The little stairs that could ... or how to travel the world without leaving home
Wed, 30 May 2007
Image from Vogue Living Australia Before+After Autumn/Winter special issue 2007. This by now familiar image has travelled the blogosphere in 4 short weeks. We knew were it had been because it left a trail through Technorati as it was linked back to us. We laughed as it spread out further and further. But we only knew where it had been if our fellow bloggers who used it actually linked us as the source. You see the image is a scan from a print medium. Read the original post here to see. The magazine is cited and the manufacturer is in the comments. We know this is our image because I scanned it and there is no web link to it except my post.
So off our little friend went. Good friends blogged it and cited the source as desire to inspire but the blogosphere is like a giant chinese whisper and finally our little staircase was cut adrift. We had no idea where it had gone until we found this linked back to us on Technorati. Now we know where staircase has been thanks to Sean! This post alerted us to how our staircase had travelled like a ripple into the blogosphere. When he found out where the image actually came from he posted this reply. Thanks for following the breadcrumbs Sean and sending staircase back to us.
And the moral of this story. Always cite your sources and do a little detective work to find out where the image came from originally. Unfortunately staircase doesn't have a website but he does have an origin. Welcome to all those people who found their way to us because of this picture. Off you go again staircase. We'll see where you end up this time.
P.S. You may have noticed that Kim and I haven't scanned any images lately. All pictures are sourced from websites. A lot more work but worth it. We spend hours and hours each week finding these images for our readers and we love it!
Reader Comments (8)
Interesting where things go on the net. You can't control what other people do and you shouldn't worry about it. Having said that I like your site because you do provide the sources and I can go to look for more room porn myself. I never just turn up for a quick look. Find I'm hear for some time looking at the links. Chill girls. We kmow you're doing a good job. God this is the longest comment I've ever made anywhere.
zz, Melbourne.
The thing is, as Jo said, we spend HOURS trying to find great images to post, and then to see them being used by other people without giving us credit or credit to where we originally found the photo is a tad frustrating. Jo and I were both somewhat shocked to see how far this poor little image had gone. But, such as life in blogland. Happens to everyone. Thanks to those who do quote sources appropriately.
Dear Kim and Jo,
Thank you so much for finding and posting these beautiful images for us!
I worry about my photos being used without citing, too, so I put my blog name or the source on every photos!(As I do to your photos on my last post about desire to inspire!)
Glad I could be of unintentional assistance! This was the oddest case I have ever seen of having to leapfrog my way back to a source! It got to the point of being a mission to discover the source.
Who knows how many other places it now exists with no credit!
No worries...Jo was kindly awarded with the original post being posted today on reddit!!!!!
Little stairs came home today and brought 20,000 friends with him. Welcome everyone! And thanks to mcsalmon for submitting it to reddit.
As an avid fan of 'all things organization oriented', I'm wild over the innovation of these stairs! How grand is that? The perfect place for shoe storage...not to mention, dust free. Voila!
Kim and Jo,
Your readers always knew where that staircase came from! ;) Thanks for taking the hours and hours to post all these pictures. We love spending hours and hours (and more hours) looking at them. I'm not really sure how difficult it is to post pics from a website vs scanning, but it is so helpful to us readers. DI is the first blog I look at every day, I've been a fan since day two. Keep up the inspirational work!