I like this idea of introducing dedicated symbols for crediting content; ᔥ for “via” and ↬ for “hat tip”.

With a growing online culture of journalism through blogging, Twitter and beyond, a simplified approach to attributing appropriate sources could help minimise lazy journalism where it is too easy to plagiarise content.

I appreciate this is unlikely in a competitive world where content = impressions = monetisation but, for the more ethical, open-source online community, standardisation is certainly welcome.

I would love to see more content providers to introduce these symbols to their material or designs. It’s only with widespread adoption that such suggestions become standards (remember, the now familiar #hashtags and “slash tags” both came from repetitive use of community suggestions).

ᔥ Christian Heilmann