Description: Back in December, I wrote a post about Emory University’s efforts to make the writer Salman Rushdie’s digital files available to fans, researchers, and interested parties. A couple of days ago, I came across an interesting report about a gathering, an “unconference,” that was sponsored by the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, which
Description: Right after Thanksgiving, on a promotional tour stop for his post-presidential memoir, Decision Points, George W. Bush visited Palo Alto, California to chat with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. According to a CBS News report, Mr. Bush mentioned that while he has more than 600,000 Facebook "friends," and now uses a Blackberry and iPad, during his presidency, he didn’t make much
Description: [caption id="attachment_4178" align="alignleft" width="206" caption="Levi Hill often photographed color lithographic prints, mostly European images, when attempting to perfect his Hillotype color process. This print of a girl and small animal shows his achievement in capturing natural colors on a daguerreotype plate, circa 1851-56."][/caption] Excepting the 8% of males and
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.
Description: [caption id="attachment_564" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Taft Voting, by Bain News Service, publisher, 1912, Library of Congress, LC-B2- 2442-16"][/caption] It’s against the law to photograph certain things, at certain times, in certain places. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reported that a photograph of an election ballot in a mayoral race—showing the name
Description: [caption id="attachment_534" align="alignleft" width="191" caption="Traffic at 5:30 on Second Avenue, Detroit, Mich., by Arthur Siegel, 1942 July, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USW36-763 "][/caption] I remember my surprise the day a traffic summons arrived in my mailbox, illustrated with the close-up and pixilated images of my car and license plate
Description: [caption id="attachment_2262" align="aligncenter" width="186" caption="Frankenstein by MARX!, by Flickr user TCM Hitchhiker."][/caption] For all the talk about creative seeing and the art of photography, the technical parameters of picture-taking and making have, for the most part, been defined by manufacturers of camera and photographic supplies. That wasn’t always the case;
Description: [caption id="attachment_1356" align="aligncenter" width="251" caption="Tommy Dodgen, age 4, standing by the largest lamp in the world : Tampa, Florida, by unknown photographer, 1947, State Library and Archives of Florida, Commerce Collection."][/caption] The cover shot of Popular Science’s July issue, which focuses on the future of energy, uses some interesting new
Description: Bloggers on The Bigger Picture often describe how, in the course of their work, they come across intriguing archival objects and artifacts that trigger new insights into history. “Hands on” encounters with compelling evidence from the past are thrilling and can be provocative. But so can different sorts of encounters, including those that are driven by data, rather than
Description: Recently, I read some interesting news about the National Public Radio blog, “The Picture Show,” that explores photographic images and issues.
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
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