Smithsonian Photography Initiative

The Smithsonian Photography Inititive was introduced in 2000 in order to make the "Smithsonian Institutions photography collection more visible while encouraging the public to make use of the institutions vast resources". The project was initially a book that was released in 2003 that was soon followed up with the website in 2006. The site itself states that it serves a repository for photography and online exhibitions and as a place where visitors can visit to find scholary commentary on the photographs contained and also take part in discussions.

The site can serve a two-fold purpose. It contains links to other digital photography exhibitions, fulfulling its purpose as a depository of exhibitions. From here, visitors can visit other sites as well.

The second part is what the user sees when they first enter the site. The actual project comes up in a pop-up window that contains a list of sequences that you can select. It then proceeds to go through that particular selection.

Metadata

The tags for this images, as well as the selection, were in fact, chosen by visitors. There is a note at the top of the site in the instructions that the tags and sequence of photographs were chosen by visitors. Other then this, there really is not much metadata that is included on this site. There is also a search feature that allows the user to search for any photographs. This is a very helpful feature, as it allows you to search by keyword, topic, subtopic, geographic locale, creator/photographer, decade, medium and museum/research center. This makes it a very useful tool in locating what you are looking for.

Selection Procedure

There is no specific mention of how photographs were chose for this collection. It only briefly states that the project staff discussed and worked with the different museums in order to collect the photographs that would be used, however, it never mentioned what their selection procedure is. Its easy to assume that these are all photographs that have a direct connection to the Smithsonian's various museums, but it is not clear on how each was chosen.

Audience

The site states that this is for those who want to view the photogrpahs with scholary commentary and to discuss the photography. From the way it is designed and the language used, it would seem that is made for the public. However, the ease in using this site does not correspond with the intended group. Its difficult to find instructions on how to locate the photos. Part of the sites efforts to expand its audience includes a tool that allows for users to build thier own sequence of photos. However, you have to register for the site first and even after I did, the instructions to "build" your own sequence have not been located on this.

Overall, the site is a bit confusing to work with. Only if you have time to navigaye around would you be able to find it useful. The intentions are good- the Smithsonian makes it very clear that this site is for the public. They even provide links to other digital projects, which I find very helpful. However, in an attempt to make it interactive, its become confusing to use.