Usage of Images in Historical Tree

I agree with you on all counts. I have not run across much of the unacceptable list, but I don't manage or participate in as many profiles as you do. I guess my question is: how will Geni moderate this? Through the curators? And would they request the person take them down or would there be certain ones that would be changed automatically?

And I have noticed that if a profile doesn't have a picture, Geni will automatically give it one as soon as you upload any pictures, so some of them may be unintentional picks!

My preference is to make the image as unique to the historical figure as possible. Given a choice between a gravestone or a picture of their ancestral home and between a flag that is shared by another 100,000 people, I prefer the image of the gravestone or ancestral home. Or no image if you can't find an image that is somewhat unique or fitting to that person or family.

I agree that the image should fit the historical figure and be appropriate, because we share these ancestors with hundreds or thousands of other people on Geni.

That's an excellent point about downloading a Gedcom of one's ancestor and wanting it to not be offensive or off base.

Pamela - you are correct. the last image uploaded seems to become the default profile image, which can end up with inadvertent consequences.

I've never seen anything you've listed on the "unacceptable" list. Is this really happening to a major degree? I'm not doubting you; I just haven't seen evidence of it being a widespread issue.

I've seen a lot of good uses of maps, and I've actually done that myself in a few cases (like for relatives from a very small, sparsely populated island with which they're strongly associated). I've also seen people using maps signifying hometowns or counties. That all seems acceptable to me.

Along the same lines as birth/death certificates, I think there are other legal documents that work as well. For one of my Civil War ancestors, I have his enlistment card up. I believe I've also seen Purple Hearts and the Masonic Square & Compasses on profiles. Symbols like that strike me as fine as well.

It seems to me this might be one of those issues where we don't really need formal lists of what's okay and not okay, which people probably won't read anyway, but rather just a simple reminder a) to only use related images and b) that nothing copyrighted (which covers the cartoons/movie stills issue) is acceptable.

Those are good ideas Ashley. I have up a ship manifest listing my husband's great grandfather and his family enroute from the Ukraine to Argentina.

I do think it would be good to provide suggestions as to more unique images as you have just done nicely.

@Ashley, it's not a huge problem, but I have come across many profiles in tree view that have been marked with a book with a "bookworm" that said, "Read," or have come across profiles with images of a squiggly line that looks like it was created in an old version of Microsoft Paint. LOL It just doesn't make sense to me. Recently, I came across a fudge brownie as a default pic. It has no significant value other than it reminded a person of a "fudge brownie" due to the person's surname being "Browning." They are being humorous, but to others it can come off as annoying, especially if you share these ancestors and would like to download the Gedcom only to find fudge brownies with walnuts in it in a particular profile!

@K: Gotcha! I agree; that would be annoying. I guess I am fortunate to only have to see that same "THE IMMIGRANT" ship image 5,000 times a day and no jokes so far. ;)

See http://www.geni.com/projects/Provenance-and-Images

and some of the discussions there

@David I think most people aren't aware of that group, but do know where to find the public discussions here. So, I find it sufficient to stay in this thread in order to find the opinions on what people find OK versus not-OK to post certain images as the default picture for profiles. I'm hoping this will help curators build a template to start a new wiki that will guide users so we all can be one happy family here at Geni, and on our Gedcoms when we download for our own personal use.

Recently saw "Died Young" sign in Profile Photo spot -- liked so much I saved to my flash drive so hopefully I can upload and use. Especially in situations where the same name was re-used, I think it might definitely be helpful. But also where you find proof there was a child stillborn or died very young - so many are not aware of his/her existence, but you want to document it - think it could be helpful. [i.e for me - I think I may choose to use] Hope geni will not consider it illegal.

Lois

Do you have the profile link of the "died young" you used? The reason I ask is because there are a few in the tree -- including one I asked a friend to make for me. I sprinkled it around a couple of places and wanted feedback on if it was tasteful or not.

She'd be up for making more and different versions and donating that to geni if it's a thumbs up.

I would love an image like that, Lois. For more recent births, I've been able to use headstones and death certificates, but for older ones, something tasteful and respectful might be nice.

Perhaps Geni can eventually have pre-loaded generic images that can be used for cases like this. Flags, fraternal order images, military insignia, etc. all come to mind as images common enough that they might be worth standardizing.

Julia Ward Howe's profile just reminded me that iconic stamps, posters/pamphlets, statues, and diplomas should also be acceptable. For authors, *non*-copyrighted book covers should be as well. I'm not a fan of copyrighted book covers being used, or covers of books about (but not by) the person. Same goes for copyrighted album covers.

I suppose I should just keep a running list as I think of things and not keep posting here. :)

Lois, excellent suggestion. My ancestors had quite a few died young and they named a subsequent child the same name so bad merges are rampant. I've MPed and even locked profiles, but I like this. Very elegant.

Ashley - what do you think about using images you've Googled? I did that for Harriet Beecher Stowe I believe.

Hatte: If they're copyright-free, which most older photographs are (especially those from government sources), there's no issue there at all. For notable older figures, Googling is definitely the way to go in my experience. I do, however, wish we had a field on the upload form for citations, lest there ever be any question about where particular images originated. Wikipedia does something like that, so maybe it's yet another thing to add to our miles-long Geni wishlist. :)

The other thing Ashley is Google eBooks. The copyright of the older books that are free has to have expired, or they would not have put them online for free. I have downloaded drawings of early Americans from there.

Hatte: I've done the same. Google Books is invaluable for genealogists and historians. Google Scholar is great as well.

For anyone just starting to figure out copyright, or who might want a handy chart to reference, http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm is what I give my students. Very helpful.

Ashley

I have become scrupulous about citing my image source URL in the "description" field when I upload, even if it's Wikipedia.

Thank you for sharing.Julia is a 7th generation great Aunt I believe to my husband jamie Cloutier. His father is Mark Cloutier son of Edward Bugge and Barabara Howe

Thank you for sharing.Julia is a 7th generation great Aunt I believe to my husband jamie Cloutier. His father is Mark Cloutier son of Edward Bugge and Barabara Howe

Thank you for sharing.Julia is a 7th generation great Aunt I believe to my husband jamie Cloutier. His father is Mark Cloutier son of Edward Bugge and Barabara Howe