Results for "Games"
- Blog Post
Games People Play, Then Save
- Date: November 22, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: Access the official records of the Smithsonian Institution and learn about its history, key events, people, and research.
- Blog Post
Picture Perfect? Not All the Games We Play
- Date: June 9, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: While we at the Photography Initiative like to argue that photography changes everything, it’s not always the case. On June 2nd, in a controversial ninth inning call, baseball umpire Jim Joyce denied Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga a shot at making history for pitching a “perfect” game. Joyce—from his point of view behind first base—saw a batter hit a ball, make it
- Blog Post
Holding on to Virtual Worlds
- Date: June 23, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="385" caption="Games, by Axel Tregoning, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] While some people seem to enjoy fantasizing about doomsday scenarios and the end of the “real” world, a recent piece on Ars Tehchnica’s website makes it clear that virtual worlds don’t last forever, either.
- Blog Post
Avatar. A Photographic Game-Changer?
- Date: January 20, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: A few days ago, I went to an IMAX 3D showing of Avatar to see for myself if the movie is a “game-changer,” as many have suggested. And, it is, but in a way no one seems to be focusing on—the way it acknowledges and exploits photography’s power to shape both everyday and alternate realities. What struck me, as soon as the movie started, was how sophisticated the film’s
- Blog Post
Tag! You're Saved!
- Date: October 25, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Fingers typing, by Simon Steiner, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."] [/caption] You know that sinking, then maddening feeling: you need to find something you’ve carefully put away, but can’t remember where you’ve stored it or how you characterized or labeled it. That common problem, when it’s blown up to institutional
- Blog Post
A New Look at Home Movies
- Date: May 31, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="I have no hours in the day to watch TV/games. Don't let life go by!!, by National Media Museum, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] From 2002-2005, a unique archive of video tapes was compiled by the Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) at UCLA, with the goal of studying a relatively new social
- Blog Post
Do You See What I See?
- Date: August 13, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="attachment_1872" align="aligncenter" width="263" caption="Eyeball 1, by loonyhiker, 2009."][/caption] At some point, everyday, I scan the Internet for stories about photography’s role and impact in culture. It turns out that in addition to all the images that are out there to be seen, there are surprising numbers of reports circulating about the power of those
- Blog Post
But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
- Date: May 23, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Beauty is forever, by Just Warr, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0 Generic."][/caption] At THE BIGGER PICTURE, we often write about the challenges of maintaining the data in digital archives. But a recent article bundled in the informative daily arts newsletter compiled by Jeff Weiss—you can subscribe by sending a request
- Blog Post
Photography Murdered Painting, Right?
- Date: February 2, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="251" caption="Untitled, 1890, by Thomas Smillie, Cyanotype, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Thomas Smillie Collection (Record Unit 95), Image ID: RU95_Box77_0021."][/caption] It’s inevitable. Whenever someone tries to recount or evoke photography’s impact on visual culture when Daguerreotypes were introduced in 1839, a statement
- Blog Post
Upon Closer Inspection . . .
- Date: December 9, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="attachment_3532" align="aligncenter" width="220" caption="Lorgnette Humaine, Scan from The English Mechanic, 1897 drawing of an invention using X-Rays to scan luggage, courtesy of Flickr user Mark Wahl, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] A week or so ago, shoes off and stuck in the slow moving security check line at an airport, I became fixated as I
- Blog Post
With a Little Unpaid Help From My Friends
- Date: August 15, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: Late in July, LENS, a New York Times blog that focuses on images and issues photographic, posted an interesting story by James Estrin. Magnum Photos, the legendary co-operative photo agency founded after World War II by photographers including Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson, announced that to boost the visibility (and paid use) of the hundreds of thousands of images it
- Blog Post
Made You Look!!!
- Date: July 8, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="attachment_7261" align="alignleft" width="430" caption="Advertisement on Fifth Avenue in New York City, 2010, Photo courtesy of Marvin Heiferman."][/caption] You’ve probably noticed, in recent years, that in order to attract shoppers’ attention retail establishments have been filling both exterior and interior display spaces with big, colorful, and evocative