[okfn-discuss] Fwd: ICONCLASS data?

Mon Jan 5 20:35:23 UTC 2009

I just heard from Etienne Posthumus of ICONCLASS - he gave me
permission to reproduce his response on this list.

Hopefully the next release will be dedicated to the public domain!

Jonathan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Hi Jonathan

Glad you like it. ICONCLASS has been around for more than 30 years, so
it has been worked on by a  LOT of people over the years. Initially in
the print version it spanned many bookshelves, then it was
computerised in the late eighties, improved and translated into many
languages in the nineties, and since the late nineties I have been
working on several versions and applications of it in a few projects.

The version on iconclass.info was a bit of a hurried hack cobbled
together late last month when Ed Summers had to close down the
lcsh.info. I had been planning on doing something similar but was
forced to hurry up a bit with the idea of 'getting it out there' while
topical.

I need to clarify with the current official stewards of ICONCLASS -
the RKD (http://www.rkd.nl) which license they would prefer. My
understanding is that it will probably be something like Public Domain
or Copyleft- this is what we have been advising them to use. In the
first quarter of 2009 I will be developing a back-end management
module for the RKD, and one of the parts thereof will be the RDF
export option. Having an explicit (and open!) license will definitely
be displayed.

Thanks so much for the tips on the The Public Domain Dedication and
License and buttons, I will be passing on the info to the RKD
management and recommend that it be used. Myself and colleague Hans
Brandhorst act as the ICONCLASS external experts for the RKD.

Kind regards,

Etienne Posthumus

PS, while not open data if you are interested metadata and images in
general, http://www.arkyves.org/ might be interesting too. (This is a
practical application of the ICONCLASS system)