had come of age, it was published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License with clear terms that should be followed when my work is being used anywhere else. I live in the Netherlands and have run my blog for 6 years.

I found out that my material was ripped off my blog with the complimentary Culled from Akin’s Blog though the presentation of the article may have surreptitiously suggested I wrote it on the Sahara Reporters web site.

For all intents and purposes, I like to convey my ideas in forums where I have complete control of the material, that is why none of my stuff is found elsewhere except on my blogs and when I write for forums like NigeriansTalk.

Courtesy demands

Whilst I consider Sahara Reporters an effective guerilla news agency it is not beyond extending the common courtesy of seeking permission from bloggers before using copy they have not originally created and if that organisation could not seek permission, if should have read the terms of re-using original copy and followed the instructions as given.

Unfortunately, it shows the tendency to ignore dictates of due process, a lack of attention to crucial copyright and usage instructions, an absence of discipline where an article of commendation gets pilfered on the premise that the writer has automatically given permission for usage to the subject of the commendation – No, it was never explicit and could never have been read as implicit either.

Sahara Reporters might well be disestablishmentarian in Nigeria, but it is not above the rules of engagement in the global usage of material they have not created.

My blog suits my material best

On reading their publication of my blog, it clearly does not convey fully everything I wrote, the links with their references are missing, the sources I used for my copy do not appear in that posting and falls short of how I would present my views if I were invited to present my views on that forum.

If Sahara Reporters were to have done the minimum it should have been a link with a very basic excerpt pointing users to my blog, to have shorn my material of its setting is definitely a rip off and not to have attributed appropriately amounts to copyright infringement in the least, a less charitable situation would be to accuse Sahara Reporters of piracy.

To make it clear, I seek no further forums than that which my blogs give me in the expression of my opinion where I have complete control over the publication and the commentary it might generate, one is not amused to find that principle abridged without my consent.

To redeem Sahara Reporters

I would expect Sahara Reporters to do the right thing of the following options; remove my material forthwith from their website; expressly seek my permission to use my material or read and follow the instructions regarding attribution of material on my blog. An apology would be expected and if either of the last two options is taken, the full material with the links and sources as appear on my blog MUST be published.

Gaining global recognition does not automatically confer respectability but it demands journalistic responsibility; that comes with you continuing your sterling work of investigative news gathering and your sticking to the rules as they apply with the material you obtain.

Finally, I am Nigerian, I love Nigeria, I like Sahara Reporters and the work they do, that is why I have twice commended their activities in my blogs, and the rules are there for a purpose, following those rules are not grievous to the meticulous and honest journalist.

Thank you!

No permission is given to copy any part of this blog; and this notice overrides the provisions on the attribution license.

Rotten journalism ruins obituary

Death at a great age

In Nigeria we have a seemingly mature perspective of death especially when the deceased was full of years with children, grand-children and great grand-children. In fact, I once attended the Christian wake of a prominent Nigerian who died at 89, what I noticed was that no one was mourning in black, but everyone was in a radiant blue.

Basically, we rejoice with the survivors when a full life with generations of issues predeceases their offspring – they are congratulated and the deceased is lauded.

So, I read from Ayoke’s blog that Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, one of the foremost female politicians in Nigeria has died at the age of 92.

The women who shined for us

This brings to memory the famous women of Nigeria who during the struggles for Nigerian independence ensured that the voice of hand that rocks the cradle was not silent as we determined our future. People like Mrs. Ransome-Kuti, Mrs. Oyinkan Abayomi and Lady Ademola blazed the trail in the emancipation of women in Nigeria, to them; a great debt of gratitude is owed.

The source article on ThisdayOnline does this great departed no honour; now, my blog is not perfect, I do proofread and check my spelling and grammar many times over but sometime fail to see errors.

Rotten journalism

ThisDayOnline is a newspaper of journalists who produce copy in English; it would probably have an editor that oversees all material before it is published for global viewing.

How Mrs Ekpo’s son who announced her death twice acquired the female gender in their copy is not only annoying, it is sloppy journalism, leaving much to be desired.

Mr Eddy Ekpo would have confirmed that his mother died in hospital and remains of his mother would be returned to the family home in due course. Mrs Ekpo, having passed on, would now acquire the possessive past tense of having had 12 grand-children and so many more great grand-children, regardless of the living status of the children.

Naijablog has time and again lamented the poor quality of Nigerian journalism; this example just shows there is much to be done about people who write for a profession.

Beyond all this, Mrs. Margaret Ekpo who served as representative on the Eastern House of Chiefs from 1948-1966 and was a delegate to Nigerian Constitutional Conference in the 1950s and a Nigerian delegate to international conferences in the 1960s – she was a worthy delegate – my her soul find repose as we remember her.

References

The offending article Courtesy of This Day Online (PDF)