New: Version 2.0 of Europeana Open Culture App For iOS and Android Tablets Released
Version 2.0 of of the Europeana Open Culture app became available earlier today. It’s free to download/use and provides access to more than 350,000 images.
From Europeana:
Europeana Open Culture introduces the public to hand-picked and beautiful collections from 17 of Europe’s top institutions, and allows people to explore, share, download and comment on them.
Europeana Open Culture presents stunning visual collections from Europeana with large images – great for those smaller details – and a ‘comment’ option that opens up the possibility for dialogue between many people exploring the same images.
What’s more, customers can download any item and use it for their own purposes – perhaps as a screensaver, for school work or their own creative activities. They can also link the items to other online resources like Wikipedia for more context and richer information.
The 350,000 images available through the app come from collections as diverse as the Estonian Museum of Geology, the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK.
Once the app has been downloaded, users can start exploring by entering a keyword or selecting one of the themes. Tapping a thumbnail brings the image up in full resolution with the options to add and read comments, download images and connect the image to other relevant pages on the web. Users can also add the image to their favourites to create a personal museum, as well as share them on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.
All images included are either in the public domain or are openly licensed which means they can be used for any purpose, such as a school project, a student thesis, a presentation to a local history society, or on blogs, Wikipedia, or even commercially.
Open Source Code
The code behind the app is open source so developers can get hold of it, use it and experiment with it. Those interested in the code can check the Github repository and provide their feedback to api@europeana.eu.
What’s New in Version 2.0
- Supports image download
- Automatic query and result translation
- In-theme filters to narrow down search results
- Continuously refreshed scrolling
- Improved object display and interaction
- New sharing option: Pinterest
- Added portrait image display
Download
via iTunes App Store
via Google Play
Filed under: News, Open Access, Patrons and Users
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.