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| Frequently Asked Questions |
- Q:
I want to use digital images in my teaching but am a complete novice.
Where do I start?
- A:
A useful introduction to all aspects of creating a collection of images
can be found at the Getty Art History Information Page (AHIP). This contains
a tutorial which covers all the technical jargon you will need to know,
explains the procedures of converting film and printed images into a digital
format, and discusses issues relating to quality control, storage, and
access. To read this tutorial now,
Click Here
- Also useful is the Imaging
Information created by Howard Besser at UC Berkeley. It contains:
Articles and papers on digital imaging, quality issues, format, technical recommendations, example projects, and a bibliography on image databases which is divided into specific issues such as capture, color, compression, copyright, quality, storage, and so forth.
- Q:
I need some basic assistance in creating a World Wide Web page for my classes.
Where can I get help?
- A:
At the Prentice Hall website, click on WWW
Resources for a guide to the history of the web, basic tutorials on
creating web pages, and how to best use the web to fit your needs.
- Q:
How do I search for images on the internet?
- A:
A useful search engine for images is at WWW.SCOUR.NET.
Just like a text-based library search, you will be asked to put in a keyword,
or a series of keywords. Search results are displayed as thumbnail (small
postage-stamp sized) images, with text describing the site and a link to
the site where a full screen and higher resolution image can be found.
If you are looking in a particular category, also check the list of interesting
sites under the Visual Resources section.
Another useful search engine for visual arts is the Prentice Hall web archive. It contains all of the royalty-free, public domain images from Prentice Hall texts, and you can search the archive either by Image Type or by Artist's Name. To access the archive click to the WWW Resources Website and select from the menu bar to the left of the screen.
- Q:
What is available on OhioLink?
- A:
OhioLink currently has licensed the entire Saskia digital archive of 3500
images and is negotiating with other image vendors such as AMICO,
Art Museum Image Consortium, an organization
of American museums with a digital archive of 40,000 images. Ohiolink is also collecting images from non-commercial contributions at Ohio institutions. To find out more visit http://www.ohiolink.edu/media.
- Q: How
do I find images on OhioLink?
- A:
Go directly to the Ohiolink Digital Media Center at http://www.ohiolink.edu and follow the links to digital media. If you are connecting from someplace other than your host institution, you will be prompted for your username and library ID #. Unlike book searched, you cannot connect through the Ohiolink central catalogue at this time (April 1999).
- Q: How
do I find images on my local campus network or on the CONSORT network?
- A:
At this time there are no catalogued images on-line.
- Q:
Can I combine images from OhioLink, the world wide web, and digitized images
in my personal collection for a classroom presentation?
- A:
Yes. You can do this in two ways. A simple way is to save the URL
address for each image and look them up again before your presentation
so that they remain in your computer cache. Another way is to download
the images onto your pc or campus network and store them there.
- Q: As I
assemble all these images, how can I keep track of them?
- A:
If you have more than a handful of images, you will need special software
to keep track of these images. Software that coordinates
the searching, retrieval, and display of images, motion picture clips,
or sound clips is known as Media Asset Management. Image management systems and multi-media
asset management systems (MAM) allow you to store, retrieve, sort, and
select images for study and presentations. This is achieved by associating
data with your image files. You must first enter the data, which can range
from a few simple identifying features to an elaborate system of classification
with many levels of detail. Each piece of information goes into a separate
field. You can then search for images according to the fields you have
selected. The search results will be displayed with small thumbnail images
and identifying information. Check out these examples:
- Fine Art Cd-Rom'shttp://www.dascorp.com/products/cdrom/
- Estate Virtual Collectionhttp://artistswithaids.org/collection/startup.html
- [NOTE: You must use Internet Explorer to view this site. From the "view" menu choose "general settings". Set browser to check every page and set cache to 50MB or more.]
-
Q:
How do I find and select this software?
- A: There
are many image management systems and multi-media asset management systems
on the market at prices ranging from $30 to $15000. All of these products
consist of two components: a database and an interface. The database stores
information about the images that you have entered in fields. The interface
makes it possible for you to see these images as thumbnails, full screen
images, to display multiple images as tiling, and to select groups of images
for presentations or study guides. Many programs have a host of other features,
including the ability to zoom in to enlarge sections of images. A select
list of widely-used software appears under Visual Resources. To view this
now, click here
- Q:
How can an media asset management product be helpful?
- A:
It allows you to create a visual catalogue that lets you see thumbnail previews of your images combined with descriptive keywords and text fields whether you files are stored on your hard drive, a photoCD, a removable storage drive, or a network. It also works with audio clips and movie files. You can also see a list of your files as a table, as full size images, or as thumbnail plus text on an information sheet. You can create slide shows of full-size images which can be easily exported to a Web page.
- Q:
How can I decide what kind of program I need?
- A:
There are simple databases and relational databases. In a simple database,
a unique record is associated with each image. This is adequate for users
with a small collection of images or with images that are not related to
one another. The less expensive programs use simple databases and many
are powerful enough to include up to 100 fields for upwards of 30,000 images.
All fields do not need to be used!
A relational database allows users to set up object files that contain information shared by a group of images. This can be set up in a tree structure that links files according to their relationship. Let’s look at an example.
Suppose you have a collection of 1000 digital images of Greek architectural sites and sculpture and another 50 images of paintings from Pompeii. You want each image to be identified by style/historical epoch (Greek, Roman), city (Athens, Delphi, Pompeii), location (Parthenon, the House of Menander) as well as a unique title (e.g. The Poet Menander, Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs). In a simple database, for each item you will type in country, city, location, and title. In a relational database however, you will set up a tree structure so that Greek and Rome are separate object files. With each, the structure branches out into object files for city, location, and so forth. This is particularly useful for multiple views of a building or pictorial complex. It takes up much less space on your personal computer or network server, avoids typographical errors from multiple entry of the same word, and saves time entering data. The disadvantage is that relational databases are more complicated to set up and the software is more costly.
- Q:
What is metadata?
- A:
Metadata refers to the standardized terminology that has been developed by organizations in order to make information accessible to as many users as possible. We are all familiar with this in the cataloguing of books, which each volume is identified by author(s), title, publisher, location of publisher, date of publication, as well as subject categories. Images need similar data to describe them, but the range of fields is more complicated depending upon the type of image. Biological organisms may be identified by genus and species, paintings by artist, title, or museum, medical images by organ or pathology. Organizations in these different fields of study that have worked out guidelines for metadata. A list of metadata guidelines is on the Visual Resources Pages. Click here to go there now.
- Q:
Why should I care about Metadata when I'm not a librarian?
- A:
If you are digitizing images and you want to search them, you will need to associate them with text -- with text such as the name of the creator, the name of the person represented, the location, or even the source of your image (a book, slide, or commercial vendor). You should attempt to follow the guidelines for your field as much as possible in order to make your images accessible to others. Metadata guidelines can help you decide whether to enter Firenze or Florence, Italy, how to describe the media of an object, how to spell an artist's name (is it Lionardo or Leonardo da Vinci) and whether to file it under V or L. This will also make it easier for your students to find things on the internet. It is analogous to learning the standards in your field for citation and making them a habit when you prepare bibliographies and footnotes.
To see an example of metadata, describing a work of art, go to Visual Resource Association Core Categorieshttp://www.oberlin.edu/~art/vra/we1.html
- Q:
I don't have time to put all this data in. I just want to get my images scanned.
- A:
The beauty of computers is that you don't have to do it all at once. After you set up a system and identify one or two fields, you can have all your images up and running, available for study sets and presentations. For example, if you have a 100 images by Picasso, you can just label them Picasso. When you search "Picasso", you'll see thumbnails or a list of all of your images and you will have to scan through them, one screenful at a time. Later you may want to streamline your searching to call up only Picasso's Cubist pictures, so you may want to enter a style field for each image. Or, you may discover instead that you prefer to search for images by date or title. You don't have to make all the decisions at the outset.
- Q:
Can I combine still images with motion picture clips?
- A:
Yes. Most media asset management software allows you to do this.
- Q:
How can I display several images at once?
- A:
You can load up two or more versions of your web browser and size the windows
as you wish in order to juxtapose images. An MAM also allows you to do this
with with a feature known as tiling.
- Q:
How can I move around the classroom instead of standing fixed at
the monitor and/or keyboard?
- A:
A wireless mouse from Mindpath Model IR50 F/X allows the presenter to walk around the
classroom and has programmable buttons for zooming, spotlighting, and all
normal mouse commands. The bounce capability of its infrared signal permits control from up to 50 feet without being in the line of sight. Cost is about $145.
- Q:
How do I download an image?
- A:
This process is called capture. To capture an image from your web browser
move the mouse over the image and click the right mouse button. A menu
will appear. Select "Save image as," and choose a directory in which to
save the image file.
- Q:
How do I insert an image into a word processing document?
- A:
The easiest way to insert an image into any document is to use the cut
and paste feature of your program. First, open the image in any program.
Second, select the image. Third, find the "Copy" command under your program's
"Edit" menu at the top of your screen. The image is retained in the computer's
memory. Now open your word processing document and "paste" the image by
selecting "paste" from the "Edit" menu at the top of your screen. This
process is universal in computer programing. Your word processor will also
have an alternative and specific method under an "insert" command amongst
its menus.
- Q:
How do I select a group of images to use for a classroom presentation?
- A:
Read about my experiences here. (cross to another page I may do this last
day)
- Q:
I already have a huge collection of slides and printed photographs. What
must I do to put them into digital format?
- A:
You must scan the images on a slide scanner or flat bed scanner.
To be mounted on the Web, the images should be in a *.jpg format.
However, in order to get a better quality image you need to use a
higher resolution and a format *.tif. These large files can only
be viewed in L-view, Photoshop, or a similar program, but will save you
the trouble of having to re-scan an image as technology advances. You can also do any desired color corrections. After
you scan the image as a *.tif file, you should convert it to a *.jpg file. For more information on scanning see Getty Introduction to Imaging Issues, http://www.ahip.getty.edu/intro_imaging/tbl.htm. See especially items #5 resolution, #6 image capture, #7 compression, #8 various users, #11 selecting scanners, and #12 image quality.
- Q:
I have over 1,000 slides in my personal collection. Is there any way to
speed up the process?
- A:
You can find a commercial site that scans slides. However, once you
have set up the parameters and learned the process, you can expect to scan
about 20-30 slides an hour. Groupin images by size will facilitate
the process.
- Q:
Where can I get financial assistance to pay for scanning, etc.?
- A:
Financial assistance can be obtained by applying for a Mellon
collaborative grant.
- Q:
What are the guidelines for scanning slides and photographs to which I do
not own the copyright?
- A:
This is a complicated issue that is greatly simplified by Attorney Georgia
Harper in Copyright and Image Management.
The essential features to remember are this:
- You should have a copyright policy.
- If a digital copy of your image is available you should buy it or license it.
- If a digital copy is not available but the image was purchased from a vendor, you should contact the vendor for permission to digitize it.
- If the image is widely available from many sources (for example, an image of the Mona Lisa) you can fairly make another digital copy.
- If the image will be used solely for personal research and education and is not available for sale, you can make a copy under the CONFU educational fair use guidelines.
- If the image is in the public domain you can make a copy.
- If the image is on the internet, read the guidelines on the website page and follow them.
- If the image is already a copy which does not transform the original in anyway, you can make another copy according to the court decision in the Bridgeman Case, UK.
For recent news and information about copyright issues which affect artists and the use of images in teaching, see the site created by University of Oregon Professor Christine Sundt at http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/cweb.htm
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