Kajsa Hartig of Nordiska museet discusses bringing photographic collections online. Museums in Sweden have hundreds of thousands of photos online but they are not easily discoverable or user-friendly. New technologies and participatory culture have prompted museums to rethink how they share collections. Nordiska museet recently announced a collaboration with Wikimedia to upload photos to Wikipedia Commons under Creative Commons licenses, allowing broader access and interaction with the collections. Hartig considers challenges of working with Wikipedia volunteers and questions around meeting demands for metadata and formats.
1. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Swedish GLAM:s and Wikipedia
Bringing Photographic Collections Online – again!
New possibilities opening up.
Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet
Stockholm, Sweden
2. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Bringing Photographic Collections Online
• Looking back
• The big change
• Visions for the future
• ...and some photos ofcourse...
3. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Bringing Photographic Collections Online
• Looking back
• The big change
• Visions for the future
• ...and some photos ofcourse...
4. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Bringing Photographic Collections Online
• Looking back
• The big change
• Earlier this week
• Visions for the future
• ...and some photos ofcourse...
5. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Bringing Photographic Collections Online
• Looking back
• The big change
• Earlier this week
• Visions for the future
• ...and some photos ofcourse...
6. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Bringing Photographic Collections Online
• Looking back
• The big change
• Earlier this week...
• Visions for the future – where do we go from
here?
• ...and some photos ofcourse...
7. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Photographic Collections Online
• Looking back
• The big change
• Earlier this week...
• Visions for the future – where do we go from
here?
• ...and some photos ofcourse...
8. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Looking back: GLAM:s in Sweden
• Hundreds of thousands of photos online
• Small and big museums
• Local historical societies
• An absolute treasure
• But... not very user friendly...
9. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Looking back (and around)
• Online for years, but where on earth (not found
on Google etc.)?
• Different metadata (quality and quantity)
• Different interfaces (usability)
• Online? Yes, but don’t touch!
10. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
The big change
• Social media (Wikipedia early!)
> New technical platforms (new possibilities)
> New participatory culture (share, contribute!)
> New webservices
• This has caused us to think again:
I.e. Redefining the role of the institution,
and... we’re all doing ”work in progress”!
11. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
The big change
• Credits to: Flickr and Flickr Commons
• International influence: Library of Congress,
Brooklyn Museum, Powerhouse Museum, etc...
• Swedish National Heritage Board
12. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Flickr and Flickr Commons
• Easy to use
• Not only for professionals
• Full control (almost)
• Creative Commons licensing
• Large audience
13. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
(Old) Concerns about collections online
• The photographs can be misused
• Someone else can make money out of them
• Remixing is distorting history
• Noone will come to our museum anymore
• We might be sued by the copyright holder...
14. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Unraveling the mysteries of the
Copyright law (...well, try at least)
• Who is the photographer?
• When did he/she die?
• Can the user trim the photograph (what about the
moral rights)?
• Is a private school = commercial use?
Sweden: Is it a photographic work or an ”image”
15. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Finding help in Creative Commons
• BY: Who is the photographer?
• PD: When did he/she die?
• ND: Can the user trim the photograph (what about
the moral rights)?
• NC: Is a private school = commercial use?
Sweden: Is it a photographic work or an ”image”
16. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Progress? It’s all about being challenged!
• Challenges help us
develop
• We’re letting go of
control
• We have to ask ourselves
what we’re doing
By Wonderlane, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/276898561/
17. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
In early 2009:
– Help, they’re using our images!
Wikipedia gives Stockholm Transport Museum (and the rest
of us) a wake-up call
19. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
This was in early 2009...
...so what has happened since then?
20. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
From
By SOCIALisBETTER http://www.flickr.com/photos/27620885@N02/2594362917/
21. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
To
By cheetah100 http://www.flickr.com/photos/devcentre/74685966/
22. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Earlier this week:
Nordiska museet and Wikimedia Sweden
announced a long term collaboration
23. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Nordiska_Museet
Nordiska museet
24. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Regionarkivet
Regional Archives, Göteborg
25. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Some visions – where do we go from here?
• We need to use other platforms
• We need to listen to our users
• We need to solve copyright issues
• We need to be ready for change, be flexible
• ...and Wikipedia is one very interesting way for us
to take a step forward with our online presence
26. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Advantages
• With Wikipedia we can reach out to a very large
audience
• Wikipedians are active and demanding users, this
is challenging in a good way
• On Wikipedia we get to see the interaction with
our collections (how are collections being used?)
• We can interact with target groups, using Wiki-
pedia as a tool (challenges, collaboration etc.)
27. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Some questions
• How do we work on a long term basis with a non
profit organization (volunteers)?
• Can Wikipedia mobilize enough resources
(people) to meet our demands?
• How do we meet the requests from the Wikipedi-
ans (f.ex. about metadata, formats)
• It’s not that easy to upload images...
28. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
We will see more of
Wikipedia + GLAM...
...so, it’s necessary to share our experiences
and facilitate further collaboration.
Perhaps through annual #glamwiki events?
29. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
The River Selue by Philip Henry Delamotte. Source Original from the
Victor von Gegerfelt collection, Volume K 1:3,
Region- och Stadsarkivet Göteborg.
30. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Autochrome, from the collections of Nordiska museet. Photographer: N. Moosberg (around
1900–1915).
31. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Author August Strindberg (1849-1912). Self portrait with a Wunderkamera.
From the Nordiska museet collections.
32. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Tugboat Hercules, Stockholm. From the Nordiska museet collections.
33. Kajsa Hartig, Nordiska museet, Stockholm, Sweden,/GLAM-Wiki UK, November 27 2010
Thank you!
Kajsa Hartig
kajsa.hartig@nordiskamuseet.se
@kajsahartig
Nordiska museet, Stockholm