There is a third reason they may be sensitive about photographs. Theft.
The National Museum for Military History has introduced a no-photography
policy following a number of incidents of theft. Criminals would take
photos of high value, small items and use those to compile a shopping
list when planning the crime.
Nick
On 06/06/2013 10:54, Douglas Scott wrote:
Hi Oarabile,
Expanding and enhancing connections and relations with museums
(especially outstanding ones like the Apartheid Museum) here in South
Africa is definitely on Wikimedia ZA's to do list. I have not talked
to that museum directly my self as I am located in Cape Town but I
have talked to the Natural History Museum and they seem open to
building a strong relationship with the local Wiki community. I
suspect the same would likely be true of the Apartheid Museum in
Johannesburg.
I think there are two likely reasons why the Apartheid Museum is so
sensitive about photographs.
1. Fear that too much flash photography by museum goers will damage
exhibits
2. Unclear copyright policies of material hosted and/or owned by
government departments (I think this is a lesser issue that
largely sits at the back of peoples minds)
The first one is easy to get around if it is a group of Wikimedians
coming in for a special behind the scenes GLAM event similar to the
Ice Age event
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/British_Museum/Ice_Age_art>that
the UK Chapter hosted. The second one I think is a lesser problem
that can be got around in the short term through simple relationship
building and outreach. In the long term it has deeper implications
for access to data (for example) and other material from government
departments that involves questions around open data and developing a
clear government policy around copyright issues of its own material,
this is more complex.
Cheers,
Douglas.
On 6 June 2013 00:27, Oarabile Mudongo <mudongo.oarabile(a)gmail.com
<mailto:mudongo.oarabile@gmail.com>> wrote:
Greetings Fellow Wikipedians
I happened to visit the Apartheid Museum in South Africa this week
and i must say it is one of the few museums Ii have visited in my
life with so much vital asserts and information that the future
generations of this world would really need for tomorrow.It is
also one of the museums that are so emotional due to the
documentaries you see playing on the screens and generally the
pictures of how people lived during Apartheid time, because of the
vast information found from within the Museum which i think from
my own perspective my worry lies much in the issue of *COPY RIGHT.*
*
*
"The Apartheid Museum in South Africa is read through the lens of
a condition of 'prepossession', where histories of trauma continue
to haunt a site while manifesting effectively through spatial
ambiguities, which lead to an experience of 'empathetic
unsettledness'. Paradoxes concerning the provenance of the
building and its location are discussed. An analysis follows of
changing registers of spatiality through selected key areas of the
complex, with reference to Henri Lefebvre's analysis of
alternative experiences of space. His notion of 'lived' space is
applicable to trauma architecture as discussed by concentration
camp researcher Wolfgang Sofsky. It is argued that the building
critically performs a content which exceeds the limits of
representation, thus engendering a sense of embodied unease.
Further complications include the appropriation of suffering in
dialectical tension with a moving commemoration of apartheid
iniquities".*
*
*
*
I tried getting some photos of some of the things i thought they
could benefit us a movement and share them on Wikimedia Commons
maybe also for community engagement projects such as
JoburgpediA,Wiki Loves Monuments and other GLAM projects but i was
denied such an opportunity.I was seriously hurt and just let
down.May i kindly recommend you to keep good partnership with the
museum and try lobby for free copy right for easier sharing of
their resources on Wikipedia and its sister projects.
Kind Regards
--
*Oarabile Joseph Mudongo*
*Cellphone: **+26774899486 / +26774131307 <tel:%2B26774131307>\*
*mudongo.oarabile(a)gmail.com <mailto:mudongo.oarabile@gmail.com>*
*mudongo.oarabile(a)yahoo.com <mailto:mudongo.oarabile@yahoo.com>*
*_/Wikipedia Volunteer/Editor @ Wikimedia Foundation/_*
**
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Douglas Ian Scott
司道格
Skype: douglas0scott
South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 872
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