Finding Video, Audio and Images Online: JISC Advice Document

JISC Digital Media continues providing the world with helpful information: they have recently updated their advice document, Finding Video, Audio and Images Online.  Lots of good information here about Web site databases and online collections, search tips, search engines, automatic alerts, etc. Their first piece of advice is to be clear about what you want from your search, and they've embedded this video from an adorable short film about actual requests at the Hulton Archive for images that could never exist.  I think most of us who work with image collections recognize this challenge!



JISC Digital Media is the UK service that provides advice, guidance and training to the UK's Further and Higher Education community.  Fortunately for those of us across the pond and elsewhere, they freely share their advice documents online.  They are divided into advice on still images, moving images, audio, and cross-media.  Each of these areas contains dozens of advice documents, organized into easy to navigate sections, with information about file formats, software, hardware, managing digitization (er, digitisation) projects, managing digital resources, and finding digital resources.  There is a wealth of information here.  Thank you, JISC!

Images from Spring 2010 MFA Opening on VRC Flickr Page

The VRC has added 45 images from Friday's Spring 2010 MFA thesis show opening to the VRC Flickr group.

-- For now they should appear as the first 45 images in the Group Pool.  If someone has added images to the Group Pool in the meantime, you can find the VRC images by doing a search for "2010-04-02."

-- Anyone with other images from the show or from other Art and Art History events is encouraged to join our Flickr group to share their images there.

-- Congratulations to the grads on an excellent show, and to the CU Art Museum for its inaugural exhibition!

"Content-Aware" Smart Fill Coming to Adobe Photoshop CS5

 

With the new content-aware fill feature coming in Photoshop CS5, we won't know what to do with all of our leisure time.  Watch this short video for a preview of the impressive new technology at work.

At first, some thought this was too good to be true, that it must be a hoax.  The well-deserved hype around this demo has spawned some funny responses, such as this video.

Now Available in ARTstor...

ARTstor has announced newly available images in its digital library.  From the ARTstor news release:

Art and architecture from pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela photographed by William Keighley (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
ARTstor is collaborating with The Metropolitan Museum of Art to make available approximately 900 images of art and architecture from pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela photographed by William Keighley.  Learn more 

Additional plans of Ancient and Medieval buildings and archaeological sites from Bryn Mawr College
The final set of images depicting plans of archaeological sites and architectural monuments contributed by Bryn Mawr College are now available in the Digital Library, bringing the collection total to nearly 8,000 images.  Learn more 

Architecture by Le Corbusier
ARTstor has collaborated with the School of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University to make available approximately 250 images of architecture by Le Corbusier in the Digital Library. Learn more 

Photographs of art, architecture, and culture in Southeast Asia and Morocco
ARTstor has collaborated with Barbara Anello to make available 750 images of the architecture, arts, and culture of Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Morocco in the Digital Library. Learn more

National Archives UK Joins the Commons at Flickr

Flickr welcomed the National Archives UK to The Commons yesterday.  As the UK government's official archive, they cover "over 900 years of history with records ranging from parchment and paper scrolls through to digital files and archived websites."  They have selected images they feel represent the broad range of over 10 million documents, maps, photographs, and artwork.

What can you find in the National Archives UK Flickr site?  While relatively small, it's an eclectic and intriguing range of materials.  There's a set of photographs taken in the Sudan and Egypt on an expedition for the relief of Khartoum by Anglo-Italian photographer Felice Beato (1832-1909).  There are two groups containing a smattering of nineteenth and twentieth century photographs.  Other groups include Artwork and Illuminations, Historic Documents, Seals and Artifacts, and Maps and Plans.  As with all content in The Commons, there are no known copyright restrictions.

See the National Archives UK Web site for more information about their vast holdings.

Image: Wall to Wall Crystal Palace, 1850/1, from Flickr, no known copyright restrictions.

Visual Resources Assocation, Atlanta 2010

Just back from the 28th Annual Conference of the Visual Resources Association, held in Atlanta.  I attended many inspiring and thought-provoking sessions on topics such as social networking, metadata, new technologies, instruction, and more.  Plenary speakers Peter Brantley and Jason Roy both discussed the new roles that visual resources departments and libraries can play in the changing technology landscape.  As always, this conference offers a compelling vision of future trends and possibilities, with practical guidance for our operations today.  I wouldn't miss it!

Anyone involved with creating, managing, and/or delivering images and other visual resources should be familiar with the Visual Resources Association (VRA) -- it is a truly amazing organization made up of incredibly knowledgeable and generous members who freely share resources and information about images with each other and with affiliated groups.  I really can't say enough about this group -- it has been my professional lifeline for over ten years now.

VRC Training Available in Digital Imaging

Are you confused by DPI and PPI?  Are you unsure about the best file format and size for images you need for a particular purpose?  Have you taught yourself how to edit your images in Photoshop, but feel like you could use some guidance to get more out the tools?  Well, if you are an Art and Art History student or faculty member, you are in luck.  Lia Pileggi, our Digital Imaging and Technology Coordinator, is available by appointment Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., to help you with your digital imaging project.  Whether you are preparing a digital image presentation for a class, archiving a portfolio of your creative work, or applying for grants or scholarships, Lia will help you make your images look their best.  Lia is a great teacher -- she is clear, concise, and patient, and will work with you at whatever level you need.  Everyone will also agree that she also happens to be super cool.

Remember that the VRC houses community imaging stations featuring:

• New 24" iMac desktop computers
• Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium (Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash Professional, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, OnLocation,  Encore, and Bridge)
• Neutral gray walls (RGB-balanced) behind monitors for optimal color management
• Daylight balanced lighting (5000K) for optimal color management
• Regularly color-calibrated monitors
• Easy-to-use Vuescan software

 For more information contact Lia at 303-735-1640, or Lia.Pileggi@colorado.edu.

Free Sites for Sharing Very Large Files

Have you ever been stumped on how to share a very large file, such as a video?  Over at CNET, Josh Lowensohn has posted a very useful entry on paid and free services that allow you to share very large files with colleagues, friends, and family.

Lowensohn provides a list divided into free and paid services, along with a brief overview of the features that each one offers.  The "Which one to use?" section helps you assess whether a free service will meet your needs.

Image: nouQraz, Laptop Orchestra @ Wired Nextfest 2006, 2006.  From Flickr, some rights reserved under an Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

Clever Music Video Inspired by Art History

Art history fans should take a few minutes to watch this music video for the song "70 Million," by the band Hold Your Horses!  It's a creative and fun tribute to the canon of Western art.  I love the low budg sets, which are actually quite effective (good lighting always helps).  While it's hard to pick, I think my favorite is the nod to Gabrielle d'Estrées and One of Her Sisters.

14 Tools to Teach about Creative Commons

Creative Commons licenses facilitate access to all kinds of media works for use in creative and scholarly pursuits, but they also provide individuals who create works (whether text, image, sound, or video-based) more flexibility in how they wish to share these works with others.  With the growing prevalence of digital media, copyright ethics is an increasingly important matter for creators, users, and educators to understand and appreciate.  Over at the The Clever Sheep, Rodd Lucier has shared 14 Tools to Teach about Creative Commons.   The sections are Creative Commons Toolkits, Great Places to Host and License Your Creative Work, Video Explanations of The Creative Commons, Creative Commons Audio Sources, My Favourite Open Source Projects, Slideshow Explanations for Education, Creative Commons Social Networks, and Late Additions.

Under late additions, the presentation Creative Commons: What every Educator needs to know is particularly useful to anyone involved in instruction, asking questions such as "How do we model academic integrity?" and "How can we teach 'creative integrity'?"

Via the always informative Ellyssa Kroski at iLibrarian.

Image: Temari 09, Learning time, 2009. From Flickr, some rights reserved under an Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license.