Wikipedia:Image sleuthing
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The following Wikipedians have signed up to be image sleuths. |
What is image sleuthing?
There are many thousands of images on Wikipedia. Most are tagged so that we know where they come from and how they are licensed, but some are mysteries, tagged {{unverified}} or {{unknown}} or not tagged at all, with no obvious way to tell whether we can legally use them or not. Eventually, if we can't find out the source and copyright status of an image, we'll have to delete it. But some of these images are useful or attractive, and are begging to be rescued. That's where the image sleuths come in. The sleuths use any methods they have – from Google Image Search to uploader e-mails to secret informants met at midnight – to discover the source and copyright status of an image.
So how does this work?
Below, you will see up to fifteen images with comments to the left of each. Sleuths set to work tracking down the origin, copyright and licence terms associated with each image. If there's general agreement that an image is acceptable – available under free licences, in the public domain, or legitimately a fair use – then you can move all discussion to the image's description page and remove the image from the list below. If the image can't be certified acceptable even after a week of searching, then image should be moved into the deletion process. (Sleuths often try to find suitable free or public domain replacements.)
If an image has been listed for over a week, or if the status of the image has been determined beyond reasonable doubt, then anyone can remove the image from the list and either tag it or list it on ifd. If there are fewer than fifteen images below, anyone can add a new one. Some good place to look are Wikipedia:Untagged images and Category:Images with unknown source.
If you do move an image to the deletion process, please always contact the uploader of each image, on their talk page: do not make the assumption that they are not contactable. More generally, contacting users does sometimes elicit the information and so is considered a good thing™ packed with Wikiquette.
The assignments
- Used in Chinese tea culture
- Looks self-made to me. Alternatively, I can create a free replacement. --MarkSweep 03:42, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- See also Image:Pot-tea.jpg and other images uploaded by this group (what exactly is going on here?) of users. --MarkSweep 03:46, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- These students either took the photos themselves (most likely), in which case they are GFDL, or they took them from the Internet (possible), in which case they are copyvios. I say we look hard for these on Google, and if we can't find them, we mark them as GFDL. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 15:19, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
- Used in 1964 New York World's Fair
- Last chance to save this image
- I've tried hard to find this image on Google, LOC, NARA, without success. I haven't been able to find a free replacement either. :-( MarkSweep 03:57, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Also note that the uploader, Vancourverguy, has officially left the project. --MarkSweep 19:09, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- How about fair use unknown source. Historic event, relevant to article. — Zeimusu | Talk 08:39, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Used in Unrest in Kosovo
- There has been a POV dispute about this article ever since it was created and the map certainly doesn't help. When asked about its source, the uploader simply chose not to answer. I have beeb searching for its source without luck. Thuresson 21:11, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- Smells like a copyvio then. I say delete. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 15:21, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
- Used in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- Found [1] That page states "Used courtesy of [...]" So I guess we don't have permission for wikipedia. I'll contact the site. — Zeimusu | Talk 01:43, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- Perhaps one could be found to replace [:Image:Natural_gas_rig.jpg] as well? --MaxPower 15:36, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)
- Used in Lena Park
- Quote moved here from image page: "Looks to be from: http://asia.zhangziyi.info/siteweb/LenaPark/Lena.htm -- RedWolf 05:15, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)"
- But I don't see the image there. It doesn't look like a promotional shot. How do we tag this? – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 00:52, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
- I've left a message on the uploader's talk page. Whatever next! --Tagishsimon (talk)
- But I don't see the image there. It doesn't look like a promotional shot. How do we tag this? – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 00:52, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
- Used in Deng Xiaoping and History of the People's Republic of China (3/4)
- Well, he appears to be in the same chair and wearing the same suit as here and here, so it's probably part of the same series of photos, but I haven't been able to find out anything about them yet. — Asbestos | Talk 03:32, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Hmm - Yahoo image search is more helpful than I thought it would be. Found here. Nrbelex 21:04, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I get a "Page not found" on that link.– Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 21:07, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)- It was a typo in your link. I see it now. I daresay that's not the original source for the image though, so we're not any further along. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 21:15, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
- Well I figured so much but unless he got it from us, one of his links or resources might have it. I've been checking them out. Nrbelex 23:27, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I also E-mailed the author of the page but who knows how long it could be until I get a response if I do at all. Nrbelex 00:14, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Well, I did get a response, one hour later! Unfortunately it's not of much use: "hi i just did a simple deng xiao ping image search on google images. you'll find it there.." Well that brings up our own picture and Q.E.D., circular logic. So... I haven't accomplished anything - back to square one... Nrbelex 02:59, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- We have at this point to assume it is copyrighted and not availible for free use. Moreover we already have several portraits of Mr. Deng. I don't feel this image is required for any articles we now have, delete. — Zeimusu | Talk 08:48, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
.htm&h=83&w=110&sz=2&tbnid=QM8gWa1LW0QJ:&tbnh=60&tbnw=80&start=476&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDeng%2BXiaoping%26start%3D460%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN){kind=link}
- Used in Containerization
- I couldn't find it on Google, and I searched pretty hard. I've e-mailed the uploader to ask him/her. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 18:36, Feb 28, 2005 (UTC)
- Same, and I mean a lot of search terms. Nrbelex 02:32, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Probably self-made then, and GFDL. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 12:44, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
- Doesn't look self-made to me, more like some sort of promotional or descriptional photo. I'd be wary of GFDLing it, much as I like it & want us to keep it. --Tagishsimon (talk)
- Could easily be self-made, especially if he lives near a harbor. I've sent the uploader an e-mail (through Wikipedia, and didn't get an error, so I presume he has specified an e-mail address and will get the e-mail). Lupo 14:12, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I don't think it's a promotional or descriptional photo 'cause I perused the websites for the companies on the crates and searched images and articles using their names and nothing came up... I also just realized that there's a selection hand from a mouse on the left-center part of the photo suggesting that it's a screenshot or at least homemade(?). Nrbelex 04:55, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- That's bizzare — I hadn't noticed it. That means that any searching by file size or image dimenensions is out the window. That hand in the pictue is Adobe Photoshp's panning tool, which means that it was saved on someone's computer as a file and then... saved by a screen shot? That makes no sense to me, and not really a clue as to whether the image was from the internet or a personal photo... — Asbestos | Talk 09:25, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Doesn't look self-made to me, more like some sort of promotional or descriptional photo. I'd be wary of GFDLing it, much as I like it & want us to keep it. --Tagishsimon (talk)
- Probably self-made then, and GFDL. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 12:44, Mar 2, 2005 (UTC)
- It looks most likely to me that the uploader took a PDF (either government or, more likely, commercial) and made a screenshot in order to save as a jpg. We could search on PDFs that mention containers to see where it comes from, but I'd say it's extremely unlikely that the picture is homemade. – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 12:34, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
- Yea - I searched a few PDFs - a candian government presentation and a few others but didn't see it. That's something Google images doesn't search so it all has to be done manually. That's something they should think about at Google though it seems like it would be pretty tough. Nrbelex 17:06, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I thought there might be free replacements on the US DOT web site, but couldn't find anything similar to this image. --MarkSweep 19:34, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- So, can anyone find any PD replacements? – Quadell (talk) (sleuth) 21:25, Mar 3, 2005 (UTC)
- How about this or anything on this page? Nrbelex 22:47, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Nice image, but it claims (c)2000 Gimp-Savvy.com at the bottom. Do they allow distribution? — Asbestos | Talk 10:08, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- No it doesn't. They say "Photo copyright-free. All the rest ©...". In fact, they claim to have taken their images from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the NASA, or the NOAA. Why not search the NOAA archives directly? They have some more images of container ships... Lupo 11:18, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Nice image, but it claims (c)2000 Gimp-Savvy.com at the bottom. Do they allow distribution? — Asbestos | Talk 10:08, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- [2] is better than *either* of the images in the current article I think. Other possibilities: [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]. --MaxPower 15:10, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)
- Used in Martin Müürsepp
- I did quite a bit of searching (granted it was all in English) and turned up nothing. Looks a little too high quality and at a good spot in the action to be user made... Nrbelex 20:26, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Agreed. There are quite a number of professional photographs of him, all of which look quite similar to this one. My guess is that this is a journalistic image — newspaper or online news. I tried to see what sort of images other articles were using for basketball players (i.e. whether they were claiming fair use for news photos), but the vast majority have no images, and most of the rest, like Image:Kbryant.jpg, Image:Jordan02.jpg and Image:Birdplayer.jpg, are without copyright tags. — Asbestos | Talk 09:50, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Used in Go (board game)
- Used in Hanuman
- Everyone who uploads Hindu art says "It must be public domain", though I can't see any reason to believe so. The artist is usually anonymous, and in India copyright continues for 60 years after publication of an anonymous work. 60 years after publication of a photograph, and 60 years after death in other cases.[8] — Zeimusu | Talk 09:39, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- This is an extremely common representation of Hanuman. I've found five different versions in only a few pages of Google Images, each with very slightly different color levels. Does image proliferation imply de facto fair use? — Asbestos | Talk 09:42, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- The use of the image is not relevant, but the nature of the image is significant in making a fairuse claim. I think fair old is possible. — Zeimusu | Talk 09:49, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- The source of these would seem to be the now defuct spritweb.org.. But on wayback that site claims to have got the images free from the internet (especially newsgroups) and not to know anything about the copyright status. — Zeimusu | Talk 10:39, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Used in Imre Kertész
- Is this a Wikipedia mirror or did I find it here? haha Nrbelex 20:16, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Used in Indian Point nuclear power plant
- Looks like part of a pdf from the International Atomic Energy Commission, which I believe is now the International Atomic Energy Agency. I haven't worked out whether they permit re-distribution of their images yet. — Asbestos | Talk 16:36, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Nothing on google under "Abegweit"; I've left a note on the uploaders talk page. --Tagishsimon (talk)
- Found a smaller version on a government page here Nrbelex 23:36, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- "Unless otherwise specifically stated herein, all text, graphics, maps, photographs and other material are the property of the Government of Prince Edward Island. All rights reserved. Doesn't look good for it. — Asbestos | Talk 09:52, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I've left a message on the uploader's talk page. --Tagishsimon (talk)