Katherine J. Wu
, Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images Into Public Domain
"For the first time in its 174-year history, the Smithsonian has
released 2.8 million high-resolution two- and three-dimensional images
from across its collections onto an open access online platform
for patrons to peruse and download free of charge. Featuring data and
material from all 19 Smithsonian museums, nine research centers,
libraries, archives and the National Zoo, the new digital depot
encourages the public to not just view its contents, but use, reuse and
transform them into just about anything they choose—be it a postcard, a
beer koozie or a pair of bootie shorts.
And this gargantuan data dump is just the beginning. Throughout the
rest of 2020, the Smithsonian will be rolling out another 200,000 or so
images, with more to come as the Institution continues to digitize its
collection of 155 million items and counting...
The database’s launch also marks the latest victory for a growing
global effort to migrate museum collections into the public domain.
Nearly 200 other institutions worldwide—including Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago—have
made similar moves to digitize and liberate their masterworks in recent
years. But the scale of the Smithsonian’s release is “unprecedented” in
both depth and breadth, says Simon Tanner, an expert in digital cultural heritage at King’s College London.
Spanning the arts and humanities to science and engineering, the
release compiles artifacts, specimens and datasets from an array of
fields onto a single online platform."
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