Today I finally went back through old blog posts, located ones on book digitization, and added a label to them (book) that will allow them to be found more quickly. I did think because I do receive emails and phone calls about book digitization, and I wanted to be able to point people easily to a group of blog posts on the topic. Did I find every blog post that should be in this category? Likely not, so I'll try to find time to skim back through the blog and recategorize more posts.
BTW this did mean that I had to create a new label for "book recommendations," which might get more things added to it, too.
One of the things I learned at Internet Librarian in October 2007 is that we generally do not use enough tags (post). And although I know that I still not do use enough tags, I have to admit that it can be time-consuming, since I use both labels (a feature of Blogspot) and Technorati tags. And do you really want a ga-zillion labels (categories) on the left side of this blog?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Three old comments moderated finally
Last summer, three comments were left on blog posts here, and I found myself having to think about whether or not they should be published. In general, comments fall into two buckets -- spam and legitimate/informative -- and those are easy to moderate, but ones that make you think take time. And of course, thinking turned into procrastination. Today, that procrastination ended.
I actually did approve two of the comments and reject the third. In each case, I added a comment to the blog with an explanation. The blog posts were:
Why am I telling you about this? Well, I wanted you to know that I really do think about the comments that people leave. I also wanted the commenters -- who I suspect are regular readers -- to know that I had not forgotten about their comments.
I actually did approve two of the comments and reject the third. In each case, I added a comment to the blog with an explanation. The blog posts were:
- Article: Cornell University Library becomes newest partner in Google Book Search Library Project
- Competing with Google & others
- Agreement between California Digital Library and Google
Why am I telling you about this? Well, I wanted you to know that I really do think about the comments that people leave. I also wanted the commenters -- who I suspect are regular readers -- to know that I had not forgotten about their comments.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Report: Addressing the uncertain future of preserving the past. Towards a robust strategy for digital archiving and preservation
From the Digital-Preservation email list.
In December 2006 the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), National Library of the Netherlands, commissioned the RAND Corporation/RAND Europe to analyse KB's e-Depot strategy, following up on the positive assessment and advise of an international Evaluation Committee in 2005.
The Technical Report "Addressing the uncertain future of preserving the past. Towards a robust strategy for digital archiving and preservation" was presented on 2 November 2007, during our International Conference on Digital Preservation Tools and Trends. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek has now released a Response to the recommendations of the RAND Report. The KB aspires to implement its reponsibility towards researchers, research institutions, research libraries and publishers by consolidating its position in the international vanguard of digital preservation.
The whole text of the Report can be accessed on our website here. The Response of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek can be accessed here.
For reactions and questions, please contact Els van Eijck van Heslinga, Programme development manager International e-Depot at els.vaneijck@kb.nl
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
In December 2006 the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), National Library of the Netherlands, commissioned the RAND Corporation/RAND Europe to analyse KB's e-Depot strategy, following up on the positive assessment and advise of an international Evaluation Committee in 2005.
The Technical Report "Addressing the uncertain future of preserving the past. Towards a robust strategy for digital archiving and preservation" was presented on 2 November 2007, during our International Conference on Digital Preservation Tools and Trends. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek has now released a Response to the recommendations of the RAND Report. The KB aspires to implement its reponsibility towards researchers, research institutions, research libraries and publishers by consolidating its position in the international vanguard of digital preservation.
The whole text of the Report can be accessed on our website here. The Response of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek can be accessed here.
For reactions and questions, please contact Els van Eijck van Heslinga, Programme development manager International e-Depot at els.vaneijck@kb.nl
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
Paper: So Where is the Black Hole in our Collective Memory?
From the Digital-Preservation email list.
DigitalPreservationEurope is pleased to announce the release of the second in a series of thought provoking and controversial position papers on a range of issues surrounding digital preservation, ‘So Where is the Black Hole in our Collective Memory?’. It is our intention that these papers will promote vigorous debate within the digital preservation community and encourage people to think about digital preservation in new and innovative ways by exploring and challenging the received wisdom.
Harvey's position paper asks important questions: Have the digital preservation community cried wolf too often? Are our strident, alarmist proclamations about the loss of digital materials too extreme? He argues that our inability to bring evidence to bear in support of such claims leave us exposed and easily overlooked.
You can comment on this paper and the issues it raises by joining the debate in the DPE forum by visiting: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/forum/phpBB2/
You can also access the position paper by visiting:
http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/position/Ross_Harvey_b
lack_hole_PPP.pdf
Technorati tag:Digital Preservation
DigitalPreservationEurope is pleased to announce the release of the second in a series of thought provoking and controversial position papers on a range of issues surrounding digital preservation, ‘So Where is the Black Hole in our Collective Memory?’. It is our intention that these papers will promote vigorous debate within the digital preservation community and encourage people to think about digital preservation in new and innovative ways by exploring and challenging the received wisdom.
Harvey's position paper asks important questions: Have the digital preservation community cried wolf too often? Are our strident, alarmist proclamations about the loss of digital materials too extreme? He argues that our inability to bring evidence to bear in support of such claims leave us exposed and easily overlooked.
You can comment on this paper and the issues it raises by joining the debate in the DPE forum by visiting: http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/forum/phpBB2/
You can also access the position paper by visiting:
http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/publications/position/Ross_Harvey_b
lack_hole_PPP.pdf
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Press release from NEH & JISC
I received this in email last week. BTW students wonder how you find collaborators. Won't this shock them? A group encouraging trans-Atlantic collaboration!
Technorati tag:
Digitization
Celebrating Transatlantic Collaboration on Digitization
NEH and JISC working together to digitize scholarly resources
WASHINGTON (January 23, 2008)—The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) celebrated transatlantic collaboration in the field of digitization on January 21 at an event at King's College London.
The event marked a further stage in a collaboration between the two organizations that began formally with a joint call for proposals in November. The call invited scholars in the
NEH Chairman Bruce Cole led a delegation to the
The grants are part of the wider International Partnership of Research Excellence (IPRE), an initiative instigated by the late Professor Sir Gareth Roberts of the
“The NEH has long recognized that the humanities are a global endeavor—and this is especially true in the burgeoning new field of the digital humanities. By partnering with our colleagues at the Joint Information Systems Committee, together we will begin to build a 'virtual bridge' across the Atlantic through our support of projects that use digital technology to unify collections of artifacts, documents, manuscripts, and other cultural materials,” said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole.
“This is a particularly exciting and important program which has already generated a great deal of interest from scholarly communities on both sides of the
Projects awarded grants through the program will join the Digital Library of Core Materials on
Dr. Malcolm Read, JISC Executive Secretary, welcomed the delegation during the event, and also speaking was Robert K. Englund, Professor of Assyriology at the
* * * * *
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities. NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places.
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) is a joint committee of the
Media Contact: Lindsey Mikal at (202) 606-8317
Technorati tag:
Digitization
The right to be left alone
Greta Garbo is famous for saying "I want to be alone."1
The right to be left alone is the right of privacy. We have the right to keep our private lives private. This is now referred to as the Vegas rule.2 However, sometimes we reveal parts of our private lives, which is our right.3 This right does end generally when we die.4 This becomes important to us with some digitization programs. For example, if you are digitizing burial records, it is important to know that technically nothing on the record is private. Some people may want to redact (or black out) the cause of death, since it may reveal information that the family doesn't want shared. Oh, your father died of that?!
I tell people that even though privacy ends at death that they may want to use some common sense in deciding what to digitize. For example, if you were digitizing information from a family and in those papers there was evidence of abuse, you may decide to not make public that information. It could be that you do not want to bring a spotlight to that part of a family's private history or that you are concerned about the spotlight that will be shown on your project. Some people feel that this is being a censor and we -- especially librarians -- have a hard time with that.
Do programs find themselves not digitizing materials of deceased people due to a concern about privacy? I would suspect that the answer is "yes." I would also suspect that it doesn't happen very often and that when it does, the course of action is clear.
By the way, this topic came to me as I watched ABC This Week on Sunday morning. Each week, they do a brief segment on those who have died, and include photos and sometimes quotes. The quote used for Heath Ledger came from his most famous movie5 and was:
1 Although reportedly what she really said was "I want to be let alone."
2 What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Or more correctly, "What happens here, stays here."
3 With Vegas' new ad campaign, this will soon be known as "Your Vegas is showing." Although it seems that people don't like this slogan.
4 In the U.S., the right of privacy is governed by laws at the state level.
5 If you listen to the media, you might think that he had done very little before playing a cowboy in the 2005 tragic western.
Technorati tag:
Privacy
The right to be left alone is the right of privacy. We have the right to keep our private lives private. This is now referred to as the Vegas rule.2 However, sometimes we reveal parts of our private lives, which is our right.3 This right does end generally when we die.4 This becomes important to us with some digitization programs. For example, if you are digitizing burial records, it is important to know that technically nothing on the record is private. Some people may want to redact (or black out) the cause of death, since it may reveal information that the family doesn't want shared. Oh, your father died of that?!
I tell people that even though privacy ends at death that they may want to use some common sense in deciding what to digitize. For example, if you were digitizing information from a family and in those papers there was evidence of abuse, you may decide to not make public that information. It could be that you do not want to bring a spotlight to that part of a family's private history or that you are concerned about the spotlight that will be shown on your project. Some people feel that this is being a censor and we -- especially librarians -- have a hard time with that.
Do programs find themselves not digitizing materials of deceased people due to a concern about privacy? I would suspect that the answer is "yes." I would also suspect that it doesn't happen very often and that when it does, the course of action is clear.
By the way, this topic came to me as I watched ABC This Week on Sunday morning. Each week, they do a brief segment on those who have died, and include photos and sometimes quotes. The quote used for Heath Ledger came from his most famous movie5 and was:
"Why don't you just let me be huh?"Sadly, after his untimely death, he is not being "let be." Because of his fame, he hadn't had a truly private life in years and will not even in death.
1 Although reportedly what she really said was "I want to be let alone."
2 What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Or more correctly, "What happens here, stays here."
3 With Vegas' new ad campaign, this will soon be known as "Your Vegas is showing." Although it seems that people don't like this slogan.
4 In the U.S., the right of privacy is governed by laws at the state level.
5 If you listen to the media, you might think that he had done very little before playing a cowboy in the 2005 tragic western.
Technorati tag:
Privacy
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Digitizing a fragile book
A discussion happened recently on the Archives discussion list about digitizing a fragile book from 1912. You can read most of the thread here. I appreciated the comments about the pages possibly further disintegrating during the digitization process. Very interesting.
Technorati tags:Digitization, 
Book
Technorati tags:
Digitization, Book
Friday, January 25, 2008
Blog post: Digitise a book in 15 minutes!
This blog post really caught my eye. I'm pleased to see someone blogging about the book digitization machines that are not well-known in the U.S. And here is an interesting quote:
Technorati tags:Digitization, Book
Key advantages of this new scanner, QUIDENUS say, are more efficiency in the workflow and lower labour costs, as one operator can work on up to five machines at the same time. Capture and post-processing activities, such as OCR, are very speedy and the scanner is said to produce a digitised and searchable book in 15 minutes!
Technorati tags:
Digitization, Book
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Holding it told a story
Last week, I went to an art show locally that contained many types of artwork, including several pieces of glass art. I used to work for Corning Incorporated (formerly Corning Glass Works) and learned about glass art from people who really knew their stuff, so I suspect that my view on one piece was very different than many people.
The piece was a blown glass water pitcher and carried a $100 price. A friend (who is also an artist) wanted to talk about it. The first thing that struck me was that there was an obvious bubble that did not belong (a flaw). A flaw would decrease the price. She, however, had picked it up (something I considered a no-no) and noticed the weight of the piece. It was heavy. I know that those who are relatively new at blowing glass have a hard time creating pieces that are delicate. This piece looked delicate, but it wasn't. My suspicious is that the price related not only the flaw but also its weight (which we might also consider a flaw).
If you had seen a photo of the glass water pitcher, you would have liked it. And I imagine that very descriptive metadata could be created for it. Even though the metadata could include info on the flaw and on the piece's weight, holding it made the story real. So here is another example of where a digital surrogate would not do the original justice.
The piece was a blown glass water pitcher and carried a $100 price. A friend (who is also an artist) wanted to talk about it. The first thing that struck me was that there was an obvious bubble that did not belong (a flaw). A flaw would decrease the price. She, however, had picked it up (something I considered a no-no) and noticed the weight of the piece. It was heavy. I know that those who are relatively new at blowing glass have a hard time creating pieces that are delicate. This piece looked delicate, but it wasn't. My suspicious is that the price related not only the flaw but also its weight (which we might also consider a flaw).
If you had seen a photo of the glass water pitcher, you would have liked it. And I imagine that very descriptive metadata could be created for it. Even though the metadata could include info on the flaw and on the piece's weight, holding it made the story real. So here is another example of where a digital surrogate would not do the original justice.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Blog post: My Digitization Tips
In December, Nature Woman posted a comment on this blog. After seeing what work she had been involved in, I asked her about the advice she would give others. Thankfully, she complied! Some of the advice may take people by surprise, especially if they have not worked with old books. For example:
Technorati tag:Digitization
- Page numbers are really messy in old books. If you think there are missing pages in a book, read from before where you think pages are missing to after where you think pages are missing to make sure the text flows to see if pages are really missing or not.
- On the same note, some page numbers are duplicated. This does *not* always mean text is duplicated in the book. You have to read the pages to make sure the text is not duplicated.
Technorati tag:
Digitization
TASI's list of digitization service providers (and links to other advice)
TASI is located in the UK and according to the site:
Technorati tag:Digitization
TASI contacted a number of digitisation service providers for more information about the services they supply. The following list is not an endorsement of any of the services, but is provided to help you identify services to evaluate in more detail.The list contains only nine organizations, although I would think there are more than that. I wonder how the decided who to contact for information?
Also on that page is a link to TASI's Digitisation: To Outsource or Not? This is a nice two-page document with clearly written advice. And from that page, you'll see links to other advice.
Technorati tag:
Digitization
Library of Congress and its photos
Likely you have already seen news reports about the Library of Congress placing more than 3,000 of its photos in Flickr. Not only will this make photos available to a new audience, but -- as the blog post says --
The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves.These photos truly are available for people to use, so I would encourage you to look at them, comment on them, tag them and use them.
The other photo news from the Library of Congress last week was that someone found photos misidentified at the LOC and discovered that they were from President Lincoln's second inauguration (article). These photos were taken only weeks before he was assassinated. These photos are available for viewing through the LOC web site.
Ah...the benefits of having photos digitized and available for our use!
Technorati tag:
Digitization
Friday, January 18, 2008
Article: 50 years of history goes online
This newspaper article from Australia talks about a newspaper digitization project.
Technorati tag:Digitization
The article gives a nice view of what these old papers contain and why they are important. If you are thinking of digitizing newspapers, you might think of your papers in some of the same ways.The Chronicle from that period no longer exists in hard copy, but its microfilm version is a valuable research resource for the history, culture and development of the region.
“Unfortunately, constant usage has damaged the microfilm copies of the Chronicle, which are held in Maroochy and Caloundra libraries. It was a decision between maintaining the old films or digitising,'' [Maroochy Mayor Joe] Natoli said.
Technorati tag:
Digitization
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Event: The Second Digital Preservation Challenge
From the Digital-Preservation email list.
Digital Preservation Europe is delighted to announce its second international Digital Preservation Challenge.
About the Digital Preservation Challenge: DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) raises awareness and improves practice in the management, longevity, and reuse of digital assets. To this end, DPE is delighted to announce the second international Digital Preservation Challenge. The Digital Preservation Challenge aims to promote innovation at all levels and will provide an insight into the range of digital preservation risks currently being faced by international research and practitioner communities.
The challenge invites participants to overcome the barriers hindering access to five digital objects. Each set of objects is accompanied by a highly abstracted scenario based on real-life situations. These scenarios are intended to make the challenge more accessible to participants from all backgrounds while not trivialising the serious nature of the digital preservation challenges facing society.
The first DPE Digital Preservation Challenge ran from 25 May to 15 July 2007, Miguel Ferreira of the University of Minho, Portugal, who was awarded the first prize commented:
itself. In this respect, solutions to single tasks or sections of the challenge will also be considered and it may be possible for an individual to win the challenge even if he/she cannot ultimately render all the objects. Winning submissions to the Digital Preservation Challenge will be published on the DPE website following the announcement of the winning entries.
Important dates:
To learn more about or to take part in the Digital Preservation Challenge,
please visit http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/challenge/.
Questions or comments should be sent to
challenge@digitalpreservationeurope.eu
Technorati tag:Digital Preservation
The Second Digital Preservation Challenge Sponsored in part by XEROX
Digital Preservation Europe is delighted to announce its second international Digital Preservation Challenge.
About the Digital Preservation Challenge: DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) raises awareness and improves practice in the management, longevity, and reuse of digital assets. To this end, DPE is delighted to announce the second international Digital Preservation Challenge. The Digital Preservation Challenge aims to promote innovation at all levels and will provide an insight into the range of digital preservation risks currently being faced by international research and practitioner communities.
The challenge invites participants to overcome the barriers hindering access to five digital objects. Each set of objects is accompanied by a highly abstracted scenario based on real-life situations. These scenarios are intended to make the challenge more accessible to participants from all backgrounds while not trivialising the serious nature of the digital preservation challenges facing society.
The first DPE Digital Preservation Challenge ran from 25 May to 15 July 2007, Miguel Ferreira of the University of Minho, Portugal, who was awarded the first prize commented:
The problems proposed in the challenge made me realize how diverse preservation scenarios can be and how difficult it is to find good sources of information, tools and services for carrying out preservation interventions. The challenge also made me realize how specific and time-consuming preservation interventions can be and how difficult is to find good and general solutions applicable to all sorts of preservationEvaluating submissions: Submissions to the second Digital Preservation Challenge will be assessed by a panel of international digital preservation experts and practitioners. The incremental scoring method the panel will use emphasises the thoroughness and quality of the documentation of the processes used to solve a challenge task rather than the overall outcome
contexts.
itself. In this respect, solutions to single tasks or sections of the challenge will also be considered and it may be possible for an individual to win the challenge even if he/she cannot ultimately render all the objects. Winning submissions to the Digital Preservation Challenge will be published on the DPE website following the announcement of the winning entries.
Important dates:
- Opening of the Challenge: 15 January 2008
- Deadline for submissions: 30 May 2008 at 4pm GMT
- Announcement of winners: ECDL 17 September 2008, Aarhus, Denmark
- First Prize 3000 Euros
- Second Prize 1500 Euros
- Third Prize 500 Euros
To learn more about or to take part in the Digital Preservation Challenge,
please visit http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/challenge/.
Questions or comments should be sent to
challenge@digitalpreservationeurope.eu
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
Event: DIGITAL DIRECTIONS: Fundamentals of Creating and Managing Digital Collections, June 10 - 12, 2008
Found on Nyline.
SAVE THE DATE: JUNE 10-12, 2008
A conference presented by The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
Co-Sponsored by SOLINET
This revitalized version of the three-day School for Scanning conference presents the essentials of digitization and is geared toward participants with a beginning or intermediate level of digital knowledge.
From file formats to funding, from metadata to rights management, learn how to create and manage sustainable digital collections.
Visit the Vendor Showcase to meet the leading providers of digital products and services.
Watch NEDCC's Web site for complete conference details: www.nedcc.org
To receive a conference brochure or email announcement when available, or if you are a vendor interested in exhibiting at the conference, please contact:
Julie Martin Carlson, jcarlson@nedcc.org.
NEDCC is grateful for support from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its field services.
Technorati tag:Digitization
SAVE THE DATE: JUNE 10-12, 2008
DIGITAL DIRECTIONS: Fundamentals of Creating and Managing Digital Collections
(The NEW School for Scanning)
(The NEW School for Scanning)
Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront
Jacksonville, FL
A conference presented by The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
Co-Sponsored by SOLINET
This revitalized version of the three-day School for Scanning conference presents the essentials of digitization and is geared toward participants with a beginning or intermediate level of digital knowledge.
From file formats to funding, from metadata to rights management, learn how to create and manage sustainable digital collections.
Visit the Vendor Showcase to meet the leading providers of digital products and services.
Watch NEDCC's Web site for complete conference details: www.nedcc.org
To receive a conference brochure or email announcement when available, or if you are a vendor interested in exhibiting at the conference, please contact:
Julie Martin Carlson, jcarlson@nedcc.org.
NEDCC is grateful for support from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its field services.
Technorati tag:
Digitization
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
This was found on the Digital-Preservation list.
Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
The Digital Curation Centre was delighted to present the Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model at the 3rd International Digital Curation Conference 2007.
The model provides a generic graphical high-level overview of the stages required for successful curation and preservation of digital material from initial conceptualisation. The Digital Curation Centre will shortly start to use this draft model to ensure that information, services and advisory material cover all areas of the lifecycle.
The development of the model is now open to public consultation. We would be grateful for any comments or thoughts before 29 February 2008. We are also hoping to develop domain specific variations of the model, so ideas and comments relating to particular domains would also be welcome. The model can be found here: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/dcc-2007/posters/DCC_Curation_Lifecycle_Model.pdf
Fuller information can also be found in the current edition of the International Journal of Digital Curation - Issue 2, Volume 2, 2007, http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/45/52
Comments can be posted on the DCC Forum under "Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle
Model": http://forum.dcc.ac.uk/ or emailed directly to Sarah.Higgins@ed.ac.uk.
Technorati tag:
Digital Curation
Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
The Digital Curation Centre was delighted to present the Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle Model at the 3rd International Digital Curation Conference 2007.
The model provides a generic graphical high-level overview of the stages required for successful curation and preservation of digital material from initial conceptualisation. The Digital Curation Centre will shortly start to use this draft model to ensure that information, services and advisory material cover all areas of the lifecycle.
The development of the model is now open to public consultation. We would be grateful for any comments or thoughts before 29 February 2008. We are also hoping to develop domain specific variations of the model, so ideas and comments relating to particular domains would also be welcome. The model can be found here: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/dcc-2007/posters/DCC_Curation_Lifecycle_Model.pdf
Fuller information can also be found in the current edition of the International Journal of Digital Curation - Issue 2, Volume 2, 2007, http://www.ijdc.net/ijdc/article/view/45/52
Comments can be posted on the DCC Forum under "Draft DCC Curation Lifecycle
Model": http://forum.dcc.ac.uk/ or emailed directly to Sarah.Higgins@ed.ac.uk.
Technorati tag:
Digital Curation
Monday, January 14, 2008
DSpace's launches newsletter
DSpace has launched a monthly newsletter called NewSpace. The first issue is here. the table of contents includes:
Technorati tag:
Digital Asset Management
- Foundation Message
- Featured Installation: Afghanistan Digital Library
- Featured Contributor:Scott Phillips
- DSpace Awarded Grant
- DSpace Foundation Survey
- DSpace User Group Meeting
- Development Update
- Conferences / Events
- Market Share and Other Stats
Through this monthly newsletter, we will keep our community informed about current news and events in the DSpace digital archive world. In each issue we will highlight DSpace installations and contributors. We will also provide updates on DSpace software development and projects sponsored by the Foundation and others in the community. The newsletter will link to relevant conference and event information.Thanks to Charles Bailey for finding this!
Technorati tag:
Digital Asset Management
Friday, January 11, 2008
New book scanners from Kirtas
Kirtas Technologies has announced three new book scanners. Quoting the press release:
Blog post on the Kirtas Bookscan 800 is here and info on the Kirtas APT2400 is here.
Technorati tag:Digitization, Book
- The Kirtas APT BookScan 2400RA™ is a new, high-volume machine that provides remote access allowing users to capture raw images in one location and process them at another. It is equipped with a high-performance blade server, which enables the remote capability as well as providing increased storage capacity and a faster processing speed.
-
The company also introduced the Kirtas APT BookScan 1600™, a mid-size system that captures 1,600 pages per hour. The APT 1600 includes a high-speed server for enhanced processing speed, as well as the Enhanced Page Separator and the Page Edge Sensor for improved productivity.
The Kirtas APT BookScan 1212™ builds off of the success of the APT 1200. Targeted to cost-sensitive markets with collections of smaller-size books, the APT 1212 provides 300 DPI and is ideal for organizations looking to digitize research materials and other information to include on the Internet.
- An extension kit for digitizing smaller books
- An Enhanced Page Separator (EPS)
- A Page Edge Sensor (PES)
- A new barcode scanner for reading ISBNs or library assigned barcodes
- New ergonomic features
Blog post on the Kirtas Bookscan 800 is here and info on the Kirtas APT2400 is here.
Technorati tag:
Digitization, Book
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Metadata (definition)
What is metadata? Metadata means data about data. Although the definition sounds simple, metadata is anything but. Metadata is used to describe the context, content and structure of materials. Those materials might be books, photographs, archival records, audiotapes, video, etc. Often it is the metadata that is searched thus leading you to the item that you desire.
While there are metadata standards (e.g., Dublin Core and MARC), often metadata can be flexible. Flexibility allows the metadata to be geared towards a specific project or application. However, some people find the flexibility to be frustrating.
Others are frustrated knowing that metadata must be created and that its creation takes time. Some project managers may need to be convinced that robust metadata will be important to their projects, and that doing without it will be harming to information access.
While it is possible for anyone to create metadata, generally it is someone who has been trained in metadata creation who is charged with that responsibility. Metadata creation can be outsourced successfully, if the institution takes time to communicate its needs and expectations.
Although metadata is similar to indexing, cataloguing and tagging, it is different. A person who knows how to index, for example, does not automatically know everything about metadata creation.
Other Digitization 101 posts on metadata include:
Technorati tag:
Metadata, 
Definition
While there are metadata standards (e.g., Dublin Core and MARC), often metadata can be flexible. Flexibility allows the metadata to be geared towards a specific project or application. However, some people find the flexibility to be frustrating.
Others are frustrated knowing that metadata must be created and that its creation takes time. Some project managers may need to be convinced that robust metadata will be important to their projects, and that doing without it will be harming to information access.
While it is possible for anyone to create metadata, generally it is someone who has been trained in metadata creation who is charged with that responsibility. Metadata creation can be outsourced successfully, if the institution takes time to communicate its needs and expectations.
Although metadata is similar to indexing, cataloguing and tagging, it is different. A person who knows how to index, for example, does not automatically know everything about metadata creation.
Other Digitization 101 posts on metadata include:
- The "M" word
- IL2007: Searching, Metadata, and my final post about the conference
- Are we engaging in overkill?
- Metadata is more than just cataloguing
- Talking across time and space
- Metadata is still not understood
- Article: Almost 30 percent of Internet users tag online
- Article: One Picture, 1,000 Tags
- Taxonomies
- Small digitization projects with no metadata
Technorati tag:
Metadata, Definition
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Federated Search Blog
Deep Web Technologies is sponsoring a blog on federated search. Begun in December 2007, this is not a blog to promote DWT's product, but instead is aimed "to keep you abreast of happenings in the federated search industry and to serve as a forum for discussion of issues, questions, and concerns among vendors, customers, and potential customers." Sol Lederman is writing nearly daily on federated search and I would think has enough fodder to keep him writing daily for a long time. For example, one of the recent posts is about a web presentation that Frank Cervone and Jeff Wisniewski did on federated search. Frank and Jeff speak frequently on the topic, and give a lively update on how the industry is changing. Sol was able to write and publish extensive notes from the session. (My notes from their IL2007 are in this post.)
Technorati tag:
Federated Search
Technorati tag:
Federated Search
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Digitizing three-dimensional objects
A commenter on this post asked how three-dimensional object can be digitized. Many will use a digital camera to create a two-dimensional representation of the object, and that may suffice in most instances. However, a quick search shows that there are ways of actually creating a three-dimensional image of an object. I found quickly both a book chapter and two pieces of equipment:
If you have something exceptional that you want people to be able to "walk around", you might consider panoramic virtual reality photos, like 360VR does (example). Okay...that maybe overkill, but pretty interesting, huh?!
Technorati tag:Digitization
- Digitizing the Shape and Appearance of Three-Dimensional Objects (pp. 37 - 46) in Frontiers of Engineering: Reports on Leading Edge Engineering from the 1996 NAE Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering (1997)
- HLS Handheld Laser Scanner (The “Magic Wand” of 3D Laser Scanning for 3D Modeling in Real-Time)
- Konica Minolta Non-Contact 3D Digitizer: For art and cultural heritage
If you have something exceptional that you want people to be able to "walk around", you might consider panoramic virtual reality photos, like 360VR does (example). Okay...that maybe overkill, but pretty interesting, huh?!
Technorati tag:
Digitization
Microsoft and its file formats
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that several file formats in Office 2003 were going to be blocked when people installed the latest service pack, because Microsoft felt the formats has security problems. Evidently enough people complained that the company retracted its actions AND said the formats weren't to blame, but that the "the parsing code that Office 2003 uses to open and save the file types that is less secure."
Microsoft's actions are a great example of one of the problems we can have in ensuring that files remain accessible for the long term. A company may decide not to recognize older formats, thus making those formats unavailable for use. Unfortunately, companies have the right to make these type of decisions about their proprietary formats.
Technorati tag:Digital Preservation
Microsoft's actions are a great example of one of the problems we can have in ensuring that files remain accessible for the long term. A company may decide not to recognize older formats, thus making those formats unavailable for use. Unfortunately, companies have the right to make these type of decisions about their proprietary formats.
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
Monday, January 07, 2008
Article: What is...JPEG?
The February 2008 issues of the Notices of AMS includes a three-page article by David Austin, professor of mathematics at Grand Valley State University, that explains how JPEG and JPEG2000 (J2K) compress image data. Austin also wrote an article in 2007 about JPEG entitled “Image Compression: Seeing What’s Not There.” Both article contain many formulas and are not for the mathematically challenged. Anyone, though, can glean useful information especially towards the end of each article, when he returns to looking at the big picture (no pun intended).
In talking about J2K, Austin notes that its "principal advantage lies in providing a much more flexible format for working with images in environments where the increased complexity [of the format] is not problematic." In other words, he is saying that one should not automatically choose J2K over JPEG. According to him, each have their advantages.
Thanks to Peter E. Murray for pointing out current article.
Technorati tag:
JPEG2000
In talking about J2K, Austin notes that its "principal advantage lies in providing a much more flexible format for working with images in environments where the increased complexity [of the format] is not problematic." In other words, he is saying that one should not automatically choose J2K over JPEG. According to him, each have their advantages.
Thanks to Peter E. Murray for pointing out current article.
Technorati tag:
JPEG2000
Publication: Institutional Repositories, Tout de Suite
Charles W. Bailey, Jr. has released Institutional Repositories, Tout de Suite, which he describes as "the latest Digital Scholarship publication...designed to give the reader a very quick introduction to key aspects of institutional repositories and to foster further exploration of this topic though liberal use of relevant references to online documents and links to pertinent websites." Besides the overview that this 10-page document provides, it also contains pointers to many other resources. It is a document that will help someone gain some background in order to enter a basic conversation on institutional repositories (IRs).
Technorati tag:
Institutional Repository
Technorati tag:
Institutional Repository
My winter & spring 2008 schedule
We are having an early thaw, which is a gentle reminder that spring will be here before we know it. (Okay, it's not as green here as this photo, but we can imagine!)Here is my current speaking and travel schedule for the next four months, as well as the dates of two conferences that I'm helping to organize:
- Jan. 16 -- Keynote, Privacy & Security in Our Online, Networked World, Syracuse, NY
- Jan. 18 -- Workshop, Introduction to Second Life, Ithaca, NY
- Jan. 23 - 26 -- Attending, SLA Leadership Summit, Louisville, KY
- Feb. 28 -- Presentation and panel discussion, ASTD CNY Chapter Event on Second Life, East Syracuse, NY
- Feb. 29 -- Workshop, Promotion & Use of Digital Projects, Cortland, NY (SCRLC & CLRC)
- Mar. 4 -- Organizing Committee, Unconference on the Future of Libraries, East Syracuse, NY
- Mar. 5 -- Organizing Committee, Collection Development Conference, East Syracuse, NY
- Mar. 18 -- Presentation, Tour of InfoIsland, Second Life (web conference for Education Institute)
- Mar. 19 -- Presentation, Second Life & Libraries, Wheeling, IL (North Suburban Library System)
- Mar. 27 -- Presentation, Social Networking Tools & Second Life, Cortland, NY (Postponed from December due to the weather)
- Apr. 6 -- Workshop, Digitization 101, Crystal City, VA (Computers in Libraries)
For more information on any of the events on my calendar, please contact the sponsoring organization or me. If you would me to speak at your event, please give me a shout.
Technorati tags:
Digitization, 
Second Life, 
Social Networking Tools
Friday, January 04, 2008
Event: DC-2008 -- International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications, Sept. 22 - 26, 2008
I received this through one of the academic lists I'm on. Please note that the deadline for submission is March 30.
The annual Dublin Core conferences bring together leading metadata researchers and professionals from around the world.
DC-2008 in Berlin will be the eighth in a series of conferences held previously in Tokyo, Florence, Seattle, Shanghai, Madrid, Manzanillo, and Singapore. The conference is organized jointly by the Competence Centre for Interoperable Metadata (KIM), Max Planck Digital Library, Göttingen State and University Library, the German National Library, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Dublin Core Metadata Initiative with sponsorship from Wikimedia Deutschland.
CONFERENCE THEME
Metadata is a key aspect of our evolving infrastructure for information management, social computing, and scientific collaboration.
DC-2008 will focus on metadata challenges, solutions, and innovation in initiatives and activities underlying semantic and social applications. Metadata is part of the fabric of social computing, which includes the use of wikis, blogs, and tagging for collaboration and participation. Metadata
also underlies the development of semantic applications, and the Semantic Web -- the representation and integration of multimedia knowledge structures on the basis of semantic models. These two trends flow together in applications such as Wikipedia, where authors collectively create structured information that can be extracted and used to enhance access to and use of information sources.
Recent discussion has focused on how existing bibliographic standards can be expressed as Semantic Web vocabularies to facilitate the integration of library and cultural heritage data with other types of data. Harnessing the efforts of content providers and end-users to link, tag, edit, and describe their information in interoperable ways ("participatory metadata") is a key step towards providing knowledge environments that are scalable, self-correcting, and evolvable.
DC-2008 will explore conceptual and practical issues in the development and deployment of semantic and social applications to meet the needs of specific communities of practice.
Papers, reports, and poster submissions are welcome on a wide range of metadata topics, such as:
All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the International Program Committee and published in the conference proceedings.
The Committee is soliciting paper contributions of the following three types:
-- FULL PAPERS (8 to 10 pages)
Full papers either describe innovative original work in detail or provide critical, well-referenced overviews of key developments or good practice in the areas outlined above. Full papers will be assessed using the following criteria:
Project reports describe a specific model, application, or activity in a concise, prescribed format. Project reports will be assessed using the following criteria:
-- POSTERS (1 page)
Posters are for the presentation of projects or research under development or late-breaking results. Poster proposals should consist of a title, an extended abstract, and contact information for the authors. Accepted posters will be displayed at the conference and may include additional materials, space permitting. Abstracts of posters will appear in the conference proceedings.
ONLINE SUBMISSION
Authors wishing to submit papers, reports, or poster proposals may do so through the DCMI Peer Review System at http://www.dcmipubs.org/ojs/index.php/pubs/. Author registration and links to the submission process appear under the "Information for Authors" link.
DEADLINES AND IMPORTANT DATES
Technorati tag:Metadata
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND INITIAL CALL FOR PAPERS
DC-2008 -- International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications
http://dc2008.de/
"Metadata for Semantic and Social Applications"
22-26 September 2008
Berlin
DC-2008 -- International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications
http://dc2008.de/
"Metadata for Semantic and Social Applications"
22-26 September 2008
Berlin
The annual Dublin Core conferences bring together leading metadata researchers and professionals from around the world.
DC-2008 in Berlin will be the eighth in a series of conferences held previously in Tokyo, Florence, Seattle, Shanghai, Madrid, Manzanillo, and Singapore. The conference is organized jointly by the Competence Centre for Interoperable Metadata (KIM), Max Planck Digital Library, Göttingen State and University Library, the German National Library, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Dublin Core Metadata Initiative with sponsorship from Wikimedia Deutschland.
CONFERENCE THEME
Metadata is a key aspect of our evolving infrastructure for information management, social computing, and scientific collaboration.
DC-2008 will focus on metadata challenges, solutions, and innovation in initiatives and activities underlying semantic and social applications. Metadata is part of the fabric of social computing, which includes the use of wikis, blogs, and tagging for collaboration and participation. Metadata
also underlies the development of semantic applications, and the Semantic Web -- the representation and integration of multimedia knowledge structures on the basis of semantic models. These two trends flow together in applications such as Wikipedia, where authors collectively create structured information that can be extracted and used to enhance access to and use of information sources.
Recent discussion has focused on how existing bibliographic standards can be expressed as Semantic Web vocabularies to facilitate the integration of library and cultural heritage data with other types of data. Harnessing the efforts of content providers and end-users to link, tag, edit, and describe their information in interoperable ways ("participatory metadata") is a key step towards providing knowledge environments that are scalable, self-correcting, and evolvable.
DC-2008 will explore conceptual and practical issues in the development and deployment of semantic and social applications to meet the needs of specific communities of practice.
Papers, reports, and poster submissions are welcome on a wide range of metadata topics, such as:
- Metadata generation (methods, tools, and practices)
- Semantic Web metadata and applications
- Conceptual models and frameworks (e.g., RDF, DCAM, OAIS)
- Social tagging
- Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) and Simple Knowledge Organization Systems (SKOS) (e.g., ontologies, taxonomies,authority files, folksonomies, and thesauri)
- Metadata in e-Science and grid applications
- Metadata interoperability and internationalization
- Metadata quality, normalization, and mapping
- Cross-domain metadata uses (e.g., record keeping,preservation, institutional repositories)
- Vocabulary registries and registry services
- Domain metadata (e.g., for corporations, cultural memory institutions, education, government, and scientific fields)
- Application profiles
- Accessibility metadata
- Search engines and metadata
- Metadata principles, guidelines, and best practices
- Bibliographic standards (e.g., Resource Description and Access(RDA), Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), subject headings) as Semantic Web vocabularies
All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the International Program Committee and published in the conference proceedings.
The Committee is soliciting paper contributions of the following three types:
-- FULL PAPERS (8 to 10 pages)
Full papers either describe innovative original work in detail or provide critical, well-referenced overviews of key developments or good practice in the areas outlined above. Full papers will be assessed using the following criteria:
- Originality of the approach to implementation
- Generalizability of the methods and results described
- Quality of the contribution to the implementation community
- Significance of the results presented
- Clarity of presentation
Project reports describe a specific model, application, or activity in a concise, prescribed format. Project reports will be assessed using the following criteria:
- Conciseness and completeness of technical description
- Usability of the technical description by other potential implementers
- Clarity of presentation
-- POSTERS (1 page)
Posters are for the presentation of projects or research under development or late-breaking results. Poster proposals should consist of a title, an extended abstract, and contact information for the authors. Accepted posters will be displayed at the conference and may include additional materials, space permitting. Abstracts of posters will appear in the conference proceedings.
ONLINE SUBMISSION
Authors wishing to submit papers, reports, or poster proposals may do so through the DCMI Peer Review System at http://www.dcmipubs.org/ojs/index.php/pubs/. Author registration and links to the submission process appear under the "Information for Authors" link.
DEADLINES AND IMPORTANT DATES
- Papers/reports/posters submission: 30 March 2008
- Acceptance notification: 15 May 2008
- Camera-ready copy due: 15 June 2008
- Jane Greenberg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Wolfgang Klas, Universität Wien
Technorati tag:
Metadata
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Event: Metadata for You & Me: A Workshop on Shareable Metadata
From the Metadata SSA email list.
Metadata aggregations such as OAIster (http://www.oaister.org) and the IMLS Digital Collections and Content Project (http://imlsdcc.grainger.uiuc.edu) have shown that metadata designed for diverse local environments may fall short in providing the information needed for useful discovery in the aggregated environment. Metadata for You & Me workshops assist metadata planners in analyzing and implementing the changes that need to be made to local metadata to prepare it for sharing with aggregations and other institutions. Topics to be covered include:
Registration is now open for the following workshops:
January 21-February 23, 2008
Online
Registration Fee: $150/person
Registration Deadline: January 14, 2008
February 7, 2008 or
February 8, 2008
Langston Library
University of California, Irvine
Registration fee: $130/person (includes lunch) Registration open until filled.
Pre-requisites:
Metadata for You & Me is intended for professionals engaged in sharing metadata resources with colleagues, regional and state-wide consortia, Open Archives Initiative harvesters and service providers, or other metadata sharing partners. It is not intended as a basic training program in metadata. Ideally participants should have:
Technorati tag:Metadata
Metadata aggregations such as OAIster (http://www.oaister.org) and the IMLS Digital Collections and Content Project (http://imlsdcc.grainger.uiuc.edu) have shown that metadata designed for diverse local environments may fall short in providing the information needed for useful discovery in the aggregated environment. Metadata for You & Me workshops assist metadata planners in analyzing and implementing the changes that need to be made to local metadata to prepare it for sharing with aggregations and other institutions. Topics to be covered include:
- the current state of metadata aggregations
- "the six Cs and lots of Ss" framework for shareable metadata
- an analysis of shareable properties for various classes of metadata elements
- practical advice for implementing these principles.
Registration is now open for the following workshops:
January 21-February 23, 2008
Online
Registration Fee: $150/person
Registration Deadline: January 14, 2008
February 7, 2008 or
February 8, 2008
Langston Library
University of California, Irvine
Registration fee: $130/person (includes lunch) Registration open until filled.
Pre-requisites:
Metadata for You & Me is intended for professionals engaged in sharing metadata resources with colleagues, regional and state-wide consortia, Open Archives Initiative harvesters and service providers, or other metadata sharing partners. It is not intended as a basic training program in metadata. Ideally participants should have:
- Familiarity with metadata standards such as Dublin Core, VRACore, MARC, MODS, etc.
- Familiarity with the concepts of metadata aggregation or federation, such as Z39.50, Open Archives Initiative, metasearch, etc. (technical knowledge of the protocols is not required.)
- Familiarity with your local metadata, such as standards and controlled vocabularies used, systems employed, etc.
- Online participants should expect to spend between 2-3 hours per week reading course materials and participating in weekly discussions and exercises.
Technorati tag:
Metadata
Follow-up to post on NYT article (The Afterlife Is Expensive for Digital Movies)
I mentioned yesterday an article that had been published in the New York Times, "The Afterlife Is Expensive for Digital Movies." That article generated an interesting and thoughtful discussion on the SAA Archives & Archivists list, that is definitely worth reading. Richard Hess, in an email message to me, said that some of the claims in the NYT article may be overblown. As mentioned on the SAA list, when you read the article, you must remember that they are discussing Hollywood-style films. You must also remember that they article was written for the masses, not for those of us who are involved in digitization.
Technorati tag:Digital Preservation
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Article: The Afterlife Is Expensive for Digital Movies
This New York Times article (free registration may be required) talks about the cost and agony of preserving movies that are being made using digital technologies. And the cost?
Technorati tag:Digital Preservation
To store a digital master record of a movie costs about $12,514 a year, versus the $1,059 it costs to keep a conventional film master."What" is being preserved is an interesting question. Are they preserving too much? Will this eventually cripple the movie industry?
Much worse, to keep the enormous swarm of data produced when a picture is “born digital” — that is, produced using all-electronic processes, rather than relying wholly or partially on film — pushes the cost of preservation to $208,569 a year, vastly higher than the $486 it costs to toss the equivalent camera negatives, audio recordings, on-set photographs and annotated scripts of an all-film production into the cold-storage vault.
Technorati tag:
Digital Preservation
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