Flickr: The Commons

Flickr have just announced The Commons, a collaboration where the Library of Congress has placed over 3000 images from their collection on Flickr. These images have been selected, based upon them not having any known copyright issues.This is similar to what has been done with Picture Australia here at the National Library, but in reverse. Picture Australia incorporates Flickr images with images from Australian cultural institutions – bringing the masses to the museums. The Commons works in reverse, bringing the museums to the masses. This model opens up huge range of possibilities that just aren’t possible with the current version of Picture Australia. Now a user can easily add tags, comments, notes or add location data, greatly enchancing the value of the collections.It’s currently limited to the Library of Congress, but hopefully more museums, libraries and galleries will be added to the project in the near future.