4 ms·

I've read so many of these announcements over the years. I always end up being disappointed. Lithmus test: 1. Is there a .torrent? 2. If not, is there a batc

by tpmx 7y ago

I've read so many of these announcements over the years. I always end up being disappointed. Lithmus test: 1. Is there a .torrent? 2. If not, is there a batch download mechanism? 3. Why not? IMHO: I think museum curators do it this way because they feel doing it more liberally would strip them of their power. (Also: why would anyone downvote this? I'm puzzled.)

hk__2 7y ago
For me the most disappointing thing is the licence: they all use the NC clause which makes the licence non-free, and thus these images can’t be uploaded on Wikimedia Commons. Having a .torrent or a batch download mechanism is just a technical issue, which can be solved.
- kragen 7y ago
  Probably most of them can as long as US copyright law doesn't start permitting sweat-of-the-brow copyright.
  - callamdelaney 7y ago
    What does US Copyright law have to do with it?
    - bhickey 7y ago
      These images are not subject to copyright in the US.
    - kragen 7y ago
      that is where wikimedia is hosted
epanchin 7y ago
There is nothing stopping you making a torrent. I’m not sure why you expect museum staff to spend their time catering to your niche needs.
- tpmx 7y ago
  Yeah, why would anyone want to download everything instead of manually going through through their 100% super specialized fantastic viewers, one at a time? Whenever an institution announces "X million something available for free".. what they're really typically saying is.. "Please give us more attention. We're not going to just give away the data willynilly. We just want the goodwill and the PR. You may view a subset of the data through our [typically fantastically crappy] viewer."
  - ShorsHammer 7y ago
    I'd be highly surprised if they weren't using IIIF. https://iiif.io/ https://iiif.io/ edit: They are in the participating institutions https://iiif.io/community/ https://iiif.io/community/
  - jshevek 7y ago
    If you are arguing that they aren't really giving it away completely for free, I would agree. On the other hand, many people accept the word "free" to include "no charge, but strings attached", depending on context. Some would consider "you are free to view them on our website, without paying a monetary fee" to be sufficiently 'free' for this usage. In your original comment you ask why you are downvoted. I don't have an answer, but please understand that simply asking this question, in this way, is discouraged by the guidelines and is likely to bring more downvotes.

by tpmx 7y ago

hk__2 7y ago

For me the most disappointing thing is the licence: they all use the NC clause which makes the licence non-free, and thus these images can’t be uploaded on Wikimedia Commons. Having a .torrent or a batch download mechanism is just a technical issue, which can be solved.

kragen 7y ago
Probably most of them can as long as US copyright law doesn't start permitting sweat-of-the-brow copyright.
- callamdelaney 7y ago
  What does US Copyright law have to do with it?
  - bhickey 7y ago
    These images are not subject to copyright in the US.
  - kragen 7y ago
    that is where wikimedia is hosted

epanchin 7y ago

There is nothing stopping you making a torrent. I’m not sure why you expect museum staff to spend their time catering to your niche needs.

tpmx 7y ago
Yeah, why would anyone want to download everything instead of manually going through through their 100% super specialized fantastic viewers, one at a time? Whenever an institution announces "X million something available for free".. what they're really typically saying is.. "Please give us more attention. We're not going to just give away the data willynilly. We just want the goodwill and the PR. You may view a subset of the data through our [typically fantastically crappy] viewer."
- ShorsHammer 7y ago
  I'd be highly surprised if they weren't using IIIF. https://iiif.io/ https://iiif.io/ edit: They are in the participating institutions https://iiif.io/community/ https://iiif.io/community/
- jshevek 7y ago
  If you are arguing that they aren't really giving it away completely for free, I would agree. On the other hand, many people accept the word "free" to include "no charge, but strings attached", depending on context. Some would consider "you are free to view them on our website, without paying a monetary fee" to be sufficiently 'free' for this usage. In your original comment you ask why you are downvoted. I don't have an answer, but please understand that simply asking this question, in this way, is discouraged by the guidelines and is likely to bring more downvotes.