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So, whither the public trust? Looks like the Smithsonian Images is running a little copyright scam. The SI should be on par with the Library of Congress and the National Archives with materials available for public use, but Public.Resources.Org is claiming that more than a few of their images are locked away behind ambiguous claims to copyright protection. Check out the blurb on DCist.

The copyright notice provides that images can be used for educational ventures by students and teachers, but not for profit. Additionally, the fee schedule for high resolution digital copies seems unusually high ($50 for 300 dpi on a CD, $100 via FTP, and $200 for 600 dpi via FTP) in comparison with the Library of Congress ($22 for 300 dpi on a CD).

Look for the excellent plug for Zotero from Kristin Lehner about a minute and half in from the HNN daily review at AHA.

I’m a pretty regular reader of Signal vs. Noise, the blog from the 37Signals developers, and today they featured a posting about bite sized dessert. The idea is that people don’t really want the 1/3 pound of cheesecake after a big meal; they just want a taste.

Clearly, the folks at 37Signals are into the “less is more” philosophy of software and the web, but I’m wondering if this is really the ethic that digital historians should try to follow in our work. At CHNM, we’ve been discussing the possibilities of delivering small bites of historical content to the public through SMS and RSS. We’ve also considered a similar output of bites of content for high school history students. The idea is that delivering one source or one note at a time is just enough to keep users interested without making them feel overwhelmed. The more I consider this tactic, the more I like it.

If you’re looking for examples along these lines, check out Dave Noon’s postings at Axis of Evel Knievel, which appear with great regularity and always have a good dose of history and wit. On the museum front, Eye Level at the Smithsonian American Art Museum does a nice job of periodically featuring a single work. Similar ventures from history museums would go a long way toward bringing these small bites of the collections to the world.

Sheila at Relaxing on the Trail is beginning what promises to be an extremely useful series for those of us who think about new media and public history. She’s conducting reviews of history museum sites–one from each state and territory, beginning with the Chicago History Museum. Check in periodically for a new review.

In case anyone missed it, last week Brown University announced the findings of its commission to investigate the debt of the university to slave labor. Initiated by University President, Ruth Simmons, who is herself the great-granddaughter of slaves, the committee found that the institution’s early financial support depended on the proceeds of slave labor. As a result the committee recommended that the University actively acknowledge this past with incoming students, that they create a memorial, that they open a new center to study slavery and injustice, and that they actively recruit students from Africa and the Caribbean.

All of these steps seem reasonable to me, yet I’m left wondering why the University might not make a more substantial commitment to the African American community in Providence. If they are going to acknowledge their debt, they could make themselves a useful and restorative presence in that community. And, would it kill them to provide tuition waivers for African American students?

Of course, I suggest this knowing full well that my beloved alma mater, Georgetown, should be facing the same decisions based on the history of the Jesuit plantations in southern Maryland. In fact, the list of institutions of higher education who should be grappling with these issues is long. In my opinion, tuition and community involvement are much more significant interventions than yet another “center” to study slavery. Good scholarly work is being done out there in the existing institutional homes for this inquiry. It’s time for these universities to make a move that will actually make a difference in people’s lives.

Zotero is here.  Download your copy today.  It’ll change the way you do research.

No, not National Parks (though they seem to be for sale to loggers and oil companies these days), but Rosa Parks. It seems that corporate America has decided to capitalize on the the Civil Rights activist most frequently (and somewhat erroneously) credited with launching the Montgomery Bus Boycott. So now we can add Rosa to the likes of Malcolm, Che and Mao.

The launch is pending for the exciting new browser citation tool from the most-excellent team of programmers at CHNM. Zotero is going to be the coolest thing to happen for academic Firefox users since tabbed browsing.

I can’t wait to get my download, because it will help immeasurably as I’m beginning to work on my new project (I’ve got research cites scattered all over the place…). Then, I’m gonna suggest that all my students download the toolbar, because it should really help them compile their materials for the edited collections that will be their culminating projects for the semester.

Being a student of U.S. Catholicism, and someone who is interested new media, I was intrigued to see the other day that Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston is blogging his current trip to Rome. Of course, most U.S. Catholics have no idea what happens inside the secretive walls of the Vatican — and in some senses, we don’t really want to know (if you do, you should read Inside the Vatican by Tom Reese, S.J., the former editor of America).

The design on this blog certainly isn’t the best, but it is a shining example of the burgeoning of Roman Catholic media usage. This engagement with media has long history in the US — from widespread usage of radio by the local chapters of the National Councils of Catholic Men and Women, and fraternal organizations in the 1920s, Father Charles Coughlin in the 1930s, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, first on the radio and then on television from the 1920s through the end of the 1960s, and right up to our current Catholic media with radio, and the distinctly conservative Eternal Word Television Network. In fact, the new Archbishop of Washington DC, Donald Wuerl, had a long-running Sunday morning television show during his 18 years as bishop of Pittsburgh.
Clearly we’re bound to see a greater web presence from the U.S. Catholic clergy and hierarchy if Cardinal Sean feels this venture is a successful effort at outreach to his demoralized archdiocese.

Having just spent the weekend in lovely Chicago, I had the opportunity to take one of the wonderful walking tours of the city done by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. We did the Historical Skyscrapers Tour and were really pleased. I highly recommend making some time for the CAF on your next visit to the city.

Of course, Chicago is a great city for historical architecture. Some other places are not. This point was made nicely today by Zach Schrag in his CHNM Brown Bag Lunch presentation of Washington DC History Matters, when he explained that Washington DC and Manhattan both have long traditions of “creative destruction” by which the cities have been knocked down and rebuilt many, many times.