Net Neutrality Day of Action

Network Neutrality, a founding principle of the Internet, is the concept of online non-discrimination. “It is the principle that consumers/citizens should be free to get access to—or to provide—the Internet content and services they wish, and that consumer access should not be regulated based on the nature or source of that content or service. Information providers—which may be websites, online services, etc., and who may be affiliated with traditional commercial enterprises but who also may be individual citizens, libraries, schools, or nonprofit entities—should have essentially the same quality of access to distribute their offerings. ” (ALA, http://www.ala.org/advocacy/telecom/netneutrality)

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed undoing the 2015 net neutrality rules and is accepting public comments on this measure.  In response, July 12 has been declared a Day of Action. Over 100 popular websites will display a message informing people what Net Neutrality is and why it is important.  This message will prevent people from viewing the normal site until they either fill out the comment form and submit it to the FCC or click away.  Some sites which will display the message include the American Library Association, Netflix, Twitter, and Amazon.  Google and Facebook are participating.

Find out why Net Neutrality matters at  http://www.ala.org/advocacy/telecom/netneutrality.

Sexy Codicology — they code for the love of codices!

What is Sexy Codicology? An independent project that aims to expand interest and awareness of medieval illuminated manuscripts to the widest audience possible through social media. They discover and explore digitized special collections around the world, hunting for beautiful illuminated manuscripts which they share on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest as well as their blog Sexy Codicology. They have also developed Maps of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts Available Online and Codicology where they explain the basics of the various types of manuscripts. And they have developed a manuscript app — the DMMapp — that links to more than 500 libraries in the world from which users can browse digitized manuscripts. DMMapp is open source and always looking for contributions in its development as well as additional library collections for new content.

Happy Belated Public Domain Day!

Last month, the Public Domain Review announced its “Class of 2017” — their top picks of artists whose works have now entered the public domain as of January 1, 2017. Among the newly free artists: André Breton, László Moholy-Nagy, Gertrude Stein, Alfred Stieglitz, Buster Keaton, and Mina Loy.

Trump and the arts

gif by Hrag Vartanian / Hyperallergic

Want to know what the future holds for the NEA and the NEH during the Trump years?

Here is some suggested reading:

“Trump Team Plans to Eliminate National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities,” Hyperallergic, January 19, 2017
“Trump Reportedly Wants to Cut Cultural Programs that Make Up 0.02 Percent of Federal Spending,” The Washington Post, January 19, 2017
“What Trump’s Proposed Spending Cuts Could Mean for the Arts Economy,” Fortune, January 19, 2017
“Trump Reportedly Wants to Eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities,” artnet news, January 19, 2017
“NEH on the Chopping Block?”, Inside Higher Ed, January 20, 2017
“No Deal for the Arts: It’s No Surprise that Donald Trump Wants to Tell the Arts and Humanities ‘You’re Fired,'” Salon.com, January 22, 2017
“CAA Statement on Government Spending Cuts for Arts and Humanities,” CAA (College Arts Association), January 23, 2017
“As Trump Threatens the NEA, an Artist Compiles LL the Projects It Funded Last Year,” Hyperallergic, January 25, 2017
“What if Trump Really Does End Money for the Arts?”, The New York Times, January 30, 2017

Why your Art History class may be the most important class you take

In “The Art of learning: Why art history might be the most important subject you could study today,” Art historian Noah Charney argues that the study of art history and a humanities-based education is more important than ever.  The emphasis placed on the study of STEM subjects can diminish the perceived value of the humanities major, leading some to view these disciplines as purely whimsical and unpractical. In fact, Charney points to John Berger and his groundbreaking book Ways of Seeing to show how Art history develops the skills that increase critical thinking which are especially important in this age of fake news and alternative facts.

Read the entire article here.

Aberdeen Bestiary online

The Aberdeen Bestiary (MS 24), considered one of the finest medieval examples of the illuminated manuscript, is now available online thanks to Aberdeen University’s decades long effort to make the entire manuscript publicly available. Access to high-resolution images have given historians a close look at its gorgeous illuminations as well as a new perspective on the history and construction of the manuscript: imperfections now visible indicate numerous  scribes took part in its creation; notes and instructions between  scribes are visible in margins; thumb prints reveal frequent use as a teaching tool. In addition to the high resolution images, transcripts and translations of the original Latin text are available.

Read more about the project on the University Aberdeen project site and in a review of the project by Hyperallergic.

Nationalmuseum releases 3,000 images on Wikimedia Commons

The Nationalmuseum Stockholm is making 3,000 high-resolution images of its most popular artworks available for free download on Wikimedia Commons. Because the Nationalmuseum is currently closed for renovation, only a small part of the collections is accessible to the public. “To provide more opportunity for people to enjoy its artworks, the museum embarked last year on a joint project with Wikimedia Sweden. As a result, high-resolution images of some 3,000 paintings from the collections are now available for download on Wikimedia Commons as public domain. This means they are part of our shared cultural heritage and can be freely used for any purpose. The images are also now zoomable, but not currently downloadable, in Nationalmuseum’s online database.

Link to images on Wikipedia Commons

James Turrell and David Adjaye at SXSL

Today, Ocotber 3, James Turrell and David Adjaye will participate in “Hard Things are Hard: A Conversation with James Turrell and David Adjaye for the Breakfast Session of SXSL. SXSL or South by South Lawn, is President Obama’s response to Austin’s SXSW (South by Southwest). SXSL presents a series of conversations and performances on the topic of civic engagement.

For the full schedule, go here.

The festival will stream live at WhiteHouse.gov, Facebook.com/WhiteHouse and sxsw.com/live

It’s official — TB-9 is a Historic Place

The National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources have recognized what we have known all along: that TB-9 (Temporary Building 9) is an amazingly significant and historic place. Even though it’s not much to look at, this past April the NRHP included TB-9 on is register of historic places worthy of preservation. According to the NRHP, TB-9 was added “because it is the site where the Funk Figurative Ceramics Movement began, a movement that was influential in altering the history of Ame
rican ceramics” and “because Robert Arneson, a nationally acclaimed ceramic artist who started the Funk Figurative Ceramics Movement, produced his most significant and influential work in his studio at TB-9.”

You can read the complete TB-9 NRHP Listing here.

The Silk Road meets the Information Superhighway

The Silk Road and the information superhighway have intersected at “Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road.” This exhibition, currently at the Getty Center in LA until September 4, is the joint effort of the Getty Conservation Institute, the Dunhuang Academy and the Chinese government who share a goal to protect and conserve the ancient decorated temples known as the Mogao Grottoes. This partnership has existed for 27 years and has employed the Getty’s “whole-body medicine” approach to preservation which involves a holistic, all encompassing assessment of the site (weather, temperature, geologic stability etc.) in addition to an evaluation of artistic styles and materials.

You can read more about their joint conservation work here and learn more about the exhibition, including installation videos here.