Friday's Video: Film Director Ron Howard Goes Another Round With Your Photos & Project Imaginat10n

Two-time Academy Award® winner Ron Howard has teamed up with Canon U.S.A., Inc., to embark upon a new creative creative exercise called “Project Imaginat10n”.

This newest adventure follows on the heels of 2011’s, “Project Imagin8ion” where in 2011, Ron Howard and Canon U.S.A. invited photographers of all levels to submit their most imaginative photographs based on eight elements of storytelling for an unprecedented user-generated contest. The project set out to prove that photography could be used as a creative vehicle, even inspiring a Ron Howard production.  Nearly 100,000 photos later, eight photos were selected and influenced an award-winning short film, “when you find me,” directed by Howard’s director daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. Digital Directions covered this project in a February 2012 posting.

This year Howard has is aligning with five influential celebrities from five diverse disciplines who will direct short films under his tutelage. Eva Longoria, Jamie Foxx, Biz Stone, Georgina Chapman and James Murphy have signed on for year two of Canon’s “Long Live Imagination” campaign.

Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Imaging Technologies & Communications Group, Canon U.S.A, recently noted, “This time around we’re setting out to prove Ron Howard’s very own words, that ‘we’re all creative,’ aligning with a diverse group of leaders from different fields including TV, film, fashion, music, technology and business who will each use photography to inspire the screenplay of the short film they direct.”

The contest entry period runs from Tuesday, August 14 – Monday, September 24, 2012.  To enter, visit imagination.usa.canon.com and follow the on-screen entry instructions.

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Looking for professional, high quality, high production ways to digitized you printed photographs? Digital Directions sponsor E-Z Photo Scan can help. Visit their site to find out more.

What’s Your Photo Focus? This Octagon Has You Covered!

Eric Gjerde. Octagon Star with Negative Space, WIP, reverse, backlit. 03-Apr-2006. 29-Aug-2012. http://flic.kr/p/bTvq1 

You Are Thumbody!
Look into any mirror and the reflection staring back at you is guaranteed to be someone unique! In fact, we are all so distinct it is possible to take a thumbprint from each of us and no two will be inherently the same. So, we should not be surprised to learn our personal preferences about the photos we take and cherish are also based upon different focuses.

An Octagon of Preferences
An experienced individual familiar with personal photo organizing will understand there are at least eight different points from which people approach their photo collections. Realizing this helps to gain insight into what we believe to be most important and how individuals choose to approach their photograph collections.

1. The Organizer - Always involved in activities connecting people together with an admirable flair of being able to somehow get it all done! Looks to finding ways to use their photos to better connect and share with others. Curious about new technologies that may give them that organizing edge.

2. The Preserver - A saver who has a story for every photo in their collection and wants to make sure it is passed on so generations to come can enjoy the legacy too. Interested in the order of their collection, making sure milestones and timelines are preserved, as much as the photographic images themselves.

3. The Quality of Lifer - Quality counts much more than quantity. Their collections often are comprised of unique one-of-a-kind creations. Always tuned in to the most current trends in displaying personal photos and chronicling their lives through imagery.
4. The Gift Giver - Understands the fundamental reason we take pictures is to share memories. Seeks to fulfill the pursuit of sharing their collections through creative gift giving of personalized photo items. They imagine the possibilities a photo can offer in sharing that special moment or message, then sets about to create it.

5. The Family Archivist - Not only has their photos, but has inherited responsibility for their family’s collections. Usually technology savvy and considered the reliable 'do-er' of the clan, this individual has lots weighing on them as they consider not only how best to tackle their own aggregation of photographs, but also the legacy of family pictures entrusted to them for safe-keeping.

6. The Possibility Dreamer - Driven by an interest in how to make better use of their photo collection. Seeks out possibilities to learn new ways of improving upon their current techniques, which sometimes are less than fully adequate. Technology tips for enhancing access or organization of their collections are guaranteed to stop them in their tracks and warrant a second look.

7. The Celebrate a Lifer - Memories collected through photos may often be the most important thing left behind. Persons who have collections with emotional ties to those they want to celebrate their life with offer an opportunity to extract most completely the mystic power contained within a photograph’s collection to rekindle once-in-a-lifetime memories.

8. The Downsizer - As the baby boomer population ages, this segment is beginning to seek ways to reduce possessions, including their collections. Many welcome new innovative techniques now available to digitize and preserve original paper photographs while allowing full control under compact, mobile conditions.

Getting My Photos Organized With a Personal Photo Organizer
So, just like the other ‘things’ in our lives that may need special attention in order to get organized - many people’s photos, slides and home movies end up in places where they will likely never see the light of day without someone to come alongside and help you make it happen.

That’s where the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (Appo) can help. Its members specialize in understanding this octagon of primary photo collection focuses! Photo Organizers work with clients on a personal level. They will help find the type of solutions that meet your unique needs. As a result, you will be proud to share your collections with family or friends – now and for years to come.

If you would like to talk to someone about your photos and memories, there is an Appo member in your area ready to take on the challenge.

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Organizing and preserving photos is important, and Digital Directions sponsor E-Z Photo Scan can help! Learn more about how photo scanning can help you to keep, protect, share, and connect with your photos. Blog Contributor, Richard (Rick) Lippert, is a Certified Appo Member.

The Inverted C.O.S.S. Pyramid: Beyond Just A Top Down Approach to Your Photos

Let’s face it!
We take photos in order to share treasured moments with one another. Or, perhaps we tuck them away knowing they are simply, like a security blanket, there for us to circle back to and enjoy from time to time, lest we forget or our memories grow hazy.

An Inverted Pyramid
However, if you look at how photographs and treasured documents are integrated into our lives, as a flowchart, what we really want most is to focus on the ‘top down’ perspective.

We imagine the moment our friends will see our images on their Facebook wall, or in our Shutterfly gallery. It isn’t a camera or a disc, or even metadata telling us the when, where or how that is paramount in our thoughts. Instead, it is the photo magnet gift we bought our sister, so she can hang it on the refrigerator door and everyday see your nephew’s goofy grin you just happened to catch at his birthday party last month. Or, it is a life tribute presentation whirling images onto a screen in some quiet chapel as family and friends come to pay their last respects that comes to mind as we speak of...‘pictures’.

A top-down view means putting the end goal out front, and with our photos that means sharing.

The Rest of the Pyramid
Understanding the final destination offers a tremendous aid in choosing how best to navigate the journey to reaching your photo sharing goal. Photos are important and adopting a myopic viewpoint that disregards the other building blocks which lead to the much larger and grander summit of the pyramid allowing you to connect with you pictures through sharing is a surefire way of to spell disaster with any photo collection.

The other components of capture, organize and store play key roles in assuring your photos maintain their rich personal meaning for generations to come. The Library of Congress offers a number personal archiving tips for the preservation of photographs as part of its Digital Preservation initiative. There you gain a better understanding about these other key components to the process of preservation.

Preserving Your Personal Digital Memories
Looking for some help in getting started?

The Library of Congress provides a free online course as a public service to help people in the practice of digital preservation. Bill LeFurgy, from the LOC, offers attendees of this program the opportunity to learn about some simple, practical tips and tools to help you keep your digital memories safe.

Other useful information includes these PDF guidebooks;

• Keeping Personal Digital Photographs 
• Scanning Your Personal Collections (documents, photos)

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Your photos and treasured documents are a vital link to the past. Digitizing them allows you to keep, protect, share & connect with them in new and exciting ways. Visit E-Z Photo Scan to learn more about the possibilities for achieving your digital preservation goals. E-Z Photo Scan is also part of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance and member of its Outreach Working Group.

How Copyright Affects Me in Making or Scanning Photos

Clear as Mud!
Copyright issues can be very confusing. As the worldwide community of Imaging Associations, also known as PMA, notes on their website; ...Determining “Who owns what?”, “How can copies be made?” and “Why is copyright even important?” are questions that frequently arise for image processors and photographers.  

Finding answers to such questions can help to explain why some photos or digital images cannot be copied or altered without the owners’ permission. The PMA offers a number of valuable resources including:

-	Copyright Rules Summary (U.S.)
-	Copyright Transfers
-	Customer Copyright Declaration Form
-	Copyright Tri-Fold Brochure

What is Copyright?
According to the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.

What does copyright protect?
Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.

10 Myths About Copyrights
Moss & Barnett is a dynamic law firm that ranks as one of the top firms in our region and whose attorneys are recognized by their peers as The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. Based in Minnesota, Moss & Barnett traces its history to 1896, when Jesse Van Valkenburg opened his law office in downtown Minneapolis. Today, their litigation skills extend to virtually every area important to business, including intellectual property.

Marsha Stolt is a shareholder and a member of our intellectual property practice area, practicing in the areas of trademark and copyright law. She assists clients in the registration
and enforcement of trademarks and copyrights in the United States and worldwide. She counsels clients on the appropriate use of trademarks and copyrighted material in advertising
and on the Internet and assists clients in preparing licenses and other agreements governing the use of intellectual property. Ms. Stolt has compiled a listing of 10 Copyright Myths that include:

• Myth #1: If it is on the Internet, it is in the Public Domain.
• Myth #2: If it Does Not Have a Copyright Notice, I am Free to Copy it.
• Myth #3: If the Copyright in the Work is Not Registered, it is Not Protected.
• Myth #4:  The Work is Really Old, So it is No Longer Protected.
• Myth #5: What I am Doing is Not for Profit, So it is Fair Use.
• Myth #6: It is Legal to Use the Work if You Give the Author Credit.
• Myth #7: I Only Used a Small Portion of the Work. That Cannot be an Infringement.
• Myth #8: If I Bought the Book, Movie, or CD, I Own the Copyright.
• Myth #9: I Hired Someone to Create a Copyrighted Work for Me, So I Own the Copyright.
• Myth #10: If I am Caught Infringing, I Will Just Stop. What Can They Do to Me?

Download the PDF version of this list, click here.

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Digital Directions is sponsored by E-Z Photo Scan where making professional photo scanning done using high quality, high production scanner is...easy! Visit E-Z Photo Scan to learn more about the possibilities for achieving your digital preservation goals.

Museum Monday: A Big Place Where ‘Forget-Me-Nots’ Bloom & Digital Photograph Archives Point North to the Future!

Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage. “Zies at Baked Mountain Camp.” Circa 1919. 2012-Aug-26. http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cdmg13/id/1405/rec/46

What has 3 million lakes, 29 volcanoes, and 33,000 miles of coastline?
Here’s a clue...it’s big! Need a few more clues?

Well, it’s a state. It’s comprised of 586,400 square miles, or roughly 2 times the size of Texas.

Even the wildlife is huge! There are 1,400 pound polar and Kodiak bears standing up to 11 feet tall ranging through certain areas. Not to mention the moose weighing in at nearly the same, standing 5 feet high carrying a 72 inch rack of fighting hardware on top of their heads.

So, if you guessed Alaska, congratulations, no one can claim you to be a part of ‘Seward’s Folly’!

North to the Future
Although big, Alaska is sparsely populated. But being big seems to be an empowering agent guiding Alaska from here to there, despite the fact the state has less than 750,000 inhabitants.

Alaska’s state motto is: “North to the Future” and it certainly is living up to its capacity of doing big things and to looking ahead in creating an archive of its historical photographs, albums, oral histories, moving images, maps, documents physical objects, tribal histories, and other materials from libraries, museums, tribes, villages and archives throughout the state.  Alaska’s Digital Archives is where you'll find a wealth of the state's historic materials within the online database.

This Archives is comprised of a consortium of 7 different museums, universities & libraries from throughout Alaska. It contains materials in a number of formats, including photographs, museum objects, oral histories, film clips, maps, textual documents and videos. They are housed in a database, easily retrieved, and linked to related objects.

Forget-Me-Nots and Gold Rushes
Alaska's state flower is the alpine ‘forget-me-not’. Just as Alaskans have chosen a motto that points to the future, they also are tuned into remembering their past. The Digital Archives offers just such a portal. For example, its tens of thousands of photographs are open to the public through online access, making it possible to connect with the extensive and rich history that has made this region unique.

Since the late 19th century, reports of gold being found in places throughout Alaska has continued to peak the interest of many as they imagined the possibilities. Whenever news leaked out of a possible discovery miners rushed to the area. Prospecting for gold continues to draw the adventurous, meanwhile, the Alaska Digital Archives offers some of its own golden nuggets of archival treasure waiting to be claimed.

To learn more, or to start a panning expedition of your very own using the nearly 40,000 photos made available by the Alaska Digital Archive’s Consortium members, click here.

Read more about Alaska’s Digital Archives.

Introduction to searching Alaska's Digital Archives

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Digital Directions is sponsored by E-Z Photo Scan. Get started photo scanning today! Learn more about how digitization can help you to keep, protect, share, and connect with your photos.

Friday's Video: Opening Up the World 360 Degrees With Panoramic Photography

François Reincke. Sony Center. 04-Apr-2006. 23-Aug-2012. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/SonyCenter_360panorama.jpg

Run this image in 360 Viewer

Take a series of photos with a 360º view of your subject making sure there is some overlap between the images. Stitch the images together with no missing piece into one wide panorama shot. Upload into a 360 panorama software and you open a whole new world of viewing is opened up.

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Looking for professional, high quality, high production ways to digitized you printed photographs? Digital Directions sponsor E-Z Photo Scan can help. Visit their site to find out more.

The Rising Cost of Acquiring Photo Sharing Websites

Last week, Digital Directions published an article about the bright future of photo storing and sharing. Recently reported data indicates the cost of photo sharing website acquisitions continues to escalates as the popularity and quantity of photos shared rises.

You will find more statistics at Statista.

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Organizing and preserving photos is important, and Digital Directions sponsor E-Z Photo Scan can help! Learn more about how photo scanning can help you to keep, protect, share, and connect with your photos. Blog Contributor, Richard (Rick) Lippert, is a Certified Appo Member.

4 Free Online Ed Programs Helping Move Digital Imaging & Preservation Management From Theory Into Practice

Dan Wheeler. Cornell Library Corner Stone. 2009-Feb-09. 2012-Aug-21. http://flic.kr/p/5WYH2F

A Series of Firsts
It is fitting the educational institution once called, “"the first American university" is host to some of the finest preservation management and digital imaging educational online tutorials. Steeped in tradition and heritage, Cornell University has had reason to jump out front on these topics, given its long tradition of firsts.

The Department of Preservation and Conservation was established in its present form in August 1985 with the appointment of the Cornell University Library's first preservation and conservation librarian, John F. Dean. The New York State landmark Library Omnibus legislation of 1984 (Chapter 917) provided for the designation and funding of eleven comprehensive research libraries to establish and maintain preservation programs. The eleven research libraries: Columbia, Cornell, Rochester, Syracuse, New York Public Library, New York University, New York State Library, State University of New York Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook.

Global Outreach
Initially through higher education courses and workshops, the Department of Preservation and Conservation developed educational programs focused upon the techniques and resources in these disciplines. However, with Cornell’s student body made up of individuals from every state within the United States and 120 countries throughout the world, the preservation and conservation outreach soon focused upon the techniques and resources needs for other regions around the globe. These included areas like the Middle East and Asia.

Armed with the extensive information gained from these and workshops, the Department sought and received funding from National Endowment for the Humanities, Council on Library and Information Resources, and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to create the online educational course: Moving Theory into Practice Digital Imaging Tutorial.

Helping Move More Than Digital Imaging From Theory Into Practice
Moving Theory into Practice Digital Imaging Tutorial offers an intensive session on how to take the concepts or theory of digital imaging and put them into practice. It includes a Spanish and French version along with resources for on-going continuing education. However, Cornell has not stopped there.

The Department of Preservation and Conservation has gone on to offer 3 additional online educational courses. They include; Library Preservation and Conservation: Iraq and the Middle East, Library Preservation and Conservation: Southeast Asia, and the award winning Digital Preservation Management course.

All courses are available online free of charge and offer a wealth of information to help you move from theory into practice. Here again are links to all four:

• Moving Theory into Practice Digital Imaging Tutorial
• Digital Preservation Management
• Library Preservation and Conservation: Iraq and the Middle East
• Library Preservation and Conservation: Southeast Asia

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Digitizing Photos, Documents, & Artifacts: Approaches For Smaller Communities, Organizations, and Private Collectors

Digitizing photos, documents & artifacts
is an important process for smaller
organizations, communities, and private
 collectors yet offers large challenges

Back To The Future!

In May 2001, Trevor Jones was Project Coordinator for the Illinois Digitization Institute. As a part of that role, he published a Technical Insert for the Illinois Heritage Association. It opened with the affirmation;

“We live in an increasingly digital world. Hundreds of libraries, museums and archives have recently launched projects designed to digitize their collections and place them on the web. According to digital expert Stephen E. Ostrow, this trend is both “auspicious and ominous” for cultural heritage institutions. The potential of digital projects to present information in new and important ways seems limitless. Currently, however, digitization remains plagued by confusing standards, changing technologies, and doubts about the long-term viability of digital files.”
More than a decade later these words still ring true.

The Challenges of Keeping Our Stuff...
The community information network for Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding East-Central Illinois region, or Prairienet, points out every library or community institution will acquire artifacts or documents that they may wish to preserve for future generations. Individuals and organizations also create private collections.

Some content may include physical artifacts, which has been digitized or needs to be digitized. Meanwhile, other objects may be born digital.  The key question is how does an institution, organization, or individual especially a small one with limited funding or a small archive go about preserving their collections most effectively?

A Community Informatics Initiative (CII)...Help On Its Way.
Prairienet is an online, interactive part of the Community Informatics Initiative (CII) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This website offers information to students, staff and faculty involved in community informatics at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the Prairienet website is intended for current and future community partners to share experiences and reflections about community-based technology.

At Prairienet, some of the larger issues with digital preservation are addressed while focusing on approaches for smaller community institutions who may not have access to the resources available at larger institutions. There is information addressing issues of:

• Digitization vs. Preservation
• Key Issues
• What is a Community?
• Approaches for Smaller Community Institutions
• Repository Approach
• Community Archives Approach
• Personal Archives Approach
• Digital Archiving Software

Advice Aged Like Fine Wine!
Whether you are a library, museum, organization, or individual engaged in some type of preservation or digitization of artifacts, photographs, or documents; don’t forget Trevor Jones was once Project Coordinator for the Illinois Digitization Institute and wrote his Technical Insert! This article offers some excellent insight into the subject and is still worthy of consideration today.

In it you will find topics about digitization and preservation such as planning, its downside, setting goals, copyright ownership and doing the work in-house vs. outsourced. Also, attention is given to the digitization processes such as scanning photographs and documents since the article was written when being ‘born digital’ was not a part of the preservation lexicon.

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Your photos and treasured documents are a vital link to the past. Digitizing them allows you to keep, protect, share & connect with them in new and exciting ways. Visit E-Z Photo Scan to learn more about the possibilities for achieving your digital preservation goals. E-Z Photo Scan is also part of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance and member of its Outreach Working Group.

Museum Monday: A Museum of Spectacular Photography, Interactive Displays, & More!

National Geographic's website is one of the ways to
explore human culture through photography & displays.

One hundred and twenty four years ago, a group of men who all shared an interest in scientific, geographical knowledge and innate sense of curiosity about the world gathered together in Washington, D.C. These 33 individuals included geographers, explorers, teachers, lawyers, cartographers, military officers and financiers creation has become one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions...the National Geographic Society.  

The NatGeo Musuem
Nestled on the first floor of the National Geographic Society’s headquarters in Washington, DC., the National Geographic Museum hosts exhibits exploring nature and human cultures of all over the world through spectacular photography and interactive displays. The NatGeo Museum appeals to all visitors. It also remains socially active interacting with tens of thousands of individuals virtually via Facebook and a special NatGeo Museum Blog.
At NatGeo, photography plays an intricate role in opening up the world to exploration. Its museums, magazines, websites and educational programs bring the experiences up close and make them personal through the outstanding use of photography.

A Museum That Comes To You
National Geographic produces a wide range of public programs, including exhibits, speaker series, films, concerts and special events for not only the NatGeo Museum located in the Washington, D.C. headquarters, but also in select locations around the U.S. and abroad.

These sites currently include:

• Austin, TX
• Bellingham, WA
• Calgary, AB
• Charlotte, NC
• Chicago, IL
• Dallas, TX
• Dayton, OH
• Indianapolis, IN
• Kansas City, MO
• Los Angeles, CA
• Melbourne
• Mystic, CT
• Olympia, WA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Portland, OR
• San Francisco, CA
• Santa Ana, CA
• Santa Barbara, CA
• Santa Rosa, CA
• Seattle, WA
• St. Paul, MN
• Sidney, NSW
• Tampa, FL
• Toronto, ON
• Valencia, Spain

The National Geographic reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

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Organizing and preserving photos is important, and Digital Directions sponsor E-Z Photo Scan can help! Learn more about how photo scanning can help you to keep, protect, share, and connect with your photos.