The Great War Archive (part of the the University of Oxford digitization project The First World War Poetry Digital Archive) includes historical materials related to First World War experiences that have been digitally captured and cataloged by members of the public.  Digital copies of publicly owned artifacts were submitted via the Web between March and June 2008.   The collection includes family photos, diaries, letters, artifacts, and oral histories.  The collection is still growing on The Great War Archive Flickr Group.

If you are interested in how to go about starting a community collection, Stuart D. Lee and Kate Lindsay’s article If You Build It, They Will Scan: Oxford University’s Exploration of Community Collections is a great place to start!

Another great digital collection based on the community collection principle is Flickr’s The Commons. This great picture of Stubby, the American army dog with the rank of sergeant contributed by Nationaal Archief is one of many great photos that can be found and used without copyright restriction.

Here’s a link with a very good explanation explaining not only how your computer may have gotten a malware infection, but it also provides some  great instructions on how to not be a casualty.

So, How did I get infected?

Blackboard’s patent on learning management system technologies has been overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court ruled Monday in favor of Desire2Learn and invalidated some claims in patent No. 6,988,138, also known as the “Alcorn patent” or the “138 patent.”

[...] Blackboard made concessions to the open source community, releasing a legally binding pledge that it would never assert its patent claims against an open source developer, among other things. The pledge fell short of the SFLC’s demand for Blackboard to renounce the patent, however, and the move was greeted with a mixture of relief and continued outrage at Blackboard’s unwillingness to drop its suit against Desire2learn and unwillingness to renounce the patent claims.

Glad to see that an appellate court overturned Blackboard’s patent of Learning Management Systems. It will be interesting to see how Blackboard’s patent for “technology used for Internet-based education support systems and methods” is finally resolved.

Read the full Campus Technology article by David Nagel

Ever wondered why you might want to check out Facebook’s privacy settings? Check out this great video in 50’s style from yourtango.  Nick O’Neill has a great blog post titled 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know that provides a thorough overview on how to protect your privacy on Facebook.

via ALA

The OITP announced the release of two new online copyright education tools: the Fair Use Evaluator and the Exceptions for Instructors eTool.  These great new resources–developed by Copyright Committee member Michael Brewer–add to OITP’s repertoire of copyright tools, including the Public Domain Slider and the Section 108 Spinner.

Collaboration brings area archives online

The Lowcountry Digital Library is a collaborative effort to bring online more than 50,000 items from public and private archives in the Lowcountry.  Project partners included the Medical University of South Carolina, The Citadel, Gibbes Museum of Art, Historic Charleston Foundation, Beaufort County Library and the Charleston County Public Library.

The digital library received a $305,000 grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, which will enable it to grow from its current 7,500 images to 50,000 over the next three years.

Students in Professor Jannette Finch’s Summer I (094) – Electronic Resources for Research course get to enjoy this this virtual field trip to the public library in Denmark.  Professor Finch directed the collaborative project with Lindsay Walker Coker (producer), and Marianne Larsen, Librarian, Greve Library.

Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3