Fred Gibbs touched an important topic:
"how to create and utilize an open access image repository (perhaps more of a social challenge than a technical one) rather than the logistics of producing images in the first place. Though by no means do I mean to minimize the challenges of digitization. Indeed, the discussion of how to meet the threshold of utility in image creation is a crucial first step. But a larger (and somewhat utopian) vision of manuscript image access, even with a latitude of image quality, is perhaps worth bearing in mind as best practices are worked out."
One question is: what do we need the images for? Another question is: are we allowed to share the images?
Fred's vision is not only beautiful, it is something that comes naturally to researchers. The libraries, however, have different priorities, especially as regards sharing of their material (or images thereof). To put manuscript images in a repository, I have to ask for permission the library or the archive whose manuscript I photographed; at this point the institutions usually get uncomfortable, for all kinds of reasons; and if I do something without permission, I'll be in trouble next time I have to visit that place. Yes, I know that a public institution *should* allow the public to make its treasures public, but I also know that it's, well, complicated.
We are discussing open data here. The data should be open, and we could all do much, much more with a shared repository for our manuscript images. But such a repository would at the moment have to function in a guerilla way (I know of such repositories for Southern Slavic history, for example; a nice approach is also http://www.flickr.com/photos/uofglibrary/, for printed matter).
What do others think? Would such a repository be possible? Does it exist somewhere outside of institutional digitizing projects?
Yours,
Neven
Zagreb, Hrvatska / Croatia