Three years on Flickr Commons

Remix Photo by Maja Larsson (CC by-nc-sa). Original photos by unknown photographer (Swedish National Heritage Board) and by Dolan Halbrook. (Click on the photo above to view the photo on Flickr, with links to the originals.)

On March 17th, the Swedish National Heritage Board celebrates three rewarding and exciting years on The Commons on Flickr, showing and sharing photos with no known copyright restrictions from our collections.

Our presence on The Commons has largely responded to the expectations we had in the beginning. Here is what we wrote on this blog on March 17th 2009.

What happened since?

Let the facts speak:

• More than 1 980 000 views on our account on Flickr Commons.
• More than 3 750 Flickr contacts, from more than 70 countries worldwide.
• A clear effect of more visitors to our photo database Kulturmiljöbild through the persistent links.
• 9 % of the photos we show on Flickr Commons have been provided with new information, thanks to attentive and devoted Flickr Community members. This user generated knowledge has helped to improve the information in our photo database.
• The photos have been commented on, tagged, shown in groups and galleries on Flickr and marked as favourites. They have been used in media, on websites and blogs, and spread through social media. They have also served for fun and creativity being remixed.

Slottsgatan Street in Malmö, Skåne, Sweden. The street was identified by a Flickr member who also posted a recent comparative photo in a comment. Photo: Unknown (Click on the photo above to view the photo on Flickr Commons, with comments.)

Gustaf, Carin and Lilly in Järvsö, Hälsingland, Sweden. From our latest collection with colour photos by Fredrik Bruno, from the 1940s in Sweden and Norway.

Winter in Humlegården park in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Carl Curman

Some gratifying examples of media effects:

• The Norwegian media ABC Nyheter wrote a number of articles helping to locate 16 photos from Norway by Carl Curman.
• A discussion on German Wikipedia helped to locate two photos from Germany by Carl Curman. This and this. The quest was also on Flickr’s German blog and on Twitter.
• The Spanish media El Pais wrote an article about the Spanish photos from 1878 by Carl Curman.

A big and warm Thank You to all you who have made our Flickr Commons experience so successful and fun! See you on The Commons! :)

One of Sweden’s oldest rune stones in Krogsta, Uppland. Photo: Erik Brate

>> Anna Boman works with Flickr Commons at the Swedish National Heritage Board