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Very slightly related: One of the most satisfying interactions with a public organization I've ever had was finding an image in the LoC collection of Shasta Dam
by CommieBobDole 4y ago
Very slightly related: One of the most satisfying interactions with a public organization I've ever had was finding an image in the LoC collection of Shasta Dam misidentified as Fontana Dam in North Carolina. A reverse image search revealed that it had apparently been that way for years, and was used in all sorts of contexts by third parties as a picture of Fontana Dam, despite the presence of a 14,000 foot snow-capped volcano in the background, a geographic feature which is notably absent from North Carolina.
I emailed the contact address, and not only did they respond promptly, they corrected the listing and added a note about the previous misidentification and emailed me to let me know that it had been corrected.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2011630316/ https://www.loc.gov/item/2011630316/
- dhosek 4y agoI found a similar misidentification (although with less spread of a photo which claimed to be Graham Greene but was some unknown individual: https://www.dahosek.com/ceci-nest-pas-graham-greene/ https://www.dahosek.com/ceci-nest-pas-graham-greene/
- woodruffw 4y agoThe National Archives is equally incredible and responsive: I made a Twitter bot[1] to automatically post photos from the DOCUMERICA project[2], and found handful of missing scans (just a few dozen in over 10,000) in the process. I emailed them to ask about it, and they responded in a handful of days[3]. [1]: https://twitter.com/dailydocumerica https://twitter.com/dailydocumerica [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documerica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documerica [3]: https://blog.yossarian.net/2021/10/25/A-small-documerica-twitter-bot https://blog.yossarian.net/2021/10/25/A-small-documerica-twi...
- lelandfe 4y agoI emailed the National Archives about the nature of a quote from an HN comment ages ago. I spent a lot of time digging for sources and got stuck at a “box” somewhere in the Archives. I emailed the Archives and was politely informed that I would need to visit in person to ascertain the exact document. A few days later an Archives staffer emailed me under secrecy, saying they were not allowed to be doing this, but then provided exact details for what I needed. It was truly an excellent internet moment for me. Sometimes the government is cool!
- redtexture 4y agoA story with further details desirable.
- lelandfe 4y agoTrying to honor the unnamed Archives person's request for anonymity :) you can find it in my comment history if you search back far enough
- sh34r 4y agoSo much of the government relies on staffers discreetly working around the kafkaesque bureaucracy, and everyone involved turning a blind eye and respecting their need for discretion.
- qq66 4y agoOne thing that most people don't have an appreciation for is how effective the non-political departments of the US Government are, and also how at risk such jewels are for backsliding into incompetence and corruption if poorly managed.
- nopenopenopeno 4y agoThat’s right, because many departments have their effectiveness undermined by legislation with the intent of undermining the existence of those departments altogether.
- conradev 4y agoThe Library of Congress was not doing enough to digitize their library: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/hiring-the-first-librarian-of-congress-for-the-internet-age/396038/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/hirin... The Internet Archive and Google Books have a significant head start over the largest library in the world
- acdha 4y agoNote that a lot has changed since 2015. The LOC's Strategic Plan (https://www.loc.gov/strategic-plan/ https://www.loc.gov/strategic-plan/) and especially the digital strategy (https://www.loc.gov/digital-strategy/ https://www.loc.gov/digital-strategy/) are trying to address that gap — under the “We will throw open the treasure chest” section: > The Library's content, programs, and expertise are national treasures – we are dedicated to sharing them as broadly as possible. The growth of the Library's digital content, which includes our collections, has increased exponentially every year. We will make that content available and accessible to more people, work carefully to respect the expectations of the Congress and the rights of creators, and support the use of our content in software-enabled research, art, exploration, and learning. > Exponentially grow our collections > The Library will continue to build a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. We will expand our digital acquisitions program, as outlined in Collecting Digital Content at the Library of Congress; continue our aggressive digitization program, which prioritizes the Library's unique treasures; and improve search and access services that facilitate discovery of materials in both physical and digital formats. > We will expedite the availability of newly acquired or created content to the web and on-site access systems. This will mean making improvements to the procedures and tools we use to move content from acquisition or creation to access, which will be critical as we continue to experience exponential growth in the size of our digital collection. We will also improve tools to make it easier for Library staff to enhance content after publication, such as adding additional description or information about the conservation of objects.
- js2 4y agoI've been to both these dams. Searching DDG for "Fontana Dam" still brings up a bunch of pictures of Shasta Dam. I wonder how long the correction will take (if ever?) to work its way through the Internet? How long ago did LoC make the correction?
- reaperducer 4y agoThe LoC is a great way to fill up your RSS reader with above average quality content: https://www.loc.gov/subscribe/#blogs https://www.loc.gov/subscribe/#blogs