Those old archives can turn into revenue, say the folks at Visiolink—photos courtesy of Visiolink
My colleague, Jens Funder Berg, of Visiolink writes to tell me that publishers can make money from those dusty archives that nobody is paying attention to now.
How? Well, by building apps based on the archives.
“Most newspapers date back tens, if not hundreds, of years. Extensive archives date back to first editions, the last words of a loved editor, some of mankind’s darkest days and brightest moments. A lot of this history is hidden in dark basement archives, where it only comes out on request by historians or other research scientists.
“Basically the archives have no value until someone reaches in to them, views the microfilms or gently turns the century-old pages in their hunt for source material. But what if newspaper archives were instantly accessible and searchable? What if anyone could tap into the riches of history and discover stories and events as seen by those who actually witnessed them? “
Jens tells me that Visiolink has published almost 9 million new archive pages since the beginning of 2016 and have imported and processed a huge number of pages into their hosting facilities to support the distribution of archives.
“Some archives go back to the 1760’s – and will include Gothic letters (Fraktur) and includes free text search with full access to historic content,” he said.
That may be enough to get some history buffs to download the report and take a look.
Download the report here in various languages:
The report is in Danish, English and German.
English: http://info.visiolink.com/archive-report-digitization-of-cultural-heritage-2016q2
German: http://info.visiolink.com/2016-q2-archivreports-uber-das-digitalisieren-des-kulturerbes
Danish: http://info.visiolink.com/arkiv-rapport-om-digitalisering-af-kulturarven-2016/q2
They used to call it “The Morgue”
Previously in TheMarioBlog about those treasure-rich newspaper libraries, or “morgues”:
THE “MORGUE” WAS ALWAYS VERY ALIVE
https://garciamedia.com/blog/newspaper_archives_hidden_treasures._for_me_fun_memories
A highlight from that post:
I am glad I was a young reporter in those days when one HAD to get away from his desk and visit the morgue to research the facts of a story. At The Miami News’ morgue, research was the excuse to get in, but the visit always yielded interesting results, including stopping to look through files of topics that had nothing to do with the story of the moment!
Yes, I used to do work at the morgue of The Miami News, the afternoon newspaper of my hometown. Not because I was assigned there, but because I liked to enter the morgue everytime I had a chance, and chat up the librarian, Helen Nunes, a sweet redhead with a touch of Lucille Ball, including the henna-enhanced hair, up in curls, the big and loud laughs, and, if I am not mistaken, she even had a Ricky Ricardo-style husband at home.