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@@ -299,90 +299,86 @@ tags:
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  - newspapers
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  - history
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  pretty_name: Newspaper Navigator
 
 
 
 
 
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  ---
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-
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  # Dataset Card for Newspaper Navigator
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  ## Dataset Summary
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- This dataset provides a Parquet-converted version of the [Newspaper Navigator](https://news-navigator.labs.loc.gov/) dataset from the Library of Congress. Originally released as JSON, Newspaper Navigator contains over 16 million pages of historic US newspapers annotated with bounding boxes, predicted visual types (e.g., photographs, maps), and OCR content.
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- This version was created using [`nnanno`](https://github.com/Living-with-machines/nnanno), a tool for sampling, annotating, and running inference on the Newspaper Navigator dataset. The dataset has been split into separate configurations by `predicted_type` (e.g., `photographs`, `illustrations`, `maps`) to enable easy downloading of specific content types.
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  All records include metadata such as publication date, location, LCCN, bounding boxes, OCR text, IIIF image links, and source URLs.
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- ### IIIF tl;dr
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- This dataset includes [IIIF](https://iiif.io/) image URLs — an open standard used by libraries and archives to serve high-resolution images. These URLs allow precise access to a **full page** or a **specific region** (e.g. a bounding box around a photo or map), without downloading the entire file. Ideal for pipelines that need on-demand loading of visual content.
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- ---
 
320
 
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- ### How a IIIF Image URL Works
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- A IIIF image URL has a standard structure:
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- ```
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- {scheme}://{server}/{prefix}/{identifier}/{region}/{size}/{rotation}/{quality}.{format}
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- ```
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- This lets you retrieve just a portion of an image at a given size or resolution.
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- For example, the `region` and `size` parts can be used to extract a cropped 300×300 window from a 10,000×10,000 scan.
 
 
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- Visual guide:
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- ![](https://iiif.io/api/image/1.0/images/iiif-order.png)
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335
- ---
 
336
 
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- ### How IIIF Servers Deliver Cropped Images Efficiently
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-
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- IIIF servers are designed to deliver image regions at scale:
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- - **Tiled, multi-resolution storage**: Images are stored as pyramids (e.g., in JPEG2000 or tiled TIFF).
342
- - **Smart region requests**: URLs specify just the part of the image you want.
343
- - **No full image needed**: The server returns only the relevant tiles, optionally re-encoded.
344
- - **Highly cacheable**: Deterministic URLs make responses easy to cache and scale.
345
-
346
- This makes IIIF ideal for loading targeted image crops in ML workflows — without handling large downloads or preprocessing full-page scans.
347
 
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- > ⚠️ **Note:** Please use IIIF image APIs responsibly and in accordance with the current [Library of Congress Terms of Use](https://www.loc.gov/legal/). You should still consider the number of requests you make, cache client-side, etc.
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-
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- ## Dataset Structure
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-
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- Each configuration corresponds to one `predicted_type` of visual content extracted by the original object detection model:
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-
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- - **photos**
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- - **illustrations**
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- - **maps**
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- - **comics**
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- - **cartoons**
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- - **ads**
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- - **headlines**
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-
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- Each row represents a predicted bounding box within a newspaper page.
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-
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- ### Features
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-
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- | Column | Description |
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- |----------------------------|-------------|
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- | `filepath` | File path of the page image |
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- | `pub_date` | Publication date (`YYYY-MM-DD`) |
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- | `page_seq_num` | Sequence number of the page within the edition |
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- | `edition_seq_num` | Sequence number of the edition |
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- | `batch` | Chronicling America batch identifier |
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- | `lccn` | Library of Congress Control Number |
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- | `box` | Bounding box coordinates `[x, y, width, height]` |
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- | `score` | Prediction confidence score |
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- | `ocr` | OCR text extracted from the bounding box |
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- | `place_of_publication` | Place of publication |
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- | `geographic_coverage` | Geographic areas covered |
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- | `name` | Newspaper title |
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- | `publisher` | Publisher name |
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- | `url` | URL to the original JP2 image |
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- | `page_url` | URL to the Chronicling America page |
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- | `prediction_section_iiif_url` | IIIF URL targeting the visual region |
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- | `iiif_full_url` | IIIF URL for the full page image |
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- | `predicted_type` | Predicted visual type (e.g., photograph, map) |
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  ### Example
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@@ -409,6 +405,68 @@ Each row represents a predicted bounding box within a newspaper page.
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  }
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  ```
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  ### Source
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@@ -422,6 +480,33 @@ This version of the dataset was prepared using nnanno.
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  The conversion process reformats JSON metadata into structured Parquet files for easier querying and integration with modern ML pipelines.
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  ### Citation
426
 
427
  ```bibtex
@@ -437,8 +522,6 @@ The conversion process reformats JSON metadata into structured Parquet files for
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  This work draws on the remarkable digitization and metadata efforts of the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America and the innovative Newspaper Navigator project.
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- The conversion tools were developed during the Living with Machines project.
441
-
442
  ### Dataset Contact
443
 
444
  This conversion of the dataset is created and maintained by @davanstrien.
 
299
  - newspapers
300
  - history
301
  pretty_name: Newspaper Navigator
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+ license: cc0-1.0
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+ language:
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+ - en
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+ size_categories:
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+ - 1M<n<10M
307
  ---
308
 
 
309
  # Dataset Card for Newspaper Navigator
310
 
311
  ## Dataset Summary
312
 
313
+ This dataset provides a Parquet-converted version of the [Newspaper Navigator](https://news-navigator.labs.loc.gov/) dataset from the Library of Congress. Originally released as JSON, Newspaper Navigator contains over 16 million pages of historic US newspapers annotated with bounding boxes, predicted visual types (e.g., photographs, maps), and OCR content. This work was carried out as part of a project by Benjamin Germain Lee et al.
314
 
315
+ This version of the dataset was created using [`nnanno`](https://github.com/Living-with-machines/nnanno), a tool for sampling, annotating, and running inference on the Newspaper Navigator dataset. The dataset has been split into separate configurations by `predicted_type` (e.g., `photographs`, `illustrations`, `maps`) to enable easy downloading of specific content types.
316
 
317
  All records include metadata such as publication date, location, LCCN, bounding boxes, OCR text, IIIF image links, and source URLs.
318
 
319
+ Currently this version is missing the `ads` and `headlines` configurations. I am working on adding these to the dataset!
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+ ### Loading the Dataset with HuggingFace Datasets
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+ ```python
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+ from datasets import load_dataset
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+ # Load a specific configuration (e.g., photos)
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+ photos_dataset = load_dataset("davanstrien/newspaper-navigator", "photos")
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+ # View the first example
 
 
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+ example = photos_dataset["train"][0]
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+ print(f"Publication: {example['name']}")
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+ print(f"Date: {example['pub_date']}")
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+ print(f"OCR text: {example['ocr']}")
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+ # Load multiple configurations
 
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+ configs = ["photos", "cartoons", "maps"]
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+ datasets = {config: load_dataset("davanstrien/newspaper-navigator", config) for config in configs}
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+ # Filter by date range (e.g., World War II era)
 
 
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+ ww2_photos = photos_dataset["train"].filter(
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+ lambda x: "1939" <= x["pub_date"][:4] <= "1945"
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+ )
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+ ```
 
 
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+ ### Dataset Structure
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+
351
+ The dataset currently has the following configurations:
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+
353
+ - `cartoons`
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+ - `comics`
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+ - `default`
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+ - `illustrations`
357
+ - `maps`
358
+ - `photos`
359
+
360
+ Each configuration corresponds to one `predicted_type` of visual content extracted by the original object detection model. For each configuration each row represents a predicted bounding box within a newspaper page.
361
+
362
+ Each row includes the following features:
363
+
364
+ - `filepath`: File path of the page image
365
+ - `pub_date`: Publication date (`YYYY-MM-DD`)
366
+ - `page_seq_num`: Sequence number of the page within the edition
367
+ - `edition_seq_num`: Sequence number of the edition
368
+ - `batch`: Chronicling America batch identifier
369
+ - `lccn`: Library of Congress Control Number
370
+ - `box`: Bounding box coordinates `[x, y, width, height]`
371
+ - `score`: Prediction confidence score
372
+ - `ocr`: OCR text extracted from the bounding box
373
+ - `place_of_publication`: Place of publication
374
+ - `geographic_coverage`: Geographic areas covered
375
+ - `name`: Newspaper title
376
+ - `publisher`: Publisher name
377
+ - `url`: URL to the original JP2 image
378
+ - `page_url`: URL to the Chronicling America page
379
+ - `prediction_section_iiif_url`: IIIF URL targeting the visual region
380
+ - `iiif_full_url`: IIIF URL for the full page image
381
+ - `predicted_type`: Predicted visual type (e.g., photograph, map)
 
 
 
 
 
382
 
383
  ### Example
384
 
 
405
  }
406
  ```
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408
+ ### Potential Applications
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+
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+ This dataset opens up numerous research and application opportunities across multiple domains:
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+
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+ #### Historical Research
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+
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+ - Track visual depictions of events, people, or places across time
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+ - Analyze evolving graphic design and visual communication techniques in newspapers
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+ - Study regional differences in visual reporting styles across the United States
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+
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+ #### Machine Learning
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+
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+ - Fine-tune computer vision models on historical document imagery
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+ - Develop OCR improvements for historical printed materials
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+ - Create multimodal models that combine visual elements with surrounding text
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+
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+ #### Digital Humanities
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+
426
+ - Analyze how visual representations of specific groups or topics evolved over time
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+ - Map geographic coverage of visual news content across different regions
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+ - Study the emergence and evolution of political cartoons, comics, and photojournalism
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+
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+ #### Educational Applications
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+
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+ - Create interactive timelines of historical events using primary source imagery
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+ - Develop educational tools for studying visual culture and media literacy
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+ - Build classroom resources using authentic historical newspaper visuals
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+
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+ ### IIIIF tl;dr
437
+
438
+ This dataset includes [IIIF](https://iiif.io/) image URLs — an open standard used by libraries and archives to serve high-resolution images. These URLs allow precise access to a **full page** or a **specific region** (e.g. a bounding box around a photo or map), without downloading the entire file. Ideal for pipelines that need on-demand loading of visual content.
439
+
440
+ ---
441
+
442
+ ### How a IIIF Image URL Works
443
+
444
+ A IIIF image URL has a standard structure:
445
+
446
+ ```
447
+ {scheme}://{server}/{prefix}/{identifier}/{region}/{size}/{rotation}/{quality}.{format}
448
+ ```
449
+
450
+ This lets you retrieve just a portion of an image at a given size or resolution.
451
+ For example, the `region` and `size` parts can be used to extract a cropped 300×300 window from a 10,000×10,000 scan.
452
+
453
+ Visual representation of the IIIF image URL:
454
+ ![](https://iiif.io/api/image/1.0/images/iiif-order.png)
455
+
456
+ ---
457
+
458
+ ### How IIIF Servers Deliver Cropped Images Efficiently
459
+
460
+ IIIF servers are designed to deliver image regions at scale:
461
+
462
+ - **Tiled, multi-resolution storage**: Images are stored as pyramids (e.g., in JPEG2000 or tiled TIFF).
463
+ - **Smart region requests**: URLs specify just the part of the image you want.
464
+ - **No full image needed**: The server returns only the relevant tiles, optionally re-encoded.
465
+ - **Highly cacheable**: Deterministic URLs make responses easy to cache and scale.
466
+
467
+ This makes IIIF ideal for loading targeted image crops in ML workflows — without handling large downloads or preprocessing full-page scans.
468
+
469
+ > ⚠️ **Note:** Please use IIIF image APIs responsibly and in accordance with the current [Library of Congress Terms of Use](https://www.loc.gov/legal/). You should still consider the number of requests you make, cache client-side, etc.
470
 
471
  ### Source
472
 
 
480
 
481
  The conversion process reformats JSON metadata into structured Parquet files for easier querying and integration with modern ML pipelines.
482
 
483
+ ### Ethical Considerations
484
+
485
+ Working with historical newspaper content requires careful consideration of several ethical dimensions:
486
+
487
+ #### Historical Context and Bias
488
+
489
+ Historical newspapers reflect the biases and prejudices of their time periods
490
+ Content may include offensive, racist, or discriminatory language and imagery
491
+ Researchers should contextualize findings within the historical social and political climate
492
+
493
+ #### Responsible Use Guidelines
494
+
495
+ - Avoid decontextualizing historical content in ways that could perpetuate stereotypes
496
+ - Consider adding appropriate content warnings when sharing potentially offensive historical material
497
+ - Acknowledge the partial and biased nature of newspaper coverage from different eras
498
+
499
+ #### Technical Limitations and Representation Bias
500
+
501
+ - OCR quality varies significantly across the dataset, potentially creating selection bias in text-based analyses
502
+ - The machine learning models used to identify visual elements may have their own biases in classification accuracy
503
+ - Certain communities and perspectives are underrepresented in historical newspaper archives
504
+
505
+ #### API Usage Ethics
506
+
507
+ - The IIIF image API should be used responsibly to avoid overwhelming the Library of Congress servers
508
+ - Implement caching and throttling in applications that make frequent requests
509
+
510
  ### Citation
511
 
512
  ```bibtex
 
522
 
523
  This work draws on the remarkable digitization and metadata efforts of the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America and the innovative Newspaper Navigator project.
524
 
 
 
525
  ### Dataset Contact
526
 
527
  This conversion of the dataset is created and maintained by @davanstrien.