commonsExplorer: surfing The Commons

commonsExplorer

Browsing the world’s public photography archives just got easier with a new application by Sam Hinton and Mitchell Whitelaw. commonsExplorer is a desktop browser that enables you to discover connections in the collections of The Commons, revealing structures and patterns to encourage exploration or research.

Select a Commons institution to bring up their photos and display the keywords from the photos’ titles. Hover over each keyword to reveal connections to other keywords. The photos with those terms are highlighted so that you can choose one. Find content based on these word visualizations; block out terms to further focus your view.

commonsExplorer

commonsExplorer

Mitchell hints at more features they’d like to add to the commonsExplorer and discusses this application in the Flickr Commons group. The Commons program has two main objectives: To increase access to publicly-held photography collections and to provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge to them.

Application by mtchl. Find more cool applications in the App Garden.