This copyright notice serves to inform all visitors to Arborealis that copyright law, licences for sharing subject to restrictions, and widely accepted codes of conduct and ethics in research and publication govern the responsible and ethical use of information published to this site.
Most people understand the common courtesy involved in asking for permission to use anything let alone intellectual property. However, a surprising number of people operate under the incorrect (and occasionally illegal) assumption that, “If it’s on the internet, it’s free;” and many find the subject confusing or even off-putting. Nevertheless, given the sheer volume of resources, time, and effort required to bring literary and research work to publication, without a paywall, the creator of such information has a reasonable expectation that, at minimum, common courtesy will prevail over questions of using information published to this site. Further, by visiting this site, you are accepting the conditions for responsible and ethical use of information as outlined in the following linked paragraphs:
Copyright notice
Recitation of the facts
Creative Commons licence
Public Domain
Disclaimer
Recommended reading
Postscript
Copyright notice:—This website, Arborealis, is published in Canada. 🇨🇦 The site in its entirety, in substance and in form, is copyright to Alison Kilpatrick, and her heirs and representatives. You do not have the right to copy or publish pages or parts of pages from the Arborealis site onto your website, or into a book or a computer or in any other medium, without my written permission.
No part of this website may be used for commercial purposes, or appear in any website or any other publication or medium that has links to commercial interests, of any kind, whatsoever. This general rule applies to websites or any other medium with commercial interests, whether entrepreneurial, charitable, or educational in intent, and no matter how small the benefit, monetary or otherwise. Examples include, but are not limited to, websites featuring advertisements, requests for donations, pay-per-view, &c., unless specific written permission has been obtained from the editor of Arborealis.
Many users make the mistake of assuming that their home country has legal jurisdiction in copyright matters over information published to the internet. However, this is not the case, for example: U.S. copyright laws do not necessarily apply to literary, artistic, and other works produced in the United Kingdom, and vice-versa.
Use the contact form to request permission to use or cite information presented on Arborealis. If you obtain permission, please refer to the section, Cite your sources.
The following paragraphs outline specific exemptions from the copyright rule stated above.
Recitation of the facts:—The facts stated on Arborealis are not copyright to Alison Kilpatrick, or to anyone. This means that the fact of someone’s birth, marriage, or death is not copyrightable to any person, real or corporate. You may gather such facts from this website—but just the facts (not the manner in which those facts are presented on this site)—and use them freely. Examples of facts include dates and places of birth, marriage, and death, the names of parents and siblings, and nature of trade or occupation. Please consider acknowledging the source of this information by providing an appropriate reference.
Caveat:—The recitation of facts obtained from this website is subject to Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy laws. Neither can any one or a combination of facts be used in activities which violate Criminal Codes, civil law, or formal rules of conduct or informal codes of ethics.
Creative Commons licence:—Some pages on Arborealis will display a Creative Commons licence at the end of the article (not in the sidebar), as illustrated below. The abbreviation for this licence is CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 CA. “This license allows re-users to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.” (Creative Commons, accessed 2020-11-24.)
CC BY-NC-ND (Canada) includes the following elements:
BY – Credit must be given to the creator
NC – Only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted
ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the work permitted
When in doubt about the application of this Creative Commons licence, please contact the editor for clarification with respect to your unique (and non-commercial, non-derivative) purpose. Use of this Creative Commons licence, where permitted, requires the citation of relevant source references and the provision of a link back to the source page here on Arborealis.
Public Domain:—Some pages on Arborealis will display a Public Domain sticker at the end of an article (not in the sidebar), to denote that there is no known copyright in the material just presented.
This mark indicates works or materials that are no longer restricted by copyright. “These will typically be very old works. It is not recommended for use with works that are in the public domain in some jurisdictions if they are also known to be restricted by copyright in others.” (Creative Commons, accessed 2020-11-27)
CAVEAT:—Visitors to Arborealis are advised to consult the laws of the country in which the material was originally published to determine whether the work is out of copyright according to the legislation enacted in that jurisdiction, and the policies and regulations developed from the laws thus enacted.
APPEAL FOR COMMON COURTESY:—A great deal of public domain material is published, or in the works for publication, to Arborealis. I would ask users to consider the amount of work and other resources applied and purchased by me to bring this information to you, free of charge. For these reasons, please attribute any transcripts of out-of-copyright material to the transcriber, Alison Kilpatrick, Arborealis arborealis.ca. Attribution involves citing your sources. If re-used on your website, please provide the full source citation(s) and a link back to the source page here on Arborealis.
Disclaimer:—While every effort and great care, subject to available resources, have been taken to publish accurate material to Arborealis, errors in reading ancient documents, in making transcripts, &c., have the potential to introduce human error. The owner and her heirs and representatives make no warranty or representation as to the quality and/or accuracy of the content published to this website. By visiting this site, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Arborealis, Alison Kilpatrick, and her heirs and representatives against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or expenses, &c., as would be reasonably anticipated by similar disclaimers.
Visitors are advised to treat the information, essays, and blog articles published to this site as secondary or tertiary sources. In other words, Arborealis and the information presented therein does not constitute a set or series of primary sources. As a responsible genealogist, historian, or other visitor who subscribes to high research standards, you already know that you should corroborate my findings.
Our policy is to confine genealogical material to deceased persons, only. If we have made an error in this regard, or if you find an error or discrepancy on this site, please contact the editor. The editor will review such suggestions, subject to the understanding that we are not in the business of remaking history.
On that note, we subscribe to the notion that, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” (Lesley Poles Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953.) Sometimes our ancestors engaged in behaviours and practices which we find abhorrent and are unacceptable today. Examples include enslavement and other forms of exploitation including colonialism. Please be advised that, by reporting on these facets in our family or common social history, in no way does the editor of Arborealis condone the perpetuation of such practices and other forms of repression in the modern era. Our history is presented here unglossed, as honestly as can be ascertained from occasionally very limited records, for our better education and the always timely reminder that, truly, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (attr. George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. I, 1905-06.)
Recommended reading:—In addition to the myriad of accessible and easy-to-understand resources which can be found on the internet, including websites for education and research institutions, one of my favourite blog sites is that of The Legal Genealogist, written and published by Judy G. Russell. Though written with American laws and practices in mind, Ms Russell writes timely and relevant articles, not only from legal and ethical standpoints, but also from a common sense perspective. In the latter sense, much of what she writes is generalizable. Aside from this, internet searches for terms such as copyright law for the jurisdiction of publication, research ethics, plagiarism, intellectual property, ethical use of information, &c. will provide much information germane to the subjects outlined on this page. A visit to the Creative Commons is well worth the time.
Postscript:—A blog article is pending, which will recite several instances of plagiarism or intellectual property theft, and of unethical appropriation without attribution, which we have found. Hopefully, the description of these examples will serve to illustrate the need for stipulating the terms and conditions for responsible and ethical use of information as discussed on this page.
Source citation: — Kilpatrick, Alison. “Copyright notice.” Published online at Arborealis, arborealis.ca/about/copyright-notice/, accessed [insert date of access].