Now in ARTstor: Architecture from Europe and the Middle East by Sites and Photos

ARTstor has announced the recent addition of images depicting architecture from Europe and the Middle East from Sites and Photos, with over 30,000 images now available from this collection. Based in Israel, Sites and Photos' mission is to provide scholars with one of the world's most comprehensive archives of digital photography pertaining to Mediterranean archaeology, archaeology, architecture, and art.

ARTstor is constantly adding new images to its holdings, so it's worthwhile for faculty and students at subscribing institutions to check on their new content from time to time. ARTstor has a publicly available page, Collections: Descriptions & Status, which lists all contributing collections, with the current number of images and percentage of completion. Within the digital library, under the Browse section on the Welcome Page, select Collection to see a list of all of of the content providers. from here you can link directly to a collection in ARTstor, where you are able to browse the images or perform a search within that collection.

Photography in Public: Know Your Rights, These Are Your Rights

Especially after the events of 9/11, the Internet abounds with stories about people taking photographs on public property being harassed. Overzealous security guards and policemen have been known to invoke the law inaccurately, sometimes aggressively, in the attempt to dissuade photographers who are legally within their rights.  There are even Flickr groups devoted to this topic, such as the National Photographers' Rights Organization group and the Photography is not a crime group.

Some helpful introductory resources exist for those who are uncertain about where "public" ends and "private" begins.  Bert Krages is an attorney who is a nationally recognized advocate for the right to take photographs in public places.  He has published on his Web site "The Photographer’s Right: A Downloadable Flyer Explaining Your Rights When Stopped or Confronted for Photography."  This one-page guide introduces a basic principle: "The general rule in the United States is that anyone may take photographs of whatever they want when they are in a public place or places where they have permission to take photographs. Absent a specific legal prohibition such as a statute or ordinance, you are legally entitled to take photographs." Krages goes on to cite important exceptions to the general rule; permissible subjects; the rights of others to question you, detain you, or confiscate your property; some legal and other remedies in case you are harassed; and how to handle confrontations.  He suggests that photographers may wish to print out and keep a copy in their camera bag.  For those wishing to delve deeper into the subject, Krages has written a book: Legal Handbook for Photographers: The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images.

Image: Thomas Hawk, Long Beach Harbor Patrol Say No Photography From a Public Sidewalk, 2008.  Available from Flickr via a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.

More Ultra-High Resolution Images from HAL9000

Italian company HAL9000 has added more images to its portfolio of ultra high-resolution images depicting Italian Renaissance art, with the latest additions coming from the Uffizi Galleries.  A while back I wrote about HAL9000's 16-billion pixel image of Leonardo's Last Supper. Their recent additions include Caravaggio's Bacchus (3.4 billion pixels), Verrocchio and Leonardo's Baptism of Christ (11.7 billion pixels), Leonardo's Annunciation (10.3 billion pixels), Botticelli's  Birth of Venus (20.4 billion pixels) and Primavera (28 billion pixels), and Bronzino's Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo (4.8 

billion pixels).

Nothing compares to standing in a gallery in the Uffizi with one of these masterpieces, but at the same time the features we can see here are not possible to witness in person.  These are the macro views that only a conservator might see in such dazzling detail, like brushstrokes, craquelures, the dirty fingernails of Bacchus, or the light reflecting off of a single pearl. The small price we pay is a little patience while waiting for the pictures to load, and tolerating the 

presence of the Haltadefinizione watermarks.

For more information about HAL9000 and the process used to photograph these works, see this post over at Wired.

Create Color Schemes Based on Photos Using ColorSuckr

Continuing with the theme of color... I have discussed online color pickers before (here and here), but a color extractor is a bit different. Let's say you already have an image that you would like to feature on a Web site, and you would like to create a coordinated color scheme.  ColorSuckr is an online tool that you may want to try.

The ColorSuckr site allows you to enter the URL of an image online, and the tools will automatically create a color scheme of samples using the 12 most common colors from an image, each accompanied by Hex, Web safe and RGB color codes.  Those wishing to explore further color combinations using the particular swatches provided can link to "Show color schemes," which takes them to schemes assembled by the community of users over at COLOURlovers.  Plenty of inspiration here to work with.

ColorSuckr also lets you search for Flickr images on its site.  For those wishing to use the tool often, ColorSuckr provides shortcuts to the process in the form of a bookmarklet, as well as a Firefox add-on that enables the process with a simple right-click.

Image: [With churches, Molde, Norway], from the Library of Congress (shown with color scheme from ColorSuckr), ca. 1890 to ca. 1900.  Available from Flickr's The Commons, with no known copyright restrictions.

How Well Do You See Color?

According to X-Rite, 1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency.  Do you?  Take the Online Color Challenge, based on the official FM100 Hue Test by X-Rite.  You may be surprised by the results!  Of course, if you believe that you do have a deficiency in your ability to accurately see colors, have your vision checked by a professional.  Colors on computer monitors tend to vary widely.
 

Use Dropbox to Back up, Sync, and Share Your Files

I recently posted about the importance of backing up your files, where I cited the 3-2-1 rule for backups: three copies (primary and two backups), two types of media, and one copy stored off site.  Dropbox is a service that can help with this model, and it's free for up up to 2 GB.  Dropbox lets you easily back up, sync, and share files with others.

Dropbox creates a folder on your computer where you may place files that you can then make accessible from any other computer in the world, either to you exclusively or also to other people of your choosing.  When you change a file in this folder, it automatically changes the corresponding file housed on the Dropbox folder residing on another computer (imagine using this tool to sync your files between your home and office computers).

Use Dropbox as a tool for backup and you'll have at least one copy stored off-site on a Dropbox server.  If you additionally use Dropbox to sync your files on a computer at home and another at work, this gives you three copies in three different locations.  Add automatic backups operating on an external hard drive and you have a pretty secure system for your most important files.

ProfHacker has featured enthusiastic posts in recent months about how academics make use of Dropbox: see this one on using Dropbox for backups, and this one for using Dropbox for syncing.

NASA Joins The Commons at Flickr

NASA has just joined The Commons at Flickr, bringing the current number of participating institutions to 46.  As with all images in The Commons there are no known copyright restrictions, a fact worth noting whether you are a a scholar or creative artist.

The Commons' objectives are:

1. To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and

2. To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. (Then watch what happens when they do!)

To enhance understanding and access to the images in The Commons, members of the public are encouraged to share their perspectives and even expertise by tagging images.  But as Flickr notes, "Any Flickr member is able to add tags or comment on these collections. If you're a dork about it, shame on you. This is for the good of humanity, dude!!"

Image: Spiro Agnew and Lyndon Johnson Watch the Apollo 11 Liftoff, 1969. Available from Flickr with no known copyright restrictions.

Back It Up!

You are backing up your important files, aren't you?  I was reminded just last week in a discussion with a faculty member that not everyone is, but most of us would be devastated to lose the stuff we keep on our computers.  Here's a quote from New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, whose computer's hard drive failed several years ago, leading to the loss of all of his files: "There's two kinds of people in the world: those who have good regular backup systems and those who will."  Pogue was able to recover most, but not all of his files through a data recovery company, but it cost him a lot of money. 

An external hard drive is a good place to start, but it may not be a sufficient solution alone.  The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) has a good article that details the issues, threats, and options concerning backups.  They advocate the 3-2-1 rule: three copies (primary and two backups), two types of media,  with one copy stored off site.  While professional photographers might find the expense of online backups to be prohibitive due to the size of their professional archives, scholars and students may wish to consider a service like Dropbox. See Ryan Cordell's article over at ProfHacker for more information.

ASMP reminds us that the threats to are data are numerous:

• Device failure
• Viruses
• Malicious damage
• Volume and Directory glitches
• Transfer corruption
• Lightning strike/Voltage surge
• Theft
• Fire or water damage
• Human error

There is a reason why the data recovery company with whom David Pogue worked keeps a suicide counselor on staff.  If you haven't already, find a good, automated system for backups today.  Start with these articles written by Jason B. Jones,  Merlin Mann, and John Gruber. 

Image: Eric Hart (Eqqman), Filed,  2009.  Available from Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

11 Techy Things for Teachers to Try This Year

Looking for ways to incorporate more technology in the classroom?  Over at Free Technology for Teachers Richard Byrne has shared 11 Techy Things for Teachers to Try This Year.  Each of these entries is accompanied by suggestions for free resources that educators can use.

1. Build a Blog or Build a Better Blog
2. Build a Wiki With Your Students
3. Build a Website
4. Create Videos Without Purchasing any Equipment
5. Create Maps to Tell a Story
6. Try Backchanneling in Your Classroom
7. Join a Social Network for Your Professional Development
8. Use an Online Service to Save Your Bookmarks
9. Get Your Students Searching More Than Just Google.com
10. Have Your Students Create Podcasts
11. Eliminate Inbox Overload

Richard Byrne's blog is well worth following. Recent entries include Tech Tip - Easy Sharing of Long URLs; Wetoku - Conduct, Record, and Share Video Conferences; An Overview of the History of Visual Thinking; and How to Choose a Safe Password.  I have just added his blog to my RSS reader.

Via Ellyssa Kroski at iLibrarian.

Image: Vernon Fowler (vfowler), computers, 2007, available from Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.

ARTstor Subject Guides

ARTstor now offers twenty-two subject guides on a broad range of topics.  These one-page PDF documents "highlight relevant collections, unique interdisciplinary content, search strategies, and search terms that greatly aid discoverability across disciplines in the Digital Library."

These guides illustrate that, despite the emphasis on "art" in ARTstor's name, its content is useful to scholars and students in a wide range of disciplines, especially across the humanities and social sciences.

The current subjects covered are: African and African American Studies; American Studies; Anthropology; Architecture and the Built Environment; Asian Studies; Classical Studies; Design; Decorative Arts; Fashion and Costume; History of Medicine and Natural Science; Languages and Literature; Latin American Studies; Maps and Geography; Medieval Studies; Middle Eastern Studies; Music History; Native American Studies; Photography; Religious Studies; Renaissance Studies; Theater and Dance; and Women's Studies.