Wikipedia Seeks Photos of 20 Million Artifacts Lost in Brazil Museum Fire (cnet.com) 56
On Sunday haruchai (Slashdot user #17,472) wrote that a 200-year-old museum in Brazil "is burning to the ground and it's likely the entire collection of some 20 million artifacts will be lost." Now CNET reports:
The items in the Museu Nacional in Rio may be gone, but Wikipedia doesn't want them to be forgotten... "Did you take a photo of any of them? Help us preserve the memories of as many as we can and add them to @wikicommons," Wikipedia tweeted Tuesday, with an explanation on how to do so...
"The fire at the National Museum of Brazil has led to the devastating loss of 200 years of memory," Katherine Maher, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a statement. "At Wikipedia, our community is hard at work every day curating a living record of our shared heritage," Maher said. "With this effort, we're asking people everywhere to join our global community and help the world recover from this collective tragedy."
Wikipedia's tweet included an image urging people to "Add your photo to the sum of all knowledge..."
"The fire at the National Museum of Brazil has led to the devastating loss of 200 years of memory," Katherine Maher, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a statement. "At Wikipedia, our community is hard at work every day curating a living record of our shared heritage," Maher said. "With this effort, we're asking people everywhere to join our global community and help the world recover from this collective tragedy."
Wikipedia's tweet included an image urging people to "Add your photo to the sum of all knowledge..."
Re: (Score:3)
Most REAL museums don't care, as long as you're not annoying other patrons or using flash photography that can fade or damage artwork.
The "museums" that do have a problem with photography are usually for-profit corporations that think photos will keep people from coming to the museum, and probably not worth your time.
Re: (Score:3)
The "museums" that do have a problem with photography are usually for-profit corporations that think photos will keep people from coming to the museum, and probably not worth your time.
Most museums don't allow photography even without flash, generally on the grounds that camera gear interrupts the flow of people through the exhibits - patrons being shooed away from displays so they won't be in the shot, and so on. This is especially true if you want to take any kind of good photograph, the very kind being requested here. There usually isn't much light, and you need to use a tripod. It is also not possible to get a good shot through a glass case.
And of course, when you exit through the gif
Re: (Score:2)
Well, there you go. Send them their own postcards and coffee table books.
Problem solved, once and for all.
Re: (Score:2)
But they have a sprinkler system, so the whole museum can be saved after the exhibits are covered and the pipes are charged.
Re: (Score:2)
But fires are totally ok...
Re: (Score:3)
Ironically, the museum had just secured funding for one from BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank).
Anecdotally and not quite related, when I was in the Army, in the 80s, my unit was quartered near the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria. We were briefed twice an year on our part in a theoretical emergency at the museum, once we took part in a training exercise simulating a fire. The conclusion of the exercise was that too many people had been mobilized and we were getting in each other way, and instead of
Deletionists will revert it as not notable. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Deletionists will revert it as not notable. (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing should be trusted to Wikipedia, some nitwit was reverting my changes *line by line* the other day, and then deleted stuff that I hadn't entered. The reported me to the "authorities" for asking what the hell he was doing. Assholes sit on pages or looking for edits. I have had grammar fixes reverted because they were *not referenced*, when the issue was obvious subject-verb disagreement that would have gotten you an F in 3rd grade reading class.
Re: (Score:3)
Most likely you're regarded as a spammer AKA a marketer who's precious "message" (really, fraud and noise) is being rejected. All communication can be compromised by too much noise as well as too little message.
Because subject-verb agreement (or in your case, proper use of whose) is a marketing scam?
Re: (Score:2)
"Marketer"? I was editing the page on the Lotus Esprit from 1977! What, I am trying to ruin the market for a run of 511 cars, most of which burned up in 1978?
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, the request was to upload images to Wikimedia Commons, not Wikipedia itself (who don't host media files AFAIK). The rules and processes for deletions are differerent, and most users can't delete images on Wikimedia Commons, they can only request they get deleted (with a specific reason). Details. [wikimedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
A new future... (Score:4, Interesting)
I would love to see museums that haven't been devastated do something of this nature as an insurance policy. Just think if could log into say, 2nd life and virtually tour the Louvre or the various Smithsonian institutions and see their complete works. It would never replace going there but would certainly be an experience, especially for those who would never get there anyways. The preservation and increased exposure of the greatest works of art in the world could be one of the most important uses of the internet. Furthering education and appreciation to a group that might never get such an opportunity otherwise.
Re: (Score:2)
"I would love to see museums that haven't been devastated do something of this nature as an insurance policy. Just think if could log into say, 2nd life and virtually tour the Louvre ..."
Mission accomplished
Louvre
http://www.louvre.fr/en/visite... [louvre.fr]
Guggenheim
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-... [guggenheim.org]
National Gallery of Arts
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions... [nga.gov]
British Museum
http://www.britishmuseum.org/w... [britishmuseum.org]
Smithsonian
http://www.mnh.si.edu/panorama... [si.edu]
The Met
https://www.google.com/cultura... [google.com]
and so on
Re: (Score:2)
I would be amazed if all the artifacts weren't already documented properly TBH.
Museums usually only display a small % of their total collections at any one time, lots of stuff never ever goes on show. Having photographic records, marked with scale and a reference code to the records for the piece is standard practice.
Re: (Score:2)
I would be surprised if the most valuable artefacts have not already changed hands. You know pilfer stuff for weeks and then burn it down to hide what is missing. So which is the more likely accident or major theft. What no smoke alarms, no fire sprinklers, no alerts at the fire station for rapid attendance, sleepy security guards.
It's meant to be a professionally run museum, you know in reality how big fires should get at museums, first hint of smoke and the fire brigade is there in just a few minutes and
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Reading about it the whole operation had been let slip into total disrepair. No funding for ages. Building was suffering major maintenance issues.
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The most likely reason is corruption, but not necessarily theft. They didn't even install a sprinkler system. How third world is that?
Re: (Score:2)
I would love to see museums that haven't been devastated do something of this nature as an insurance policy.
This exists, but we need to make this a standard for all museums, rather than just a few superstar institutions.
Where are the museum's photographs of the objects? (Score:3)
Were they destroyed in the fire also?
The negatives? Burned up in the same fire?
The digital copies? Also destroyed?
The backup tapes? Were they all kept onsite?
Re:Where are the museum's photographs of the objec (Score:4, Interesting)
This should be a Rekrei / Project Mosul thing! (Score:2)
https://projectmosul.org/ [projectmosul.org]