Editing Copying

{{Short description|Duplication of information or an artifact}}
{{For|selfref=y|the guidelines for copying in Wikipedia|WP:Copying within Wikipedia}}
'''Copying''' is the duplication of [[information]] or an [[wiktionary:artifact|artifact]] based on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With [[Analog device|analog]] forms of information, copying is only possible to a limited degree of [[accuracy]], which depends on the quality of the equipment used and the skill of the operator. There is some inevitable [[generation loss]], deterioration and accumulation of "[[noise (signal processing)|noise]]" (random small changes) from original to copy when copies are made. This deterioration accumulates with each generation. With [[digital data|digital]] forms of information, copying is perfect. [[Copy and paste]] is frequently used by a [[computer user]] when they select and copy an area of text or content.

==In art==
{{further|Imitation (art)|After (art)}}
In visual art, copying the works of the masters is a standard way that students learn to paint and sculpt.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tang |first=Grace |date=2023-09-04 |title=From 'take-ism' to pursuit of newness and originality: design professionals and models of creativity in contemporary China |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17530350.2023.2246984 |journal=Journal of Cultural Economy |language=en |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1080/17530350.2023.2246984 |issn=1753-0350}}</ref> Often, artists will use the term ''after'' to credit the original artist in the title of the copy (regardless of how similar the two works appear) such as in [[Vincent van Gogh]]'s "[[Copies by Vincent van Gogh|First Steps (after Millet)]]" and [[Pablo Picasso]]'s "Luncheon on the Grass, after Manet" (based on [[Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe|Manet's well-known work]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.artlex.com/ |title=Artlex Art Dictionary |publisher=Artlex |access-date=9 Jul 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151115092651/http://www.artlex.com/ |archive-date=15 Nov 2015 }}</ref><ref name="abe">{{cite web |url=https://www.abebooks.com/art/glossary-of-art-terms/ |title=Art Terms from A to Z |publisher=[[AbeBooks]] |location=[[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date=8 Jun 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2022}}</ref> In sculpture, copies have often been made using devices such as the [[pointing machine]], the [[pantograph]] or, more recently, [[Computer-aided manufacturing|computer guided]] [[CNC Router|router]] systems that [[3D scanner|scan]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/022510_full_body_scans_a_big_step_in_replacing_courthouse_sculpture/ |title=David Petry: Body Scans a Big Step in Replacing Courthouse Sculpture |publisher=Noozhawk.com |date=2010-02-25 |access-date=2013-10-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224084151/http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/022510_full_body_scans_a_big_step_in_replacing_courthouse_sculpture |archive-date=2013-02-24 }}</ref> a [[Scale model|model]] and can produce it in a variety of materials and in any desired size.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag03/janfeb03/cronin/cronin.shtml |title=Sculpture.org |publisher=Sculpture.org |access-date=2013-10-01}}</ref> Another way of copying three-dimensional works is by [[lost-wax casting]] and other forms of [[Molding (process)|molding]] and [[casting]].

==In literature==
{{Image frame
|content = [[File:Escribano.jpg|300px]]
|width   = 300
|caption = Portrait of [[Burgundians|Burgundian]] [[scribe]] [[Jean Miélot]] who was a copyist.
}}
Prior to the invention of the [[printing press]], the only way to obtain a copy of a book was to copy it out by hand (see [[scrivener]]). Throughout the [[Middle Ages]], monks copied entire texts as a way of disseminating and preserving literary, philosophical and religious texts.

==In office work==
{{further|Duplicating machines}}
Offices need more than one copy of a document in a number of situations. They usually need a copy of outgoing correspondence for their records. Sometimes they want to circulate copies of documents they create to several interested parties.

Until the late 18th century, if an office wanted to keep a copy of an outgoing letter, a clerk had to write out the copy by hand. This technology continued to be prevalent through most of the 19th century. For these purposes, offices employed copy clerks, also known as copyists, scribes, and scriveners.

A few alternatives to hand copying were invented between the mid-17th century and the late 18th century, but none had a significant impact on offices. In 1780 [[James Watt]] obtained a patent for letter copying presses, which [[James Watt & Co]]. produced beginning in that year. Letter copying presses were used by the early 1780s by people like [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[George Washington]], and [[Thomas Jefferson]]. In 1785, Jefferson was using both stationary and portable presses made by James Watt & Co.

During the 19th century, a [[Duplicating machines|host of competing technologies]] were introduced to meet office copying needs.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Rhodes
 |first1               = Barbara J.
 |last2                = Streeter
 |first2               = William W.
 |year                 = 1999
 |title                = Before Photocopying: The Art & History of Mechanical Copying, 1780-1938 : a Book in Two Parts
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=JXngAAAAMAAJ
 |publication-place    = New Castle, Delaware
 |publisher            = Oak Knoll Press
 |isbn                 = 9781884718618
 |access-date          = 10 January 2023
}} 
</ref>
The technologies that were most commonly used in 1895 are identified in an 1895 description of the New York Business College's course program: "All important letters or documents are copied in a letter-book or [[carbon copies]] [are] made, and instruction is also given in the use of the [[mimeograph]] and other labor-saving office devices."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm |title=Copying Machines |publisher=Officemuseum.com |access-date=2013-10-01}}</ref>

==Biological copying==
{{Main|DNA replication}}
Organically, copying of [[genetic information]] can take place using [[DNA replication]], which is able to copy and replicate the data with a high degree of accuracy, but mistakes are common, and occur in the form of [[mutation]]s. However, in the process of [[DNA repair]], many of the mistakes are corrected by checking the copied data against the original data.

==Digital copying==
{{see also|digital copy}}
The same principle is applied digitally, in devices such as in [[hard disk]]s, but in a different form. The [[magnetism|magnetised]] data on the disk consists of 1s and 0s. Unlike DNA, it only has two types of information, rather than four types, however, it still has a polar concept of transfer. In this case, the [[disk read-and-write head|read-write head]] acts as an intermediary. A data section reading "1", can only trigger one type of response, and "0" for the other. These responses from reading are converted into an [[electricity|electrical]] form that gets carried through the circuits. Although this can be later converted and processed for other ways of using the data, which can be modified, if a file was being copied from one hard disk to another, the principle ensures that the data is transferred with high fidelity, because only each type of signal can only trigger one type of data write, in this case, a 1 or a 0. This excludes exceptions where the data was written incorrectly or the existing data has been corrupted while on the disk such that no distinction can be made, but usually the hard disk returns the area as unreadable. The other concept that using digital copying is website copy, digital copying has more interpretation than just the basic concept of disk read and write itself. [[Digital Copy]] is a sample of interpretation of digital copying.

==Copying rights==
{{Main|Copyright}}
[[File:Copy-me (02).ogv|thumb|right|A video regarding the ethics of copying in favour of being able to copy]]
The concept of copying has a particular significance in certain areas of [[law]]. In each of the primary areas of [[intellectual property]] law, a number of cases have refined the question of what exactly constitutes the kind of copying prohibited by law, especially in areas such as [[copyright law]].

A related concept is [[plagiarism]], copying others' work and passing it off as one's own.
Many schools will take plagiarism to academic suspension, or even the failure of a course.

==See also==
* [[Copier]]
* [[Copyscript]]
* [[Duplicating machines]]
* [[Fauxbergé]]
* [[Replica]]
* [[Typescript (manuscript)|Typescript]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|copying}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060421221226/http://www.dataduplication.ca/ Dataduplication]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4 Copying Is Not Theft]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Copying| ]]
[[Category:Copyright law]]
[[Category:Copy protection]]
[[Category:Writing]]
[[Category:Transcription (linguistics)]]