January 17, 2009

On the "Open Access News" blog of Peter Suber, I read about your call to Open Access to historic images. He quotes from your "New ways of using digital images" where you write that financial considerations limit scholars' access to digital media despite the fact that the original material is no longer covered by copyright. When even scholars have a problem getting access to material that is in the public domain, it is even more problematic for the public to gain access to this material. The many Wikipedias that are published by the Wikimedia Foundation have been growing over the last eight years, there are now some 10 million articles in 260 languages. For illustrations we have a repository, Commons, that has some 3.8 million media files all available under a free license. One of our biggest headaches is finding great illustrations particularly for historic subjects. We are grateful for archives like the one of the Library of Congress that provides us with a wealth of material. The problem is that their largesse brings its own problems. Their content has a distinct American side to it and when you have to rely too much on it, it can even become a bias. It is for this reason that we are so happy with our growing relation with the German Bundesarchiv. We received some 100.000 images from their archive. These images are being integrated in the Wikipedias and the meta data is being looked at by our volunteers. Everyone is a winner. As there is no real limit to the size of an encyclopaedia on the Internet, the cost of media storage is continuously going down, the scope of our subject matter grows and with it our need for more and more imagery. A small but growing group of Wikipedians have devoted themselves to the restoration of images. They are looking for images that help illustrate historic events and places. Given that most archives are funded by public money, it is important that the public remains aware of the value that is contained in the archives, the museums. In our opinion, Wikipedia is a great place to get appreciation for the work done by these institutions. In the documentation of our best material, you will find the origin of our material. In the case of material from the Bundesarchiv our cooperation with the Bundesarchiv is prominently mentioned. For us there is no real limit to the number of archives we would like to cooperate with. It is wholly appropriate that the Dutch Wikipedia uses more material from Dutch archives, they are likely to have the best and most material for the subject matter of a Dutch encyclopaedia. In your appeal for Open Access to digital imagery, you acknowledge that much of the material is no longer copyrightable. This material can be legitimately used by anyone who gets hold of a copy. This is another reason why it is better to cooperate not only in the scientific world but also with the public world. With digital materials it is like with ideas. when I share my idea with you and you with me, we both have two ideas. When it is publicly acknowledged what material is maintained by what archive, this archive gains public visibility. For all of these reasons I would like you to consider that there is a public aspect to Open Access and hope that you will consider opportunities for cooperation. Our most prolific restorer of imagery who goes by the nickname "Durova", mentioned to me once that she is named after Lise Meitner, she would love to have some quality scans and restore the image(s) as best as she can. Durova produced many fine restorations that became "featured picture". They were prominently displayed on the main page of the English language Wikipedia and had hundreds of millions of impressions as a result. Thanks,

  GerardM aka Gerard Meijssen