image digitisation in icarus
DESCRIPTION
This presentation gives a short overview on the challenges that ICARUS met with during its over 10 years of experience with digitization of historical material. It shows the tools and objects of its projects. The talk was held at EVA 2014 in Firenze by Daniel Jeller on 09th May 2014.TRANSCRIPT
Image digitization in
ICARUS
Overview
What is ICARUS?
What do we digitize?
What tools do we use?
What challenges do we face?
What is ICARUS?
ICARUS …
… is a community of over 130 institutions in 26 European countries
… is a way for cultural heritage institutions to face the challenges of the Digital Age together
… helps with designing and implementing cross-border projects
… provides its members with know how and tools to digitize their documents
… operates several platforms that make digitized historical material available online
… Membership and participation is free
Digitization in ICARUS
Monasteriumwww.monasterium.net
It is an online database for medieval and early modern charters
It started in the year 2002 as a regional project and grew since then
It combines digital images with metadata
It makes 550.000 documents with 700.000 images from 130 archives
accessible over the internet
It uses current web-technologies to create a collaborative editing /
research environment
Focus: charters
Medieval and early modern documents
Legal documents that record transactions / grants of rights
An main source for historical research
Difficult to use due to their nature
One of the earliest objects for digitization
Main characteristics
Objects of various sizes and physical conditions
Single sheet documents
Only accessible in situ
Fragile and very valuable objects
Local digitization necessary
Very limited funds
Acceptable compromise between speed and quality
Matriculamatricula-online.eu
Parish registers
from Austria,
Germany and Poland
Over 4 Million
digitized pages
Started in 2009
Digitization outsourced
Parish registers
Record births, marriages and deaths in a parish
Start to appear in the 16th century
Still in use today
Often still in possession of the origin parish
Very important for historic and genealogic research
Main characteristics
Rather uniform size and physical appearance
Varying physical condition
Books
Most of the time no special conservation demands
Can be transported
Manuscriptsvarious small projects / contributions
Main characteristics
High restrictions for digitization
Books of various sizes but still similarTightly bound, so limited opening angle
No transport possible
Most of the time small projects
Equipment
Book scanner+ Pro: Easy to use, fixed resolution (400DPI), high speed
- Con: Fixed lighting, limited size and flexibility
Limit: size
Limit: inflexible lighting
Uneven surfaces can cause problems
Glass plate as a tool
DSLR with lighting and tripod+ Pro: Flexible use, cheap price, highly transportable
- Con: Resolution depending on size, know-how required
Limit: relative resolution
9 MP (20 x 20 mm)
23 MP (20 x 20 mm)
So: no one size fits allEven a cheap camera might already give acceptable results
Book stand for DSLR+ Pro: Combines advantages of scanner and camera
- Con: Combines disadvantages of scanner and camera
Semi automatic scanner+ Pro: High speed, good quality
- Con: Only usable for specific objects, quality management
Limit: outsourcing / quality control
Challenges to overcome
Challenge: dimensions Sizes mostly between DIN A7 (70 x 105 mm) and A1 (594 × 841 mm)
Challenge: layoutText on top and under the plica
Challenge: Thickness / binding
Difficult to open, some parts not visible
Challenge: state of preservation
Material damage Acidic colors
Challenge: Contrast
The color matters
Conclusion: plan ahead before you digitize