How do you Flickr across the Library of Congress?
Do you….
|
… pay attention to detail? Whoa! Hold on! Is this staged or real? Flickr users discovered that while possibly staged for promotion, the sport of Auto Polo is real. |
 Library of Congress |
|
… polish your irony? macb wryly comments on this image, “I think this was an early conceptualization of the Internet.” |
 Library of Congress |
One year ago today, after an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work, staff at Flickr and the Library of Congress held their collective breath while the first 3,150 digitalized photographs from two important archive collections were made publicly available for the first time in The Commons — the newest addition to the repertoire of the well-established online photosharing site. Users of the site were invited to visit the collections, view the images and, if they felt so inclined, leave comments or even tag those images with what they thought might be relevant information. Would the community respond to these images, or would they languish unseen on the Internet equivalent of a dusty shelf? They responded: Within two days, the collections had received 650,000 page views, with every image viewed at least once. Flickr members had commented on 420 images, and “faved” 1,200. In all, this activity amounted to a total of about 1.1 million views on the Library of Congress Flickr account.
So what had everyone been looking at on that first day of The Commons?
This first set (now of 1,500 images) is taken from the George Grantham Bain Collection of almost 40,000 glass negatives created by the Bain News Service. Most of these photographs arrived with little in the way of explanation or description, but provide a fascinating insight into the sporting, theatrical, criminal, celebrity and political world of New York.
Library of congress
As this is a post to celebrate the first day that archive photographs were made public within the auspices of The Commons, it seems appropriate to share this charming photograph from that collection. Documenting the 7th Annual Excursion Day of Brooklyn Orphans, it was in fact the first upload to the Library of Congress Flickr account. This excursion, according to the New York Times, was sponsored by volunteer drivers on behalf of the Automobile Club. An appropriate image then, to celebrate an act of sharing undertaken almost a hundred years later.
The other set launched that first day one year ago (now containing 1,615 images) belongs to a collection of color transparencies created by photographers working for the US Farm Security Administration and later the Office of War Information (FSA/OWI 1939-1944).
Library of Congress
Most imagery at this time was still commonly viewed in black and white, rather than in the rich and vibrant tones we can now enjoy. This is what makes these photographs so special. Here, images of men and women taking part in the collective World War II mobilization effort sit alongside the important work undertaken by FSA photographers in the rural areas of the US.
Within months of uploading this richness of material, the Library of Congress’s Flickr account had recorded 10.4 million views and been made a “contact” by 15,000 people, and the library had enhanced 500 Prints & Photographs Online Catalog records with the valuable data provided by the Flickr community through its 7,166 comments and 67,176 descriptive tags — data that will now be passed down to future generations as part of their photographic heritage.
If you haven’t had the chance to explore these first collections yet — or the rest of the LOC’s 5,249 Commons photos — then perhaps it’s time to make your contribution, whether in information or, most importantly, in pleasure.
 Library of Congress |
 Library of Congress |
All week long, we’ll be featuring Flickr Commons group members’ favorite Library of Congress photos. We’re collecting them in the group, and you’re invited to join us!
captainslack’s favorite Library of Congress photo is of two Prussian Princesses:
“There’s so many great photos on the LOC stream it’s hard to say which is my favorite. I’d have to say this one, cause these are the coolest hats ever!”
waferbaby
We tried to find out from Daniel Bogan, the Australian Flickr developer who goes by “waferbaby”, just what was built to drive The Commons for its launch a year ago. Here’s what we learned:
I’ve been a bit of a web geek for over a decade now, accidentally falling into the industry. I do web development work — the back end stuff, the bits of a site you never really see. Though I do dabble in front end work now and then, badly.
I mostly write PHP (for work) and Ruby (for fun) code.
And “waferbaby” was originally going to be a comic label, and ended up becoming my online “persona”. Go figure.
Yes, it was one year ago today that the Library of Congress pilot launched on Flickr, and The Commons was born.
When the LOC approached Flickr with an inquiry about uploading a large number of images, Flickr designer George Oates saw the potential and had a beautiful Big Idea.
Library of Congress
Instead of just another Flickr account, The Commons was created as an entirely new space with a unique solution to the copyright issues faced by museums, libraries and archives. The “no known copyright restrictions” rights statement allowed public institutions to share the millions of images stored in their archives for which they did not hold any specific rights, giving Flickr users access to their incredible photographic collections.
At the time of the launch, both Flickr and the LOC hoped “that the project will eventually capture the imagination and involvement of other public institutions as well”. I think it’s fair to say that neither Flickr nor the LOC was prepared for the tremendous reception they received from the Flickr community who welcomed them with open arms.
Barely one year later, the National Galleries of Scotland are the 18th public institution to join the Commons and share their amazing photos of Scottish life with us. The number of Commons photos now exceeds 12,000 and the number of tags and comments added by Flickr users are in their millions.
Over the past year the interest among the Flickr Community has grown with the announcement of each new Commons member in the Flickr blog. And over the past month the Commons Community has come together to share in the enjoyment of George Oates’s beautiful Big Idea. The excitement and passion for the Commons project can only mean that The Commons’ second year will bring even greater achievements.
Some things are guaranteed to happen. There will be ever more institutions joining the Commons, adding their photo collections into the mix and being welcomed by the Flickr Community. We will have our first ever Commons Flickr meetup and get to speak to some of the incredible people working behind the Commons accounts. And there will be ever growing cooperation between Commons partners and Commons fans.
So help yourself to a piece of Birthday Pie and join me in celebrating a very happy first Commons birthday!
— Anna Graf
Library of Congress
As part of the Indicommons marking of the first anniversary of The Commons, I interviewed Helena Zinkham, Acting Chief, Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, to learn more about how The Commons came to be a year ago.
My work as Acting Chief for the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress is a lively mix of activities. With 40 very capable colleagues, I’m trying to make the 14 million pictures in our care as available and useful as possible. I’m a communication switchboard, project coordinator, cataloging teacher, and paperwork scrambler. For fun, I write about ways to read and research photos, and, of course, I enjoy interacting with the Flickr members tremendously.
Celebrating the Commons launch!
After 30 years of working with old pictures, it feels like I’ve come happily full circle. From local historical societies in the 1970s, where we spent time poring over old photos with researchers, asking, “Could that be … ?” or “Do you see …?” then running to a crumbling city directory volume to check a street address. Now, it’s a vast virtual reading room where people all over the world can offer identifications and debate their ideas by tapping the new online info sources as well as their personal experience and expertise. Flickr Commons has a comfortably familiar feel while also expanding enormously the number of people who can participate. I’ve got tremendous respect for the Flickr members.
The Library of Congress initiated the contact with Flickr, but it was Flickr designer George Oates who had the brilliant idea to create a brand new community space — The Commons, where many cultural heritage organizations could offer photos. To be clear, LOC is far from the first library to participate in Flickr. We called Flickr up, though, because we wanted to load a fairly large quantity of images and invite lots of tags and comments to better identify the images. And we couldn’t do that with the available licenses for photos on Flickr.
Our relationship to the photos is that of a steward. Unlike photographers who load their own work to Flickr, we don’t own the copyright for images in our collections. We needed a new rights statement that became “No known copyright restrictions.” The rights conversation and other discussions over the summer of 2007 resulted in The Commons launch on January 16, 2008.
All week long, we’ll be featuring Flickr Commons group members’ favorite Library of Congress photos. We’re collecting them in the group, and you’re invited to join us!
BigBean’s favorite Library of Congress photo is of an exhibit of the Voisin Brothers, two french aviation pioneers:
“The two brothers look very similar, and have identical noses, and a similar penchant for mustaches. It also strikes me that Gabriel’s slight turn of the head has a peculiarly french flair, while Charles (on the right) looks perhaps more solid and grounded . . . I also think it’s a great example of one of the best aspects of the Commons. whyaduck (a flickr user) not only corrected the wrongly-identified subjects (Bain mixed up the brothers’ names), but also dug up information about the photographer.”
Flickr announced today that the National Galleries of Scotland have joined The Commons, with 107 photos. Those first releases include a large selection of important early photographs from Hill (seen on the right in this photo) and Adamson.
Indicommons founder Anna Graf was recently interviewed by the BBC’s “Pods and Blogs” podcast. In the interview, Anna discusses the nature of the Commons project and how it benefits Flickr, as well as how Indicommons.org seeks to benefit The Commons.
You can listen to just the Indicommons interview portion alone or to the “Girls and Gadgets” episode in its entirety.
| Here is a photo of interviewer Jamillah Knowles that was taken by Anna during the interview process. It is presented here to provide a visual reference while listening. |  |
All week long, we’ll be featuring Flickr Commons group members’ favorite Library of Congress photos. We’re collecting them in the group, and you’re invited to join us!
Saturday’s Child’s favorite Library of Congress photo is of an exhibit of crops and vegetables at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair in 1940:
“This image took my breath away. It is both excellent documentary and an excellent example of what a good photographer can do. I have a professional and personal concern with agriculture but I love this one purely for what it does photographically.”
