While playing around on the Flickr site I came across a project called “The Commons,” which is a pilot project that aims to create a model for cultural heritage institutions world wide to follow in sharing image collections on the web. Images from the Library of Congress are being loaded onto this Flickr site and the public is then asked to create tags for those images. Here’s an image I found while searching “Vermont” tags:
This photo was taken in 1943 by a feller named John Collier in Bethel VT. I know Bethel pretty well, but I have no idea where this photo was taken exactly. But I like the serene nature of it despite the violence and destruction that was going on in the world at that time. It also makes me think of Hobbiton and I’m probably a little Hobbit-like myself. Besides this picture there are a bunch from the State Fair in Rutland in 1943 that can be viewed by searching a “Vermont” tag. The quality of these photos are exquisite, and I would encourage folks to give the Library of Congress profile in the Commons a look: http://flickr.com/commons
On a technical note, I thought I’d mention that I was terribly lazy and didn’t bother clicking the “blog this” link above the photo I posted from the Flickr site to this blog. It seemed like too much of a hassle. So, instead I did what’s known as ‘remote linking,’ where I right clicked the photo on flicker, went to properties, copied the image URL, then pasted the URL into the insert image feature offered by the folks who host this blog. Remote linking is normally something you shouldn’t do because it could be viewed as stealing bandwidth, but in this case Flickr is providing the bandwidth for free anyway. It’s usually not a good idea to remote link from other websites, but it’s a nice bit of information to know about.
Marianne said,
February 12, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Hi! Very nice photo. Are you familiar with the former East Bethel Octagon Library? It was closed when I came on the scene 30 years ago, but I did drive past it once. Very cute and intriguing. I’m wondering what happened to the books and the building.
vtmidstatelibrary said,
February 12, 2008 at 6:18 pm
You know, I may vaguely remember that building… it was on Rt. 14 right near the bottom of the road my aunt and uncle live on if I’m not mistaken. I don’t know what happened to that building or the books, but I do remember frequently visiting the Bethel Library with my grandmother almost 30 years ago. Thanks for the comment Marianne!
royaltonlibrary said,
February 15, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I notice that your picture didn’t come with the visible code at the top. So maybe remote linking works better with flickr? Rhonda
vtmidstatelibrary said,
February 20, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I never used Flickr before this, but I had a photobucket account and used that often. Flickr appears to have more of an artistic flavor to it. I would imagine that remote linking from Flickr could cause some problems, especially if there’s nothing to identify who owns the photo (of course, if it’s your photo or if it’s clearly in the public domain, then it wouldn’t be an issue… I don’t think). What I like about photobucket is that you are given the code to embed the photo anywhere you want, which doesn’t appear to be the case with Flickr. People typically use their Photobucket account in conjunction with Myspace because they can post photos on their friends’ Myspace pages from a Photobucket account. I don’t see any way of doing that with a Flickr account other than knowing the html code for embeding an image and using it to remote link… although I could just be missing something.