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

[Yann Forget]

2011/11/2 Dominic McDevitt-Parks <mcdevitd at gmail.com>:
> 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. :-)

No. I just showed 2 examples of the opposite.

> 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.

Most images need a restoration. But we can do that now that we have
high resolution TIFF.
Obviously it will take years to do all this.

>> 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.

OK.

> Dominic

Yann