The Library of Congress is on Flickr! I am charmed by their profile. “Yes. We really are THE Library of Congress.” Update: please read this longer very well thought out essay about the project that does a lot more than just my “woo!” announcement.
8 thoughts on “LoC goes 2.0!”
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I don’t like to look a gift photographic trove in the lens, but: shouldn’t a public institution be putting public-domain works in something other than a commercial service?
Hallelujah! I can’t wait until my institution tries this.
maybe with some future thinking APIs the tags can appear in both flickr and the LC databases…etc. etc.
Laniel, I don’t see a problem. The photos all are labeled as having “no known copyright restrictions.” And the photos will still be on the LoC site, too. Their FAQ about the project might help you feel better about the plan.
Laniel, I don’t see a problem either. All the Flickr photos are available to the public, unless the account holder sets them to “private”. Plus, Flickr accounts are free, it’s the upgraded “Pro” account that is fee-based.
Now, if you were pointing out a situation like the Justice Department giving exclusive rights to West Publishing Company for all the Law Reporters, THEN I’d be right there with you.
Having read the FAQ, I’m at ease. My concern with any commercial service is that they often make it very easy to put data in, but very hard to get it out. But if their photos are still on the LoC website, all is well.
(Not reading the FAQ is a very non-Web2.0 thing to do. Tsk tsk.)