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University of St Andrews Image Database

University of St Andrews Image Database. Dr Birgit Plietzsch bp10@st-andrews.ac.uk Visual Resource Association Conference Toronto, March 2009. Background. user requests from across the Faculty of Arts academic need for multiple implementations?

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University of St Andrews Image Database

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  1. University of St Andrews Image Database Dr Birgit Plietzsch bp10@st-andrews.ac.uk Visual Resource Association Conference Toronto, March 2009

  2. Background • user requests from across the Faculty of Arts • academic need for multiple implementations? • future support needs of a number of similar technical implementations? University of St Andrews, IT Services

  3. The University Academics IT Services Interests • Accessibility legislation • Management of electronic data • Use of institutional authentication • Ownership • my images • my database • Restrictions on sharing content • within the same school? • within the University? • with the rest of the world? • technical expertise of academics • multiple standards and database schemas • IT Helpdesk approached re content development problems • authentication mechanisms • future support needs of a number of similar technical solutions University of St Andrews, IT Services

  4. Scenario 1: CDs / DVDs • Cheap to produce • No record keeping of existing images • Finding right image can be time consuming • Collaboration: • sharing storage media • easy to lose part of the image collection • No integration with other image collections University of St Andrews, IT Services

  5. DB2 DB4 DB1 DB6 DB5 DB3 Scenario 2: Databases • Differences in: • the use of software • database structures • metadata and controlled vocabularies • no integration of various image collections • support and maintenance dependent on academic staff who may leave the University University of St Andrews, IT Services

  6. IC2 IC4 IC1 IC6 IC5 IC3 DB Scenario 3: A central database • Costs arise once (development, s/w, h/w) • Central database: • easier to support • encourages collaboration • consistent record keeping • ITS deal with technical aspects • Schools deal with content University of St Andrews, IT Services

  7. Existing software v project needs • technologies required • implementation of accepted standards • collection creation • use of institutional authentication mechanism • recurrent Helpdesk issues • Repository software • MDID • Luna Insight • among others University of St Andrews, IT Services

  8. Recommended standards • VRA Core 4.0 & CCO • Challenges: • vagueness and complexity • standards not written alongside one another • Complexity: beyond most academics who want to set up an image collection • Subject-specific image description • Controlled vocabularies: • Use of controlled vocabularies • Consistent use across different collections • Ambiguities in the VRA standard (e.g. the handling of dates) University of St Andrews, IT Services

  9. <dateSet> <display> c. 1927 </display> <date type="creation"> <earliestDate>1922</earliestDate> <latestDate>1932</latestDate> </date> </dateSet> <dateSet> <display> c. 1927 </date> <date type="creation"> <earliestDate circa="1">1922</earliestDate> <latestDate circa="1">1932</latestDate> </date> </dateSet> <dateSet> <display> c. 1927 </date> <date type="creation"> <earliestDate circa="1>1927</earliestDate> <latestDate circa="1">1927</latestDate> </date> <notes>Date is +/- 5 years </notes> </dateSet>

  10. Solutions • Not all issues have been resolved on the technical level. • controlled vocabularies • templating system to address some of the complexity, e.g: • AGENT: • photograph: photographer • painting: painter • architecture: architect • Etc • use of high-resolution images to address content development issues University of St Andrews, IT Services

  11. Image Database http://imagedatabase.st-andrews.ac.uk University of St Andrews, IT Services

  12. Public welcome screen

  13. A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches project image collection

  14. A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches project image collection

  15. A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches project image collection

  16. A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches project image collection

  17. A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches project image collection

  18. Collection-specific data input template

  19. Lightbox

  20. Slideshow

  21. Slideshow

  22. Thanks • Technical implementation & maintenance: • Sean Dooley • Swithun Crowe • Advice: • Mick Eadie (Visual Arts Data Service) • colleagues in ITS, academic Schools, University Library • vra-l • Permission to demonstrate project: • Prof. Richard Fawcett (School of Art History), A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish ChurchesProject: http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches … among others University of St Andrews, IT Services

  23. University of St Andrews Image Database Dr Birgit Plietzsch bp10@st-andrews.ac.uk Visual Resource Association Conference Toronto, March 2009

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