• Looking for a radically open digital landscape

    Author(s):
    Sarah Werner (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Group(s):
    TC Digital Humanities, TM Libraries and Research
    Subject(s):
    Digital humanities, Mass media--Study and teaching
    Item Type:
    Conference paper
    Conf. Title:
    Opening Doors to Collaboration, Outreach and Diversity
    Conf. Org.:
    RBMS (Rare Books and Manuscript Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries)
    Conf. Loc.:
    Coral Gables, FL
    Conf. Date:
    June 21-24, 2016
    Tag(s):
    digital facsimiles, digital humanities librarianship, libraries, Early modern studies, Media studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6SP52
    Abstract:
    The digital landscape has the potential to open up rare books and manuscript libraries. If they used to be places where selected people were invited in to witness the display of special items, and those with sufficient expertise were allowed to use items under careful supervision, they now can become radically more open. More institutions are placing digital facsimiles online for viewing to anyone who comes across them, and more are reaching out to audiences instead of hoping that they will stumble across them. It’s a shift from modes of limited access, expert authority, and control to ones of openness and sharing. But how successfully are we in meeting the potential radical openness of the digital landscape? Images are hard to find, the same canonical works are digitized repeatedly, little attempt is made to provide context or to educate users on what the images are, and licensing restricts their uses. The potential for radically open digital special collections is there, but we haven't yet made it happen.
    Notes:
    The audio for this presentation will be posted by RBMS; the link will be available at http://sarahwerner.net/blog/2016/06/searching-for-a-blazing-world/
    Metadata:
    Status:
    Published
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial
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