giving credit.. with love

you may have heard about the link with love campaign that's been noted in several places online.  I heard about it through Brene Brown's blog.

Link with love is a movement to recognize intellectual property - whether its words, photos, images, pictures, ideas, recipes or anything that someone posts - as valuable and not 'publicly owned' even though the internet is a very public place.  The idea is to give credit to the person or place where we get stuff from.

For example, I posted an image the other day of an art piece by a Seattle based artist.  I noted his name on the post, and I emailed him the link (I had to search for his contact info) just to be sure he was okay with it.  He was, and commented about how he appreciated being recognized and made aware of how his images were being used.
There are other examples, though, where I have not done as good of a job, and that's where link with love is helpful.  I'm learning about how I've not honored others and I'm committing to do a better job.  I remember a few years ago when I wrote a post about my love for long country roads.  I used a picture I found online, thinking it was an obscure image of a dirt road lined with trees - unfortunately, the owner of that image didn't want her photography used that way, least of all without permission!  So, I promptly removed the photo and left the post pictureless.
I'm learning... putting this badge on my site doesn't mean that I've figured it out, but it does mean that I'm committed to spreading the love and respecting others!