Usable Digital Data: Historical Society of Washington DC

https://dchistory.pastperfectonline.com/

Rights Information: http://www.dchistory.org/research/reproductions-permissions/

The Historical Society of Washington DC contains thousands of items in their collection that document the over two hundred year history of the city. These items relate to the art, culture, communities, families, individuals, businesses, schools, and churches, that have been part of the history of Washington DC. The items take the form of manuscripts, art, photographs, maps, and books. Their website contains thousands of photos depicting Washington DC over the past century. Since the historical society does not own the copyright to all of the items in their collection, their office needs to be contacted before any of them can be used.

Usable Digital Data: National Archives and Records Administration

https://www.archives.gov/research

Rights Information: https://www.archives.gov/global-pages/privacy.html

The National Archives and Records Administration houses the records of every department and agency of the United States government from the American Revolution up to the present day. On their website, images of federal government records such as census reports, military records, presidential papers, congressional bills, amendments to the US Constitution, and reports by federal agencies can be viewed. Since these documents were created by the federal government, there are in the public domain. The records can be used by individuals as long as the National Archives is given credit as the source of the documents.

Usable Digital Data: Museum of the Bible

https://collections.museumofthebible.org/artifacts

Rights Information: https://www.museumofthebible.org/rights-reproduction

The Museum of the Bible’s website contains digital images that allow the individual to explore the thousands of artifacts that are held in the museum’s collection. The collection includes printed Bibles ranging from the first century AD up to the present day, statues, biblical commentaries, stained glass windows, and photographs. These artifacts tell the story of the history of the Bible from the early days when it was first written down up to the present day. The museum allows the use of its images only for personal or professional study as well as non-commercial use as long as credit is given to the Museum of the Bible.

Usable Digital Data: Prelinger Archives

https://archive.org/details/prelinger

Rights Information: http://www.panix.com/~footage/prelarch.html

The Prelinger Archives contains over eight thousand films that were produced between 1903 and 2019. All of these videos were originally produced on film and are now available to be watched digitally on the Internet Archives. The collection focuses on films that are home movies, amateur, and industrial in their content. Subject material of these films includes, informational videos, commercials, and educational videos. These films are available under a Creative Commons Public Domain License.

Usable Digital Data: NASA Commons on Flickr

Io in Motion

Rights Statement: https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/

The NASA Commons on Flickr contains thousands of photos that document the history and accomplishments of NASA over the last sixty-two years. These photographs cover a wide range of subjects including various astronauts, lunar and space shuttle missions, planets, important figures at NASA, unmanned spacecrafts, and historical aviation. Each photograph contains the date it was taken and a description of what is captured in the photograph. Since these photographs are the property of a federal agency, they are able to be used by the public for a wide variety of reasons while giving NASA credit as the source of the photographs.

Usable Digital Data: J Paul Getty Museum

http://www.getty.edu/museum/

Rights Statement: https://www.getty.edu/legal/copyright.html

The website of the J Paul Getty Museum contains thousands of images that allow the user to explore both the art and research collections of the museum. The collections features antiquities, drawings, manuscripts, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and decorative art, that range from the early Greek and Roman periods to the present day. Under the terms of Getty’s Open Content Program, many images of the items in their collection are in the public domain and can be freely used by an individual. However, use of the images does not mean that Getty approves of any usage and should be credited as the image’s owner.

A Definition of Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities (DH) is a multidisciplinary field that centers around the use of new digital technologies to further research, analysis, collaboration, and presentation of materials, such as data, artifacts, and  records, within the humanities field. The humanities is defined as the study of human society including a variety of fields such as history, economics, art, literature, and law. New technologies offer the opportunity to reshape the humanities field in the ways that knowledge is both obtained and presented to a wider audience beyond just members of the academic community. It is in the convergence of new digital technologies with the areas of knowledge that are covered in the humanities, that digital humanities was formed.

In creating my definition of Digital Humanities, I wanted to encapsulate the vastness of the field. Throughout the different readings, there were a few key points that stood out to me in defining what is Digital Humanities, a multidisciplinary field, the use of new digital technologies, and the collaboration and sharing of ideas. I chose the phase multidisciplinary to reflect a point made by Melissa Terras in her blog post describing Digital Humanities as a “Big Tent.” The idea of Digital Humanities being both a “Big Tent” and multidisciplinary reflects the vast array of different professions, methods of research, and digital tools that can fall under the title of Digital Humanities. Another point that was mentioned in all of the readings was the use of new digital technologies. As mentioned in “A Short Guide to the Digital Humanities,” Digital Humanities involves using new technologies to bring about changes in the humanities field. New digital technologies are meant to change the way we look at the humanities and can provide a new understanding of human society and knowledge previously not possible with traditional methods of research and collaboration. One final point that many of the articles referenced, was the use of new technologies to allow for new levels of collaboration and the sharing of ideas with a wider , and diverse, audiences. Through the use of technology, individuals and groups working on a project are able to share their work not just with members of the academic community, but with the public as a whole.  New digital tools can allow for both collaboration, dissemination and a field that is more inclusive. This sharing and collaboration has been made possible by the field of Digital Humanities allowing modern technology to facilitate goals advancing the agenda of the field.

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