Internet Archive
From LIS5313
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[edit] About the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an evolving digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. It offers an incredible array media assets, many of which are in the Public Domain or have Creative Commons Licenses. From the homepage, you’ll see links to several parts of the archive. You can do a general or advanced search of the entire database, or you can also visit and search particular collections that are likely to have media assets you can remix. For any Collection you visit, you can see a list of Most Downloaded Items and Staff Picks on the right sidebar. To figure out if an item has a Creative Commons license or is in the Public Domain, read the information page of the item. If no license information is provided, it is safest to assume that the item is protected by copyright.
[edit] Recommended Film & Video Collections
- The Prelinger Archives has about 2,000 ephemeral films in the Public Domain which you are free to download and use without restrictions. Ephemeral films are non-fiction films usually made for educational, industrial, or promotional purposes. The films in the Prelinger Archives are made before 1964 and many have great historical value. For a fascinating example, see "Duck and Cover" a Famous Civil Defense film for children in which Bert the Turtle shows what to do in case of atomic attack. If you use content from the Prelinger Archives, they request you attribute it like this: “Archival footage supplied by the Internet Moving Images Archive (at archive.org) in association with Prelinger Archives,” or “Archival footage supplied by the Internet Moving Images Archive (at archive.org),” or “Archival footage supplied by archive.org.”
- The A/V Geeks Film Archive has about 100 ephemeral films in the Public Domain from a collection curated by Skip Elsheimer, including films gathered from school auctions, thrift stores, closets and dumpsters. Many of the films have historical value.
- The Movies collection has about 1,000 items representing full-length feature films, classic shorts, world culture documentaries, United States' WWII propaganda, and movie trailers. Licenses in the collection vary, so check to make sure an item allows derivatives before you remix it in a project. Look in this collection for some famous movies, such as “Night of the Living Dead” and the 1938 anti-drug film, “Reefer Madness”—both of which are in the public domain. Because the movies are full-length, they tend to have very large file sizes.
- The News and Public Affairs Collection has over 4,600 moving image items that are news and public affairs “independent of traditional corporate media.” Licenses in the collection vary, so check to make sure an item allows derivatives.
- Open-source Movies has over 34,000 moving image items in its collection, representing videos uploaded by Internet Archive users, and the assets range widely in topic, quality, and file size and type. There are lots of gems here, but you have to dig for them. Licenses in the collection vary, so check to make sure an item allows derivatives.
[edit] Recommended Audio Collections
The Internet Archive Audio Archive collection has over 116,000 items that range from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry recordings, to original music contributed by users. Licenses in the collection vary, so check to make sure an item allows derivatives.
[edit] Tips for Searching the Internet Archive
Internet Archive Advanced Search Techniques There are a few ways to search the archive for Creative Commons and Public Domain content, and they are unfortunately a little bit complicated. You can do an Advanced Search and in “Custom Field” choose “licenseurl” (which is listed in the drop down menu about 30 down from the top). Then enter one of these abbreviations in the search field, exactly as specified within the quotations below:
- Public Domain: “http*publicdomain/*”
- Attribution: “http*by/*”
- Attribution Non-commercial: “http*by-nc/*”
- Attribution Share Alike: “http*by-sa/*”
- Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike: “http*by-nc-sa/*”
You can add other search criteria to an Advanced Search, or run a search and then refine it by Collection, Creator, or Mediatype (from the right sidebar).
Internet Archive Search Shortcut A shortcut to conducting a license search is to use the basic search window from the Internet Archive and enter search criteria in this format: “licenseurl:(http*by-nc/*)” (without the quotes). In this case the search will yield results for assets with Attribution Non-Commercial licenses. You can substitute this abbreviation with those listed above to find assets with the type of license you are looking for. If you want to use this technique in combination with other queries, like "I want by-nc items about dogs" you'd do this: "licenseurl:http*by-nc/* AND dog" (no quotes).
Using Google to Search the Internet Archive Another great way to search the archive is through Google’s Advanced Search tool. Limit the Domain of your search to “archive.org” and to Usage Rights that are “free to use, share, or modify,” or “free to use, share, or modify, even commercially.” This is a pretty straightforward and effective search technique, but less valuable for searching particular collections within the archive or searching for very specific types of Creative Commons licenses.
[edit] Tips for Downloading Video Files from the Internet Archive
When you find an item you're interested in watching, the top left sidebar will list the file types available for the item. Most media is available to view online, but some of it you can only view if you download it. There is often a range of file types available for an item, and the available file types can range widely in file format, size, and quality.
If you want to remix a video from the Internet Archive into one of your projects, be sure to pick the best quality available to download that is in a file format that your video editing software can import (or a file type that you already have the software to convert to another format). Note that if you can't find a decent looking version of the video to download, you probably shouldn't use it in this project because the low quality image will detract from your video.
Review the Internet Archive's instructions on Downloading Content for information on using FTP to download large files, as well as other tips and instructions for viewing and downloading movie files in their Movies FAQ.
Also, in my experience, plan for the download to take a while, and use a high speed Internet connection if possible. Also, plan for a little trial and error, and probably a little frustration. The site is heavily used, so it can get kind of sluggish sometimes and take longer to load media files than on other websites. If you have consistent trouble viewing video from the site, try downloading the VLC media player (it is a free, versatile, solid player).
