At the Flickr Foundation, one of the goals we set early on when we took over responsibility for running the Flickr Commons program was to build an improved ‘discovery layer’ for the Commons collection.

We’re pleased to share with you a first look at our new Commons Explorer, available at commons.flickr.org.

We’ve built the explorer using the standard Flickr API, and have created a secondary database which is updated pretty regularly. (This is a way of us saying not all the data is live live.) And, please note that photos on display link back to flickr.com.

It’s a work in development, but we wanted to show you our progress in this early version. We’ve prioritized being able to look across the Commons in an interface that’s richer than search results. We’re surfacing activity levels across the collection too, to show that there’s a ton of chatting happening, and new uploads all the time.

The views we’ve built so far:

We hope you enjoy exploring, and, please let us know if you have ideas for how we can improve upon what’s there so far!

In other Flickr Commons news

We are working with the Flickr company to develop a new set of API methods the Foundation will be able to use to build the member management tools we need to really lean into rejuvenating the Commons and especially growing the new membership. If we can introduce 5-10 new members to the program this year, we’ll be stoked! More, we’ll be even stoked-er.

This will involve a new home for registrations of interest, and a smoother onboarding experience for new members as they come on board. Generally, we’re looking forward to new insights into the overall health of the program in the form of better views on activity (the beginnings of which you can see in commons.flickr.org).

If you are either from an existing member institution, or you’re curious about joining in and sharing your historical photography collections, please let us know.

In our early research back in 2021, we noted we wanted to get to know more of the volunteer community too, and see if we can learn about their needs for participating with research and commentary, and I’m pleased to report we’ve begun that, with our first interview with a prominent community member last week. (I was so excited I could barely talk, but Jessamyn wisely recorded the conversation and will be reporting on it soon.)

The Family of Man was an exhibition held at MoMA in 1955.

Organized by Edward Steichen, the acclaimed photographer, curator, and director of MoMA’s Department of Photography, the exhibition showcased 503 photographs from 68 countries. It celebrated universal aspects of the human experience, and was a declaration of solidarity following on from the Second World War. Photos from the exhibition were published as a physical catalog, and it’s largely considered a photographic classic.

The introduction in the book explains that the exhibition was “conceived as a mirror of the universal elements and emotions in the everydayness of life—as a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world.”

As I explored the book, I found myself wanting to answer the following questions:

1. Where were the photographers from?
2. Where were the photos taken?
3. How many female photographers were involved?
4. Who were the most featured photographers? 

Conclusions

1. The majority of photos were shot in the US and Europe. 
2. More than half of the photographers were American.
3. Most of the photographers were men.
4. Among the top 10 most featured photographers were three women (Dorothea Lange, Ruth Orkin and Margaret Bourke White).

Creating the Infographics

While collecting this data, I began to think about how this data could be visualized. Datasets on a spreadsheet are boring to look at and can struggle to effectively communicate what they mean. So I decided to create an infographic to showcase the datasets. 

Creating the infographics posed many creative challenges, especially because this was one of my first attempts at this sort of data visualization. One of the key challenges was to create visuals that are eye-catching but simple to read and communicate a clear message. In this case: that a disproportionately large amount of the photos and photographers are of or from the USA and the majority of photographers were men.

In order to draw attention to those facts, I used a combination of techniques: Firstly the statistics that I wanted to draw the most attention to are the brightest shade of pink. (The pink that was chosen is the same pink as the Flickr Foundation logo). Secondly, the pie chart and bar chart’s proportions are accurate and highlight just how disproportionate the statistics are. A comment next to each chart states a percentage that further highlights the point that is being made. 

George Oates (Executive Director at Flickr.org)—who has extensive experience working in data visualisation—helped a lot with perfecting the look of the infographic. (Thanks George!)

Below you can see how the graphics evolved.
*Note that the statistics on previous versions are not accurate!