As essential printed content is increasingly available on-line through Google Books, Open Library, and other digitization projects, the Library of Congress has announced initiatives to upload more of other forms of media as well. Macworld and others report on the library’s plans to post film, video, image, and audio materials on iTunes, Flickr, and YouTube, among other sites. Says Macworld:
Among the items Web surfers can expect on iTunes and YouTube are
100-year-old films from Thomas Edison’s studio, book talks with
contemporary authors, early industrial films from Westinghouse
factories, first-person audio accounts of life in slavery, and inside
looks into the library’s holdings, including the rough draft of the
Declaration of Independence and the contents of President Abraham
Lincoln’s pockets on the night of his assassination.
The articles also mention that the US General Services Administration has forged agreements with Flickr,
YouTube, Vimeo, and blip.tv that will allow other federal agencies to
participate in new media, with more agreements to come. Says Library of Congress Director of Communications Matt Raymond: “Our broad strategy is to ‘fish where the fish are,’ and to use the
sites that give our content added value.”
These initiatives should provide more access to resources in the public trust, and even some useful content for arts education, promotion, and context. And they continue the trends set by our first YouTube president (well…not on YouTube anymore).
The iLOC ought to enable free and non-DRM access to all LOC recordings, in accord with government policy regarding government owned (other) media.
Being able to view all these other forms of media makes it increasingly more accessible to everyone. I think it is a great idea. Hopefully this will help aid in the education of art in various ways.
I have to agree with Audra, I believe it is a good thing that these resources are becoming available online. The more that we have available for easy access online, the less likely we are to become thrown off by false information on the web. Unfortunately, we have become a society that wants that fastest answers, and the web gives us the perfect place to find those answers. Anyone can post anything on the web though, thus there is a lot of junk floating around.
I think that making those materials available on websites like YouTube and iTunes is a very smart idea, as long as that is all that is being done. If they start to try and limit what is being put online, that gets into controlled media. I like that they are making these materials available, as long as they are not abusing this power, and only putting things that will skew our thoughts, if you get where I’m going at all with that?
I think that things like this becoming available online is a great idea. As long as it is not infringing any rights or copyrights, I think it is an excellent way to make things accessible to everyone. Since these books would be in a library anyway, they would be open to the public, but limited to the people who had access to get there. By being online, everyone can access these books without physical barriers.
The issue of putting books, movies, and music on the internet is a tricky one for me. Part of me doesn’t want us as a culture to lose our respect for original material or to ever get rid of physical books, records, etc. Another part of me loves the ease of access that Google Books and iTunes provides. I think putting national literary, musical, or film treasures online is a good idea since I know the Library of Congress will keep the originals in tact.
I think this is a brilliant idea for the Library of Congress. The access that the American people can gain to documents and books and other forms of media is amazing. Not everyone would normally have the chance to see these things and now they will. It can help in schools and teaching students and in business. I think the good that will come from the availability of these resources will outweigh the issues that may arise through copyright laws.