Open Access
/The Smithsonian recently announced the release of millions of items online, making it one the largest free repositories of historical images. Access includes the ability to search for many archival records and scientific datasets as well.
President Wilson’s Sheep at the White House
What makes this announcement really exciting, however, is the degree of access that these digital collections give us. Not only are the description and cataloging the best out there, but the Smithsonian has also made its software code and cataloging datasets available. An API lets us embed searches into blogs and websites to display the wealth of the nation’s museum. The library and archives collections are also massive, including digital items for researchers.
All of this material is available under open access licenses. That means that they can be used for all sorts of personal and educational uses, even those that manipulate the material. A learning lab specifically helps teachers use national resources for preparing classes.
We are still working on figuring out how to make slideshows and automatic searches, but one thing to start off with is just a demonstration that open source images can be used for all sorts of things.
There is of course great potential for memes for those who are better at memes. You really should check it out.
