There is a very strange phenomenon in the Kelly world that I finally have had enough of through the years. (there are others I may bring up sooner or later but this one cries out for airing now) Just because one person (be it myself or some other individual) has found some information in old newspapers or in archives and used in a book or article or blog or forum posting it does not mean that they OWN that information and that no other person who takes the time to search the newspapers/archives for themselves and put facts together independently does not have the right to use it....OR that they MUST cite that first person who ever published it as a "source" when that source was not even seen until one's research and writing were done! When I write, the sources used to glean the information are cited as they should be. Even if I quote from a book I give the source when I have not found the same information independently in papers/archives beforehand. For instance, when I did a certain blog post, I found all that information on my own using Trove and other internet databases. Everyone who knows me knows that I love to research, I am compelled to get to the original source information and not just take others words for it. Only after I had finished the research and written the blog did I ask someone to scan in the pertinent pages from a book that had information on this subject so I could compare what I had so that I could check that I was not stepping on any toes. Seems that I had actually more and better information (and as concerns one certain thing, more correct info) on that aspect of the story I was covering than they had! If anyone thinks that Sharon Hollingsworth ever takes the easy way out they can get the heck out! I sometimes take hours, days or weeks researching just one small aspect of the saga...but even after all that I don't own it! The information is there for all to find. It is a blessing to have those resources so close to hand now! Trove and the PROV are like giant cookie jars (for Aussies it would be a biscuit jar) filled with chocolate chip cookies!
It shouldn't be a crime that some of us are better at researching and putting it all together in a lively readable form than others are capable of doing! If so, then put the darbies (handcuffs for those non-Australians) on me now!
Waffle (with butter and syrup) over!
WELCOME TO ELEVEN MILE CREEK. Thanks for visiting us. We hope to use this blog to bring news, views, nuggets and musings, some serious, some lighthearted, but all to do with all things associated with Ned Kelly.
You have hit the nail on the head here, Sharon. No information is exclusive to anyone, be they the first or the second or the tenth to come across it. No one has dibs on information that has been in the public domain for over 130 years. And no scholarly convention says that you have to cite the person who uses it first either. An article from the Age of 9 March 1880 needs to be cited in that way and no other, and certainly not in a way that gives a feel good sensation to whoever has used it previously.
ReplyDeleteI can verify your genuine love of research and your commitment to getting the facts right, and in the right perspective. Without wanting to scratch your back too much (though I know your cats like it) it is always a pleasure to read your work. It’s a refreshing change from the blinkered, ill-informed and misspelled and poorly worded bilge that appears in other places around the Internet. Not to mention the tedious arguments about minor matters of topography amongst pedants who seem to think that it is more important to locate fireplaces to the nearest millimeter rather than considering the implications of the events that occurred in the locations that they find so fascinating.
Well said Brian, I cannot add anything to it as it was perfectly put. Kind regards, Santa
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