Fulcrum by Richard Serra, London, England
NY Times Arts Dwell ARTstor Blog
behold allows you to browse flickr for images that are free to use and modify or circulate commercially. This search tool simplifies the process of determining limits of use while enabling the user to access a wide range of photographs taken and published by amateurs and professionals the world over.
Columbia University Libraries and Information Services has created the Copyright Advisory Office to address the relationship between copyright law and the research, teaching, and service activities of post-secondary education. The Office provides and will continue to provide access to copyright information as it evolves in response to increasingly complex methods of distributing information in order to help faculty members, librarians, administrators, students, and others learn and apply copyright principles of importance to their work. Currently, the Copyright Advisory Office hosts a number of pages that include a Copyright Quick Guide and examine issues such as fair use, appropriate use, licensing and more. Additional resources include a blog by Director Kenneth Crew exploring the appropriate application of copyright in real world scenarios.
On July 1, 2009 the J. Paul Getty Trust returned ownership of the Avery Index to Columbia University. For the past 26 years the Getty Trust and Columbia University have partnered to produce the Avery Index – The Getty Trust provided technical and financial assistance. However, in response to budget reductions at the Getty Research Institute, the Avery Index will now be solely produced by Columbia University Libraries.
Read the press release here.
By checking a box or two in the “Usage Rights” section of Google’s advanced image search page, you can now filter images to find only files tagged with a license that allows re-use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
Read more in the Creative Pro article “Safely Find and Use Images Via Google”
Digital image files not only store information that translates binary code into colors and shapes, they also contain metadata - data about data. Image metadata often includes technical information like ISO speed or file type, description of the photo’s contents, and licensing information. Metadata protects copyright, streamlines your work flow and helps you find the images you need – and then find them again.
The Photo Metadata Project, created by SAA (Stock Artists Alliances) and the Library of Congress, seeks to address “challenges we face in protecting identifying, and managing or digital photos” and provides resource lists, tutorials on how to embed metadata directly into your image files
An initial release of 2,700 images from Bryn Mawr’s collection of site plans documenting ancient and medieval buildings in the Ancient Near East and Europe is now available. Read more here.
ArtSTOR is also in the process of adding the Samuel H. Kress Collection from the National Gallery of Art, which includes over 600 images of European painting, sculpture and decorative arts. Read more here.
Over 3,000 stock photos from around the world are available at PhotoEverywhere. The site includes not just the typical landmark and scenic images, but also macro details and textures. All the material is free of charge. You only need to attribute or link the images back to the site.
While some larger encyclopedic museums (The Louvre, The Met) have attempted to mirror their physical presence online through 3-D simulations and web pages reflecting traditional curatorial divisions, some museums are attempting to utilize the opportunities provided by Web 2.0.
The Prado Museum has incorporated a 3-D replication of its building into Google Earth. They have also digitized fourteen iconic works from their collection. The digital images contain over 14,000 million pixels (1,400 times larger than an image captured by a standard 10 mega-pixel camera). Viewers can even see cracks in the paint and the weave of the canvas.
One of the more innovative examples comes from the SFMOMA. ArtScope presents a thumbnail grid of 3,500 works from the permanent collection that users can search by title, date, material and keyword. A lens allows one to magnify a striking image . ArtScope provides an overview of the entire collection, bridges gaps between traditional divisions like medium and time period, and helps online viewers make serendipitous connections between seemingly unrelated works.
Read more about museums on the web from Doug McLean’s article in TidBITS.
A library of user-contributed clip art in the public domain, Open Clip Art is a great resource of over 11,000 tagged images available free of charge.
Creative Commons offers a powerful search federated search engine, which indexes Google, Yahoo, Flickr, blip.tv, OWL music, and SpinXpress for items with Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons also provides a directory of other, more obscure content providers. These sites range from collections of a few dozen to many million.
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