Results for "Smithsonian Institution. Office of Computer Services"
- Blog Post
Author! Author!
- Date: June 20, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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
- Blog Post
Digital Humanists Dive Into Archives
- Date: August 3, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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
- Blog Post
Augmented Reality? Something Wrong With That?
- Date: June 18, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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
- Blog Post
What He Wrote and Where He Wrote It
- Date: December 15, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Salman Rushdie's archives, featured in an Emory University publication, by Georgia Popplewell, Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic."][/caption] Back in October I talked—with great interest and at length—with Anne Van Camp, director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, about the various
- 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
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
Less is More With Compressed Scanning
- Date: March 3, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Window Necklace, by Hoong Wei Long, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] For those who continue to believe that bigger is better—that you’re better off, for example, the more megapixels your digital camera delivers—a recent article by Jordan Ellenberg in WIRED magazine suggests the opposite may be true.
- 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
Illegible, She Wrote
- Date: May 16, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="A Penmanship sign was located in Boerum Hill and was painted in 1997. It was a faux billboard created by Jerry Johnson of Orange Outdoor Advertising, Photo by Bosc d'Anjou, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0 Generic."][/caption] A week or so ago, I was looking through documents scanned by the Smithsonian Institution
- 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
Sifting Through Archives and Snooping Through Desks
- Date: April 27, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="241" caption="Walt Whitman, 1883 ,by Unidentified photographer, Albumen silver print, 14.3 cmx10.1 cm, National Portrait Gallery, Image No.
- Blog Post
We've Got Mail?
- Date: January 11, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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