Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review, a project of the Open Knowledge Foundation, is a fascinating resource!


Moose, "from the Austrian painter Aloys Zötl’s Bestiarium, a series of exquisite paintings of various animals undertaken from 1831 through until his death in 1887. He was relatively unknown until, decades after his death, his work was 're-discovered' by surrealist André Breton..."

The Public Domain Review publishes articles which focus on works old enough to have entered the pubic domain and which are available online in openly-licensed digitised form. In general, we encourage contributions which highlight material at the more unorthodox end of the cultural spectrum – curiosities, obscure theories, strange inventions, and so on. If on a well-known figure then we tend to favour an unusual angle or a focus on lesser known works. As well as pieces which focus on particular works, we also welcome articles with a broader historical focus, though they should be closely aligned with interesting material to which we can link.
Recent articles include: Still Booking on De Quincy's Mail-Coach, and The Forgotten Tales of the Brothers Grimm.  The review also "collects" public domain images, film, audio, and text, providing links to other resources as well.