395T - Advanced Digitization: Building Sustainable Collections

1. 395T - Advanced Digitization: Building Sustainable Collections Class 2: *defining "faithful" digital surrogates and "essential characteristics” *implications of the physicality of source materials to digitization processes

2. General Trends in Digitization • From lower spatial resolution to higher resolution • From 1-bit scanning (for text), to grayscale and, finally, to color capture • From low-bit (8 bits per channel) to high-bit (16-bits plus) for grayscale and color • From scanning for a specific purpose to digitizing in a “use neutral” manner • Future: Move from just high-bit, high-resolution imaging to defining other quality parameters (tone and color reproduction, color mode, capture device performance, assessment of source, image state, etc.)

3. “Good” Defined Evolution: • early – providing proof of concept in the testbed days (jump in and just do it as well as pilot projects) • mid – with emergence of standards and practices, bar raised to include levels of usability, accessibility and fitness of use for user groups • now – integration and trust have emerged as critical criteria. Trusted information in the sea of stuff on the Web is critical. Interoperability, reusability, persistence, verification and documentation

4. Essential Characteristics:Conceptual Rationales Preservation Microfilming - “informational content” = text legibility (replication of smallest significant character) Analog-to-Digital - “faithful” representations - “full informational capture” - benchmarking - surrogacy - essential characteristics will inform future users about the originals

5. Essential Characteristics: Physical and Qualitative Properties • Unique to the collection/record/media type • Color fidelity • Ability to see fine detail • Dimensionality • “Look and feel” • Chemical and physical attributes/condition • Defects, generation, curatorial/financial value • Can depend on targeted user population

6. Essential Characteristics:Defining Specs Based on These Properties e.g. Historic Negatives • http://www.archives.gov.preservation/format/bw-copying-specs.pdf

7. Why Did We “Skimp”? • Low resolution just for “access” - building critical mass (e.g. Google) • “Fixed” approaches rather than defining a process to achieve specific results for individual collection items • Minimum specs mean you can do more • Digital storage was and is expensive • Limitations of science and technology

8. Implications of the Physicality of Analog Collections in Digitization • Involve Preservation Expertise! • Akin to Exhibition Considerations - a “care continuum” (Stolow, 1987) • Handling, Space and Environment • Training in handling • In-house movement of materials • Light (ambient and scanning source) - UV filtering and heat load. Scanners with no UV energy. • HVAC control • Cleanliness • Adequate space for handling materials

9. Implications of the Physicality of Analog Collections in Digitization • Equipment • Overhead capture (for fragile books, paper and photos) • Pre-digitization Review and Stabilization • Bibliographic Control • Post-digitization QC • Off-site • Transportation • Off-site storage and handling • Security Review Cunningham-Kruppa/Metzger paper, “Conservation Considerations Before, During, and After Digitization Projects: The Physical Reality.” 2002.