On October 21, 2008, the Nationaal Archief and Spaarnestad Photo became the first Dutch heritage institutions to place a small selection of their photos on Flickr in The Commons. Within two weeks, the photostream of the Nationaal Archief had over 400,000 page views and 400 comments. These large numbers were caused by the extensive amount of attention the media dedicated to the initiative — resulting in, among other things, articles in national newspapers De Volkskrant and Het Parool, radio reporting by the Wereldomroep, and, most spectacular of all, a prime-time news item in NOS Journaal (causing page views to rise up to 100,000 in one night). This initiative was started as a pilot project to involve the broad audience in photographic collections and metadata generation. The pilot proved successful: with almost 2,000 comments and over 6,800 tags added, Nationaal Archief has incorporated the use of Flickr as a standard feature for public presentation and metadata generation.

Recently, Nationaal Archief has launched another Flickr pilot: Mapit1418.nl, an online tool aimed at collecting geographical metadata on a selection of photos from World War I. Partly thanks to The Commons, Nationaal Archief has gathered quite a lot of data on this collection, but for most of these photos the locations are unknown. With Mapit1418.nl, the archive seeks to research what significant role a geotagging game can play in adding specific knowledge to its collections.

Mapit1418.nl is a mashup of two data streams: a subset of Nationaal Archief’s Flickr photos and Open Street Map data. A new and simple website was developed as a game “shell” for the mashup. The game is simple: select a photo, study it, and add it to the (suspected) right location on the map, adding an “argument” for that location (”I recognize that bell tower in the background”) or even a photo of that same location today. Earlier locations can be overruled by every new player, but selection of the “right” location (some degree of uncertainty will always remain) is in hands of the jury: every month, from a pool of the most frequent players a jury selects a winner. He or she (we see an almost even distribution of men and women on the website) wins large reproduction of a WWI photo.

Up till now, some 50 locations have been added to the photos. Since we aim at WWI “knowledgeables”, discussion tends to develop around specific themes. Some users disagree about the origins of a certain war vessel — a phenomenon we love to observe and stongly encourage. Hopefully it will lead to a just location in the end …

www.mapit1418.nl (sorry, only in Dutch)
Open now until April 24, 2010

Today we are celebrating the first anniversary of the Nationaal Archief on The Commons at Flickr. The Nationaal Archief, located in The Hague, has the largest public archive in the Netherlands. Almost 1000 years of Dutch history are stored there.

This photograph is from the “Strandleven / Seaside life” set, which is the most popular set of this institution. The translated title of this particular shot is “Swallow Dive”

Zweefduik

From the “Tour de France” set is this photograph of the “famous Tour winner Lucien Petit-Breton”

Tourwinnaar Lucien Petit-Breton

This photograph is from the popular set called, “Tweede Wereldoorlog, 1941” (Second World War, 1941) The photo shows “Wounded and invalids. German wounded return their empty coffee cups to Red Cross nurses just prior to departure. Location unknown. 1941.“

Lege kopjes voor Rode Kruis-medewerksters

The following photograph is from the set called, “Olympische Spelen 1928” (Olympic Games 1928). The caption reads, “Sport. Olympic Games 1928 Amsterdam, Netherlands. Fencing. Gentlemen, saber. Two Dutch fencers and their coach.”

Olympische Spelen 1928 Amsterdam

This photograph is from the “Kerst” or “Christmas” set. Its title in English is “Father and child with Christmas Tree”

Vader en kind met kerstboom

The Commons Galleries – featuring pennylrichardsca’s curation

The children of strikers in Lawrence MA were sent to live with families in New York. It meant they had more adequate material care than their parents could then provide, but it also meant a poignant photo opportunity.

Library of Congress

Coal miners in Lancashire were striking in 1912; their daughters marched in support.

Library of Congress

Sylvia Pankhurst was a life-long protester on many issues, but on this day in 1932 her specific cause was protesting English policy in India. (Notice the Indian women behind her.)

Nationaal Archief

The Jarrow March was a 1936 march to protest extreme poverty and unemployment in North East England. About 200 marchers walked the 300 miles from the town of Jarrow to London, along with their MP, “Red Ellen” Wilkinson.

National Media Museum

January 26, 1938, was the sesquicentennial of British colonization in Australia, and was declared an Aboriginal Day of Mourning, a day to demand full citizenship rights for aboriginal Australians.

State Library of New South Wales

A feminist protest in Amsterdam, 1981, in favor of abortion rights.

Nationaal Archief

View the full gallery here to leave your comments!

Among the joys of browsing the Commons is finding those photos whose dates are more specific that “circa 1920″ or even “1920″. Here, in celebration of the middle of summer — or winter, as the case may be — are photos from across the Commons, from Julys past …

Cyclists climb over a closed railway crossing. July 1932, the Tour de France.

Nationaal Archief

“Revolutionary uprisings in Persia and Mexico threaten civil rebellion”. July 5, 1908, the New York Tribune.

The Library of Congress

The Dudley Cantrell Band plays at Grace Bros. July 15, 1937, Sydney, Australia.

State Library of New South Wales

A young bride is prepared by her bridesmaids. July 11, 1970, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Nantucket Historical Association

Tom Walton plays the guitar. July 4, 1982, White Springs, Florida.

State Library and Archives of Florida

The Langley Flyer superstructure is loaded onto a houseboat. July 1903, Widewater, Virginia.

DC Public Library

Berenice Abbott captures one moment in the city. July 16, 1936, Union Square, New York City.

New York Public Library

Seven testifying scientists pose for a photographer during the Scopes Trial. July 1925, Tennessee.

Smithsonian Institution

American manufacturers parade on Independence Day. July 4, 1893, Chicago.

Brooklyn Museum

And Mme Gadriol goes for a ride. July 9, 1899, Luchon, France.

Bibliothèque de Toulouse

Federico Ezquerra (Spain), on the Galibier, 1934, and the same stage of the Tour in 2007. Be sure to check out the rest of the historical Tour de France photographs from the Nationaal Archief! We’d love to see more “now” photos that correspond to these same stages in the Tour, in the Flickr Commons group.

Nationaal Archief	Ruth Wytinck
THEN	NOW

Images for the Future has posted a report, Taking Pictures to the Public, from the Nationaal Archief about their involvement in the Flickr Commons pilot. Here are some of the highlights that the Archief discovered about their first six months on the Commons:

• There were 1 million+ page views, 2,000+ comments, and 6,800+ tags on 771 photos
• 74% of the photos are annotated in some way (comments, notes, tags)
• 3% of the comments received were used to update the images in their archives
• 10% of the crowdsourcing comments including links to other relevant internet sites
• Of the 6,800+ tags, about half were left in English and half in Dutch
• 2,000 Flickr users have added the Archief as a contact

The report goes into some detail about the impact of these statistics, especially on learning how to use social media (when to step in to moderate discussions and when to let it go), that particular subjects (world wars) can evoke robust discussion, and that being on the Commons also increased page views and their Google ranking for their website. However, they also note in their conclusion that Flickr should not be used in place of professional archivists and experienced volunteers, though it acts as a good adjunct, since such a small number of the comments received had information that could be fed back into their archives (tags are not yet being fed back into their system).

They do note how infrequently comments had to be moderated, and described Flickr as a self-policing community, with the Archief having removed a total of only 3 comments due to inappropriate language. These seemed to revolve around arguments between Nazi sympathizers and Russians, or anti-German comments being posted to certain war images.

You can download the report (in Dutch) here.

This is your weekly guide to everything new in the Commons on Flickr for the past week. Take a moment to stroll through history and discover photographs of yore.

The National Archief celebrates the Tour de France with archival images of this famed bicycle race. Perhaps you can find some Now shots to pair up with these Then shots?

Tour de France

The Oregon State University Archives chronicles the history of their state with some truly stellar photographs, featuring both Lewis and Clark (including other members of that expedition), Chief Joseph (the leader of the Nez Perces tribe), and Prairie Schooners.

People and places: “Early Settlement of Oregon”

50 new Bain News Service photographs from the Library of Congress are waiting for your help in tagging and commenting! Here’s U.S. President Wilson at his summer home.

News in the 1910s

The State Library of Queensland, Australia, presents the construction of the Story Bridge in Brisbane just in time for the 69th anniversary of the bridge’s opening.

Picture of the Week

Our friends the animals, brought to you by the Bibliothèque de Toulouse.

Nos amies les bêtes

View this set of tiles in Brazilian churches, identified by João Miguel dos Santos Simões when carrying out an inventory of the Portuguese tiles from 1960 to 1968, from the Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

Igrejas brasileiras

Florida Memory has also posted thrilling images of hurricanes! Here’s Ivan making some noise:

Hurricanes in Florida

Proving that we all enjoy a good party, The Commons has its own representative selection of great images of birthday celebrations.

Celebrate with Robert Louis Stevenson in Western Samoa …

National Library of New Zealand

What better way to mark 70 years than having your portrait painted? And should you risk forgetting, why not have a photo taken of the occasion too?

Nationaal Archief

You’ll want a party fit for a princess!

Library of Congress

Or just get together with some film-star friends. But don’t forget the decorations!

State Library of New South Wales

Finally, always remember others …

State Library and Archives of Florida

… and make sure you get their presents off to them in good time.

Smithsonian Institution