[MCN-L] Advice on advanced degree for museum technology
This program might be of interest for you, Kristine, as you investigate online degrees that aim to bridge technology and museum/library professions. Feel free to contact me if it looks interesting as I'm in the program. Best, Dianne Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona dnilsen at ccp.library.arizona.edu diannenilsen at msn.com - June 2009 - For immediate release The University of Arizona Digital Information Management (DigIn) Certificate program is currently accepting applications for Fall '09. IMLS scholarships are available. - The University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science is pleased to announce that openings are available in the school's graduate certificate program in Digital Information Management (DigIn), and that scholarships are available for students entering the program in Fall 2009. DigIn combines intensive, hands-on technology learning and a strong grounding in the theoretical principles needed to manage large-scale digital collections in a fast-changing environment. The program supports a wide range of professional careers involving digital collections, including but not limited to libraries, archives, and museums. Graduate certificates are increasingly being recognized as a means for information professionals with advanced degrees to enhance their knowledge and technology skills. DigIn is also open to professionals who are new to the field and who may be considering a masters-level education in the future. The program is delivered 100% online and has no residency requirements. Students generally complete the certificate in four or six semesters (15 months or 27 months). DigIn now accepts applications before the start of the Summer, Fall, or Spring semesters. The application deadline for Fall '09 is July 1. Late applications will be accepted, although we cannot guarantee admission for the fall semester. DigIn was developed in cooperation with the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records and the University of Arizona Outreach College. Major funding for the program comes from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which has also provided scholarship funding. Additional details on the program including course descriptions, admissions requirements and application forms may be found on the program website: digin.arizona.edu Applicants may also contact the DigIn staff at: digin at email.arizona.edu. - From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Zickuhr, Kristine [kristine.zick...@dva.state.wi.us] Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:23 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] Advice on advanced degree for museum technology Hi everyone, Could anyone offer advice on an advanced degree that would helpful for working with emerging museum technology? I've considered a Masters in Museum Studies but the curriculum seems too broad. I'm a Registrar and I'm particularly interested in digital image standards, rotational photography, online databases, virtualization, etc.. We have IT staff at my current institution but I'd like to try to keep up. I know enough to be dangerous, but that's about it! Is anyone aware of a program that merges technology and the arts or humanities? Or is there a straight technology degree or certificate that you would recommend instead? An online degree or one offered in Wisconsin would be particularly helpful. Thank you for your input. Kristine Zickuhr Wisconsin Veterans Museum ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] open source OpenEdit DAM
Dear Janice, The list below was cut from a report I created last Spring. This may help explain some of the drivers that influence our digitization process. I hope this helps. Best, Dianne CCP Priorities for Imaging Collections: The Center's bi-monthly curatorial team meetings provide a forum where collections are discussed by knowledgeable staff and prioritized for scanning. The photographers noted below do not represent all the Center's collections that have been digitized to date, but the list provides an example of driving forces that influence how CCP prioritizes the scanning of collections. (Note some bodies of work will naturally fall into more than one of the driving forces noted below which adds weight to the priority) 1. Core Archives: (100% completed) Ansel Adams Harry Callahan Frederick Sommer (check new acquisitions) Wynn Bullock Aaron Siskind 2. Archive/Donor Relations/Contracts: Milton Rogovin (100%) Rosalind Solomon (80% completed) Brett Weston (95% completed) Alma Lavenson (not fully accessioned) 3. Copyrights Owned or Administered: Edward Weston (100%) John Gutmann (100%) Louise Dahl-Wolfe (100%) Lola Alvarez Bravo (100%) 4. Historical Significance: W. Eugene Smith (100%) Lee Friedlander (100%) Wright Morris (100%) Walker Evans (100%) Tina Modotti (100%) Robert Heinecken (75%) Ralph Gibson 5. Other Drivers influencing Imaging Priorities Exhibitions Publications Rights and Reproductions requests Outgoing Loans New Acquisitions Research fellows -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Ari Davidow Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 5:22 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] open source OpenEdit DAM Cool! Anyone out there using this? How well does it meet your needs? What do you like about it? Would you recommend it to others? Thanks, ari On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 5:39 PM, Julie Riley OpenEdit julie at openedit.org wrote: Hi, I came across Ari's blog regarding open source digital asset management or the lack thereof... I'd like to introduce our open source software, OpenEdit DAM. http://www.openeditDAM.com OpenEdit is a JAVA based 100% pure web DAM solution and can be run on any platform. We have been working with corporations and organizations in need of DAM for several years which has allowed us to develop a robust digital asset management solution. OpenEdit DAM users include single users as well as those needing an enterprise-wide DAM system. OpenEdit DAM allows you to manage and share all of your digital files, you can upload, download, search, share, etc., it's a very feature rich application. OpenEdit is free to download, install and use, technical support is free via our online user forum. Please take a look at OpenEdit and let me know what you think! Regards, Julie Riley OpenEdit http://www.openeditDAM.com ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
[MCN-L] open source OpenEdit DAM
Please accept my apology to the MCN list for my previous message addressed to Janice. It was sent in error. ~ ? Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, AZ? 85721-0103 ? p. 520-307-2829 f. 520-621-9444 http://www.creativephotography.org
[MCN-L] Terminology question
Hi Will, We have used the term variant of at CCP in our cataloging practice. Best, Dianne ~ ? Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, AZ? 85721-0103 ? p. 520-307-2829 f. 520-621-9444 http://www.creativephotography.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Real, Will Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 12:47 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] Terminology question On the more esoteric end of things: We are cataloguing a collection of black and white negatives. In many cases there are groups of negatives depicting the same subject. In some of these cases the depictions are very close (for example, multiple takes of a posed studio portrait, multiple takes of a wedding party) and in other cases the relationship is more distant (for example, multiple exposures taken in sequence during the same event). We have been using the term version to refer to these. We looked in AAT and found the term version under the derivative objects section, and discovered that it is meant to refer to objects that are based on an original, which is really not applicable in our situation since no single negative in these cases can be called the original or primary negative. We are wondering if there is another term we should consider using to describe these relationships and particularly if there are two terms that would permit us to distinguish between the relationships that are very close from those that are looser. Thanks, Will Real Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] Terminology question
I also believe that sequence in describing photographs is more commonly used to indicate a carefully ordered series of images by the creator, not to describe bracketing that often occurs as a result of an attempt to capture the best expression in a portrait session, the best grouping of individuals at an event, or the best tone using exposure variations. I suppose one might use the term bracket if the views are identical and only the exposure changes. ? Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, AZ? 85721-0103 ? p. 520-307-2829 f. 520-621-9444 http://www.creativephotography.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of David Salovesh Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 2:47 PM To: 'Museum Computer Network Listserv' Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Terminology question (I have no particular cataloging expertise, but I'm not too bad at searches, semantics, and taxonomies. And I play at photography in my spare time...) The most appropriate word - and you used it in the question - seems to be sequence: http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=logic=ANDnote=subjectid=300192339 In the hierarchy (object groupings by general context) there are several close words that might also apply, such as set and series, but they seem to apply better to diverse works with a unifying theme. However, sequence implies order and if that's not reliably known it might be best to use a less ordered word. And the AAT uses reversal film for negatives. Dave Salovesh Information Technology Manager National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund 202.737.8521 (phone) | 202.737.3405 (fax) | www.nleomf.org Help Build the National Law Enforcement Museum www.LawEnforcementMuseum.org - 866.446.NLEM (446.6536) -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Real, Will Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 2:47 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] Terminology question On the more esoteric end of things: We are cataloguing a collection of black and white negatives. In many cases there are groups of negatives depicting the same subject. In some of these cases the depictions are very close (for example, multiple takes of a posed studio portrait, multiple takes of a wedding party) and in other cases the relationship is more distant (for example, multiple exposures taken in sequence during the same event). We have been using the term version to refer to these. We looked in AAT and found the term version under the derivative objects section, and discovered that it is meant to refer to objects that are based on an original, which is really not applicable in our situation since no single negative in these cases can be called the original or primary negative. We are wondering if there is another term we should consider using to describe these relationships and particularly if there are two terms that would permit us to distinguish between the relationships that are very close from those that are looser. Thanks, Will Real Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] photography, digitization, and a color/grey card?
At the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, our imaging department places a Kodak color bar and grayscale within every scan. We replace the targets every 6 months or so and keep them in their enclosures within light tight drawers to minimize fading. Just yesterday, one of my interns from the art department questioned the quality of one of our scans of a Robert Heinecken photograph. I pointed out to her that because the artist was experimental in his approach, the images did not always look like one would expect a full toned black and white photograph to look. The clue was in the appearance of the targets and the tonal percentages we measure within them. The National Archives and Records Administration guidelines below are particularly useful as they suggest specific values to aim for in the black, white and middle gray of the Kodak targets. The NARA target recommendations are very closely aligned with recommendations we have garnered from pre-press digital professionals for creating publication quality scans. See pages 35 and 36 in the guidelines below for handy illustrations. http://www.archives.gov/preservation/technical/guidelines.html Based on Tim Atherton's comments, I wish a similar guide would be published that references the Greytag MacBeth targets. Kodak targets are getting hard to find. If anyone has seen a publication comparable to the NARA guidelines that reference the MacBeth targets I would be interested in learning about it. Best, Dianne ~ ? Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, AZ? 85721-0103 ? p. 520-307-2829 f. 520-621-9444 http://www.creativephotography.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Tim Atherton Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 3:39 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] photography, digitization, and a color/grey card? And don't bother with the Kodak cards - get the Gretag Macbeth ones instead. (they usefully come in a couple of sizes as well). (especially, don't rely on old colour charts you may have around from the days when you had a photographer 7 or 8 years ago. They fade over time and the colours also fade differentially) http://xrite.gretagmacbethstore.com/index.cfm?act=catalog.cfmmenugroup=__me nu+usa+new tim a -- Tim Atherton Assistant Curator (Archives Research) Mus?e H?ritage Museum, St. Albert (780) 459-1594 tatherton at st-albert.net On 10/14/08 3:06 PM, Frank E. Thomson FThomson at ashevilleart.org wrote: I would suggest shooting an image of the color bar at the start of each session, maybe not in every image. But it would be helpful later trying to match color and value. Frank Thomson, Curator Asheville Art Museum PO Box 1717 Asheville, NC 28802 828.253.3227 tel 828257.4503 fax www.ashevilleart.org -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Jansonius, Remko (Vizcaya) Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 5:04 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] photography, digitization, and a color/grey card? Dear Colleagues, We are about to digitize a collection of photo albums containing 1910s/20s photographs; while they are black and white, many have discolored and turned sepia over the years. Since these are fragile, bound volumes we will be doing this through photography rather than scanning. Would you say it is necessary or advisable or standard practice to use a color card or a grey card during this process? As always, I greatly appreciate y'all's input! Sincerely, Remko Jansonius Collections and Archives Manager Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Miami, FL ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l -- Tim Atherton Assistant Curator Mus?e H?ritage Museum, St. Albert (780) 459-1594 tatherton at st-albert.net ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit:
[MCN-L] Department name question.
Although my official state title, Principal Photographer, is out of date and under review, I was assigned Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging as my working title. Great query! I look forward to seeing what others are using as position titles too. Dianne ~ Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, AZ 85721-0103 p. 520-307-2829 f. 520-621-9444 From: mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu on behalf of Jeff Evans Sent: Mon 2/18/2008 9:00 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: [MCN-L] Department name question. All, We are renaming a Photo Services department here. Please reply with both department names as well as manager titles that you may have generated at your institution. Thanks in advance, JEFF Jeffrey Evans Digital Imaging Specialist Princeton University Art Museum 609.258.8579 ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu http://www.mcn.edu/ ) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] mcn-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 2
Hello Deborah and MCN folk, A year or so ago, I introduced a PowerPoint or, if you prefer, a less proprietary presentation picture, or if I may obsess, a projection photograph sized jpeg into our image optimizing workflow in preparation for linking higher resolution images to our new collection information system. For internal purposes, it seemed to me that staff would benefit by having images available at their fingertips for lectures, print media design layout and other museum activities where image detail is important. Our system is still being implemented, but it seems that once the higher resolution jpegs are linked, it will lighten the load on RR staff allowing them more time to focus on revenue producing activities. To distinguish between the tiny reference jpegs and the presentation jpegs, I added _pp to end the filenames and before the extension. The larger files average about 500K. Like the Denver Art Museum, CCP also sharpens the projection quality images using unsharp mask using settings very similar to what has been posted by Bruce Wyman. (Our unsharp mask settings are; 50% sharpening; 1.5 pixels; and a threshold level of 3) However, we standardized on a resolution of 150ppi. For rendering fine detail, this is helpful compared to 72ppi. We size the images at 7 in the longest dimension, and the longest pixel dimension is therefore 1050. This produces jpegs that range from 400-800K that can be used in-house for a multitude of purposes with some flexibility. I am now intrigued by the idea of reducing the jpeg quality from the highest point of high (12) to the minimum point of high (10). With 20,000 images scanned and 60,000 still to digitize, even kilobytes add up! On a related topic, have any of you experienced an increase in user expectations for higher image quality via your web sites over the past five years? If so, have you witnessed an increase, as well, in the comfort level of artists or copyright holders who have granted internet rights to your museums? As the CCP is about to launch a mammoth permission acquisition process I'm wondering what the current thinking is in regard to delivering images with a full screen view option, such as the jpeg size range we've been discussing and if it still might be considered risky by some, compared to thumbnails. Thanks in advance if you have any thoughts on this to share. ~~~ Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives and Imaging Center for Creative Photography The University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 phone 520-307-2829 fax 520-621-9444 email dnilsen at ccp.library.arizona.edu -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Phillips, Phil Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 11:45 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: Re: [MCN-L] mcn-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 2 What are you up to? -Original Message- From: mcn-l-request at mcn.edu mcn-l-requ...@mcn.edu To: mcn-l at mcn.edu mcn-l at mcn.edu Sent: 02/08/07 20:01 Subject: mcn-l Digest, Vol 22, Issue 2 Send mcn-l mailing list submissions to mcn-l at mcn.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to mcn-l-request at mcn.edu You can reach the person managing the list at mcn-l-owner at mcn.edu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than Re: Contents of mcn-l digest... Today's Topics: 1. Re: DM SIG: digital projectors (George Helfand) -- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:16:54 -0700 From: George Helfand ghelf...@luna-img.com Subject: Re: [MCN-L] DM SIG: digital projectors To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Message-ID: C2D76DA6.8239%ghelfand at luna-img.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII I agree with Bruce, however you might want to prepare your images at higher pixel dimensions anyway in order to match future higher resolution projectors as they become available. When I was at UCLA, we offered slide conversion scanning for use in PowerPoint at 1280x854 pixels, even though user's projectors were primarily XGA (1024x768) or SVGA (800x600). The resulting JPEGs ranged from 200-400k, so there really wasn't any file size penalty. Now I'm seeing WXGA projectors advertised, which is 1280x768. Our scanning customers will be sitting pretty if they encounter one of those! George George Helfand Account Manager Luna Imaging, Inc. 2702 Media Center Drive Los Angeles, CA 90065-1733 Voice 800-452-LUNA (5862) Voice 323-908-1400 Fax323-221-2846 Cell 805-905-9562 E-mail ghelfand at luna-img.com Please visit our Web site at www.LunaImaging.com Date: Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:38:05 -0400 From: Deborah Wythe deborahwythe at hotmail.com Subject: [MCN-L] DM SIG: digital projectors To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Message-ID:
[MCN-L] [IT SIG:] Collections Management Software
Dear Jennifer, The Center for Creative Photography recently purchased a product from MINISIS, Inc. called MINT for our collections. Our staff is currently in the process of customizing data element fields for each area in preparation for review of the first prototype. We selected this vendor because, of all the CHIN top rated collection information systems software we analyzed, Minisis already had a museum module, an archives module, and a library module. This was a good match for our institution particularly in regard to the differences in the standards of archival description vs. traditional cataloging of museum objects. If you are interested you can find out more about MINISIS at http://www.minisisinc.com http://www.minisisinc.com/ . Good luck with your research. Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives Imaging Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 Phone 520-307-2829 Fax 520-621-9444 -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Vreeswijk, Jessica RBCM:EX Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 3:35 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] [IT SIG:] Collections Management Software Hello everyone, We are in the middle of a major project to combine all of our collections databases from natural history (500,000+ specimens), human history (500,000+ artifacts) and archives (5million+ items). We are having difficulty identifying software that can handle significant collections in all areas (following different standards) and provide a high level of integration. Has anyone had any experience with software packages that can handle the diversity? I am open to any discussion off-line if desirable! Thank you in advance for your assistance. Jessica Vreeswijk IT Project Manager Royal BC Museum 675 Belleville St. Victoria, BC (250) 356-0693 jvreeswijk at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] informal survey of digital photography devices in museums
Dear Will, We began transitioning from film to all digital capture in the Center for Creative Photography collection in 2002. Based on consultation with pre-press experts who had significant experience preparing image files for high end photography books, and positive reports on customer service, we chose the Betterlight 6000K scanning back. We upgraded to the Super 6K2 a couple years later. We have had excellent results with it and no technical failures. We are hoping to acquire another one in the near future order to double our production. Having spent over twenty years striving to produce color correct transparencies and 8x10 glossy prints for publication, direct digital capture has revolutionized our ability to render original photographs beautifully in print. We no longer struggle with loss of detail in shadows or highlights due to the inherent contrast of transparency film. You can observe the quality of the image files if you can look at a copy of our most recent publication, Harry Callahan: The Photographer at Work, (published by the Center, in association with Yale University Press, printed at Meridian, author Britt Salveson, forward by John Szarkowski). It is our first publication produced solely from direct digital capture. With the exception of archive objects such as correspondence, announcements and negatives reproduced with an Epson Expression XL flatbed scanner the reproductions were created using the Betterlight. Good luck to you, Dianne Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives Imaging Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 Phone 520-307-2829 Fax 520-621-9444 -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Real, Will Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 7:20 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: [MCN-L] informal survey of digital photography devices in museums As the time for submitting budget requests for our next fiscal year approaches I am curious to know what digital photography devices are being used in the museum community. Would any of you be willing to volunteer whether you are using any of the following for photography of collections? Please be as specific as you can. (respond offline directly to me if you wish to remain anonymous: realw [at] carnegiemuseums.org) Nikon D1X, D200, D2X Canon 5D, EOS 1Ds Mark II Leaf Aptus 75 Phase One P 45, etc. BetterLight 6000 etc. Sinar Bron 44, 54, emotion75, etc. Others (Imacon, Jenoptik, etc.) I would also be interested to know if you have switched to all-digital capture or not. Thanks, Will William Real Director of Technology Initiatives Carnegie Museum of Art 4400 Forbes Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15213 412.622.3267 412.622.3112 (fax) ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] Follow up on Can a CIS be a DAMS too?
Oh good, thank you Chuck for your interest in continuing this discussion. Many thanks, as well, to Richard, Matt, Jeff and others for expressing opinions and sharing knowledge in regard to creating a hybrid Collection Information System/Digital Assets Management System (CIS/DAMS). All of your comments are extremely helpful to me as the Center for Creative Photography is working to determine the full potential of our new CIS. While I was waiting for the MCN list to come back online, I took a stab at creating a draft imaging template for the new system. As mentioned in my previous message, we are in the Joint Application Development stage with our vendor, MINISIS, and this is our chance to improve our current (very minimal) documentation of the digital objects linked to the fully catalogued photographs in the collection. After reading NISO Z39.87 and the PREMIS reference model several times, I found some overlap and then used the NISO doc to select, to the best of my ability, the data elements relevant for digital object documentation at CCP. I grouped them into what might be batched or automatically parsed from the tiff header to minimize what needs to be manually entered. Please let me know if you want me to send this draft image data element document or the imaging workflow (training) document to you, individually. I tried to paste them both into this message and it bounced back as too large. I imagine that if we do end up designing an imaging template as a customization in our new system, we will be adding a few more fields and creating more descriptive working names for some fields for the actual data entry screen. I understand the technical metadata can be nested under the digital object name field like a little family in the CIS. The information can be repeated or otherwise referenced, if appropriate, to multiple views of an object. In regard to one stop shoppingWe have not seen a Rights and Reproductions module in any CIS that is robust enough to replace our current practices, so we will continue to use QuickBooks Pro for billing, accounting and fiscal reporting in the RR area. We do expect to be to import and export data selectively between the CIS and QuickBooks, EXCEL, and Word. We also expect the CIS to generate policy documents, illustrated reproduction use agreements, letters, loan agreements, and invoices from other areas that do not generate as much financial activity and diversity of services as our RR area does. Another point to consider in my investigation to create a hybrid CIS/DAMS is that our digital assets are all stored and backed up together from the Master TIFF, cropped, optimized TIFF to the derivative reference JPEGs, on servers, multiple external RAID firewire drives, and tape. Rights and Reproductions staff are mapped and have password protected access to a specific folder on the server where all the scanned images are stored and available for client delivery. Because they are stored in directories under the artist name and the image file names match the accession numbers of the original photographs, they are fairly easy to retrieve. When a scan does not exist, it is created and copied to a temporary RR JOB folder for delivery and then processed and backed up along with all the other digital assets. Once we have migrated from our current database, Center staff will have access to derivative JPEGS from thumbnails up to PowerPoint quality through the CIS. The master TIFFS will be referenced, but not linked. Thanks again to all of you who expressed interest in this topic and for taking the time to continue to share comments, pro or con. Dianne Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives Imaging Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 Phone 520-307-2829 Fax 520-621-9444 dnilsen at ccp.library.arizona.edu -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Chuck Patch Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 6:37 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? On 6/29/06, Richard Urban rjurban at uiuc.edu wrote: I'd be happy to discuss this further off-list (unless there is a hue and cry to continue here). Hi Richard, consider this a hue and cry. Chuck ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too?
Oh good, thank you Chuck for your interest and many thanks also to Richard, Matt, Jeff and others for expressing opinions and sharing knowledge in regard to the pros and cons of creating a hybrid Collection Information System/Digital Assets Management System (CIS/DAMS). All of your comments are extremely helpful as the Center for Creative Photography is working to determine the full potential of our new CIS. While I was waiting for the MCN list to come back online, I took a stab at creating a draft imaging template for the Center's new CIS. As mentioned in my previous message, since we are in the Joint Application Development stage with our vendor, MINISIS, this is our chance to improve our current (very minimal) documentation of the digital objects linked to the fully catalogued photographs in the collection. After reading NISO Z39.87 and the PREMIS reference model several times, I found some overlap and then chose the NISO doc to identify, to the best of my ability, the data elements relevant for digital object documentation at CCP. I imagine that if we do implement a version of this template as a customization in our new CIS, we may be creating more descriptive working names for some fields for the actual data entry screen. (Also note the technical metadata will be nested under the digital object name field like a little family in the CIS. The information can be repeated or otherwise linked if appropriate to multiple views of an object.) In regard to one stop shoppingWe have not seen a Rights and Reproductions module in any CIS that is robust enough to replace our current practices, so we will continue to use QuickBooks Pro for billing, accounting and fiscal reporting in the RR area. We do expect to be to import and export data selectively between the CIS and QuickBooks, EXCEL, and Word. We also expect the CIS to generate policy documents, illustrated reproduction use agreements, letters, loan agreements, and invoices from other areas that do not generate as much financial activity and diversity of services as our RR area does. Another point to consider in my exploration of a hybrid CIS/DAMS is that our digital assets are all stored and backed up together from the Master TIFF, cropped, optimized TIFF to the derivative reference JPEGs, on servers, multiple external RAID firewire drives, and tape. Rights and Reproductions staff has password protected access to a particular folder on the server where all the scanned images are stored and available for client delivery. Because they are stored in directories under the artist name and the image file names match the accession numbers of the original photographs, they are fairly easy to retrieve. When a scan does not exist, it is created and copied to a temporary RR JOB folder for delivery and then processed and backed up along with all the other digital assets. Once we have migrated from our current database, Center staff will have access to derivative JPEGS from thumbnails up to PowerPoint quality through the CIS where they are linked. My draft of a potential Digital Object Data Element template is pasted directly below this message. The scanning workflow attachment missing from my first message is pasted below that. Thanks so much to all of you who expressed interest in this topic and for taking the time to share comments, pro or con. Dianne Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives Imaging Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 Phone 520-307-2829 Fax 520-621-9444 dnilsen at ccp.library.arizona.edu Imaging Data Elements (ROUGH WORKING DRAFT for CIS TEMPLATE) Jpeg link-public Path and file name for jpeg (lower resolution) image file relating to this object, and having permission for public use (x number of image links) Jpeg link-restricted Path and file name for jpeg (lower resolution) image file relating to this object, not having permission for public use (e.g., Internet); for in-house reference use (x number of image links) Image scan date The following data elements are based on NISO Z39.87 May be manually batched by hand, automatically extruded from Tiff header, or designated as default information in the fields. (TO BE DETERMINED depending on capability of scanning device) Technical Metadata - Batched Entry into CIS 7.1 Source Type 7.2 SourceID 7.3 ImageProducer 7.4 Host Computer 7.4.1 OS (Operating System) 7.4.1 OSVersion (Operating System Version) 7.6.1 Scanning SystemHardware 7.6.1.1 ScannerManufacturer 7.6.1.2 ScannerModelName 7.6.1.2.2 ScannerModelNumber 7.6.1.2.3 ScannerModelSerialNo 7.6.2.1 ScanningSoftware 7.6.2.2 ScanningSoftwareVersionno Technical Metadata - Automatic Capture (Harvesting file header metadata where possible for informational purposes - not used to decode the image data stored in the associated file - see NISO 2.3.3 Metadata assumptions) 6.1.1 MIMETYPE 6.1.2
[MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too?
Thanks for your comments Matt. I forgot to include you in my last message. Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives Imaging Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 Phone 520-307-2829 Fax 520-621-9444 -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Richard Urban Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 3:39 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? Hi Matt, I'm curious about where the drive is coming from to have a one stop solution mean there's one system under it all. I often feel sorry for the folks at Past Perfect when I see comments elsewhere about why doesn't it also do accounting, POS, and your taxes on top of already managing museum collections, archives, libraries, and membership. I think it juliennes potatoes too. Colleges and universities are working to build institutional repositories (IR) to capture grey literature' on campuses, and some of these solutions may be adaptable to building digital repositories of non-collection materials in a museum, as you suggest - CAD drawings, exhibit scripts, PR copy, etc. The challenge of course, is that sometimes these materials are related to objects in a CIS, or images in DAM. As I suggested to Dianne, the question may be, how do we build more open systems that allow interaction between different functions. Cheers, Richard Urban rjurban at uiuc.edu On Jun 27, 2006, at 4:41 PM, Morgan, Matt wrote: One problem that museums sometimes face in making this decision is that collections systems are object-related, while museums typically have lots of digital assets that are not object-specific. Audio tours podcasts, brochures and other print publications, videos, educational materials, presentation slides, CAD drawings of exhibition designs, photos of people and events, VRs of installations, etc. Where do those assets go, in the structure that a collections system provides? If a museum DAMS is going to be a one-stop solution, most likely it'll need to handle these things. Another main issue is the sophistication of the user-level asset manipulation and production workflow tools that DAMS often provide. For example, most DAMS offer automated production of properly-sized and formatted derivative images for your web site, and some have export to powerpoint or other handy slide-manipulation tools. Many have mechanisms for approving and verifying image uses for different purposes, based on pre-assigned rights-management rules. Some have e-commerce modules for licensing images to outside customers. I'm not familiar with MINT, but these are areas in which most collections systems are not really competing right now. These don't look like primary concerns of yours, but I mention them just in case! Good luck, Matt On 6/27/06 4:54 PM, Nilsen, Dianne dnilsen at ccp.library.arizona.edu wrote: _ From: Nilsen, Dianne Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:48 AM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? This message is being resubmitted to the MCN List, now that it is up and running again. If you already received it, please forgive the redundancy. Thanks in advance to any of you who have the time and inclination to share your thoughts. Special thanks to Marla Misunas and Tim Au Yeung for comments they have sent to me personally. _ From: Nilsen, Dianne Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 12:01 PM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? Dear All, I am seeking collective wisdom from this group to help me with a unique opportunity here at the Center for Creative Photography. We've purchased a new collection information system (CIS) and are in the joint application development stage with our vendor, Minisis. We selected their product, MINT, because it integrates three distinctly designed modules for management of art collections, archival collections and bibliographic collections. The director and CEO, Christopher Burcsik, is willing to create new data element fields so that we can capture technical and preservation metadata relating specifically to digital objects. I hope to end up with a hybrid system that will serve our needs for collection management and digital assets management for our holdings of nearly 80,000 photographs and selected archival material. Hence the question, Can a CIS be a DAMS too? If you are so kind to respond to this long message, please note that we have the descriptive and administrative metadata mapping processes well underway in preparation for migration. It is the metadata that relates specifically to digital objects that I am concerned with here. My task is to come up with all the new data elements to use during the digitization process and to automate the capture
[MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too?
Hi Deborah, Thanks for your message, and the earlier one you sent as well. One of the big selling points to the Center in selecting a CIS was that the vendor we chose offered an art collection module, an archives module, and a library module. For the Center, this seemed to be the best match. The hierarchies of archival description that our archivists are familiar with already exist as data entry templates in the new system. There will be some challenges once the new system is implemented, as our Research Center staff must cut and paste data from existing finding aids into the new archive module templates in the CIS, but once the information is in the system it is will generate XML type reports from the data entered as encoded archival description (EAD) for web access. (not being trained as an archivist, please forgive my semantics, if faulty, but I hope you get the general gist in regard to how cool this will be!) As individual objects from the archives are scanned for publication or special projects and given a unique identifier, they can then be linked to the appropriate authority file in the archive module. We have new challenges now, for instance, creating item level descriptions for archive objects in preparation for scanning and implementing structural metadata, such as for letters, to identify page order in the file names. Developing a file naming protocol for archive objects to be scanned was really challenging this year. We may choose to automate this process in the future. The most exciting part of all this is that once we are ready to open the public portal to the photograph collection and archives through our web site, the ability to do in-depth remote research will be greatly enhanced. Cheers, Dianne Dianne Nilsen Head of Digital Initiatives Imaging Center for Creative Photography University of Arizona P.O. Box 210103 Tucson, Arizona 85721-0103 Phone 520-307-2829 Fax 520-621-9444 -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Deborah Wythe Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 5:14 PM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: Re: [MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? All right, I'll jump in here and perhaps send us off in another direction: One of the things (as a lapsed archivist) that I would like to see in a DAMS that is almost never supported in a CIS (and not well in the DAMS that I've seen) is hierarchies and relationships. Digitized archival collections and library materials almost always involve internal relationships that are difficult (or next to impossible) to express in either a DAMS (unless it's built specifically for that kind of material) or a CIS. Think book -- division -- chapter -- section -- page, or collection -- series -- subseries -- folder -- item, realizing there may be individual pages/items within each of those segments, not just at the bottom of the hierarchy. Museum objects may cause fewer hierarchy problems, but can still be challenging (for example: collection -- ensemble -- garment --garment part(s) -- accessories). CIS systems are usually item-based with some ability to establish relationships, but that's not their strong point. If you want to be able to organize and view images in your DAMS in logical groups, and with a logical order within the group, that's something you'll have to think about and configure ahead of time. It would be great if the DAMS (or CIS) would allow you to do this automatically, but you may be faced with setting up a workaround using metadata. Deb Wythe Deborah Wythe Brooklyn Museum Head, Digital Collections and Services 200 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11238 tel: 718 501 6311 fax: 718 501 6125 email: deborahwythe at hotmail.com On Jun 27, 2006, at 3:54 PM, Nilsen, Dianne wrote: _ From: Nilsen, Dianne Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:48 AM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? This message is being resubmitted to the MCN List, now that it is up and running again. If you already received it, please forgive the redundancy. Thanks in advance to any of you who have the time and inclination to share your thoughts. Special thanks to Marla Misunas and Tim Au Yeung for comments they have sent to me personally. _ From: Nilsen, Dianne Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 12:01 PM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? Dear All, I am seeking collective wisdom from this group to help me with a unique opportunity here at the Center for Creative Photography. We've purchased a new collection information system (CIS) and are in the joint application development stage with our vendor, Minisis. We selected their product, MINT, because it integrates three distinctly designed modules for management of art collections, archival collections and bibliographic collections. The director and CEO, Christopher Burcsik, is willing
[MCN-L] FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too?
_ From: Nilsen, Dianne Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:48 AM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: FW: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? This message is being resubmitted to the MCN List, now that it is up and running again. If you already received it, please forgive the redundancy. Thanks in advance to any of you who have the time and inclination to share your thoughts. Special thanks to Marla Misunas and Tim Au Yeung for comments they have sent to me personally. _ From: Nilsen, Dianne Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 12:01 PM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: Can a CIS be a DAMS too? Dear All, I am seeking collective wisdom from this group to help me with a unique opportunity here at the Center for Creative Photography. We've purchased a new collection information system (CIS) and are in the joint application development stage with our vendor, Minisis. We selected their product, MINT, because it integrates three distinctly designed modules for management of art collections, archival collections and bibliographic collections. The director and CEO, Christopher Burcsik, is willing to create new data element fields so that we can capture technical and preservation metadata relating specifically to digital objects. I hope to end up with a hybrid system that will serve our needs for collection management and digital assets management for our holdings of nearly 80,000 photographs and selected archival material. Hence the question, Can a CIS be a DAMS too? If you are so kind to respond to this long message, please note that we have the descriptive and administrative metadata mapping processes well underway in preparation for migration. It is the metadata that relates specifically to digital objects that I am concerned with here. My task is to come up with all the new data elements to use during the digitization process and to automate the capture of technical and preservation metadata as much as possible. One specific concept I've discussed with Minisis and would greatly appreciate your comments on is customizing the system to parse technical metadata that is automatically captured by scanning devices (and imbedded in the image files), into individual element fields in the database. I wonder if this innovation might prove useful in the future, because it would allow us to export custom, detailed technical reports with images in XML format for web projects and collaborative digital initiatives. I also wonder if having technical metadata stored outside the image files in searchable fields would prove useful for future migration or for tasks such as documenting format conversions. Christopher tells me it is possible to parse the data, but before we take advantage of his time and generosity, I'd like to hear perspectives from any of you who may be dealing with similar challenges. To elaborate a bit, some technical metadata is automatically captured by the scanning back we use (BetterLight Super 6K2) and a huge amount of metadata is captured by our digital SLRs. I have been studying the NISO Z39.87 document, Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images, but the number of fields in that document is over the top in regard to the Center's needs. The architecture of Minisis, I understand, is such that selected key data elements can be clustered together, as might be handy when describing differently sized image files representing the same original object. For example; Master File location; format; image size; pixel dimensions; color space; RGB values; calibration target; etc., might be part of one cluster of data elements for a capture TIFF (some automated and some batched in). Other clusters might include individual data elements for variously sized cropped JPEG versions such as; ZOOM; Full page; Preview; Thumbnail; or other data elements such as might be specific to a derivative in JPEG2000 format. In regard to preservation metadata, I've been looking primarily at the PREMIS data model and data dictionary. I am struggling with the question: How much information is required to sustain our digital assets over time as technology changes? Although I admire the work of this group, I find this document overwhelming, as well. Have any of you come up with a template for implementing preservation metadata elements into your digital asset management processes? I've attached a sample training document for capture of original photographs here at the Center, just for reference. 95% of the time, original objects are already fully catalogued before they reach the imaging studio. I need to add the entry of (non-automated) digital object metadata to our CIS, within our scanning workflow, most likely at the point where the master scans are optimized and the derivatives are linked to their corresponding records (We also plan to automate the image optimizing process more in the future, possibly utilizing Adobe Bridge and JPEG2000 format for all derivatives) Many thanks
