[okfn-discuss] Fwd: Press Release: 150 years of polar expedition photos available online

Wed Mar 4 17:38:42 UTC 2009

Large collection of images from the Scott Polar Research Institute,
published under "Open Education User Licence version 1.0":

  http://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/information/rights

Lots of interesting photos!

Unfortunately this isn't open, as it doesn't allow commercial re-use
without permission. Does anyone know about how/when the license was
drafted - and whether there is/was any opportunity to give feedback?

J.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Press Release
Today, 4th March 2009, sees more than 20,000 photos from 150 years of polar
expeditions available online. These images have been made accessible by the
Scott Polar Research Institute, thanks to a digitisation programme funded by
JISC.

As part of the preservation programme, negatives, daguerreotypes and lantern
slides, which form part of a rich but fragile archive held by the Scott
Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, are now available
to scientists, researchers, scholars and members of the public.

As well as being able to view a range of images, including Herbert Ponting’s
glass plate negatives from the 1910-13 British Antarctic Expedition, that
are so fragile  they will never be on public display, visitors to the
website will also be able to read extracts from diaries, expedition reports,
letters and other personal papers of expedition members.

Polar Explorer Pen Hadow, who is currently leading the Catlin Arctic Survey
which will determine the likely meltdown date of the ice cap, said: “The
Freeze Frame archive is invaluable in charting changes in the polar regions.
Making the material available to all will help with further research into
scientific studies around global warming and climate change.”

Heather Lane, Librarian and Keeper of Collections at the Scott Polar
Research Institute, said: “The digitisation of these historic photographs
allows the Scott Polar Research Institute’s resources to reach a wider
learning community than ever before. Without this JISC-funded project we
risked losing some of the most fragile of items forever and certainly
wouldn’t be able to give so many people access to otherwise hidden
collections that can further the study of polar environments.”

Alistair Dunning, Digitisation Programme Manager at JISC, added: “This is
one of over a dozen JISC-funded projects which aim to take valuable content
that is not easily accessible by scholars or other interested parties and
make it available to all. Freeze Frame will provide an unparalleled record
of the living conditions and scientific findings of the explorers which can
be used by learners today studying everything from photography and nutrition
to global warming and glaciology.”

A new exhibition, Face to Face, featuring some of the historic photographic
portraits discovered during the Freeze Frame project, is currently on a UK
tour and opens at Discovery Point, Dundee on 7th March.

For additional information visit www.jisc.ac.uk or the Freeze Frame archive
www.freezeframe.ac.uk

-- 
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://www.okfn.org