The recent launch of diverseimages, a new image library dedicated to representing people of color, marks the dawn of a new era.  Founder and CEO, Chi Modu, has developed an archive of quality images that satisfies an increased demand from the media to represent the world’s diverse population. A demand that, until now, has far outweighed its supply. Not only does the image library offer nearly a quarter of a million images of entertainment, sports, political, lifestyle, and music figures, the archive also includes travel images taken in locations such as Cambodia, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, that showcase the rich diversity of the world in ways rarely seen. diverseimages’ library is a digital who’s who of people of color that includes icons such as Malcolm X, Tupac Shakur, Bob Marley, Muhammed Ali, and Marvin Gaye to contemporary figures such as Barack Obama, Beyonce, and Barry Bonds. Modu, who is also a photographer, developed this archive with an emphasis on photos taken by photographers of color. diverseimages gives these photographers and others a much-needed place to showcase and monetize their photos. In addition to adding 100 new photos daily to the site from their own archives, diverseimages is actively recruiting photographers of color to add to their network. 

Cultureserve contributor D.Mo. sent us this info on a Jaw-Dropping Demo of Photosynth. “I watched this TED conference. In my opinion, this new application is Web 2.0 par excellence because it links together the images we share on the Web to create real-world, 3D environments we can explore on our computers as if we were holding miniature models. Photosynth is based on Seadragon technology (created by architect Blaise Aguera y Arcas which allows users to interact with dozens of images in the same way they use Google Earth to bound around the globe. You can see all of your images from a bird’s eye view of your desktop, seamlessly zoom in on an image of choice, and easily zoom back out. Although that world is only two-dimensional, Photosynth maintains that zooming tool (which feels almost like grabbing) in 3D environments constructed through hyperlinks created between images people post on the Web through sites like Flickr. It’s really quite amazing when you see Mr. Arcas use it in his demo. What will be even more amazing is when we’ll be able to use Photosynth to print out 3D objects. Yes—when explained, the science behind the application sounds complex, but the result is simple. Photosynth allows us to interact with the Web in a way closely resembling how we interact with the real world.”