Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation.

In academia, to copy another person’s words directly or to take another person’s idea and fail to attribute it to its original author is plagiarism and can cause a person’s career to be over or at least seriously damaged. In the world of film or music to take pieces of a film or song or do a cover of it could result in a fine or even imprisonment for copyright infringement. Scraplifting, however, is not against the law and most within the scrapbooking community do not even frown upon it. Several respondents showed me layouts that they scraplifted in one way or another. Scraplifting has not always been an accepted norm in scrapbooking (Fantin 2010), but today it is perfectly accepted if not encouraged by the industry. If scraplifting were punished, then the scrapbook magazines and idea books would cease to exist. For scrapbookers, scraplifting is like using a recipe to cook with. Of course, one may deviate from the recipe, but you consult the recipe when necessary and some recipes are strictly followed. Also, like recipes from magazines, scrapbookers commonly rip out layout ideas they like to consult later when they are stumped. Moreover, many scrapbook classes are nothing but assembling identical layouts.

Scraplifting refers to taking someone else’s layout idea and using it for your own scrapbook. The extent of the scraplifting varies. One respondent scraplifts most of her page layouts and only changes the content. The photograph(s), paper style, and embellishments are not the same as what is in the magazine but the design is typically identical. Each item is arranged in the same location as the layout in the magazine. Others may scraplift elements but not the entire design. In this case, they might decide to try out a particular technique or arrange a portion of their layout in a particular way after seeing someone else do it.

Not all scrapbookers (or industry workers) view scraplifting positively. One respondent uploads most of his layouts to his blog. He says he does not mind if others copy his layouts exactly, but he likes to know it was his original idea. Here, it is okay for others to scraplift his pages, but he prefers to not scraplift despite using idea books and magazines on occasion for inspiration. It is unclear, however, where inspiration ends and scraplifting begins. Another respondent reports that she does not like to resort to scraplifting because she believes she is capable of coming up with her own ideas because of her experience as an industry worker but scraplifts in an effort to complete more pages in a shorter period of time.

In addition to saving time, scrapbookers scraplift because they eventually run out of ideas “after doing so many pages about Christmas” or because they do not believe they are creative enough. In some instances, it is difficult to know if a page is scraplifted or not. Sometimes scrapbook layouts look the same even when the scrapbooker has not scraplifted. For example, two respondents had a one-page layout with five photographs. Each photograph was of the towel animal that is left on a person’s bed on a cruise each day. The pages are even laid out the in the same way with one photo in each corner and one photo in the center. In this case, the pages look identical despite not being scraplifted. Though scrapbooks may be done individually and without much influence from the scrapbooking industry, scrapbookers do draw on conventional notions about photography and therefore, scrapbooks come to look alike in some ways. Scholars (Klein 1991; Seabrook 1991; Spence 1991; Tabor 2002; Williams 1991) argue that despite the personal nature of photographs, family photographers tend to follow conventional norms in that the happy family is typically portrayed. Scrapbooks follow similar patterns.

What do you think? Do you scraplift? Would you scraplift? Comment below or join the conversation on facebook or twitter.

References:
Fantin, Linda. 2010. “Scrapbooking: The Decade of Documenting.” The Salt Lake Tribune, January 8. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
Klein, Leanne. 1991. “Eastern Promise.” Pp. 144-51 in Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography edited by J. Spence and P. Holland. London, Great Britain: Virago.
Seabrook, Jeremy. 1991. “ ‘My Life is in that Box’.” Pp. 171-85 in Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography edited by J. Spence and P. Holland. London, Great Britain: Virago.
Spence, Jo. 1991. Soap, Family Album Work…and Hope, Pp. 200-7 in Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography edited by J. Spence and P. Holland. London, Great Britain: Virago.
Tabor, Sarah Owen. 2002. “Creative Book Arts Preserving: Family History.” MA thesis, Department of Liberal Studies, The University of Maine.
Williams, Val. 1991. “Carefully Creating an Idyll: Vanessa Bell and Snapshot Photography 1907-46.” Pp. 186-98 in Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography edited by J. Spence and P. Holland. London, Great Britain: Virago.

Don’t forget, you can always email me your questions and suggestions. Email me at stephaniemedleyrath at gmail dot com or contact me here and let me know what you’re thinking, what you’d like to see, and any questions you might have. I will personally respond to your emails and may use your questions in future articles.

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Stephanie