Writer Maria Popova over at Brain Pickings has announced (here) "The Curator's Code: A Standard for Honoring Attribution of Discovery Across the Web." What's it about?
The Curator’s Code is an effort to keep this whimsical rabbit hole [of the Internet] open by honoring discovery through an actionable code of ethics — first, understanding why attribution matters, and then, implementing it across the web in a codified common standard, doing for attribution of discovery what Creative Commons has done for image attribution. * * *
The system is based on two basic types of attribution, each connoted by a special unicode character, much like ™ for “trademark” and for © “copyright”:
ᔥ stands for “via” and signifies a direct link of discovery, to be used when you simply repost a piece of content you found elsewhere, with little or no modification or addition. * * *
↬ stands for the common “HT” or “hat tip,” signifying an indirect link of discovery, to be used for content you significantly modify or expand upon compared to your source, for story leads, or for indirect inspiration encountered elsewhere that led you to create your own original content.
My anectodal impression is that most legal bloggers are fairly good at indicating sources of direct discoveries (those that merit ᔥ, such as news stories) via hyperlinks, but that we (myself included) could improve efforts to display sources for our leads (i.e., those that merit ↬, such as when we discover the source for our own post through another blogger's post). The Curator's Code is making those attributions easier with a bookmarklet (here) that keeps the characters handy, although I admit I'm not 100% sure how to use them yet.
ᔥbrainpickings.org (is that redundant?)