How to Compress a PDF file (Mac)

PDFs often can be quite large, making it difficult to e-mail or upload the files. It may be necessary to compress the document to make the file-size smaller.

To compress a PDF file:

1.) Open your PDF using the Preview application

2.) Choose File > Export

3.) Choose Reduce File Size from the Quartz Filter pop-up menu

This process compresses the images in the file. The compressed images look the same as the originals when viewed onscreen, but may appear to be of lower quality when printed.

Create a Customized Start-time for YouTube videos linked within PowerPoint

If you are interested in showing a just a portion of a video clip from YouTube linked from within your PPT presentation, you can create a link with a customized start-time. To generate a customized link, follow 3 simple steps:

1.) Click the 'share' icon located directly below the video.
2.) Check the 'start at' box and fill in your desired start time.
3.) A customized link has now been created. Copy and paste this new link into your PPT.

For more information on how to show a video within your PPT presentation, see our document on Using Video in Powerpoint.

Digital Art History Summer Institutes

The Getty Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities are sponsoring four summer institutes on the digital humanities during 2014. These events will be hosted at Harvard, UCLA, and George Mason University. Admission for all of the programs is on a competitive basis. All participants will receive a stipend covering housing and travel expenses. Applications are due by March 1st and March 15th, 2014.

Rebuilding the Portfolio: DH for Art Historians

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History in New Media, George Mason University 

July 7-18, 2014

The curriculum will include building digital collections, working with textual and non-textual sources, visualization, data mining, network analysis, and spatial history. They are specifically seeking applications from individuals who have had very limited or no training in using digital methods and tools, or in computing. 

Doing Digital History

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History in New Media, George Mason University
August 4-15, 2014

The program includes text and data mining, data visualization,  spatial history, and visual mapping. They are seeking applications from faculty, public historians, archivists, librarians, museum professionals, and independent scholars specializing in American history, who have had very limited or no training in using digital methods and tools, or in computing, and who lack a supportive digital community at their home institutions.


Beyond the Digitized Slide Library
University of California, Los Angeles
July 28-August 6, 2014

Participants will learn about debates and key concepts in the digital humanities and gain hands-on experience with tools and techniques for art historical research (including metadata basics, data visualization, network graphs, and digital mapping).


Beautiful Data: Telling Stories About Art with Open Collections 

metaLAB (at) Harvard

June 16-June 27, 2014

The Beautiful Data program focuses on using digitized collections for art historical scholarship. Participants will be introduced to concepts and skills necessary to make use of open collections to develop art-historical storytelling through data visualization, interactive media, enhanced curatorial description and exhibition practice, digital publication, and data-driven, object-oriented teaching. The institute is intended for art historians, scholars of visual culture, and museum professionals at all career stages.