Guest Post: Richard McCoy
Posted in Museum Expansionism, Technology on 24. Feb, 2009
What I’d like to talk about is 5 reasons why Flickr is teh Roxxor for Museums and Art Conservators, plus 1 reason why it sucks.
Teh Roxxor!
1) The kayak restoration project at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
2) Have you met “hanneorla” and seen all the amazing artwork she looks at on her travels? I’m not only impressed by her beautiful images, and the fact that she seems to totally geek out on individual sculptures, but she also adds lots of meta data to each image she uploads. Take note. She’s doing it up right. And what she’s doing is basically documenting the condition of mostly outdoor sculpture. Imagine if someone would plug her into Wikipedia Loves Art. She’d win every competition at every museum! Check out her sets.
3) I don’t suppose I even have to list this one, but I will: The Commons
a) Everyone has their favorite stat from this report. Mine?
More than 500 Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) records have been enhanced with new information provided by the Flickr Community.
b) The Brooklyn Museum uses high res images of 19th century Egypt, and shows early documentation photography. I can still here one of my favorite art history professors reminding me the importance of photo documenting historic sites, because “you never know when it’s not going to be there anymore.”
4) I can compare the Hepworth at the IMA to one in Yorkshire, England. Now, where are the other 6 sculptures in this edition? Wouldn’t I like to know…
5) Go ahead and watch a cherry being removed from the spoon in Minneapolis.
The Reason Flickr Sucks
It’s owned by Yahoo! and it could be gone tomorrow and there’d be nothing we could do about it.
Richard McCoy is Assistant Conservator of Objects at Indianapolis Museum of Art
