Overview
Collections digitization is an intricate process spanning diverse physical mediums and necessitating an understanding of specialized areas of technology, law and archival management. This course will clarify technology, law and archival management rights use, practical digitization techniques, metadata development, content management systems and digital public accessibility.
Session Schedule:
Session One: History, Rights and Ownership
Session Two: Practical Methodologies and Hardware
Session Three: Metadata: Development and Standardization
Session Four: Content Management Systems and Aggregator Compatibilities
Session Five: Curatorial Tools and Publishing
What you will learn:
- We will be exploring the legal and artistic difference between a digitization and a derivative work
- We will be gaining a deeper understanding of the fragmented forms of ownership over a single work (the object, the rights to the artwork and the digitized file)
- We will be learning the formats of digitization best suited to the varying objects within a collection and your digitization needs (scanned, photographic, rendered)
- We will be differentiating the workstreams and needs of collections containing documents, 2D artwork, sculpture, decorative arts, and architecture of historic homes
- We will be gaining a mastery over metadata (what it is, what are the industry standardizations we should adhere to and why, what is important to include and how can we be sure we are being culturally sensitive when confirming this data)
- We will be understanding how we can best leverage these digital assets for the benefit of the collector, the scholarly community and the public by working to make them accessible and responsibly contextualized
- We will be discovering and honoring examples of how digital preservation has helped to preserve and in some devastating cases, rebuild, in the face of intentional or natural cultural destruction or loss
