52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 48 (THIEF)
Genealogy research is everywhere now. All you need is a computer, a few details, a little curiosity, lots of time, and a bundle of cash is helpful.
There are many places online to post your tree, and research. A simple search will find a multitude of family trees just waiting to be harvested.
There are two problems with this.
The first is that there is no way for anyone to know for sure the tree found online is accurate.
The second is whether it's ethical to just take someone else's work and make it your own. Is it really any different than finding an obituary, and using the details to add to your tree? How about the information pulled from social media sites where folks have lax privacy settings?
Recently I stumbled upon the quote:
“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.”
It got me thinking about what genealogical plagiarism really is.
BUT first the quote itself seems to have been plagiarized since a variety of similar ways it's attributed to several people:
"When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism; but when you take it from many writers, it's research." ~Wilson Mizner 1938.
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism - to steal from many is research." ~Steven Wright.
"If you steal from one person it’s plagiarism: if you steal from three persons it’s research.” ~Joseph Cummings Chase 1938.
“If you wrote a paper and quoted without credit from a single book, it would be plagiarism; but if you quoted from three or four, it would be research.” ~Word Study, a periodical from G. & C. Merriam Company which is best known for publishing the Merriam-Webster dictionaries. Dec 1938.
“Just remember,” says he, “if you steal from one man, it’s plagiarism. If you steal from several, it’s research.” ~Bob Oliver 1941.
if you steal from two sources, you are providing documentation; and if you steal from three or more sources, it is–presto–”original research.” ~Los Angeles Times 1974.
"If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism. If you steal from two, it's research." ~John McDonald Burke, Bogue's Progress: The Fabulous Adventures of Wilson Mizner chapter 9, p. 167 (1975).
"Wilson Mizner? Steven Wright? Wallace Notestein? Ralph Foss? Joseph Cummings Chase? Asa George Baker? Leslie Henson? Tom Lehrer? Bob Oliver? Anonymous?
....In conclusion, based on the 1929 citation Wallace Notestein is the leading candidate for authorship of this quip. "1
It appears as though the original quote was:
“If you copy from one book, that's plagiarism; if you copy from many books, that's research.” - Wallace Notestein, 1929
The surge in Genealogy websites, and sources seems to have resulted from the ease that average folks can research. With a fee for accessing original source documents anyone with some spare money can track back on their family lines many many generations. Anyone with access to those trees can add details without paying their own fee.
Recently I was looking at THRULINES on Ancestry. It showed that I was able to confirm a few more generations back via a couple of new member matches. When I went to check their trees I discovered that the only source they had in their tree was my tree. I knew it was my tree because they had a DNA symbol for their person's profile photo.
That DNA symbol was an original one I created to track a particular line on my tree. I can't really use the two new matches as a source since their source was me.
Do I feel plagiarized?
Not at all.
I put my research out there to share. I would hope anyone who is connected to me would use what I have posted since I plan to glean from them what they know too.
You can't steal shared family history!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***
Footnotes:
1 If You Steal From One Author, It’s Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It’s Research, Quote Investigator, Retrieved November 29th 2019 from
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/09/20/plagiarism/
Sources:
If You Steal From One Author, It’s Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It’s Research, Quote Investigator, Retrieved November 29th 2019 from
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/09/20/plagiarism/
Research and plagiarism. What is the difference? CosmosQuest Forum, Retrieved November 29th 2019 from
https://forum.cosmoquest.org/archive/index.php/t-137117.html
Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/
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