Digitisation Workshop Outputs

Date: 6 November 2015

Author: Nicole Stranaghan

Introduction

The goal of this workshop was to identify opportunities to automate and streamline the end-to-end digitisation process of pre-catalogued Natural Sciences objects. Natural Sciences Collections were the focus of the discussion for the following reasons:

  • The cataloguing work has been addressed already
  • Objects are well labelled with a unique Accession number
  • Objects are accessible
  • Photographers are here now and ready to start work
  • Digitisation Programme Cataloguers (who will be available to assist Human History with cataloguing work) have not yet started and are unlikely to until early next year.

Attendees:

Dave Sanderson, Adam Moriarty, Stephen Lane, Nicola Jennings, Vasati Palavi, Jami Williams Dhahara Ranatunga, Nick Keenleyside, Danielle Lucas, Andrew Hales, Jennifer Carol, Paul Rowe (Vernon)

Assumptions

Our proposed solution is based on the following assumptions:

  • 3 photographers
  • Approximately 100 images (not objects) per photographer per day once fully up to capacity (300 x 20 days per month x 12 months = 72,000 images before DAMS may be implemented)
  • Pre-cataloguing work will be done in advance of photography
  • Each image will have a file name corresponding to an object’s unique identifier
  • Folders will be established into which up to 100,000 images can be uploaded.
  • These folders will be associated with a broad collection (e.g. Land Vertebrates, Entomology)
  • Low investment in interim technology solutions required to support automation

Identified Needs

Need / Rationale
Due care taken to ensure any element of this proposed interim solution does not conflict with a DAMS solution requirement / Maintaining costs at acceptable level given anticipated costs in the near future associated with DAMS.
Timely and consistent supply of Excel worksheets from Curators providing photographers with a list of objects to batch photograph together with their Unique ID . / Ensure no need for photographers to search for objects. Streamlines process.
Objects to be photographed are readily identifiable to photographers. / Ensure no need for photographers to search for objects. Streamlines process
Objects to be photographed should have a Vernon object file. Those that don’t should have a record stubb within Vernon which can have automated alerts set up so that they can be removed in the event that they aren’t paired to images. / Ensures images have a file to pair to in order to avoid having to deal with orphan images later.
Folder structures set up for the storage of jpegs on the Vernon drive will be mirrored for the storage of tifs on the Master Archive drive. / Ensure consistency and reduce confusion in terms of navigation of folders to find images.
Locking down the ability to move images to those who need to. / Makes sure that files are maintained in a way that supports the ability of a DAMS solution to retrieve and match them.
Place to house images taken outside of the dedicated digitisation projects separately. / Ensures clarity around quality assurance processes and authorship of images.
Common syntax used across the Museum for labelling images [Unique ID]_3 digit number. Natural Sciences have unique accession numbers so they can use those. Human History would need to use the Vernon System ID. / Needed for Vernon and DAMS to be able to match images to object files automatically with minimal human rework required.
Use of Lightroom’s automated functionality to bulk label images of the same object according to agreed syntax. / Automation reducing requirement for human intervention.
Investigation into the means to leverage Vernon’s native functionality or invest in script development to automate matching of images to object files and storage in the Master Archive and Vernon drives. May be some requirement to run scripts or check non-matches. / Automation reducing requirement for human intervention.

Conclusions

  • Photographers need to photograph Botany specimens in their space (under containment) as well as Land Vertebrates in the Digitisation Hub.
  • The Syntax needs to be agreed and implemented Museum wide.
  • Automation using both Lightroom and Vernon is feasible but options in terms of how that is enabled in Vernon need to be costed and a decision made quickly.
  • Existing Technicians (Nick and Dani will probably need to continue to work in the same way until Human History as a Department is talked through issues, drivers, proposals and implications. Need to enlist David Reeves and Elizabeth Cotton to assist. There are obvious change management implications.
  • Change Management for Human History needs to commence asap while photographers work with Natural Science Collections.

Next Steps

  • Paul Rowe from Vernon to provide options for process automation within Vernon and costings plus timeframes for completion. (Adam to own)
  • Nicole to talk with David Reeves about the implications of the proposal for Human History and a way forward.
  • Vasiti and Dhahara to work with Dave Sanderson to agree on an implementation approach.