Here are five things to ponder as you rake up falling leaves:
BONUS: Want to read about Clifford Lynch, Scholarly Works, Big Data and Libraries?
JISC (originally, Joint Information Systems Committee) is the UK's expert on information and digital technologies for education and research. I find countless useful resources on their fine website, but recently stumbled upon a collection of digitization (digitisation) project plans that could serve as valuable road maps in many similar digital projects initiatives.
For example, the Museum of Design in Plastics, a leading resource for the study and interpretation of design in plastics, presented the final report and project plan details for the digital creation of a high quality "record of artefacts demonstrating design in plastics and the functional specification for an improved resource to support research into design in plastics and its cultural impact."
The project details include such things as workflow, staffing, budgets, standards, interoperability information, rights clearance procedures and data dictionaries. If you'd like to know whether a digital collection used VRA Core or Dublin Core, which controlled vocabularies and authorities were implemented or even how many staff members were dedicated to the project, this is the place to find out.
The unique plastic items on the MODIP site feature full catalog records like this one:
Full Record | |
| Title | money box |
| Collection | Museum of Design in Plastics: Arts University College at Bournemouth |
| Date | circa 1975-1979 |
| Description | This novelty pig-shaped radio and money box dates from the 1970s. It has a cream-coloured, rounded body with brown leatherette ears which cover the radio controls. The facial features of the pig are painted in black and there is a printed 'LOVE' logo on the rump. |
| Accession Number | AIBDC : 001917 |
| Dimensions | height 110mm, length 135mm, width 90mm |
| Materials | plastic, PS, polystyrene, vinyl |
| Notes | Everyday objects, such as those in this collection, are sometimes difficult to research. If you have any information about this object please contact the museum on modip@aucb.ac.uk. |
| Rights | MoDiP has done its utmost to obtain clearance from all IPR holders before adding images to this catalogue, if you believe that any image has been used without permission please contact us on modip@aucb.ac.uk. |
| Method | injection moulded |
There are over fifty such projects complete with detail on the JISC site currently.
I ran across an interesting article on Wired.com regarding the Netflix decision to split off the DVD mailing division into a separate entity called Qwikster. Despite the fact that the Twitter account Qwikster currently belongs to a 'pot smoking Elmo,' the move to split may indeed be due to licensing.
Before splitting, Netflix was only able to negotiate rights and release windows for content for both the online and mail business together. Studios were able to leverage one against the other and as a result, as users no doubt noticed, the online selection was limited and lagged behind the release of the physical media.
Now, with the ability to make deals independently, both businesses should be able to offer better more timely content. As long as the split does not add another level of digital inconvenience to my days (like the Facebook changes), I applaud the cleverness.
Here are five things to discuss while sipping hot apple cider this fall:
There are many good resources devoted to photo keywording. This one on the site Photopreneur discusses the importance of keywording for photographers submitting images to stock photo companies. Since the keyword guidelines for different companies vary slightly, it is crucial that photographers understand the guidelines and develop a system that incorporates all the parameters.
Applying keywords just once will be less time consuming and finding ways to automate and streamline the process is key. Another great resource is on one of my favorite sites, Controlled Vocabulary.
The Caption and Keywording Guidelines list questions you should ask yourself regarding the "aboutness" of any image. This list should assist you in creating a process that will lend speed, consistency and accuracy to your photo keywording efforts.
Check out the Research Center at the site for the International Center for Photography.
eMuseum is a searchable database of ICP's Photography Collection. Each record includes information about the photographer, title, date, medium, as well as an image, when available.With over 20,000 records in the database and new content added daily, this resource provides a glimpse into a rich photographic history without leaving the couch.
Photomuse.org represents a collaboration between ICP and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, providing more online resources for the study of photography.
Here are five things to amaze and delight the LIS community:
The Stock Artists Alliance in conjunction with the LOC relays some invaluable information regarding photo metadata on the website PhotoMetadata.org. Embedding metadata on photos is vitally important to aid in identification of the creator, prevent copyright infringement and increase findability.
From informative tutorials, links to resources, explanations of metadata classes, types and structure to glossaries and a reference library, this site backs up the SAA's Metadata Manifesto with useful and practical information.
The bottom line is that anyone creating photos should understand and employ metadata. In this digital age, content is misappropriated more than ever before. Also, with so much content out there, ensuring that your creations can be easily located is key.
Here is an interesting story about the site Bruce-Juice.com posting photos of celebrities allegedly illegally downloaded from the sites of large news agencies and photo sites. Check out the copyright disclaimer on the site:
Action is being taken as the agencies from which the photos were taken band together. More on this developing story here on Photo Archive News.
This was a big week for interesting tidbits, so here are a dozen things to discuss:
The George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film is turning to crowdsourcing to create metadata tags for their archive. In a partnership with Clickworker, an innovator in crowdsourcing technology, the project will involve the photo-tagging of more than 400,000 images.
“Our partnership with Clickworker enables us to make our photographs searchable and ultimately make our collections more accessible to the world,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director at George Eastman House. “Clickworker not only provides professional insight into the subject matter of our images, but also the option of crowdsourcing in several languages, which is ideal for our internationally focused collections.”
This is a creative solution to the issue of too much digital content to effectively archive without a temporary giant workforce, but I wonder what it means in terms of consistency. However, whether freelance microtaskers working for Clickworker or volunteers at a museum, the result is the same - increased findability for resources that would have otherwise remained inaccessible for much longer.
Here are five things to ponder at your final BBQ of the season. Put away those white shoes!
