* Editorial Note about Monkey Selfie – PIC BY A WILD MONKEY / DAVID SLATER / CATERS NEWS – (PICTURED: One of the photos that the monkey took with Davids camera. 1 of 2: This photo was the original photo the monkey took) – The photographer behind the famous monkey selfie picture is threatening to take legal action against Wikimedia after they refused to remove his picture because ‘the monkey took it’. David Slater, from Coleford, Gloucestershire, was taking photos of macaques on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2011 when the animals began to investigate his equipment. A black crested macaque appeared to be checking out its appearance in the lens and it wasn’t long before it hijacked the camera and began snapping away. Learn more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_selfie.
As a recent addition to the Office of Digital Research and Scholarship, I am relatively new to the discussions surrounding copyright that occur in libraries. My academic background is in medieval and early modern literature, so I have not had to think terribly hard about fair use; all of the works I write about are in the public domain. I once contemplated using an image from Early English Books Online in my thesis, but I took one look at the requirements for obtaining permission, cried, and continued writing my thesis without images.
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