Evaluating Images & Digital Resources
HST 379 | Native Americans in North America from 1830
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
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 or collection 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 Primary Sources
- Native American Studies Research Guide http://libguides.lib.msu.edu/c.php?g=95603&p=624342
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
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?
[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/