The document discusses the Auckland War Memorial Museum's collection imaging process. It describes setting up an in-house imaging studio to photograph the museum's collections according to specific workflows and naming schemas. The images are processed and stored in a digital asset management system to be made openly available online through a digital content platform in order to liberate the collections as linked open data. The imaging studio has photographed over 50,000 objects but faces challenges in logistics and prioritizing smaller collections within its production environment.
7. Future Museum
High level strategic and capital
investment plan
Executed over a 20yr timeframe
Galleries renewed without building
closure
‘Onsite, offsite and online’
He Korahi Māori & Teu Le Vā
Become a ‘Digital Museum’
Digital guardianship
Sustainable Delivery
Universal Access
8. Relation to Collections
Collections led approach
Use of collection material will be
onsite, offsite and online
Collections Online website –
Linked Open Data
Digital interactives in galleries as
well as offsite
‘Open by Default’ collections – use
of Creative Commons licensing
9. How is it funded?
‘We’ve been saving!’
The museum’s been working
towards these projects for years
and saving for approx. 10 years
All Collections Readiness projects
are Capital Funded – realising
assets at the end of each project
Other capital projects are
happening – building work and
galleries
10. Te Awe
First Collections Readiness
Project for the museum
3 year project – cataloguing,
conservation, rehousing &
repackaging and photography
Visible to the public within
gallery spaces
30. Staffing for Collection Imaging
3 photographers (increasing soon)
All from outside of the sector (so far)
All with good commercial studio experience (so far)
All come from a ‘time is money’ background
Rights Specialist (very much a museum background!)
32. Studio Research
Smithsonian Rapid Capture Digitisation
Numerous sector studios in New Zealand
Commercial rental studios
My old scanning ‘factory’ at Archives New Zealand
Two large ‘department stores’ in New Zealand
35. Workflow as designed
Naming, exposure and colour accurate at time of capture
performed tethered via laptop
Files arrive straight on processing PC passing straight through
laptop which acts only as camera operational tool, not storage
36. Workflow as in operation
Naming, exposure and colour accurate at time of capture
performed tethered via laptop
Files arrive onto laptop, then moving later through to
processing PC
37. Tethered software
EOS Utility – Naming menu too deep
within app
DSLR Remote Pro – Chosen app, but image
previews not good across network
Capture One - Unstable camera
connection within IT environment
Lightroom – Naming menu too deep
within app
38. Working with Collections staff
Assess each job at the beginning – Curators & Collection
Managers
Shoot sample images and request review
Once agreed – shoot the whole collection
Working with Collections Care closely
Occasional ‘photographer moment’ – an extra shot slips
in
39. Naming schema
Unique name for each file – ‘uniqueID_001, _002 etc.
Filename cross checked several times through end-
to-end process
Named at point of capture
File name directly relates to each object (slightly
jealous of the Smithsonian’s barcoding system!)
40. Processing
No retouching at all (digital preservation)
Basic metadata tags added
RAW
DNG
JPEG
TIFF
Archive
CMS
Internet
WIZARDRY (DCP)
45. Long term digital guardianship has been front
of mind since day #1
Digitisation done ‘safely’
New media for the museum created ‘wisely’
Born digital collecting
Digital Preservation
46. Collections are ‘Open by Default’
Rights Specialist – researching rights holders
Cultural Permissions policies – Māori and Pacific
Open GLAM
47. Remember that bit?
DCP = Digital Content Platform – bridge / filter
between collection management systems and the
web via API
Collections Liberated – Linked Open Data
WIZARDRY (DCP)
48. Driven by the API
Collections Online Online Cenotaph Gallery
Interactives
Third Party Users
Collaborators
Partnerships
Digital Content Platform (DCP)
Collections
49. Open Collections Highlights
Our website: 906,335 things online
1.2 million page views/155,00 users
Digital NZ: 40,000 page views daily
1million + page views monthly
1% of those download or enquire further
GBIF/ALA: 2,221,275 record downloads in 9 months
Google Approx. 8000 page views
Cultural Ave. of 2mins per page view vs 17secs
Institute:
79. Questions for you:
Any tips & tricks for implementing a DAMS
into a museum?
Thoughts on managing small-batch
collections in a production environment?
Have you done it?
VERY keen to hear from any museums
tackling digital preservation!
