Using flickr to provide access
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The document discusses the efforts of Jenny Scott from the State Library of South Australia to digitize and share historical photographs of RNZAF No. 6 Squadron members from World War II on Flickr. After collecting these images and related records, she aimed to connect the subjects with their descendants and create an accessible digital repository. The project utilized Web 2.0 technologies to enhance public access, ultimately resulting in substantial family engagement and historical collaboration regarding the squadron's history.
Using flickr to provide access
- 1. Using Flickr to provide public access to private and public collections. Paper presented at the ASA / ARANZ / PARBICA joint conference Brisbane 16 October 2009 Jenny Scott Content Services Librarian State Library of South Australia
- 2. Using Flickr to provide public access to private and public collections Jenny Scott State Library of South Australia
- 3. On 14 August 1945 when the announcement of the end of the war in the Pacific was made 24 year old Flight Lieutenant Alastair Scotty Scott was Adjutant of RNZAF No. 6 Squadron operating PBY-5 and PB2B-1 Catalina flying boats from Halavo Bay in the Solomon Islands.
- 4. Solomon Islands Halavo Bay Ngeela Sule
- 5. Scottys responsibilities as 6 Squadron moved out of Halavo Bay included closing the base. In the process he recovered a collection of photographic negatives and prints that in the rush to return to peacetime conditions were at risk of being discarded. The memories of Halavo Bay; mosquitoes, rations, and distance from loved ones, were recent enough that few gave priority to photographs that recorded the men and activities of the Squadron. But Scotty in his methodical way did, carrying them with him from Halavo Bay to Fiji to Shelly Bay to Whenuapai to Ohakea to Wellington and on retirement in 1971 to Adelaide.
- 6. In 1991 Scottys health deteriorated and I got out the old photos and started asking questions, questions that now had some urgency. Together we wrote to former 6 Squadron members attempting to identify the men in the photos and collect memories of Halavo Bay.
- 7. John Hamilton (1992) describes the rescue of three airmen But technology in 1992 was not what it is in 2009 and snail mail and photocopying did not provide the speed of access to get the job done before Scotty died on 22 November 1993.
- 8. Following Scottys death the photos, letters and assorted records went into storage, but were not forgotten and a means of providing access to them was often considered. The development of Web 2.0 technologies particularly Flickr offered a solution and in March 2008 I began the process of scanning and loading the images to Flickr.
- 9. Prior to this however as with any project some questions needed to be answered. Why was I putting the photos on Flickr? The answer to this question would inform the answers of other questions. What level of digitising should I use? What format and level of resolution should I load to Flickr? How much control of the images did I hope to retain? Considering I had so little detailed description how could I make them findable?
- 10. Why put the photos on Flickr? The answer came from working with poorly described photographic collections. There are countless undescribed or poorly described photos whose heritage value is minimal but whose potential value is considerable if only they were accurately described. I had photos and records of 200+ mostly anonymous RNZAF 6 Squadron members, Solomon Islanders, and other people associated with the Squadron. Most of these people I believed would have children and grandchildren who may like a wartime photo of their father or grandfather .
- 11. Given that the primary motivation of providing access was the provision of copies to the subjects family it made sense to digitise the photographs FIRSTLY to a high preservation standard that would negate the need to rescan later, and SECONDLY to reformat the digital image to an ACCESS standard that would meet the multiple requirements that they; (a) be of a format and size that would be easily loaded to the website, (b) equally easily downloaded from the website , and (c) also of a size that a reasonable quality paper print could be obtained from the downloaded image without anyone needing to contact me directly.
- 12. This is fine but digitisation does not happen by itself. The HARDWARE used was DELL Inspiron 9400 laptop computer EPSON V700 Scanner with the capability to scan documents, prints, negatives of various formats and transparencies. The SOFTWARE used was Adobe Photoshop CS2 Neither this hardware or software was used to capacity and cheaper options would have done the job just as well.
- 13. Digitisation. Each image was scanned to have a minimum of 3000 pixels on the long axis and saved as a TIFF File. Each TIFF file was then reformatted to a minimum of 1200 pixels on the long axis and resaved as a JPEG What was not taken into account at the outset was that aged 6 Squadron members would require higher resolution images to assist them in putting names to faces.
- 14. Flickr I established a Flickr pro account ($US25.00 per annum) Created a RNZAF 6 Squadron 1943-45 Set The JPEG images were then loaded in batches to Flickr
- 15. Once the scans loaded and described on Flickr I waited to see if they attracted any interest. Pro accounts on Flickr are searched by Google and the 6 Squadron photos had the advantage that a search on Halavo was certain to produce a hit. Although the images always received attention contacts were few except from flying boat and aviation enthusiasts not the 6 Squadron family members who could provide additional I was hoping for. A downside of loading images that could easily be printed resulted in one individual selling them on the New Zealand Trade Me website.
- 16. But each month one or two people contacted me including in March this year the current RNZAF 6 Squadron Adjutant, Squadron Leader Ian Brausch, who is piecing together the seemingly neglected squadron history. This resulted in a new trans Tasman collaboration developing an awareness of the squadrons history. On 26 August I sent an email to the Dominion Post newspaper in Wellington
- 17. Email 24 August 2009 Dear Dominion Post, I would like to bring your readers attention to 111 photos of ex-members of RNZAF No. 6 Flying Boat Squadron in the Solomon Islands during 1944 and 1945. The 200+ men in these photos are largely unidentified but there must be many hundreds of their children and grandchildren in New Zealand who would like a wartime photo of their father or grandfather. These photos are of a size they can be copied gratis from my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adelaide_archivist/sets/72157604150119757/ a fact that didnt get past one low life who has been copying some of them and selling them on Trade Me! Of course if family members want a larger digital copy I am happy to provide them gratis as well. If you think this may make an interesting story for your readers I would be happy to provide any additional information you think you may need. Regards Jenny Scott Adelaide South Australia
- 18. The Dominion Post 26 August 2009 pp 1 & 8
- 19. Radio Australia / Solomon Star / Waikato Times
- 20. plus follow up stories THAT'S ME: Former Dominion cartoonist Eric Heath, 86, points to himself on the wing of the Catalina in the Solomon Islands.
- 21. 21 August 2009 458 Views
- 22. 24 August 2009 198 Views
- 23. 25 August 2009 11,435 Views
- 24. 26 August 2009 15,073 Views
- 25. 27 August 2009 5,487 Views
- 26. 6 September 2009 3,045 Views
- 27. 13 September 2009 421 Views
- 28. The plea for information had an immediate response and 90 people emailed many identifying their husband or father among the photos. My husband was a member of the RNZAF Marine Section with 6th Squadron at Halavo Bay in 1945. Though he is now in his 90th year he is able to identify some of the personnel, though his eyesight is not good and health issues make concentration difficult. I can also identify him in a couple he has not seen as yet. I think time is of the essence here as my husband's health is ailing noticeably. Its really good for our family as well
- 29. These responses further confirmed my belief that a photographs heritage value is only as good as the description that accompanies it. In addition I had the letters and memoirs from 1992 and wanted to create a means by which the two formats could support each other.
- 30. In August this year Australian War Memorial Web Manager Liz Holcombe wrote an article for the Collections Australia Network (CAN) Blog about blog trails giving me a solution A RNZAF 6 Squadron blog.
- 32. The family all agree that my father wrote his book to capture the history so it could be shared with others this Air Force section should be with your information on the blog Dad got his D.F.C whilst in command of XX-T I am a member of the Catalina Club of NZ and as we understand the only female Catalina Captain in the world I crewed with Ken Smith at Lauthala Bay OTU in February 1945, arriving 6 FB Sqdn. beginning April Dad has sadly passed away however his memory stays
- 33. With this level of interest comes offers of more Photographs, records and memories
- 34. And new means of discovery http://www.digitalnz.org/