Presented at the Marathon County Historical Society, Wausau, Wisconsin, May 14, 2012. Part of the Wisconsin Historical Society's spring workshop series.
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Basics of Digital Projects
1. BASICS OF DIGITAL PROJECTS
E M I LY P F O T E N H A U E R
O U T R E A C H S P E C I A L I S T, W I S C O N S I N H E R I TA G E O N L I N E
E P F O T E N H A U E R @ W I L S .W I S C . E D U
2. TODAYâS AGENDA
⢠Introductions
⢠Wisconsin Heritage Online; examples of digital projects
⢠Planning for a digital project
⢠Why digitize?; Selecting materials; Copyright; Digital preservation
⢠LUNCH @ noon
⢠Sharing projects in progress
⢠Putting your plan into action
⢠Imaging; Metadata
⢠Promoting your project
⢠Questions and discussion
⢠Finished @ 3:00pm
3. WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DIGITIZE?
⢠Selecting materials
⢠Reformatting materials
(scanning or
photographing)
⢠Adding metadata
(descriptive
information)
⢠Making available online
⢠Storing and maintaining
digital files and data
(digital preservation) Wisconsin Historical Society
4. WHAT IS WISCONSIN HERITAGE ONLINE?
⢠A public research portal providing access to digital
collections of primary sources related to Wisconsin
history from libraries, historical societies and
museums across the state: wisconsinheritage.org
⢠A statewide set of standards and guidelines for
digitizing historical primary source materials
⢠A resource network providing training, consulting
and collection hosting services to members
⢠Sponsored by Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS) with
support from the Nicholas Family Foundation
5. PLANNING A DIGITAL PROJECT
⢠Identifying your goals
⢠Identifying your
stakeholders, partners
and audience
⢠Selecting materials
⢠Considering copyright
⢠Budget
⢠Funding
⢠Planning for digital
preservation
New Berlin Historical Society
6. IDENTIFYING GOALS: WHY DIGITIZE?
(CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AUDIENCE)
⢠Save photos for future generations
⢠Access for research, awareness
⢠Educational purposes
⢠Closer access; deeper access
⢠Make rare/local/unique available
⢠Protect fragile documents from handling
⢠Easier to organize and find
⢠Encourage contributions/fill in blanks
⢠Revenue (purchase reproductions; encourage donations)
⢠PR for institution
⢠Googleability
⢠People can identify images
7. IDENTIFYING GOALS: WHY DIGITIZE?
⢠Go where your
audience is
⢠Reach new audiences
⢠Improve access to
âinvisibleâ materials
⢠Protect fragile or
heavily used materials
⢠Learn more about your
collections
⢠Contribute to our
collective knowledge South Wood County Historical Museum
8. STAKEHOLDERS AND PARTNERS
⢠Board
⢠Staff and/or volunteers
⢠Local experts
⢠Community members
⢠Chamber of Commerce
⢠Local government
⢠Students
⢠Other organizations in
your
community/county/regio
n
McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids
⢠Who else?
9. AUDIENCES
⢠Local residents
⢠Students and teachers
⢠Genealogists
⢠Specialists (Civil War re-
enactors, railroad buffs)
⢠Academic researchers
⢠Curious Wisconsinites
⢠Everyone!
College of Menominee Nation
10. SELECTING MATERIALS
⢠Photographs
⢠Postcards
⢠Letters
⢠Diaries
⢠Scrapbooks
⢠Yearbooks
⢠Newspaper clippings
⢠City directories
⢠Local histories
⢠Magazines
⢠Pamphlets
⢠Maps
⢠Material culture objects
⢠Oral histories
⢠Sound recordings
⢠Video recordings
⢠What else? Appleton Public Library
11. SELECTING MATERIALS
⢠Careful selection will help
keep your project focused,
manageable, and useful
⢠Keep your audience in
mind: How will putting this
item online help users
better understand local or
state history?
⢠Is information available
about the item, or is more
research needed?
⢠Physical condition of
original materials
⢠Copyright status
Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum
12. SELECTING MATERIALS
⢠Consider your existing mission
statement and/or collection
development policy
⢠An online collection is not a
substitute for a collection
inventory or other internal
recordkeeping
⢠Two approaches:
⢠Curatorial: Select materials
based on a specific
theme/topic/type of
object/photographer
⢠Organizational: Digitizing as an
opportunity to sort that mystery
box in the archives
⢠Digital New Zealand: Make it
Digital Scorecard Neville Public Museum of Brown County
http://makeit.digitalnz.org/
13. CONSIDERING COPYRIGHT
⢠Disclaimer: I am not a
lawyer
⢠Owning a physical item does
not necessarily mean you
hold the copyright to that
item
⢠Public domain = no longer
under copyright. In the US
in 2012 that means the item
was:
⢠published before 1923 âORâ
⢠Unpublished; creator died
before 1942 âORâ
⢠Unpublished; unknown
creator; made before 1892
UW-Milwaukee Libraries
⢠http://copyright.cornell.edu
14. CONSIDERING COPYRIGHT
⢠Works under
copyright, copyright holder
is known:
⢠Contact copyright holder IN
WRITING to request
permission to make available
online
⢠Works presumed to be
under copyright; copyright
holder is unknown or
cannot be located
⢠Due diligence has been made
to identify and locate
copyright holder
⢠Be prepared to remove item
from digital collection if Three Lakes Historical Society
challenged
15. USE OF YOUR DIGITAL CONTENT
⢠Fair Use. Under US copyright
law, individuals can use the
low-resolution materials you
make available online for
personal use, research or
teaching purposes
⢠Publications or other
commercial uses require
permission of the copyright
holder
⢠You may choose to sell
reproductionsâprints and/or
high-resolution digital filesâof
materials in your collection
(with permission of the
copyright holder where
applicable) Langlade County Historical Society
16. SAMPLE RIGHTS STATEMENTS
⢠For an item presumed to be in the Public Domain:
⢠There are no known restrictions on the use of this digital resource.
Contact [your institution] to purchase a high-resolution version of
this image.
⢠For an item under copyright; copyright holder has
granted permission to put online:
⢠This image has been published with permission of the copyright
holder and has been provided here for educational purposes only.
Commercial use is prohibited without permission. Contact [your
institution] for information regarding permissions and
reproductions.
⢠For an item in which copyright status is unclear:
⢠This material may be protected by copyright law. The user is
responsible for all issues of copyright. Contact [your institution]
for information regarding permissions and reproductions.
17. POTENTIAL PROJECT COSTS
⢠Flatbed scanner
⢠Digital camera and
related equipment
⢠Internet access
⢠Digital storage
⢠Archival storage supplies
⢠Outsourcing imaging to a
commercial vendor
⢠Be sure to budget for
TIME and SPACE
Merrill Historical Society
18. FUNDING
⢠Grants
⢠Historical societies: WI Council
for Local History mini-grants
⢠Public libraries: LSTA
Digitization of Local Resources
grants (Depât of Public
Instruction)
⢠Donations
⢠In-kind contributions
⢠Tech support
⢠Equipment use
⢠Biggest expense is TIME
⢠Paid staff time
⢠âFreeâ volunteer time
⢠Students/interns
Ripon College
19. DIGITAL PRESERVATION
⢠Definition from the Library of
Congress:
⢠The active management of
digital content over time to
ensure ongoing access.
⢠Two threats to digital
content:
⢠Obsolescence
⢠Physical damage
⢠http://digitalpreservation.gov
Beloit College
20. DIGITAL PRESERVATION
⢠Save more than one copy of
each file
⢠On more than one type of
storage media
⢠In more than one location
⢠Document what, where, when
and how
⢠Spot-check annually
⢠Migrate as necessary
⢠Recommended storage options:
⢠Archival quality (gold) CDs or
DVDs
⢠RAID device
⢠External hard drive
⢠Network storage Wetherby Cranberry Library
⢠Cloud storage (online backup)
21. PHYSICAL PRESERVATION
⢠Donât compromise
collections care in order to
digitize
⢠A digital project can be an
ideal time to assess
collection conditions and
rehouse materials
⢠Resources for collections
care:
⢠Wisconsin Historical Society
Field Services staff
⢠Wisconsin Archives Mentoring
Service
⢠National Park Service
Conserve-O-Grams
Richland County History Room
22. TIPS FROM OTHER DIGITIZERS
⢠If I could do it all over again, I would:
⢠Tackle a smaller group of materials at first
⢠Make sure two people started the project at the same time so we could
help each other
⢠Start with a clearer plan
⢠Take the time to sort and research the physical collection before
digitizing
⢠Other things I learned:
⢠Volunteers/local residents are the best source for historical information
⢠Looking at examples of similar collections is helpful to figure out what
youâre doing; itâs also inspiring and can spur some competitiveness
⢠Uploading one item at a time can go faster than working in batches if
youâre working with a lot of interruptions
⢠Having a firm deadline helped me stay on track
23. SAMPLE PROJECT PLAN
⢠What: Approx. 100 glass negatives depicting Main Street
between 1880-1900
⢠Why: To improve access to a fragile collection and to
document a period in our communityâs history when local
commerce flourished downtown
⢠Who: Jane Smith will coordinate the project and handle
copyright and reproductions; two volunteers from the local
high school will scan images and rehouse in archival sleeves;
two board members will do historical research and write
descriptions
⢠When: 25 images online before our annual meeting in
September; full collection online by April 2013
⢠How: Scan slides using Epson Perfection V600; store images
on archival DVDs and Carbonite online backup; record
metadata in Excel spreadsheet and upload to online collection
24. PUTTING YOUR PLAN INTO ACTION
⢠Digital imaging
⢠Scanning photographs
⢠Scanning texts
⢠Object photography
⢠File naming
⢠Metadata
⢠What is it?
⢠Basic elements
⢠Where does it go?
Milwaukee Public Library
25. SCANNING
⢠Goals of scanning:
⢠Create a digital representation
thatâs faithful to the original
item
⢠Create the highest quality scan
you can achieve with available
resources
⢠Scan onceâdonât expect to
return to re-digitize
⢠Save two copies of each
scan:
⢠High resolution TIFF (20-
40MB) for archiving and
printing
⢠Lower resolution JPEG (1-5MB)
for online collection, email,
easy access UW-Madison Archives
26. SCANNING PHOTOGRAPHS
⢠Scan all photographs in 24-
bit color, even if image is
black and white
⢠Scanning resolution (ppi)
depends on size of original
item
⢠8 ½ x 11 or larger = 300ppi
⢠8 x 10 = 400ppi
⢠5 x 7 = 600ppi
⢠4 x 2 or smaller = 1200ppi
⢠Slides and negatives require
a transparency unit and
holders to keep slide from
touching scanner glass
(these may come with your UW-La Crosse
scanner)
27. TIP: USE YOUR HISTOGRAM
⢠A histogram is a graph that
shows the distribution of dark
and light pixels in a digital
image
⢠Using the Histogram function
improves the accuracy/fidelity
of your scan
⢠Do a preview scan
⢠In
advanced/professional/custom
mode, select the Histogram
function
⢠Move the left and right sliders to
each end point of the histogram
⢠Do not move the sliders INTO
the histogram
⢠Scan the image
30. SCANNING DOCUMENTS
⢠Handwritten texts
⢠Scan in 24-bit color to
retain character of
original
⢠300-400ppi is generally
sufficient
⢠If feasible, create a
transcription
⢠Use care when unfolding
papers or handling tightly
bound volumes
Wisconsin Historical Society
31. SCANNING DOCUMENTS
⢠Printed texts
⢠Scan in 8-bit grayscale or
24-bit color
⢠300ppi is generally
sufficient
⢠Use OCR (Optical Character
Recognition) software to
make the text computer-
searchable
⢠May be provided with your
scanner software
⢠ABBYY Fine Reader
⢠Adobe Acrobat
⢠OCR is never 100% L. E. Phillips Memorial Library, Eau Claire
accurate, but thatâs ok
32. GENERAL SCANNING TIPS
⢠Use
advanced/professional/cust
om mode, not basic mode
⢠Donât use any auto
correction settings
⢠Dust scanner bed regularly
⢠Designate a specific space
for scanning and keep it
relatively uncluttered (no
coffee!)
⢠Handle each item carefully
and return it to its storage
location when youâre done
scanning
Waterford Public Library
33. OBJECT PHOTOGRAPHY
⢠Digital camera
⢠SLR that can shoot RAW
files (can convert to TIFFs)
⢠Tripod
⢠Two adjustable lights
(500 watts)
⢠Reflective umbrellas (or
sheets)
⢠Paper or cloth backdrop
Photo setup at Pabst Mansion
34. NAMING YOUR FILES
⢠Use only lower case letters, numbers, and dashes or
underscores
⢠Donât use spaces or punctuation
⢠Use leading zeroes for consecutive numbering. For
example, a multi-page letter could have file names
mac001.tif, mac002.tif, mac003.tif, etc.
⢠Tie your file names to existing catalog numbers if possible
⢠Document any file naming conventions you develop
⢠Examples:
⢠Photograph with accession # 2011.32.1 = 201132001.tif âORâ
2011_32_001.tif
⢠Series of images by photographer John Smith = smith001.tif,
smith002.tif, smith003.tif
⢠Not so good: Glassplate16039 Auto repair in basement 025.tif
35. METADATA: WHAT IS IT?
⢠Information about stuff
⢠Technical metadata =
information about the
digital file (size, type, etc.)
⢠Descriptive metadata =
information about the
content of the item (what
are we looking at?)
⢠Lets users find what
theyâre looking for
⢠Organized, standardized,
consistent, searchable
Grant County Historical Society
37. ASSIGNING TITLES
⢠Descriptive and unique
⢠Capitalize first word and
proper names
⢠Not so good:
⢠Woman and man
⢠Woman and man, trees
⢠Good:
⢠Woman, man and child in
apple orchard
⢠Ida and Peter Swartz with
son James in apple
orchard, Wausau
38. WRITING DESCRIPTIONS
⢠Expand on the information provided in the Title
⢠Record information about people, places, events and
themes depicted in the item
⢠You can provide historical information (if cited), but donât
get bogged down in too much detail
⢠Remember your audience is broad. Provide enough
information to add meaning for non-local users
⢠Make use of other metadata elements for information
like dates and materials
⢠Donât use abbreviations, ampersands (&) or paragraph
breaks (hard returns)
39. WRITING DESCRIPTIONS
⢠Not so good (too little):
⢠People with apple trees.
⢠Good:
⢠A woman and a man in an apple
orchard with wooden barrels filled
with apples. A child rides a tricycle
at the right.
⢠Not so good (too much):
⢠A woman wearing a hat and dress
and a man in overalls stand in
front of an apple tree. Twelve
barrels containing apples are lined
up in a row in front of them. The
roof of a barn is visible behind the
trees. Apples were a popular crop
in America in the 19th century
thanks to Johnny Appleseed. The
first commercial apple orchard in
Wausau was established in . . .
40. METADATA: WHERE DO I PUT IT?
⢠Software solutions compatible
with the WHO portal
⢠CONTENTdm (hosted by
Milwaukee Public Library)
⢠ResCarta
⢠Omeka.net (Gold, Platinum plans)
⢠Not directly compatible with
WHO (but can be moved to a
compatible option)
⢠PastPerfect
⢠File Maker Pro
⢠Microsoft Access
⢠Excel spreadsheet
⢠Omeka.net (Basic, Plus, Silver
plans) Wisconsin Folksong Collection, UW-Madison
41. DIFFERENT MATERIALS, DIFFERENT APPROACHES
⢠Printed texts
⢠Scanning straightforward but can be
time-consuming (lots of pages);
metadata usually straightforward; need
to OCR
⢠Handwritten texts
⢠Scanning straightforward; metadata
relatively straightforward; transcripts
recommended
⢠Photographs
⢠More care in scanning; more detail in
metadata
⢠Maps and other oversized items
⢠Outsource scanning to a vendor
⢠Artifacts
⢠Object photography needs more
equipment and more space; more detail
in metadata
⢠Sound and video
⢠Talk to me
Mineral Point Historical Society
42. ENCOURAGING USE OF YOUR COLLECTIONS
⢠Google is not enough
⢠Moving away from âif you
build it, they will comeâ
approach
⢠Bring your content to your
audienceâfind them where
they already are
⢠Let them look behind the
curtain and see projects in
progress, warts and all
⢠Participatory archives
conceptâshared
authority, community Milwaukee Public Library
engagement
43. WHO PROMOTIONAL EFFORTS
⢠Quarterly email
newsletter
⢠Facebook
⢠facebook.com/wisconsin
heritage
⢠Twitter
⢠twitter.com/wiheritage
⢠Tumblr
⢠wiscohisto.tumblr.com
⢠Viewshare Rock County Historical Society
44. LOCAL PROMOTIONAL EFFORTS
⢠Add introduction/background
information on your own website
⢠http://www.newberlinhistoricalsociety.org
⢠Highlight an item of the
day/week/month
⢠https://www.facebook.com/lacrosse.
history
⢠Host an opening event
⢠Whitefish Bay Public Library
⢠College of Menominee Nation
⢠Host a slide show or exhibition
⢠South Wood County Historical
Museum
⢠Mineral Point Historical Society
⢠Press release to local media
⢠What else? South Wood County Historical Museum
45. WHAT NEXT?
⢠Interested in participating in
Wisconsin Heritage Online?
⢠Consult with me about a project
you might have in mind
⢠Sign on as a member ($50 or
$100 annually)
⢠Fill out our Collection Hosting
Application to have your
collection hosted in CONTENTdm
by the Milwaukee Public Library
⢠Schedule a training session with
me to get started on creating
metadata and uploading items
⢠Get your collection harvested
into the WHO portal
Marquette University
46. THANK YOU!
E M I LY P F O T E N H A U E R
O U T R E A C H S P E C I A L I S T, W I S C O N S I N H E R I TA G E O N L I N E
E P F O T E N H A U E R @ W I L S .W I S C . E D U