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The Webministry Should Relax Release Form Requirements

At the start of the year I learned that the Society Social Media Office was operating under a relaxed standard for permission to share photographs: rather than requiring a signature on an official release form, their office merely requires written consent from the photographer.

This might seem like a minor issue, but I have spoken to multiple webministers who simply do not publish photographs on a regular basis because the perceived hassle factor of handling release forms and persuading people to fill them out is too onerous.

Therefore I have written to the Society Web Minister, asking them for permission to operate under the same standard as is in use for social media. I haven’t heard back yet, but I’ll keep following up in hopes of eventually making some progress.

From: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin To: Society Web Minister Cc: SCA Publications Manager, Society Social Media Officer Date: 2 January 2025

Hello,

I recently learned that the Social Media office operates under a more-lenient standard than the Web Ministry regarding release forms — in short, they allow material to be published as long as there is explicit written consent, which could be a release form or some other explicit written form of consent.

As many of us have learned, it is much easier to get ask for permission in a Discord or Facebook chat — “can we use this photo for our group’s website?” “sure!” — than it is to get folks to fill out an official release form… and unfortunately, the current rules around release forms mean that some webministers simply avoid posting photos to their sites altogether.

Therefore I am writing to ask you whether those of us working as local branch web ministers may have your permission to operate under the same standard as the social media office, so that we can publish art and photos as long as we have some type of explicit written permission, even if it isn’t always a standard release form.

That will greatly simplify things and allow us to use the same photos for both our website and our social media in a coherent and seamless way.

Thank you for your consideration.

— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin
— Webminister and Social Media Officer, Canton of Appleholm, East Kingdom

From: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin To: Society Web Minister Cc: SCA Publications Manager, Society Social Media Officer Date: 3 March 2025

Hello again!

I’m checking in because a full two months have passed since I sent the below email and I haven’t heard back from anyone.

May those of us working on the local level of the webministry have permission to operate on the same standard as the Social Media office uses for obtaining consent to share and publish the photos and content created by our membership?

Thank you for any guidance you can offer.

— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin
— Webminister, Canton of Appleholm, East Kingdom

From: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin To: Society Web Minister Cc: SCA Publications Manager, Society Social Media Officer, Board Ombudsman for IT Date: 16 March 2025

Hello,

Another two weeks have passed and I have yet to receive even a one-sentence acknowledgement of the email I sent back at the start of January.

Perhaps there is some good legal or policy reason why the webministry is holding itself to a higher standard than other offices when it comes to release forms — at the cost of having fewer photographs on our websites.

But if this is an unforced error that we simply haven’t gotten around to addressing yet, I would encourage you to put this on the agenda for discussion and possible remediation.

Or if you’ve decided to simply ignore the issue, I would at least appreciate the courtesy of a reply telling me that, so I can stop wondering whether my email is all winding up in a junk filter.

Thank you,

— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin
— Webminister, Canton of Appleholm, East Kingdom

A Brief Survey of Society Wikis

The subject of “unofficial” wikis came up obliquely in comments by the Society President at the October 2024 quarterly Board meeting, as well as in subsequent discussion online, and I thought it might be useful to survey which kingdoms had established wikis.

Of the 20 kingdoms, 9 have official wikis, 3 have unofficial ones, and 8 don’t appear to have a wiki at all.

It’s Time to Revisit the Release Form Policies

Back in 2020–21, when I first got involved in trying to clarify the SCA’s release forms policies, my goal was for there to be an up-to-date reference that webministers, chroniclers, and social media officers could all share, which would incorporate the original policy written in 2009, and the various FAQs written in 2010, the policy interpretations that various Society officers had issued since then, into a single document.

In 2021–22 I put together a draft of that handbook — by and large a restatement of existing policy, with no significant changes — and handed it off to Society officers who then made some additional changes and published the result in early 2023. .

In the following months, as the new handbook was circulated, I talked to people serving in a bunch of different roles across the SCA to get their reactions, and wrote up a series of suggestions on how to improve the handbook based on that feedback:

Clarify that individual members of the populace do not need to fill out release forms when publishing their own material to social media or to other platforms like wikis. (March 2023)
Clarify that local officers can grant permission to redistribute material published by their office. (March 2023)
Correct typographic errors and confusing elements in the official release forms. (May 2023)
Clarify where content previously posted online by members of the populace can be re-shared by an officer without requiring a release form. (June 2024)
A revised Technology Contributor Agreement that addresses some concerns that volunteers developing software for the SCA. (November 2023)

However, the response from the Society Publications Manager — the officer that owns the Release Forms Handbook — has been to ignore me. The Society’s org chart shows that the Publications Manager supervises the Society Chronicler and the editors of the various Society-level publications, but they aren’t responsible for web publishing or social media, so the concerns of those offices are (understandably) less salient for them.

In 2024, I tried to find examples of people for whom the existing release forms were working well — who were able to publish a large number of photos, art, and text written by the membership each month, without experiencing a lot of friction around release forms — but I wasn’t able to find anyone for whom this was true… and when I wrote to various Society officers asking if they knew of any such success stories, they weren’t able to identify any either.

The Society Social Media Officer is able to publish a large amount of user-generated content without experiencing issues with the release forms… because they’ve decided that they don’t have to use the release forms. However, as far as I can tell, they never informed local social media officers of this policy interpretation, and dealing with release forms continues to be cited as a barrier by officers as a barrier to getting fresh material onto local websites and social media.

I think it’s time to have a round of discussion about updating the release forms policy to better serve the organization, but doing so is an uphill battle.

The release forms policy was written fifteen years ago by a cautious lawyer without a lot of Internet experience. The 2022 Release Forms Handbook restated that policy but did not update it to reflect the modern media landscape. The people who the current policy inconveniences have no power to change it, and the people who have power to change it aren’t themselves constrained by it.

Having a restrictive policy limits the organization’s legal liability, and if turns out that adhering to the policy causes so much friction that officers routinely ignore the policy, well… the Society’s leadership can just ignore that and hope that nothing ever goes wrong.

Written Consent Can Replace Release Forms for Social Media

Even with the addition of an email-only option for release forms two years ago, local officers that publish information for their SCA branches (including social media officers, web ministers, chroniclers, and others) have continued to describe the use of release forms as a burden to doing their work.

Given that context, I was excited to hear from the Society Social Media Officer that other forms of written consent can substitute for release forms.

They listed three distinct forms this consent could take:

a release form,
a written statement of permission, or
a hashtag that indicate permission, such as #sharemysca.

This brings the practices for copyright (photographers and artists) and likeness (models) in line with the existing practices for privacy (personal information), which also can be published after receiving a simpler type of written consent short of a full release form.

I hope that other offices will follow their lead!

From: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin To: Society Social Media Officer Date: 21 September 2024

Good evening, Your Excellency,

Some of the social media officers I’ve spoken to here in the East have grumbled about the hassle involved in getting release forms filled out by photographers and people pictured in photos and videos, and then in keeping track of all of the resulting paperwork, and so I’ve been on the lookout for “success stories” of folks in the Society who are handling this challenge well in hopes that others can learn their techniques.

The Society’s official social media feeds on Instagram and Facebook share a dozen or more photographs every month and I’d love to hear how you manage the associated record-keeping.

Do you generally have people sign paper release forms, or sign the PDF forms electronically, or have them agree to the release via email?

Roughly what proportion of the photos you publish are considered “portrait style” and require a model release?

How do you keep track of all of the release forms you’ve collected over the years?

Thank you so much for any information you’re able to share!

— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin

From: Society Social Media Officer To: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin Date: 1 January 2025

Thanks for your patience.

The important thing is to have explicit permission for usage. Some groups have run education campaigns for use of hashtags that indicate the permission of the creator for use or have simply contacted the creator in writing and gained their agreement and kept this as a record. Examples of the hashtags include #regrammysca #sharemysca #regramcalontir

A full release will always be the ideal option but explicit permission from the creator reduces the risk exponentially.

Brigid

From: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin To: Society Social Media Officer Date: 2 January 2025

Thanks so much for that explanation!

It is often simple to get explicit permission from the creator, but significantly more challenging to get them to sign a release form — lowering the bar will make it much easier to collect great-looking material for our social media feeds!

Does this looser “explicit permission” standard only apply to the social media office, or does it also govern other offices such as the webministry?

— Mathghamhain

From: Society Social Media Officer To: Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin Date: 2 January 2025

I can’t speak for other offices. This is for social media only.

Just remember you need documented explicit permission – so verbal isn’t enough

From the Archives: Corporate Policy on Electronic Communications, 2004

In 2004, the Board added a section to Society’s Governing Documents governing publishing of official Society material, email correspondence with officers, and internal record keeping.

Early 2003: Draft

The process started in early 2003, when the Board reviewed a proposed addition to the corporate policies and approved it to be circulated to the populace for feedback.

Mid 2003: Revision

At the July 2003 Quarterly Board Meeting, the draft policy was revised based on feedback and put back out for further discussion. The highlighted sections here mark the sections which were changed from the earlier proposal:

This policy was put out for comment by the membership and received predominantly favorable commentary. Some of the specific suggestions received were very good, and have generated changes in the proposed policy. The Directors felt that some of these changes were sufficiently substantive to warrant putting the revised proposal out for commentary again. The policy will therefore soon appear in the usual places (the mailing list, the www.sca.org website, and Kingdom newsletters). Your input is requested. Commentary will be due by January 1, 2004.

The proposed text as revised appears below:

Amended Proposed Policy on Electronic Communications
(amended 7-23-03–SCA Corporate Policies X)

Electronic Publication of SCA Documents

When official corporate documents are published electronically on a site not sponsored by the SCA, Inc., the original copyright notice for the document must be provided along with the text. The following addition should be made to the copyright notice:

“In cases of conflict, the governing version of this document is (title of document), copyright (date) by the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., and obtainable in printed form from the SCA Stock Clerk, P.O. Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036. Disputes over the contents of this document will be decided in favor of the printed version available from the SCA, Inc.”

Participation of SCA Officials in Electronic Communications Media

A. Unless otherwise stated as a prerequisite of office, electronic communication is not required of any officer. Traditional paper correspondence is always acceptable, and is the default means for official correspondence.

B. The SCA, Inc. neither prohibits nor requires members’ or officers’ participation in electronic communications media such as newsgroups or mailing lists.

Electronic Communications to and from SCA Officers

A. Electronic communications to SCA officers may be regarded as formal communications only if approved in advance by the officer, or if a confirmation of receipt is obtained.

B. Messages posted for general attention on any public electronic communications forum are not regarded as formal communications to an officer, whether or not that officer is known to participate on the forum in question. Communications posted by corporate or kingdom officers to their officer-specific forums may be considered official communications to those officers subscribed to the forum.

C. Any policies or procedures governing the handling of correspondence, such as maintenance of file copies for correspondence with lasting effect, apply equally to electronic mail. Officers must ensure that any electronic files are passed on in a format readable by their successor.

D. SCA officers must distinguish between their personal opinions and official statements or policies of their office in electronic communications. (changed wording in D from “must be careful to distinguish” to “must distinguish”)

January 2004: Adoption

This revised version of the unified policy was officially added to the Governing Documents in January 2004 (page 53 of 55).

The Present

This policy is still included in the current Governing Documents and appears to have remained unchanged from 2004 to the present.

From the Archives: Chronicler’s Internet Policies, 1998–2002

As the web became an element of the SCA’s communications portfolio in the late 1990s, it was added to the bailiwick of the Chronicler’s office. Even as the early versions of the Webministry began to emerge, the Society Chronicler continued to set policy in this year.

In 2002, the Society Chronicler, Nika Dmitrieva doch’ Zvezdina, assembled a list of actions from Board meetings in the years from 1998 to 2002 that affected web communication and publishing, which was then circulated by the Corporate VP of Communications.

(My thanks to Magistra Nika for sharing this document online, which I have reformatted slightly to match the style used on this site.)

The following compilation contains all of the internet-related policies that have been formally approved by the Board of Directors of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Each entry starts with the text of the approved policy, followed by the date of the Board meeting where the policy was upheld, and the line item of the board minutes where the item may be found. These policies will form the basis of the Electronic Publications Policy document that is currently being drafted.

Ross E. Wilkins
Vice President for Communications, SCA, Inc.

Advertising on SCA-recognized web sites:

Web sites recognized by the Society shall not display banner ads or other forms of advertising unless such ads are required as a condition of the hosting agreement by the site’s Internet Service Provider (ISP).

— Upheld April 18, 1998 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLE Society Chronicler)

Clarification of the status of Kingdom Webministers:

Kingdom Webministers will remain part of the Kingdom Chronicler’s staff and will report to the Electronic Publications Manager (EPM). Warrants for the Kingdom Webministers will be signed by the Crown and the EPM. In accordance with Corpora VLC.1, the office of Kingdom Webminister may be elevated to the status of a Great Office of State by the Crown in accordance with kingdom law and custom. Kingdom Webministers so elevated will no longer be considered part of the Kingdom Chronicler’s staff but will continue to report to the EPM.

— Upheld October l6, 1999 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG Vice President for Communications)

Replace section LD.1 of the Society Chronicler’s Policies with the following: D. Electronic Publications

1. Responsibility for Oversight

The Kingdom Chronicler shall: act as the recognizing authority for the Kingdom’s internet sites; be responsible for overseeing the kingdom-level internet site; maintain a roster of recognized group sites for the kingdom; monitor those sites for compliance with applicable SCA and Kingdom policies; and report on such to the Society Electronic Publications Manager. It is highly recommended that the Kingdom Chronicler appoint a deputy to handle these responsibilities. If a deputy is appointed, he shall report to both the Kingdom Chronicler, and the Society Electronic Publications manager.

— Upheld April 15, 2000 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG Vice President for Communications)

Accessibility of web sites:

As a non-profit educational organization, the Society for Creative Anachronism should be concerned that its electronic publications are as accessible to persons with disabilities as possible. This policy sets the minimum accessibility guidelines for SCA-recognized Internet sites.

The World Wide Web Consortium has released Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to persons with disabilities. The guidelines are intended for all web content developers (page authors and site designers) and are quoted below:

[Priority 1] – Conformance Level A

A web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use web documents.

[Priority 2] – Conformance Level Double-A

A web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing web documents.

[Priority 3] – Conformance Level Triple-A

A web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to web documents.”

Using these guidelines, all corporate-sponsored Internet sites must comply with conformance level Double-A of the WCAG. Kingdom-level Internet sites must comply with conformance level A of the WCAG. Local group Internet sites are encouraged to be as accessible as possible to persons with disabilities, in accordance with applicable kingdom law. The recommended tool for evaluating a site and correcting incompatibilities can be found at . For further assistance contact the Electronic Publications Manager.

— Upheld April 15, 2000 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG.3 Electronic Publications Manager)

Publication Permission for Personal Information:

Personal information will not be published on any SCA-recognized Internet site without first gaining permission from the individuals involved. Permission must be received in writing – email is acceptable. Permission to electronically publish the contact information of an individual is in effect until that same individual revokes permission.

For the purposes of this policy, personal information includes the following:
• Correlation of modern name to Society name
• Home or work address
• Phone numbers
• Personal email address

It is permissible to list just a person’s Society name in connection with any office they hold without permission, i.e. – Group Seneschal, Lord Robert the Volunteer”; as well as “role” email addresses such as chronicler@sca.org

— Upheld April 15, 2000 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG.3 Electronic Publications Manager)
— Clarification upheld July 22, 2000 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG.3 Electronic Publications Manager)
— Clarification upheld January 20, 2002 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG.3 Electronic Publications Manager)

Internet Site Recognition:

For an Internet site to be recognized by the Society for Creative Anachronism, it must represent an established branch of the Society and must have a warranted web minister responsible for its content. The Society for Creative Anachronism will not recognize Internet sites for households or guilds. Group officers with an Internet site for that office are responsible for ensuring that the site complies with Society guidelines.

— Upheld April 15, 2000 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG.3 Electronic Publications Manager)
— Clarification upheld July 22, 2000 Quarterly Board Meeting (VLG.3 Electronic Publications Manager)

Photographs and Portrait-Style Artwork:

Web pages containing photographic images or portrait-style artwork must contain a clear and obvious means by which the subject(s) of the image may contact the web minister to request the removal of any image in which the subject(s) appear. Should the Web Minister receive such a removal request the image must be removed from the site, or the image must be modified in such a way as to render the subject unrecognizable. Such modification may only be made with the permission of the copyright holder. If such permission is not obtained, the image must be removed from the site.

— Upheld (as revised) February 24, 2002 Conference Call Meeting (ILB, remanded from 1-19-02 meeting, VLG.3)

Required Disclaimer for websites recognized by the 3CA:

All websites that are recognized by the SCA are required to display the following disclaimer and copyright statement. This statement should be displayed on the home page of the site, but may instead be displayed on a separate page provided that an obvious link to such a disclaimer page is provided on the home page.

This is the recognized website for the <group name> of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. and is maintained by <Modern and/or SCA Name of web minister>. This site may contain electronic versions of the group’s governing documents. Any discrepancies between the electronic version of any information on this site and the printed version that is available from the originating office will be decided in favor of the printed version.

Copyright © <Year> <group name>. The original contributors retain the copyright of certain portions of this site.

For information on using photographs, articles, or artwork from this website, please contact the web minister at <web minister’s email address>. They will assist you in contacting the original creator of the piece. Please respect the legal rights of our contributors.

— Upheld February 24, 2002 Conference Call Meeting (ILC, remanded from 1-19-02 meeting, VLG.3)

On Confidentiality of Communications

A few weeks ago, the SCA’s Board published a set of proposed changes to Corpora, the governing document of the Society as a whole, covering a number of topics including sanctions as well as the prohibition against serving both as a royal and a Society officer.

Among those proposals was one regarding confidentiality, which contained a poorly-worded phrase that I believe could be misinterpreted, so I wrote in to encourage them to clarify it.

A Better Solution for Local Branch Electronic Newsletters

In the SCA, “electronic newsletters” generally take the form of infrequently-published PDFs that have a unique content and format and production infrastructure and distribution calendar, making them very different communications channels than branch websites and outwards-facing social media channels — but it doesn’t need to be like this.

One possible step along the path suggested in yesterday’s post would be for the web ministry to provide publishing solutions for electronic newsletters that could be used by the two hundred baronies which are required to produce them, as well as the smaller number of shires and cantons that produce them by choice.

Early 2003: Draft

Mid 2003: Revision

Amended Proposed Policy on Electronic Communications(amended 7-23-03–SCA Corporate Policies X)

January 2004: Adoption

The Present

Advertising on SCA-recognized web sites:

Clarification of the status of Kingdom Webministers:

Replace section LD.1 of the Society Chronicler’s Policies with the following: D. Electronic Publications

Accessibility of web sites:

Publication Permission for Personal Information:

Internet Site Recognition:

Photographs and Portrait-Style Artwork:

Required Disclaimer for websites recognized by the 3CA:

Amended Proposed Policy on Electronic Communications
(amended 7-23-03–SCA Corporate Policies X)