Library of Congress Goes Social
I love sifting through the Library of Congress online libraries. There is something about perusing all those old photos and documents that can be pretty thrilling. While I haven't had time dig into the physical archives, the online versions give me the fix I need.
Now the LOC is doing something very interesting with Flickr. By taking a number of photos and putting them online, archivists are hoping to receive public comments and input as to what is being seen. Sure, a lot will be junk, but there could be some gems in there too.
What's most interesting to me, however, is how well the "old technology" of film continues to stand up over time. Take a look at this image, it looks like it could have been taken yesterday. Even better, it can be viewed TODAY since the technology is rather simple. Shine a light through it and you can see it. Storage is a file cabinet, not an outdated magnetic medium.
The fact is, this is a pretty interesting use of social media. Imagine walking through a museum and putting a sticky note on a Picasso with one of your observations. It's that kind of idea.
It's worth clicking through some of the pictures, which can be found here.
Tags: flickr, library of congress, social media
Posted by Chuck Tanowitz on January 28, 2008 at 9:10 AM
