I was proud to deliver the opening keynote for the 2023 Museums+Tech conference this year. It was a good chance to check in and report back on where we're at with the Flickr Foundation, and to comment on the not-necessarily-good proliferation of thin GLAM data online. MCG-Tech Keynote, 23 Nov 2023.pdf

1. Algorithmsare
theNewHistorians
George O
a
tes, glo@
f
lickr.org
Museums+Tech 2023, London

5. That is a game we
cannot play.

6. Al
a
n Lightm
a
n
“Scienti
fi
c truth is external, while
humanistic truth lies within
human beings — who are by nature
ambiguous.”

13. Miss/information

16. “The virality of the image has spooked its
31-year-old creator, a Chicago construction
worker who told BuzzFeed Newshe was
high on drugs when he had the idea.”

18. Whenscienceand
humanitiesmerge?

19. F
a
cts & Evidence
Our beliefs
Con
f
irm
a
tion bi
a
s
Evidence we believe

20. F
a
cts & Evidence
Our beliefs
Con
f
irm
a
tion bi
a
s
Evidence we believe
Inform
a
tion

21. “…ye
a
rs of org
a
nizing,
cl
a
ssifying,
a
nd
c
a
t
a
loging h
a
rdened into
a
ccepted c
a
tegories,
n
a
ming conventions,
a
nd
trib
a
l
a
f
f
ili
a
tions—much of
it wrong.”

22. Beware the temptation to use
computers to
fi
ll gaps in cultural
records.

23. Wellcome
“Completeness”

26. spelunker.moma.org
Polished,small data, about
themuseumitself

33. HumansLeague

38. “As a documentarist I understood
that it was my job to generate
for future researchers the raw
materials they would need in order
to tell the stories of the kind of
people who down the ages
historians have tended to neglect.”
Daniel Meadows

39. Stephanie Syjuco
Block Out the Sun

40. Stephanie Syjuco
Dodge and Burn (Visible Storage)

41. Stephanie Syjuco
The Rogue Finding Aid

42. riojournal.com/article/113334/

43. datascience.si.edu/ai-values-statement

47. Be selective.
Find omissions.
Beware retro
fi
tted richness.
How can you exhibit your data?

48. EST. 2022

49. Ourmission:
KeepFlickrphotosvisible
for100years.

50. Ourmission:
KeepFlickrphotosvisible
for100years.
OMG

51. 100-year plan

52. Mission:KeepFlickrvisiblefor100years
Strategiescontemporarytotheteam
Toys,research,propertools

53. AGeneratedFamilyof
Man

54. Authentic vs Synthetic
Visual Histories

56. Child in Forest, 1951, by Wynn Bullock

57. Black and white long deep
focus overhead grainy 1940s
shot of an infant girl lying
down on her side in the
middle of the forest on
ground covered in small
plants.

58. Black and white long deep
focus overhead grainy 1940s
shot of an infant girl lying
down on her side in the
middle of the forest on
ground covered in small
plants.

59. Boy Playing Marbles, Java, 1938, by Gotthard Schuh Black and white grainy 1938 full shot of an Indonesian
boy with buzz-cut hair holding a small marble in his
hand and stretching his leg and arm to the back,
almost about to throw the marble on the stone floor.
He’s wearing a white, oversized t-shirt and one of his
knees is on the ground as he is staring at his side. The
location of the photo is Java, Indonesia.

65. “hum
a
n photo”

67. d0gwalker
Data Lifeboat

69. The Libr
a
ry of Congress
The UK N
a
tion
a
l Archives
N
a
tion
a
l Archives of Austr
a
li
a
Torrens Rowing Club
George’s F
a
mily Archive

70. Running our own servers

71. Flickr Commons
Content Mobility
Creative Archives
New Curators
Historical
photography
collections
Opening the doors
again in 2024!
PSST Free Pro
Flickr Commons

73. Thank you.
glo@
fl
ickr.org