Sharing with us

▸ Copyright

We should contact the authors of materials that we intend to use as soon as possible to get a confirmation on copyright restrictions and when possible to get their help on making their graphics look at their best in our website.

Ideally we should get permission from the authors to:

1. Use the materials in our website and social media networks
2. Translate the materials to other languages
3. Modify the materials accordingly to our technical requierements and/or to contextualize

Please note that often the data and the creative piece are under different licenses. Maybe in a specific case we can use the data, but not the creative piece.

And of course, we have an obligation to credit their work and link to the original when possible. We can do it as the examples in this guide:

Source: Greenpeace • License: Creative Commons

Add a link to the original page as source and if the user is licencing the piece with an open license, we should also link to it.

Finally we should document, preferably in the source code or metadata, that they gave permission or that the pice was released under a permissive license and details about that license or permission. Don’t assume you can use it, always check and document the copyright status.

Please note: infoboxes can't be used unless the author has gaven permission to share with other sites as well, without asking.

▸ 1. Infographics

File format

For static infographics, vectorial formats are the best. Bitmap formats must be avoided. Also it’s much better if the infographic is editable, as we can fix problems.

The best is a well made SVG that displays correctly in the major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge). Alternatively we can create SVGs from Adobe Illustrator .ai files.

Always make sure that the fonts display well and that we can use them online. The font license must allow embedding and using it, or we'll be infringing copyright. Normally this is fine with Open Source fonts. Ideally we woud love to be able to change the font to one of our official fonts.

Sometimes we may be able to hack a PDF file and extract a vectorial infographic from it. However most of the times it won’t work as well. It all depends on the tool that created the PDF and how that tool was configured. Just because it worked in a specific situation it doesn’t necessarily means it will work all the times.

Sizes

The minimum is to have a mobile/small vectorial format with around 360px wide, a medium format around 510px wide and a large format around 730px wide. The piece's height is not as important, but the pieces must work well with scroll and help the user to understand the message.

If we have this three sizes and good vectorial files, we can adapt them to our website. Good vectorial files are files that can be exported to SVG without issues and with small file sizes.

▸ 2. Maps

Most of the maps used in Spain are Google Maps.

(Iframed) Google Maps

This are the maps that you can create and keep in “Your places” in Google Maps. Iframed Google Maps are very popular and easy to use, however we must be aware of some issues:

1. Often this maps come with functionality that we don’t need and that gets in the way of good user experience. Make sure you try the maps both in desktop and mobile devices.
2. If the map is not in our account there's the risk that the owner can delete or modify it. In the long term the owner can update it and use it for a different purpose. And maybe the owner works with a corporate account that's deleted latter.
3. We can’t just copy and translate a map that is in someone else’s account. You must ask the owner to make a copy and give you ownership of that copy.

You have to ask the map author to export a KML file from Google Maps. We'll use that file to render the map in our sites. KML's main advantage is that it’s easier to track changes by comparing the old and new files. Tracking changes is very important when translating maps.

Other

Latter we might add instructions to this guide on how to handle when someone shares a map with Mapbox, Cartodb or others.

▸ 3. Videos

Ideally we should try to obtain an editable HD video, or at least an MP4 HD video and permission to adapt it, if needed. We may need to add subtitles, voice over, adjust it and add to our Youtube and Facebook accounts. Being able to add it to our accounts will bring extra viewers and we can access the video's statistics.

▸ 4. Charts

For simple charts it’s easier to just recreate it from the original chart data. This way we ensure that's consistent with our design and all the other 5 core principles.

If applying the data to one of our charts takes too long, we should start assessing how feasible it is to adapt the chart to our design. Is it responsive? Is it readable in mobile? Is the library a known and documented open source library? Most popular open source chart libraries allow custom fonts and colors and work in well mobile, so normally this will be possible.

The worse cases is when we can’t neither recreate it from the original chart data or adapt the chart to our design. For example some commercial services can force us to create a paid account to prevent having ads or prevent us from using our fonts.

▸ 5. Open, raw data

We can open and use most types files used in open data. The main issue is how much work will it take to produce a chart from that data. Even when we already know what we’ll find and the chart we want to do, sometimes preparing that data may be time consuming.

▸ 6. Interactive applications

Using interactive web applications developed by others requires an analysis case by case. How dificult are they to adapt to our case, and can we do it ourselves? Do they look secure? Do they respect the user’ privacy? Can they be integrated in our site, or do they require a specific site? What are the server requirements? How hard are they to host and maintain? Do they require expensive licenses or access to APIs?

▸ Conclusion

It’s very important to be able to talk with the original author about copyright and technical stuff. We should get in touch with him/her as soon as possible.

On copyright, it’s important to get permissions to adjust the pieces, so we can get a good result.

When there's source files (for example with Illustrator pieces or video) it's much better if we have access to them. Often don't having access means low quality implementations in our site.

Always ensure the author you'll give him/her credit, and if you change the piece, it's a courtesy to show your changes before publising, explain why you did them and ask if they are OK with them.