[Oww-Feedback] OWW image repository? (from Curt Newton / MIT OpenCourseWare)

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Hello OpenWetWare -

I'm curious if there's been any discussion of an image repository space within OWW? 

Part of the OpenCourseWare publication model is the production of royalty-free replacement images, when we come across an important 3rd party image that can't be permissioned.  MIT OCW has produced about 7500 of these to date, but they're generally only made public within their host PDF file. Our sense is they may become much more valuable if "unleashed" from the OCW host PDFs, made public as downloadable JPEG/TIFF/... files within a keyword/topic web-searchable image repository.  As a gross analogy, if OCW is Wikipedia, this repository is our Wikimedia Commons.

So MIT OCW is planning a pilot test this spring of some image repository software and procedures, and surveying other groups that may either produce or make use of such royalty-free educational images.  We've had interesting discussions in the past couple of years with OWW's founders (e.g. Reshma Shetty) about various open publishing models and community building...wonder if you've got any plans or interest in this area?

Best regards,
Curt Newton
Publication Manager, MIT OpenCourseWare