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VESTNORD
Workshop on digitalisation and delivery of cultural material
August 29-30, 2002
The National and University Library of Iceland, in cooperation with the
National Libraries in the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, plans a two-day
workshop for about 20 participants in Reykjavik, Iceland, August 29-30,
2002.
Workshop description
Digital technology is having a profound impact on the way institutions
provide access to information. This workshop will explore the powerful
potential of digital technology in libraries, museums and other cultural
institutions of all sizes. The presenters will include museum professionals,
technical experts, and administrators, who will discuss new digital access
possibilities as well as the complexities of producing meaningful digital
products. The topic of the workshop is to discuss the methodology of
creating a system for the digitalization, indexing, and presentation of
cultural material. This involves questions about the relationship between
the source and the resulting digital representation, the technology to
reproduce the material and future preservation, accessibility for users and
further use. The questions, which will be approached, will include: What are
the main steps in planning a project of this kind that involve multiple
institutions or countries and what can we learn from a project like that?
What are the technical parameters that must be fulfilled? Choosing material
to be digitalized and setting priorities? Copyright of new material and
general free access to the material via Internet will be discussed, such as
is it right to digitalize all "old" material? Can cultural institutions to
cooperate in presenting common access to their material use this technique?
Speakers at the workshop will be participants from both the VESTNORD and
TIDEN project (digital library of old newspapers and magazines from the
Faeroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) and
other digital projects. Speakers will demonstrate their projects and discuss
the practical implications of the different technologies.
A schedule for the workshop will be sent out very shortly. Those who are
interested to take part and introduce their projects can contact the
workshop chairman.
The aim of the workshop is to focus on the digitisation process and the
relationship between the source and the resulting digital representation.
The workshop will formulate and demonstrate those standards and elements of
good practice that are relevant to a wide range of data creation situations.
The workshop is intended to present an overview of the issues involved in
the design of digital representations of historical sources. The workshop
will concentrate on the following issues:
a. Selecting appropriate methods of digitisation: Strengths and
weakness of
different methods of digitisation; maintenance of the relevant information
content of the original source in digitisation; enhancing the digital
resource through standardisation, metadata and computerized conversions.
b. Selecting appropriate digital formats: Matching the data model to a
suitable digital format; matching the digital format to the intended use and
users of the resource. These activities will be presented as a conceptual
framework for the process of conversion from paper to digital form.
c. Emerging techniques and methods using metadata harvesting for
promoting
access to multiple cultural repositories.
During the workshop the participants will be guided through some of the key
issues involved in the conversion process. The workshop will not present
hard and fast rules, but rather guidelines that project managers are
encouraged to adopt, adjusting them to their own needs and situation.
Reasons for, and benefits of, creating digital representations will be
considered, as will typical scenarios and problems. Particular emphasis will
be placed on the importance of a systematic approach and thorough
documentation.
Discussion about projects involved in digitalisation of cultural material
can help with understanding the importance of using new media in libraries,
archives and museums, and help to strengthen the cooperation between
cultural institutions in the Nordic countries.
Who should attend?
The workshop is intended for staff in libraries, archives and museums that
are digitizing or planning to digitize collections. The workshop is intended
for anyone interested in the creation of digital representations of
historical source materials. No prior experience of digital resource
creation is required, but a moderate level of computer literacy will be
necessary to gain full benefit from the workshop. This workshop is NOT a
training program for technicians.
What does the conference cost?
There is no conference fee. Participants will be responsible for their own
travel and lodging costs. Travel grants and subsidies for accommodation are
available for participants. The library will provide coffee and lunch. This
workshop is funded in part through a grant from the Nordic Cultural Fund and
possible grant from NORDINFO.
Where
National and University Library of Iceland
Arngrímsgata 3
IS - 107 Reykjavík
When
August 29-30, 2002
To register
Iceland Travel, Conference department
Workshop chairman
Örn Hrafnkelsson (National Department. National and University Library of
Iceland. Email: [log in to unmask]).
Homepage
www.bok.hi.is/workshop
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