# Opportunity To Ask About Plagiarism In Upcoming Q&A with Jonathan Bailey!



## The Fantastical

Some time in the upcoming year we will be doing a Q&A with Jonathan Bailey a plagiarism expert who works as a copyright and plagiarism consultant. We are doing an open Q&A so all questions directly about copyright laws and plagiarism are welcome. 

Here is some more information about Jonathan Bailey (taken from his bio on his site)



> My Background
> 
> As you’ll read below, I’m not someone who ever sought to become a plagiarism expert. My original goals in life were to be writer and a journalist but, thanks to one of life’s curve balls, the past 16+ years of my life have been dedicated to plagiarism in one way or another.
> 
> At first it was about protecting my own work, then about helping others and then about informing the world. Along the way, plagiarism went from being my passion and my intellectual curiosity to being my profession. For the past eight years I’ve worked full time as a copyright and plagiarism consultant.
> 
> To that end, it’s been a deeply enriching career. I’ve gotten the opportunity to speak at conferences all over the world, including four of the International Plagiarism Conferences, three SXSWi Conferences and much, much more. I’ve also been featured in countless publications including The Boston Globe, The Guardian, PBS MediaShift, The New York Times and the BBC to name a few.
> 
> So while I never sought this career, I’m truly grateful for it, the opportunities its granted me and, most importantly, the people I’ve had the privilege to meet and work with.
> 
> The Story of Plagiarism Today
> 
> As I said above, I never wanted to be a plagiarism fighter, much less a plagiarism expert. That role was forced upon me in 2001 when I discovered that nearly six years worth of my poetry and literature was being plagiarized by an individual using the name “Crimson”.
> 
> That incident, and the subsequent battle, left me both enraged and enlightened. I began to actively search for plagiarists of my work and was stunned to learn that my work, which is inherently personal and deeply emotional in nature, was being lifted at an alarming rate, so much so that hardly a poem, out of over a hundred, was left untouched.
> 
> I briefly debated, as many do, shutting down my site and packing up my notebooks in favor of other means of publication. However, as I poured over the appreciative email I had received over the years, I knew that I couldn’t let the plagiarists win. Too many people enjoyed my work to simply back down.
> 
> Still, something had to be done so I decided, perhaps against my better judgment, to fight back.
> 
> As a journalism student, I had spent many long nights studying mass media law, including copyright. With that in mind, I had a head start on my plagiarists. I knew my rights and was ready to protect them. However, I was admittedly lost on the how.
> 
> My first battle left me tired and frustrated, my second and third battles didn’t fare any better. Though I was succeeding in getting my work removed, I felt as if I was slowly losing my sanity in the process. The combination of drama, wasted energy and lost time was taking its toll.
> 
> I began to do some research. Though only a few brief guides existed on the subject at that time, I was able to pull some useful advice from them and then combine that knowledge with my own research.
> 
> Soon I was l branching out my research beyond just legal maneuvering and into technological solutions to handle the the more practical elements. I was soon researching databases to organize the endless stream of plagiarists, templates to speed up sending letters and screen capturing programs to preserve evidence.
> 
> Within three years I had shut down well over 300 plagiarists and turned my methodology from an impulsive lashing to a science. My method, a unique blend of legal maneuvering, technology and gumshoe work could handle most cases of plagiarism with only fifteen minutes of labor. This included preserving evidence, gathering all appropriate information, deciding a course of action and then contacting the appropriate party.
> 
> There was no magic to it, just a matter of trial and error while combining my unusual skill set to come up with a unified solution. Yet, somehow, the results were undeniable.
> 
> Though not perfect, my success rate was well over 95% and, best of all, my fight against plagiarists, though ongoing, was not distracting from my creating new material. I was able to battle an army of plagiarists with one hand firmly planted on my pen.
> 
> However, I didn’t get to rest on my laurels long. The atmosphere on the Web was constantly shifting and my techniques had to be constantly refined. What worked well one month might create problems the next.
> 
> Needing some means of keeping up, I sought out a blog or a news site on the subject. However, after a series of very intense searches, I failed to find one.
> 
> However, I did find a great deal of evidence that others were being victimized by plagiarism as well. It seemed that the plagiarism problem ran even deeper than I thought and it became evident that the need for such a site went well beyond my personal desire to stay on top of things.
> 
> Never having been one to sit idly by, I decided to step up and create such a site. Thus, Plagiarism Today was born.
> 
> It’s been more than a decade since I made the decision to start up PT. In that time I’ve handled over a thousand more plagiarism cases and have advanced even further in my understanding of the subject.
> 
> But what caught me the most off guard was how much I learned from others. Though I fully expected to help guide others through the process of fighting plagiarism, I’ve been amazed at how much many of them have expanded my knowledge on the subject, providing new viewpoints and ideas that I had never before considered.
> 
> In that regard, PT remains very much a learning experience for me. Though I am always glad to teach and offer advice, I am even happier to learn.



You can find out more about him and plagiarism on his site - 

His website

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/

Twitter -

https://twitter.com/plagiarismtoday

Facebook - 

https://www.facebook.com/plagiarismtodayfans

And Youtube - 

https://www.youtube.com/user/plagiarismtoday 

For those who might not know what copyright or plagiarism is here is some more info - 

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT



> Copyright infringement is the use of works protected by copyright law without permission, infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works. The copyright holder is typically the work's creator, or a publisher or other business to whom copyright has been assigned. Copyright holders routinely invoke legal and technological measures to prevent and penalize copyright infringement.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-copyright-infringement-plagiarism/

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-copyright-infringement-understanding-copyright-law.html

PLAGIARISM



> These acts are considered acts of plagiarism -
> 
> 
> 
> to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
> to use (another's production) without crediting the source
> to commit literary theft
> to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
> 
> In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.



www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism/

www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/whatisplag.php

https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism

wpacouncil.org/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf

So ask away!


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## The Fantastical

To get the ball rolling here, here are a few questions from me - 

With such unprecedented access to online content, is plagiarism moreof a problem than before?

Are there different kinds of plagiarism?

What is plagiarism?

How do you prevent plagiarism?


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## qwertyman

The Fantastical said:


> What is plagiarism?



Plagiarism is copying one persons work. Copying several persons work is research.


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## The Fantastical

qwertyman said:


> Plagiarism is copying one persons work. Copying several persons work is research.



Is this a question for Jonathan Bailey?


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## escorial

would like to know what he thinks of this image....


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## The Fantastical

We can see if we can work in that quote (or image it depends of what Pip says) certainly.. Who was it by?


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## escorial

the link to image

https://goo.gl/images/A7ggTa


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## Olly Buckle

Making a direct copy of someone's work and calling it your own is an 'easy' spot, however, taking an idea and reworking it is rather a different kettle of fish. I consider I have learned quite a lot about short story writing by doing just that. I have not infringed any copyright, the originals were well past the time limit for that, over two thousand years in one case, and I reckon that in changing the characters, the setting, the period etc. I have actually created something original; My question is how different do I have to be? For example there is a story on my site called 'The lion' which is based on a story in 'Plain tales from the hills', Where Kipling had two grass widows I have two barmaids, where he had a young subaltern I have a university undergraduate, he is in India, I am in England, he is at the turn of the last century but one, I am in the present. I have followed the original  plot fairly closely, deliberately, it was a learning exercise originally, but I think, given that there are only so many stories and I have original material for character, setting etc. I am entitled to claim it as 'my' story, how true would that be if the original was not so old?


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## Olly Buckle

The Fantastical said:


> We can see if we can work in that quote (or image it depends of what Pip says) certainly.. Who was it by?



It says 'Pablo Picasso' under the scrbble, I suppose he might have ripped it off 

I have a friend who has a photo of Banksy at the Waterloo tunnel, don't worry, she says she won't publish.


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## The Fantastical

Olly Buckle said:


> Making a direct copy of someone's work and calling it your own is an 'easy' spot, however, taking an idea and reworking it is rather a different kettle of fish. I consider I have learned quite a lot about short story writing by doing just that. I have not infringed any copyright, the originals were well past the time limit for that, over two thousand years in one case, and I reckon that in changing the characters, the setting, the period etc. I have actually created something original; My question is how different do I have to be? For example there is a story on my site called 'The lion' which is based on a story in 'Plain tales from the hills', Where Kipling had two grass widows I have two barmaids, where he had a young subaltern I have a university undergraduate, he is in India, I am in England, he is at the turn of the last century but one, I am in the present. I have followed the original  plot fairly closely, deliberately, it was a learning exercise originally, but I think, given that there are only so many stories and I have original material for character, setting etc. I am entitled to claim it as 'my' story, how true would that be if the original was not so old?



Interesting question


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## Clubs_and_Hearts

I've wondered; what about using pictures from the Internet for book covers, that do not have watermarks? Is this considered stealing or is it allowed since the pictures are available online? What would the recommendation be for that?

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk


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## H.Brown

Here are a few questions of mine:

1. At what point/length should a writer protect their work?

2. Is copy-writing expensive? If so are there any ways that a writer/artist can protect their work if they can not afford to pay for its protection?

3.Would you say that plagiarism has gotten worse, with the invention of the internet?

Do you have any thoughts on these matters?


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## The Fantastical

THREAD IS NOW CLOSED!

Thank you to all who participated, the interview with Jonathan Bailey will be up soon. :salut:​


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