Evaluating Images & Digital Resources

African American History to 1876

Rice Threshing, U.S. South, 1866, Image reference NW0088, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler & Michael Tuite, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities & the University of Virginia Library.

About LEADR

  • Collaborative space for students to build digital projects and explore digital techniques
  • Equipment, software, & general support for projects
  • Open & staffed 10am-8pm Mon-Thu, 10-5pm Fri

Trustworthy Web Resources

Europeans Buying Enslaved Africans, 19th cent; Image reference Blake2, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, compiled by Jerome Handler & Michael Tuite, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities & the University of Virginia Library.

What is an Authentic Artifact?

n. ~ 1. The quality of being genuine, not a counterfeit, and free from tampering, and is typically inferred from internal and external evidence, including its physical characteristics, structure, content, and context.

- authentic, adj. ~ 2. Perceived of as genuine, rather than as counterfeit or specious; bona fide.

Society of American Archivists:

Authenticity

Documentation is Everything

Article: Baltimore Sun http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-04-28/news/1993118056_1_constellation-ship-history-afloat

Photo (2010): Wikimedia, 350z33 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Constellation_Inner_Harbor.JPG

Context is Key

Houghton Library Blog (Harvard) http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/houghton/2013/09/20/myths-debunked-sadly-theodore-roosevelt-never-rode-a-moose/

Determining Trustworthiness

More: 'Bert in the Frame with Bin Laden' BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1594600.stm

Image cropped from snopes.com

  • Is the site reputable?
  • Does associated image metadata tell you everything you need to know?
  • Is there contextual information about the image's creation?
  • If one or more of these is not true, consider finding a new source.

Primary Sources on the Web

Photo from New York Public Library Digital Collection

Locating Images

Places to start - LibGuides!

Cultural Heritage Databases

  • University Libraries
  • Museums
  • Special & Public Libraries
  • Government agencies

Elsewhere on the Web

  • Google Results *

Google Results*

Determining trustworthy sites on the web

  • Who is responsible for the website?
    • Contact info, an 'About' page, credentials
  • Is there a clear purpose or reason for the site?
    • Who sponsors the page? What is the agenda?
  • Determine the origin of the primary source
    • Does the site give metadata vouching for the item's authenticity?
  • What do others say about the web site?
    • Has it been reviewed elsewhere on the web?

 

Guidelines from Reference and Users Services Association, "Using Primary Sources on the Web" http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources

Evaluation Exercise

hitler.org | The Hitler Historical Museum

Is this a trustworthy historical site? Why or why not?

Results?

Results

  • Who is responsible for the website?
    • Contact info, an 'About' page, credentials - none
  • Is there a clear purpose or reason for the site?
    • Who sponsors the page? What is the agenda? - WhoIs.com
  • Determine the origin of the primary source
    • Does the site give metadata vouching for the item's authenticity? - nope
  • What do others say about the web site?
    • Has it been reviewed elsewhere on the web? - uh oh

 

Exercise adapted from T. Mills Kelly, "Finding: Search Engine–Dependent Learning" in Teaching History in the Digital Age (2013) http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/dh.12146032.0001.001

Once you have a trustworthy image...

  • What context was the photo taken in?
  • What message is the image trying to convey? 
  • Do other sources back up the image?
  • Takeaways from Handler & Steiner article?

[unretouched]

Published in The North American Indian

Edward S. Curtis, “In a Piegan Lodge,” still image, (1910), http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp06005

Edward S. Curtis, “In a Piegan Lodge,” still image, (1910), http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002722455/

Copyright & Fair Use

  • Current US Copyright: Author's life + 70 yrs (after 1922)
    • Enter 'Public Domain' after copyright expires
    • Works created & published outside of US have different licenses
  • Fair Use - "the grayest area of copyright law"
    • “fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright"
  • What about a digital photo of a public domain work?

Summarized from Cohen, Daniel J. and Roy Rosenzweig, "Owning the Past," Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/copyright/

Ethics

  • Just because you can doesn't mean you should
  • Be mindful of the context of an object; do not misappropriate materials
  • Different cultures have different intellectual property norms and practices
  • If you edit materials, be sure to mention your edits, and/or cite the original source

 

Image via Queering Slavery Working Group (#QSWG) qswg.tumblr.com

[link]

Exercise

  • Pick a topic (i.e. Plantation slavery in US, the slave trade, etc.)
  • Find a photo
  • Answer as many of the following questions as possible:
    • Is the source trustworthy? Who is responsible for the website?
    • Is the image authentic? Who is the creator of the image? When was the photo taken? Where was the photo taken?
    • What information do you need to analyze the photo? Is it all there? Is enough there?
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