Usage of OTRS photos on Wikimedia Commons

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   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   Does anyone know anything about using photos on Wikimedia Commons that are listed as OTRS? On the photo page it says to confirm permission by leaving a note on the OTRS noticeboard. But when you go to the noticeboard, under Frequently Asked Questions it says "Please don't post requests for permission to use an image. All but a very few images here are freely-licensed and can be used in accordance with the terms and conditions of the license displayed on the image description page". So does that mean I can use it if properly attributed or not? It is listed as Attribution-Share Alike 3.0. Thanks

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      LuisEGonzalezposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Many (if not most) pictures found on Wikimedia, Wikipedia are free to use so long as you follow the license requirements. In the case of Attribution-Share Alike 3.0, it means that you must attribute the photograph, if you edit the picture you must still attribute it in the same manner.
      
      "Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
      ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original." This is the most common type of license found on Wikimedia.
      
      The licenses are easy to read just look for the letters on it. Don't mind the numbers. For example;
      BY=attribution
      SA=share alike
      ND=no derivatives (no changes allowed)
      NC=no commercial use
      
      Here is a Wiki link with more info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license

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   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   Thank you Luis; I appreciate your reply. But a very few photos are listed as OTRS and it's these I'm concerned about. It says that these are just for OTRS members, but you can confirm permission to use them by leaving a note on the OTRS noticeboard. But then when you go to the noticeboard is says not to post requests for permission, which is a bit confusing. If you have never seen the OTRS notice, you can do so by clicking on the attribution link on the photo on my German Volume Training article.

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      The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      An OTRS (Open-source Ticket Request System) seems to help an editor with access to tag an article or image for easy verification. You probably still should check to see whether the photo is free or licensed, etc.

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      LuisEGonzalezposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      "OTRS, an initialism for Open-source Ticket Request System, is a free and open-source trouble ticket system software package that a company, organization, or other entity can use to assign tickets to incoming queries and track further communications about them. It is a means of managing incoming inquiries, complaints, support requests, defect reports, and other communications."
      
      Bottom line; it is mainly used by Wikipedia to track what happened/uses etc of an image/article,information etc... Follow The Examiners-1's advice. He is right on the money with it.

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   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   Thanks Examiner. Not sure who to check with though. I've spent quite a bit of time looking around, but will have another look.

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      The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      If you mean that you are not sure who to check with about whether the photo is free they usually tell you. If they do not, in Wikimedia it is easy, just scan down the page and they tell you. Other sites I try under Privacy Policy; Terms & Cond.; Licenses/Copyrights (if they have them). Go for the obvious areas.

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   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   Ok; thank you. It seems to be ok as far as I can tell.

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   dwelburnposted 10 years ago

   Thank you Luis. That's very useful.

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