Creator Credit

MadeleineMorgan · ‎09-28-2015

I'm creating a bunch of story maps for an internship for my employer. Does anyone know of a good way to give myself credit somewhere visible on the story map? I'd like to be able to get credit for them.

RupertEssinger · ‎09-28-2015

I'd recommend you check with your employer before adding your name into the text on a story map or the entry for that story map in ArcGIS Online.

It also depends on the subject and aim of the story.

For example if you work in local government and your story map is about the official top 10 most visited parks in a city or the key transportation improvements made in the last year, the brand that the story map will usually convey is that particular local government or a department in that government, and the person who actually authored the story map isn't part of the identity and brand presented by the story: the story is created by individuals but they are simply representatives of that organization.

But if your story map represents a personal view of something where the content represents a subjective view, experience or choice of places, the identity of the author is important and it helps end-users understand what they are looking at in the story to see a name. For example in the San Diego Shortlist story map I made in conjunction with my work at Esri for use in our International User Conference marketing and attendee materials, it has the Esri logo so it is an official Esri map product, but we wanted to make it clear that the choice of 'cool places' in a city is subjective and not official recommendations or endorsements from Esri, so we put my name into the subtitle and made this clear in the text. I found this Story Map Journal example today created by an individual to tell their personal story as a Peace Corp volunteer, and they used the text in the top left of the header to give their name and also linked it to their own personal web page. They included the Peace Corp logo in their story but it is clear from the title that this is one volunteer's story.

You could add small print credits into a story map saying who created it, who worked on the maps, etc, for example in the last section of a Story Map Journal or Story Map Series. Another place you could put credit info is into the entry in ArcGIS Online for the story map which you can think of as being the library index-card representing your story. There is a Credits field in the ArcGIS Online entry for an application such as a story map. See this nicely documented example which is the entry for a Story Map Tour in ArcGIS Online. The Credits field under Properties contains the names of the agency and the specific authors. That information, and other info, is available there for example if other ArcGIS Online users want to contact the authors for permission to re-use the content. But in those cases too I would always check with your employer to see if that is OK. If you working in a GIS Department in an organization, they may prefer all products to be branded as coming from that department rather from a particular person or set of people, to ensure that it conveys the authority and trust of that department's work and to standardize the line of communication for feedback and follow ups.

Hope that helps

View solution in original post

RickeyFight · ‎09-28-2015

Madeleine,

Are you using a template or AGOL?

If AGOL

you can edit the description

If Template:

What template are you using?

MadeleineMorgan · ‎09-28-2015

I am using AGOL. I will give this a try, thank you.

RupertEssinger · ‎09-28-2015

Might be good to clarify Rickey's question a little for readers.

> Are you using a template or AGOL?

All of the Esri Story Maps application templates are part of ArcGIS Online and display ArcGIS Online web maps and other content. So the answer to Rickey's question is really that both are true. (If you work at an organization that is using Esri's Portal For ArcGIS instead of the public ArcGIS Online cloud, the same principle applies because you can find Esri Story Map application templates in Portal for ArcGIS too).

Apps hosted in ArcGIS

Most of the Esri Story Map application templates are hosted in ArcGIS Online, so when you create a story map you will automatically get an entry in your My Content listing in ArcGIS Online for your story map. You can edit that entry to add a thumbnail, description, additional tags, credit and usage restriction info, etc. You'll also see that same entry if you use the My Stories listing in the Story Maps website although My Stories is focussed on letting you manage and check the content in your own stories so it doesn't display all of the info in your ArcGIS Online entries.

Apps not hosted in ArcGIS

Some of the Esri Story Map application templates are not currently hosted in ArcGIS Online (i.e. Shortlist, Playlist and Countdown): you have to download the code for these and host it yourself. So when you create a story map using one of those templates you'll have an entry in ArcGIS Online for the web map you use in your story, because that is hosted in ArcGIS Online, but not for the actual app itself, which is not hosted in ArcGIS Online. The same thing applies if you download the code for one of our hosted apps and self-host it because you want to customize the code. But even when you are self-hosting the code for a story map, you can, if you want, manually add a 'web mapping application' entry into ArcGIS Online to represent your self-hosted app. To do that you go to My Content in ArcGIS Online and choose Add Item > Application, then paste in the URL that opens your self-hosted app. Here's an example of an entry added into ArcGIS Online to represent a self-hosted story map. Adding an entry manually for your self-hosted story maps is optional but it is recommended because it enables other people to find your story when they search in ArcGIS Online. If you don't manually add an entry for your self-hosted story map people will be able to find the entries for the web map(s) you use in your story map app, but not the existence and URL of the story map app itself. It also enables your self-hosted story map to be added into an ArcGIS Online-based gallery like the Story Maps gallery. (Note: entries that you add manually into ArcGIS Online to represent your self-hosted story maps do not appear in your My Stories listing on the Story Maps website. My Stories only lists hosted story maps).

RupertEssinger · ‎09-28-2015

I'd recommend you check with your employer before adding your name into the text on a story map or the entry for that story map in ArcGIS Online.

It also depends on the subject and aim of the story.

For example if you work in local government and your story map is about the official top 10 most visited parks in a city or the key transportation improvements made in the last year, the brand that the story map will usually convey is that particular local government or a department in that government, and the person who actually authored the story map isn't part of the identity and brand presented by the story: the story is created by individuals but they are simply representatives of that organization.

But if your story map represents a personal view of something where the content represents a subjective view, experience or choice of places, the identity of the author is important and it helps end-users understand what they are looking at in the story to see a name. For example in the San Diego Shortlist story map I made in conjunction with my work at Esri for use in our International User Conference marketing and attendee materials, it has the Esri logo so it is an official Esri map product, but we wanted to make it clear that the choice of 'cool places' in a city is subjective and not official recommendations or endorsements from Esri, so we put my name into the subtitle and made this clear in the text. I found this Story Map Journal example today created by an individual to tell their personal story as a Peace Corp volunteer, and they used the text in the top left of the header to give their name and also linked it to their own personal web page. They included the Peace Corp logo in their story but it is clear from the title that this is one volunteer's story.

You could add small print credits into a story map saying who created it, who worked on the maps, etc, for example in the last section of a Story Map Journal or Story Map Series. Another place you could put credit info is into the entry in ArcGIS Online for the story map which you can think of as being the library index-card representing your story. There is a Credits field in the ArcGIS Online entry for an application such as a story map. See this nicely documented example which is the entry for a Story Map Tour in ArcGIS Online. The Credits field under Properties contains the names of the agency and the specific authors. That information, and other info, is available there for example if other ArcGIS Online users want to contact the authors for permission to re-use the content. But in those cases too I would always check with your employer to see if that is OK. If you working in a GIS Department in an organization, they may prefer all products to be branded as coming from that department rather from a particular person or set of people, to ensure that it conveys the authority and trust of that department's work and to standardize the line of communication for feedback and follow ups.

Hope that helps

MadeleineMorgan · ‎09-28-2015

Thanks! It's all approved by my employer.

parthasarathidatta1 · ‎09-28-2015

This may be helpful to you http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/category/story-maps/

Story Maps resources for you