Public Domain Photo Project

WORTH 60 POINTS (OUT OF 300)

Due: Oct. 11
(Monday by 10 pm)

 

This project has 4 components. First, it's a serious research project where you will find and familiarize yourself with research from professors at UNI who teach and work in our History Dept. Second, it's a photo-research project, where you are asked to locate at least 10 images that are in the public domain to support your professor’s work. Third, it's a documentation project: you will create a professional table (developed in Word). Fourth, you will create a creative interactive audio slideshow with the photographs you found, ORIGINAL CAPTIONS, and ORIGINAL MUSIC.

A. Pick a Topic B. Research the Topic C. Document the Photographs D. Create an Interactive Audio Slideshow

 

A.      Find. Pick a topic from the list provided below (We will pick in class).

B.     Research. Find an article or book related to your topic. Search Rod Library and the Scholarlay Databases, Google Scholar, and if you having trouble get a Rod Librarian to help you. You will draw upon this research for your captions and to ground your visual project.

By now you should be familiar with what public domain means, and with the limitations of public domain. Now, start looking for public domain media (photographs, video, audio), or media that can be freely used to enhance your professor’s research (Creative Commons (Attribution/Noncommercial Use).    Here is some more information about the creative commons and the range of licensing arrangements available under the commons (http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses).


Archives:

1.     Wikimedia Commons. Note the permissions page, which states whether the photo you’re looking at is in the PD or needs attribution. NO MORE THAN 4 IMAGES ALLOWED FROM WIKIPEDIA.

2.     Oaister .  Choose “Search” and then limit your research type to “Image,” “audio,” or “video.”

3.     Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

4.     New York Public Library Digital Gallery

5.     Creative Commons Search

6.     Library of Congress , and more specifically, The American Memory Project and the Prints and Photographs Online Catalogue 

7.     University of Iowa Digital Library Every University today has developed some significant photographic archives.  Your professor may know of a particular university library that specializes in the subject you are investigating (then again, they may not!)

 

  Research Criteria:

1. Only 4 images from Wikimedia Commons Allowed.

2. You MUST Contact a Librarian. You will likely find many of your images in WikiCommons.  But a requirement for this project is at LEAST TWO IMAGES MUST COME FROM A NONPROFIT DIGITAL ARCHIVE/UNIVERSITY ARCHIVE, and be CLEARED by a librarian.  You can contact a librarian via email or telephone. You’ll find that they’re incredibly nice!   Your professor may know of a library that specializes in the research area. Again, any major university’s digital library! *University librarians are the best, they WANT to help you!  So don’t be shy). 

 

To help you with this, here are some guidelines for what you should say (a PHONE CALL WOULD BE MUCH QUICKER THAN EMAIL!!!):

Dear XXXX,
I am working with a history professer at the University of Northern Iowa, Dr. ______ , who is an expert on ____________. I am researching images--preferably in the public domain--to compliment Professor _________'s research. I have located some ideal images for this noncommercial, educational project within your digital archives. The specific images I'm interested in are XXXX and YYYYY. Could you please help me with the following:
a) would your library/archive allow this professor to publish these images for a non-profit educational project, and if so, would their be any requirements (a specific attribution for example)?
b) would there be a minimum cost involved in securing these images, or higher quality versions of these images?
Thank you in advance for helping me with this research. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

With kind regards,
YOUR NAME

3. YOU MUST Document Image Quality.  Make sure the images you find are of the HIGHEST possible resolution.  Store the images in a separate folder (that you’ll hand in to me and to your prof) and name them according to how you list them (1. XXX) on the form (described below).

4. BEWARE OF FLICKR, GOOGLE SEARCH, Yahoo Image Search:  These are commercial photo databases.  Note:  Flickr has some Creative Commons search areas at the bottom menu of your topic search results. Note:  “Public” on Flickr is not the same as “public domain.” “Public” just means that the author has chosen to share an image on Flickr with the entire public, rather than a specific group. 

C.     Document Photographs
HAND IN:
1. Word Doc Table
2. A separate file containing your highest quality images (number your photographs according to how they are listed in your table). ALL photographs must be converted to JPGs
HAND THESE BOTH IN ON A CD OR DVD

Create a Word Doc Table (file/Table/insert table) with the following information:

a)       IMAGE + link to the original source:  where you found the image.  Make SURE that this link is active, and that it’s connected to the page that contains background info about the image. ALSO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR THUMBNAILS ARE TINY...THE DOCUMENT WON'T PRINT/SAVE ADEQUATELY IF YOUR IMAGES ARE HUGE.

b)     Description of image

c)      Photo contact information; other relevant public domain, attribution, GNU Documentation, or Creative Commons status info about image.  BE SPECIFIC.

d)     Proof that this image is highest quality:  pixel #

e) YOUR CAPTION (must be original, must be informative and based on research, must NOT be plagiarized)..CAPTIONS will be used in Interactive Slideshow part of the document.

f) Save document as a PDF File (File/Print/PDF/Save as PDF)

e) email me the PDF.

This is approximately what your porject should NOT look like....note all the mistakes this student did....if you want a good grade, do NOT hand in a document with such rotten, sloppy research!

Here are two examples of excellent work (NOTE: these were done before I required the original caption column):

Example 1

Example 2

D. Interactive Audio Slideshow.

 

INTERACTIVE SLIDESHOW COMPONENT

 

slideshow

 

Using the images you have found on your topic (and documented in your table), BUILD A SLIDESHOW NARRATIVE complete with audio (that you will compose) and captions (that you will write--NOT plagiarize).  You will be using SoundSlides software, which you can download onto your computer (demo version is just fine for this project--you don't have to buy the software, but you will need to have a Flash Reader on your computer), OR you can go use the Soundslides software in the lab (CHECK HERE FOR LANG 212 LAB HOURS) 

 

We will demonstrate how to use SoundSlides in class; it is very user friendly and you shouldn't have problems with the software, but here is an additional tutorial if you need extra help.  The challenge of this exercise is to make a slideshow that is compelling both in terms of visuals and storytelling. 

 

·       Theme:  Using the research you have done from your professor's topic, you should choose a consistent theme in which to present your images . The focus is documentary style/nonfiction for your content…we’re not doing fictional stories with this exercise. 

 

·       Photos:  Make sure you are using the highest resolution possible in every one of your photos.  If a photo has very low resolution and is pixelated in the slideshow, consider dropping it.  If you are comfortable with Photoshop, feel free to crop or digitally manipulate your images if it makes sense to your narrative.   Think carefully about photo order.  You should have about 8-10 images in your slideshow. You will have to use ONLY jpgs in your slideshow. You can convert your images using Media-Convert, Zamzar, or Photoshop (File/Open image, Save As, Jpg (under format)

·       Audio:  You will compose an audio track using Garageband. Pay attention to Length. The audio should be short enough so that the photos fit comfortably in the audio timeframe, allowing readers to read your captions without rushing—30-seconds to 1 minute.  We’ll go over Garage Band in class. If you forget stuff, here is a garageband tutorial. You must export your audio as an MP3 file. Go to Share/Export Song to Disk, and where it says "CompressUsing:" choose "MP3 Encoder.

 

·       Captions:  Keep the captions short, yet try to be a little poetic, try to WRITE WELL, and base your captions on YOUR PROFESSOR'S RESAERCH.  Your captions must be original, and they must say something extremely worthwhile about the photograph.  Look to the New York Times as a guide.  Not every caption needs to even be an entire sentence, BUT, your captions should NOT duplicate what your photos are showing.  They should let us learn something new, take us to another level in terms of understanding your subject matter.  They should be well-written and NOT contain any typos.  Typos will reduce your grade.

 

·       Saving your Slideshow: EXPORT YOUR SLIDESHOW...by doing so you'ld create a "PUBLISH TO WEB" folder. You need the ENTIRE PUBLISH TO WEB FOLDER saved to the CD to make the slideshow work.  When all those folders are in one place, you activate the slideshow by opening up either the index.html file or the .swf file (marked with a little blue "f" in a circle). But you need all the other folders and files in that same folder saved on the CD, b/c the .swf file will draw upon them in playing back your slideshow.  For example, in the image I'm attaching, I want to copy all of  "Project 4" (I could have named the project anything, but here it's Project 4) onto a CD, so the CD will have all the accompanying folders.

 

slideshow

 

 

 

 

 

 

DO YOU SEE THE PUBLISH TO WEB FOLDER IN THERE?? Rename it YOUR NAME.   BURN IT TO A DISK ALONG WITH THE WORD TABLE AND THE FILE OF IMAGES RELATING TO YOUR TABLE. HAND IT IN BY 10 PM MONDAY NIGHT.

 

 

AUDIO SLIDESHOW BEST PRACTICES.

 

Hotel Poverty

The Hidden Poor

MonkeyWitch (two four-part series)

Wake Up South America!

Orphaned by Aids

Crooked Road

Land of Opportunity

Free at Last

 

 

 

 

Available at the NYTimes Audio Slideshow website:

Check out:

A Big Red Revival          

Three Days With Fidel

The Lourdes of Twang

Color and Light  

Blowing Off Steam

Photographer's Journal

A Place to Pamper Pets

My First Fashion Week

An Offering of Cleanliness

Dickie V Returns, Baby

Betsey Johnson Celebrates 30 Years of Fashion

Another Chance for Vicks Dogs

Snowshoeing the Trails of Beaver Creek, Colo.

American Exception: The Bail Bondsman

This Land: Signs for a Son

 

 

 

 

 

Grading Criteria: Followthrough, Ambition, Professionalism, Creativity, Research, Thoroughness, Attentiont to Detail.

 

TOPICS:
UNI History Department:  Faculty biographies

  1. Dr. Baskerville examines the history of African-America musical forms, emphasizing the blues.  His book, The Impact of Black Nationalist Ideology on American Jazz Music of the 1960’s and 1970’s was published by Edward Mellen Press in 2003
  2. Dr. Pablo Ben: Research: Dr. Ben, a native of Argentina, examines the evolution of gay culture in Argentina in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 
  3. Dr. Alicia Boruta-Sadkowski: Belarusian literary language in the 1920s and 1930s and the influence of Russian and Polish on this development.
  4. Dr. Richard Broadie: the history of agricultural reform movements.
  5. Dr. Greg Bruess’s research interests center on the Eastern Orthodox world.  He has published works on religion, identity, and empire in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia.  Currently, Professor Bruess is working on popular belief and pilgrimage as it is manifested at a miracle-working shrine in southern Greece.
  6. Dr. Tom Connors has published several pieces on the history of Ireland during the Reformation;
  7. Dr. Tom Connors’ current research focuses on the social history of death and burial practices.
  8. Dr. Barbara Cutter is the author of Domestic Devils, Battlefield Angels: the Radicalism of American Womanhood, 1830-1865, (DeKalb IL: Northern Illinois Press, 2003)
  9.  Dr. Barbara Cutter’s most recent publication is, “The Female Indian Killer Memorialized: Hannah Duston and the Nineteenth-Century Feminization of American Violence,” Journal of Women’s History (Summer 2008), Vol 20, No. 2: 10-33. 
  10. Dr. Barbara Cutter is also currently working on a book length project: “‘Away from the barbarisms of civilization:’ Northwoods Vacations and the Culture of Outdoor Recreation in America, 1850s-1920s”
  11. Dr. Bob Dise: Roman Army; Roman Britain;
  12. Dr. Trudy Eden is interested in the history of ideas and the actions they inspire, especially in the history of science and medicine. She has published two books, one on cooking in early America
  13. Dr. Trudy Eden is interested in the history of ideas and the actions they inspire, especially in the history of science and medicine. She has published two books, one on cooking in early America
  14. Dr. Trudy Eden: the other on food and identity in early America
  15. Dr. Trudy Eden: The history of botany in early America.
  16. Dr. Lou Fenech: Sikhs in Punjabi India
  17. Joanne Abel Goldman: Building New York’s Sewers. 
  18. Reinier H. Hesselink: Japan's Relations with the Outside World
  19. Reinier H. Hesselink: Samurai Culture,
  20. Reinier H. Hesselink: Mounted Archery in the East Asian Context
  21. Wallace Hettle: the career of the Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson
  22. Charles Holcombe: The Genesis of East Asia, 221 B.C.-A.D. 907
  23. Charles Holcombe In the Shadow of the Han: Literati Thought and Society at the Start of the Southern Dynasties (University of Hawai’i Press, 1994).
  24. John W. Johnson ohnson has published 6 books and numerous shorter pieces on topics in twentieth century American legal/constitutional history.  He has also edited a two-volume encyclopedia on leading American court cases.  
  25. John W. Johnson His most recent book, a study of affirmative action in America, was published in 2009.
  26. Jay Lees: the tenth-century nun, poet, and playwright, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim
  27. Emily Machen: Dr. Machen studies the changing roles in Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish women within their religious communities in early twentieth-century France.
  28. Donna J. Maier: Pre-Colonial African Economic History; Asante; Maasai
  29. Robert F. Martin: Research Interests and Publications:  Professor Martin’s primary research thus far has focused on the conjunction of religion and society in the nineteenth and twentieth century United States.  His most recent book is Hero of the Heartland: Billy Sunday and the Transformation of American Society, 1862-1935
  30. Brian Roberts: American Popular Music and Culture, 19th-Early 20th Centuries
  31. Brian Roberts: Perceptions and Politics of the Frontier and Wilderness in the United States, 1870-1970
  32. Brian Roberts: Class Culture and the California Gold Rush, 1830s-1870s
  33. Konrad Sadkowski: Nationalism and Religion National Identity Modern Poland
  34. Donald E. Shepardson: Rosa Luxemburg and the Noble Dream. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1996.
  35. Donald E. Shepardson “The Fall of Berlin and the Rise of a Myth,” The Journal of Military History, vol 62 (Januar, 1998), 135-153.
  36. “A Faraway Country: Munich Reconsidered,” The Midwest Quarterly (Autumn, 2006), 81-99.
  37. David A. Walker: Professor Walker is interested in western economic and political history, especially mining, transportation, and territorial government. He has published a book on the Minnesota Iron Range
  38. avid A. Walker: a biographical directory of territorial governors
  39. Carol A. Weisenberger: Professor Weisenberger’s research focuses on policy issues and programs, particularly the National Youth Administration,
  40. Charlotte C. Wells: Professor Wells researches the development of a sense of national identity in early modern France and has published a book and several articles on topics related to this theme. Her most recent article, “Loathsome Neighbors and Noble Savages: Images of the Other in Antoine de Montchrétien” appeared in the journal Espirit Créateur in Spring, 2008.
  41. Australian sheep farming
  42. Hungarian revolution (1956)