This post is by Peter Krogh, photographer and digital asset management expert. Check out his tips in our Up and Running series. Cover photo by Peter Krogh.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural symposium presented by the National Digital Initiatives (NDI) team. The NDI is a new “startup” run by my friend Kate Zwaard within the Library of Congress. It is working to create innovative approaches to digital collections. The day-long symposium examined the concept of collections as data. It was a blue-sky topic, looking at the intersection of libraries, media, big data, knowledge and practical applications.
The keynote of the event, presented by Jer Thorp of the independent Office of Creative Research was an inspiring and thought-provoking talk. Jer and his team look for new ways to analyze and visualize data to provide insight. In this talk, called “Humans and Data, a Love Story,” he presents some of his work and the philosophy that drives him. He also presents some ideas about how to make the collection and use of data more humane, and more in service of people, rather than the other way around.
As I watched the presentation, it struck me how the data attached to photos could power some valuable analysis, and, conversely, how the data analysis could help make photos more valuable.
The video below includes his 40 minute talk, as well as all the talks from that day. If you are interested in how the media libraries we are building can be better understood, I suggest watching. Jer helps you to approach the impersonal nature of big data by thinking in human-centric, rather than data-centric terms.
Note that one of the projects that he presents includes some profanity.
