19/03: Smithsonian improves on the slide projector
I just finished up a fabulous weekend at SXSW in Austin Texas. I just love the energy there around creating music and magic. Back in the late eighties, SXSW was just a great music scene, but now it has evolved to include interactive. That’s why I was there.
I was asked again to be a judge for the best of interactive awards. SXSW draws a great mix of web efforts that are a joy to review. This year was no different.
This year I was really struck by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. This extremely well done site makes public the vast collection of wonderful and wide ranging photography at the Smithsonian that includes over 13 million images.
You are able to create your own slide show of images that you can share with others. Now while this is interesting, It got my vote for the innovative way it lets you pick the images. Rather than present a complex catalog, you can simply view the keyphrases from someone else’s sequence of images to see what they chose. Then you can pull out ones of interest into your own sequence. You can also add key phrases to images (known as tagging) to better define the image for others. Ten random sequences from others serve as the start of your inventory for selecting, and you can see more.
This random list approach solves a problem created by many social networking sites, which is when too much weight is given to the popular items, limiting the visibility of the entire collection as the popular items rise to the top. This random list approach ensures that you always have a chance to see something new.
Sifting through 13 million images reminds me of the days when I was young, sitting through a seemingly endless parade of slides from my uncle’s vacation to the Grand Canyon. The Smithsonian Photography Initiative was much more fun!
I was asked again to be a judge for the best of interactive awards. SXSW draws a great mix of web efforts that are a joy to review. This year was no different.
This year I was really struck by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. This extremely well done site makes public the vast collection of wonderful and wide ranging photography at the Smithsonian that includes over 13 million images.
You are able to create your own slide show of images that you can share with others. Now while this is interesting, It got my vote for the innovative way it lets you pick the images. Rather than present a complex catalog, you can simply view the keyphrases from someone else’s sequence of images to see what they chose. Then you can pull out ones of interest into your own sequence. You can also add key phrases to images (known as tagging) to better define the image for others. Ten random sequences from others serve as the start of your inventory for selecting, and you can see more.
This random list approach solves a problem created by many social networking sites, which is when too much weight is given to the popular items, limiting the visibility of the entire collection as the popular items rise to the top. This random list approach ensures that you always have a chance to see something new.
Sifting through 13 million images reminds me of the days when I was young, sitting through a seemingly endless parade of slides from my uncle’s vacation to the Grand Canyon. The Smithsonian Photography Initiative was much more fun!
