GIF IT UP Returns on October 1
Calling all gif makers, creatives, history nuts, animators, and more! GIF IT UP — DPLA’s annual competition seeking innovative and endlessly looping uses of archival videos and images — returns on October 1.
The rules are simple:
- Find your favorite piece of copyright-free material from DPLA, Europeana, Trove, or DigitalNZ
- Create a sweet gif
- Submit it for a chance to win some nifty prizes
To find out more about the 2016 competition, including available prizes and submission rules, visit https://dp.la/info/gif-it-up/. In the lead up to the October 1st kick-off, here are some fun and easy ways that you can start your source material exploration and build your gif-making skills.
Join our free gif-making workshops
Interested in participating in this year’s competition but aren’t sure how to make a gif? Looking to sharpen your existing gif-making skills with some more advanced techniques? Look no further! We’ve enlisted the help of some gif experts to teach you how to get started with gifs using open materials and beyond.
Workshop #1: GIF-Making 101, Wed, September 21, 3pm – 4pm Eastern
Ever wondered how to make an animated gif? Join gif-making experts Shaelyn Amaio (Consultant at Lord Cultural Resources) and Derek Tulowitzky (Web, Social Media, and Outreach Manager at the Muncie Public Library) for an hour long webinar workshop on how to make gifs using open materials found in DPLA and other digital libraries. The workshop will cover what gifs are, how to find suitable materials in DPLA and elsewhere, and how to make a simple gif. This workshop is the first part of a two-part series leading up to the GIF IT UP 2016 competition (October 1-31, 2016). Part two will cover advanced gif-making techniques. Attendees are encouraged but not required to attend both sessions.
Workshop #2: Advanced GIF-Making Techniques, Wed, September, 28, 3pm – 4pm Eastern
Join us for a hands-on, hour long workshop on how to use photo editing software to perform advanced gif-making techniques, such as how to use frame animation in order to make objects disappear and then reappear, move around, and change color. This workshop will be led by two seasoned gif-making vets, Richard Naples (Outreach and Education Technical Information Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution) and Darren Cole (Digital Engagement Specialist at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Innovation). This workshop is part two of a two-part series leading up to the GIF IT UP 2016 competition (October 1-31, 2016). Part one will provide a basic introduction to gifs and the materials used to make them. Attendees are encouraged but not required to attend both sessions.
Where to Start? Explore DPLA and other participating digital libraries
GIF IT UP is all about exploring DPLA and the other participating digital libraries for the perfect piece of open content. If you’re not sure what type of material you should be looking for when creating a gif, here are some helpful suggestions to get you started.
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- Illustrations and images with simple backgrounds. Watercolor illustration of a character from in Dickens’s “Barnaby Rudge” (Free Library of Philadelphia via PA Digital and DPLA)
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- Postcards, trade cards and other ephemera. Advertising card from West & Company Booksellers, Milwaukee (Milwaukee Public Library via Recollection Wisconsin).
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- Illustrations and plates from old books. Plate from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” (New York Public Library via HathiTrust).
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- Photographs, stereographs, and other still images. Stereoscopic view of Glacier Point (N.W.), Yosemite, California (New York Public Library).
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- Posters and graphics. Poster advertising dramatized version of “Peck’s Bad Boy.” (UNC Greensboro via North Carolina Digital Heritage Center)
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- Moving Images. Still from vintage U.S. Air Force footage (National Archives and Records Administration).
That’s just a taste of the types of materials that can be found in DPLA and the other participating digital libraries. To explore the many open collections available for the competition, check out our list of select public domain and open collections for re-use.
Need Inspiration? Check out past competition galleries
This is the third year of GIF IT UP, so we have an awesome array of gifs from our previous couple of competitions that may help get your creative juices flowing.
2015
Following the inaugural GIF IT UP in 2014, the competition returned in 2015, seeking innovative and endlessly looping uses of archival videos and images. In 2015 the challenge expanded internationally with support from Europeana and Trove and featured an esteemed line-up of judges and cool prizes. Check out last year’s winning gifs.
2014
Over the course of Fall 2014, DPLA and DigitalNZ held GIF IT UP, an international competition to find the best GIFs reusing public domain and openly licensed digital video, images, text, and other material available via our search portals. Check out the 2014 winning gifs.