Presentation to a small regional museum group on the subject of entry-level Digitisation and Digital Preservation

1. GETTING STARTED WITH DIGITISATION 16 th June 2009 Nick Poole, Chief Executive, Collections Trust

2. Nick Poole Chief Executive of Collections Trust Adviser to UK Digitisation programmes Involved in Digitisation since 1998 Involved in issues of standards, copyright and use A Technology skeptic! INTRODUCTIONS

3. Who here is actively involved in a Digitisation project? Who uses technology at home? Are there any particular things we’d like to cover? INTRODUCTIONS

4. PROGRAMME FOR TODAY SESSION 1: WHAT IS DIGITISATION? SESSION 2: WHY DIGITISE? SESSION 3: PHOTOGRAPHING ITEMS FROM THE COLLECTON SESSION 4: SCANNING ITEMS FROM THE COLLECTION SESSION 5: MIGRATING ANALOGUE AUDIO/VIDEO TO DIGITAL FORMAT SESSION 6: THINKING ABOUT MONEY SESSION 7: THINKING ABOUT COPYRIGHT SESSION 8: SOURCES OF HELP AND ADVICE SESSION 7: Q & A

5. If anything isn’t clear, or needs more information, or you disagree, then stop me! QUESTIONS

6. What do you understand by the word ‘Digitisation’? What kind of activities does it involve? WHAT IS DIGITISATION?

8. Why do you want to Digitise your collection? What benefit are you hoping to achieve through Digitisation? WHY DIGITISE?

11. What criteria would you use when deciding what to Digitise? HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHAT TO DIGITISE?

13. Your approach will vary according to the type of material you are Digitising CHOOSING HOW TO DIGITISE

14. Material Hardware Resolution Letters & drawings (B/W) Flatbed Scanner OR Digital Camera 600dpi (8-bit greyscale) Illustrations and maps (colour, B/W) Flatbed Scanner OR Digital Camera 300dpi (8-bit greyscale/24-bit colour) Photographs (colour, B/W) Flatbed Scanner 300dpi (8-bit greyscale/24-bit colour) 35mm slides (colour. B/W) Slide Scanner OR adapted Flatbed 1200dpi (8-bit greyscale/24-bit colour) Objects Digital Camera 300dpi (8-bit greyscale/24-bit colour)

15. The resolution of the image is closely related to its size, which may be measured in terms of centimetres or pixels. The resolution depends on how many pixels are recorded by the capture device (camera or scanner) within a defined space – usually an inch. Hence ‘PPI’ stands for ‘pixels per inch’. DPI stands for ‘dots per inch’ and is essentially the same measure. In general terms, the higher the resolution of the image, the truer it will be to the original and the more detail will be captured. KEY TERM: RESOLUTION

16. ANY QUESTIONS?

21. Have you already selected a camera? What type did you get? What research did you do? CHOOSING A CAMERA

26. EXAMPLE WORKFLOW MOVE ITEM FROM STORE PREPARE ITEM CHECK DOCUMENTATION COMPLETE METADATA RECORD PHOTOGRAPH ITEM MOVE ITEM INTO STUDIO CHECK QUALITY OF IMAGE COLOUR BALANCING RETURN ITEM TO STORE

30. LOCATION

31. LOCATION

33. BREAK!

35. Have you used a scanner before? What kinds of scanner do you know about? What is important to think about when selecting a scanner? CHOOSING A SCANNER

38. What do you understand by the word ‘metadata’ Why is it important? METADATA

42. STEP 1 Decide what information is useful to you STEP 2 Decide where you’re going to store your pictures STEP 3 Decide where you’re going to store your metadata STEP 4 Decide how you’re going to link the picture and the object (eg. by Accession number) STEP 5 Include metadata in your workflow STEP 6 Quality control your metadata at reasonable intervals (eg. every 25, 50 or 100 pictures) 6 STEPS TO METADATA HEAVEN

43. What do you understand by Digital Preservation? Why is it important to think about this? DIGITAL PRESERVATION

44. What do you understand by Digital Preservation? Why is it important to think about this? DIGITAL PRESERVATION

48. ANY QUESTIONS?

49. Is anyone doing this already? When might you want to do this? MIGRATING ANALOGUE MEDIA TO DIGITAL

61. ANY QUESTIONS?

65. If you let a photographer take a picture of a poster in your gallery, who owns the copyright? How confident do you feel in managing copyright material? THINKING ABOUT COPYRIGHT

70. Collections Link www.collectionslink.org.uk/digitise_my_collection/digitise JISC Digital Media www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk Digital Services for the Culture Sector (DiSCS) www.discs-uk.info FURTHER SOURCES OF HELP AND ADVICE

71. ANY QUESTIONS?

72. WHAT WILL YOU TAKE HOME FROM TODAY?

73. THANK YOU! Collect – The Collections Management Trade Fair 26 th June 2009 Free! At the Commonwealth Club in London www.collectionslink.org.uk/collect