[Foundation-l] Public domain Mickey Mouse. At last.

[Dominic McDevitt-Parks]

On 2 November 2011 00:40, Yann Forget <yannfo at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Indeed, you are right. This is a great addition to Commons.
> I am going through it now, and I have questions.
>
> In some cases, I found that there are better quality images than the
> ones we have.
> Where do they come from?
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joan_Baez_Bob_Dylan.jpg
> This version is of higher resolution than the original TIFF
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_Rights_March_on_Washington,_D.C._(Entertainment-_closeup_view_of_vocalists_Joan_Baez_and_Bob_Dylan.),_08-28-1963.tif
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washakie.jpg
> This version is of much better quality, but lower resolution, than the
> original TIFF
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washakie_(Shoots-the-Buffalo-Running),_a_Shoshoni_chief,_half-length,_seated,_holding_pipe_-_NARA_-_530875.tif
>
> It seems that the TIFF is not directly available, or I am dumb
> http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=530875
>
>
Yes, in fact, in *all* cases the TIFFs being uploaded are better quality
than the ones we have. :-) As the Wikipedian in Residence, I have obtained
the actual master files, which were never before made available to the
public or on the online catalog. These are the files I am uploading, making
Commons the only place you can find this NARA high-res content anywhere. I
am also uploading a JPG version to go along with each TIFF. One consequence
is that we'll need some help resolving the duplicates that this is
generating, since there are thousands of the old scaled-down images on
Commons and used in articles, but we can't replace them with superior
quality versions until someone has gone through and made the matching edits
(cropping, color correction, etc.) to the new ones that were made to the
old ones.


> In cases of art work, we have black and white images, where the
> original was in color.
> Would it be possible to have a color version?
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Pilate_Washing_Hands_and_Feet%22,_1964_-_NARA_-_558811.tif
>
>
That is the way that series was scanned. It is unknown why (these are from
the '90s), but it should be noted that these are merely scans of prints of
the original artworks, in any case. This set is also a special case, where
they were donated to the institution; while NARA has a lot of graphic works
(like the war posters), most of it is not purely artistic in origin, since
they are US federal records.

Dominic