If you’re reading this, then chances are you already know about Web 2.0. Even if you don’t know the term itself, you’re one of millions worldwide who are actively creating, sharing or benefiting from user-generated content that characterizes Web 2.0 phenomena.
As a communicator, I want to expand the reach of the Library and access to our magnificent collections as far and wide as possible. Of course, there are only so many hours in the day, so many staff in Library offices and so many dollars in the budget. Priorities have to be chosen that will most effectively advance our mission.
That’s why it is so exciting to let people know about the launch of a brand-new pilot project the Library of Congress is undertaking with Flickr, the enormously popular photo-sharing site that has been a Web 2.0 innovator. If all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity. In many senses, we are looking to enhance our metadata (one of those Web 2.0 buzzwords that 90 percent of our readers could probably explain better than me).
The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.
The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images.
We’re also very excited that, as part of this pilot, Flickr has created a new publication model for publicly held photographic collections called ???The Commons.??? Flickr hopes???as do we???that the project will eventually capture the imagination and involvement of other public institutions, as well.
From the Library’s perspective, this pilot project is a statement about the power of the Web and user communities to help people better acquire information, knowledge and???most importantly???wisdom. One of our goals, frankly, is to learn as much as we can about that power simply through the process of making constructive use of it.
More information is available on the Library’s Web site here and on the FAQ page here.
And with that, gentlemen (and gentlewomen), start your tagging!
UPDATE: You can read Flickr’s take here.
(Image of baseball player ???Bugs??? Raymond from the Library’s Bain Collection because I liked the surname. Image of grain elevator from Caldwell, Idaho, from the Library’s FSA/OWI Color Photographs Collection because it helps illustrate that there are active Flickr user groups for even such diverse subjects as grain elevators.)
It’s nice that these images are going up on flickr, but I’m disappointed that the Library of Commons chose to partner with Flickr instead of the non-profit Wikimedia Commons, which is doing amazing things for the sharing of knowledge online.
This is so wonderful to see. The Library of Congress has such a vast collection of rich and vibrant pictures available. It will be so beneficial to have such easy access to that excellent resource.
Keep up the great work!
I would love to see hi rez photographs too. Regardless, this is a terrific initiative, one that will benefit everyone.
Matt: All of the images link back to the Library’s online catalog, which does indeed offer high-res downloads.
I agree with Matt.
“I would love to see hi rez photographs too. Regardless, this is a terrific initiative, one that will benefit everyone.?
Kristal Rosebrook
Congress has started a pilot program to publish their photo archives on Flickr.
I was disappointed to learn from an earlier comment that the Childrens’ Internet Protection Act has resulted in a ban on all of Flickr. Rather than mirroring, perhaps the underlying problem with the legislation or with its implementation should be fixed…
Great news and congrats on the new launch. Who’d have thought you would come up with this great idea to make your images more accessible to the public!
Congrats on the launch. LC is the second (that we know of) library to work with Flickr. The National Library of Australia and their Picture Australia project has offered a Flickr section for a couple of years. We’ve posted about it on ResourceShelf.
Congrats on the launch. Thanks for access to great images.
I really enjoy this photostream. I posted a comment on another post about it, but I think it is better suited here. I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoyed looking at the photos on the LOC Flickr. There is a lot of diversity in the images, I really enjoyed looking at them. I really enjoy looking at old photos like that. I like to picture myself if I lived at that time and was at the location the photo was taken. It’s surreal. I really enjoyed it, thank you.
This is so cool that you all are doing this. What a win-win for all of us. (Plus great choice for the top pic you included in this post!) I’m glad the LOC is embracing our Web 2.0 world and allowing more people to more easily access your treasure trove of photos.
I LOVE flickr and I love this stream, for sure. One of my favorite things about flickr is just randomming through; sometimes I end up on family pictures, once I landed upon the christmas party for some business loan office group, and i especially love it when i happen upon people’s wedding portraits!
This is so cool that you all are doing this. What a win-win for all of us. (Plus great choice for the top pic you included in this post!) I’m glad the LOC is embracing our Web 2.0 world and allowing more people to more easily access your treasure trove of photos.
I hope those working on this project consider presenting at the American Association for History and Computing Conference being held online. It will be all about Web 2.0.
If you wan to read more about this you can read a blog post by David Weinberger or go directly to the original post.
Flickr has been a great help to my web design business.It helps my company provide affordable seo to our clients by letting us share client pictures with trackback URLS. Good stuff
One of my favorite things about flickr is just randomming through; sometimes I end up on family pictures, once I landed upon the christmas party for some business loan office group, and i especially love it when i happen upon people’s wedding portraits!
What a wonderful idea. We use photos from Flicker on out sites, a great source and super website.
I’ve been using the American Memory site for years. My students have turned out some great multimedia projects with LOC images. And I’ve been able to illustrate History lessons with images not found in textbooks. This new partnership with Flicker makes accessibility that much easier. Truly, our national treasures are being shared with the people.
Truly a great idea. Flickr is by and large the best resouce for photo sharing on the internet. The only comparable (albeit slightly more popular) site is facebook, which has too many privacy restrictions to facilitate any collaborative sharing.
This is absolutely great! I would really like to see hi resolution photographs too. Regardless, this is a terrific initiative, one that will benefit everyone?
I live in South Africa and I wish my government had even a fraction of the initiative you people have. If you type in .gov in Google SA you find that most sites are contracted to people who still think frames are cool. Good for you.
I’ve been using the American Memory site for years. My students have turned out some great multimedia projects with LOC images.
LOVE flickr and I love this stream, for sure. One of my favorite things about flickr is just randomming through; sometimes I end up on family pictures,
Thanks for …
The combination of Flickr and an archive of historical photos will be pure magic. It will be amazing to read the comments from people reminiscing about where they were when certain events happened and the emotions they felt at the time.
Congrats on the launch. Thanks for access to great images.
Great job with the info. How did you find it? Please let me know.
Yes the internet is a lot of resources, where the exchange of photos, and various videos.
but may be worth ….
I think this is really a good idea. I personally use Flicker because it is friendly user.
I’ve been looking at this feature on Wordpress blogs for ages and wishing Blogger would implement it. Followed your instructions and it works a treat!
I wish my government had even a fraction of the initiative you people have. If you type in .gov in Google SA you find that most sites are contracted to people who still think frames are cool. Good for you.http://www.heelsunion.com
Flickr brings me a loads of traffic last two months.. Its one of the biggest online marketing tools ever, specially if you are running photography website like I do..
What a great initiative and I’m sure they are finding Flickr to be a good partner in this project.
Thanks for the good post.
What a wonderful idea. We use photos from Flicker on out sites, a great source and super website.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARE .
Thanks for sharing. Flickr and systems alike make it a lot easier to find related information to images, although there’s still room for enhancements.