Waiting for the Verdict?
An 1864 playbill, for performances at the City of London Theatre. From the East London Theatre Archive
(See here for details of the updated timetable for the JISC eContent Calls)
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Don’t Take Alcoholic Drinks on Mondays
1916 poster, published by the National Organising Committee for War Savings
Taken from the collection, Imperial War Museum: Posters of Conflict – The Visual Culture of Public Information and Counter Information, hosted by the Visual Arts Data Service. The image also featured on the facebook page for Europeana
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Digitisation project is ‘Underexposed’
Following recent discoveries in the John Rylands Library Special Collections, UNDEREXSPOSED is an exhibition in Collaboration with The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), celebrating the life of one of Manchester’s early photographic pioneers, J.T. Chapman.
Chemist, inventor and photographer, Chapman invented some of the processes that were to become standard in early photography.
However, he is widely omitted from history books as he published his formula under the pseudonym ‘Ostendo non Ostento’ (I show, not boast).
Working from Deansgate, Manchester, Chapman also invented and sold his own cameras and projectors.
The exhibition also showcases a selection of glass plate negatives, recently discovered and linked to the Langford Brooke family of Mere Hall in Cheshire, which have been cleaned, re-housed and digitised by CHICC.
CHICC is The Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care, a JISC funded project to develop a Centre for Heritage Digitisation, based within the University of Manchester.
The John Rylands Library will be holding a series of events associated with the exhibition, for more information please contact 0161 306 0555 or email jrul.events@manchester.ac.uk
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JPEG2000 Seminar
JPEG 2000 for the practitioner – a one-day seminar
A free seminar to explore and examine the use of JPEG 2000 in the cultural heritage industry will be held at the Wellcome Trust.
The seminar will include specific case studies of JPEG 2000 use. It will explain technical issues that have an impact on practical implementation of the format, and explore the context of how and why organisations may choose to use JPEG 2000.
Although the seminar will have an emphasis on digitisation and digital libraries, the papers will be relevent to a range of research and creative industries.
Places are limited to 80 attendees. Papers will be made available online after the event.
Further Details:
- Tuesday 16 November 2010
- 9am – 5pm
- Wellcome Trust, 215 Euston Road, London, UK
This seminar is hosted by the JPEG 2000 Implementation Working Group and the Wellcome Library.
Contributors:
Please submit the title and a brief abstract of your proposed paper and a bio of the speaker/s to c.henshaw@wellcome.ac.uk by October 4, 2010.
Delegates:
If you would like to attend please email your name and the name of your institution to c.henshaw@wellcome.ac.uk by 1 November, 2010.
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Cross-searching eContent in Higher Education
The Visualising China Project is hosting a one-day workshop in Bristol on Tuesday 21st September, with presentations and discussion on the topic of cross-searching distributed, interrelated, online resources.
Presentations will include:
- The Visualising China project which currently harvests data linking to two large, separate image collections.
- Connected Histories project will present their experiences in cross-searching more than 10 online datasets.
The workshop will tackle topics such as harvesting protocols (including OAI-related solutions), presentation layer problems/solutions such as for ranking search results, and scalability/sustainability issues in cross-searching.
The workshop is also interested in receiving more recommendations for speakers and topics for discussion.
If you have suggestions and/or wish to attend please contact Nikki Rogers as soon as possible: nikki.rogers@bristol.ac.uk.
Date: Tuesday 21st September 2010
Venue: ILRT, Bristol
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Alice in Wonderland’s adventures digitised
I recently blogged about the launch of the University of Exeter’s Digital Collections Online.
Some of the amazing images that were digitised and added to the repository demand to be highlighted in more depth.
With all the hype about Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland film, it seems appropriate to highlight the amazing collection of images that the archive holds on film and cinema (and the optical and visual more generally).
The image of Alice included in this piece, is taken from a box of slides that come originate in a Magic Lantern Collection.
This pre-cinematic invention used a series of slides that were projected onto a wall. Smallscale shows were put on by travelling lanternists using a candle to project the images.
Occassionally visual tricks were employed to engage and capture the audiences attention – not dissimilar to 
our ongoing fascination and the appeal of 3D at the movies!
But, the link between the past and present is not the only value of digitising and making these collections available online.
The collection held by Exeter is fascinating, not only for what it can tell us about the history of cinema and film; but also how the edges of each object and collection of objects touch upon, and overlap with other areas of study and research.
Many of the slide collections are incredibly rich resources for researchers and students looking not only at, for example, cinematic history, but also the subject matter and content of the images and objects themselves.
Magic lantern slides cover subject areas including, astrology and zoology offering a rare and primary source glimpse into Victorian culture and ideas.
The project has attempted to provide preliminary pathways through some of the content by creating ‘curated’ collections and e-learning packages centred around certain themes.
It seems this collection cannot help but cross new boundaries and inspire new ideas and avenues of thought.
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Visual Resources Digitisation Officer – Job Vacancy
Visual Resources Digitisation Officer (FIXED TERM CONTRACT)
5 months (1.0 FTE) or 10 months (0.5 FTE)
ADD LINKS
Salary: £27,318to £30,748 pa based on 1.0 FTE
Location: Farnham
Ref: 10-LIBR143-02
The University for the Creative Arts has campuses at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester and is home to 6,500 students from over 70 countries studying on courses in fashion, graphics, design, media, fine art and architecture.
The Imagio project is a Library and Learning Services project funded by the University to support teaching and learning.
Phase one of the project produced a policy and technical framework for the capture and storage of digital images. The Visual Resources Digitisation Officer will be responsible for the implementation and dissemination of phase two: the creation of a digital still image resource for use by academic staff.
This newly created post provides an exciting opportunity for someone wishing to gain experience in the development of digital image databases within an HE library setting.
It would suit a candidate with initiative who enjoys interacting and liaising with a wide-range of people.
Candidates should have a professional qualification in librarianship or information science with library experience, preferably in the HE sector. Experience of visual resources in a creative HE environment, and digitisation skills would be an advantage, as would a knowledge of copyright and IPR.
Application forms, Vacancy Summary and further information relating to the University for the Creative Arts are available for download or alternatively contact the Human Resources Department via email HR@ucreative.ac.uk or on 01252 892681 (24 hours -quoting the relevant reference).
The closing date for receipt of applications is 25 February 2010
Interviews will be held on week commencing 08 March 2010
We value the diversity of our organisation and welcome applicants from all sections of the community.
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Pre-Raphaelites project wins award
The Pre-Raphaelites online resource has won the BETT Award for best digital collection and resource bank after being recognised as one of the UK’s leading educational websites.
Further details of the award can be found on the Birmingham City Council’s website.
This latest accolade follows earlier victories in the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) and DADI (Drum Award for Digital Industries) Awards.
This continued acknowledgement of the websites design and usability helps highlight the importance of making these areas an integral part of a projects planning and execution.
Key features of the site include:
• full record information for each image
• zoom-in function, to allow users to examine images in great detail
• browse and advanced search
• background resources on the Pre-Raphaelite movement and artists
• exemplars of learning resources, such as “Gender and Sexuality”, as well as the facility for teachers to create their own
• personal collection, a functionality which allow users to group and theme images from the collection as well as take part in online discussions
The Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource was funded by the JISC Digitisation programme and created by the Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery.
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Digitisation and Community Engagement – Future JISC funding
Following the success of projects such as the University of Oxford’s Great War Archive, JISC have continued exploration into the concept of community collections, that is digital resources that are created or enhanced by both user groups inside and outwith traditional academic audiences.
1914 Christmas ‘Comforts tin’ and card, from the Great War Archive
This was followed up the report by Chris Batt Consulting, Digitisation, Curation and Two-Way Engagement, which looked at some of the key strategic issues in creating and curating under such a model.
JISC will be continuing this work by publishing a call for projects undertaking the development of community content. It will be a joint call between the JISC Digitisation & eContent, and the Business and Community Programmes. Around £400,000 will be made available, for funding projects up to £75k each.
There will be two strands. Details are also on the JISC roadmap.
Strand A) Rapid Innovation – Rapid enhancement of existing digital resources to provide for greater engagement with previously untapped audiences
Strand B) Content development – Building new digital collections, or significant extending existing collections, via community engagement
The call will be published in December 2009, with a closing date for proposals likely to be the very end of January 2010.
Potential applicants may also be interested in the follow on project by the Great War Archive team at the University of Oxford. Entitled RunCoCo, the project will be helping to share and establish best practice in the development of community collections.
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Furer-Haimendorf Photographs Launch Event
Friday 30th October sees the launch of the Fürer-Haimendorf archive at the School of Oriental and Arfican Studies in London.
The day will includ
e a seminar, 10am-5pm, and an evening launch event from 5pm-7pm.
The photographs of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf are the world’s most comprehensive picture of tribal cultures in the himalayas and naga hills in the mid-twentieth century.
With this launch, they will be available to everyone on the web.
The uses of these photographs in contemporary fieldwork and the significance of digital archives will be discussed at the semina
r.
More information about the launch of this amazing collection of photographs can be found on the SOAS website.
More details about the project and the 25 projects that make up the Enriching Digital Resources programme can be found on the JISC webiste.