Introduction to digitisation and similar activities
Presentations of participants' project ideas, with discussion
Summing up the project discussion
Sometimes I ask, but sometimes I state ("It is the case that..."). If you do not agree, say so!
Who want to digitise?
Where will the digitised material go?
Typical analog material:
Digitise your own material only?
What are the digitised version made from?
Looks like a small difference, but very important
Digitising:
Building a new database:
In any case: Do not forget the tradition of reference!
Why, what, how? More this afternoon!
Management is vital!
To digitise: Need accurate people to do the job, but no special education needed.
To organise digitisation: Need people with good skills in computing, information management and the subject field.
To build a new database: Need people with thorough knowledge in the subject field, the history of the collections and in the material being digitised, in addition to computing.
In the digitisation process, various groups can participate, such as students, unemployed people on employment schemes, or voluntaries.
...and remember: Management is vital!
Outsourcing - need good contracts
The revision trap:
"We really were digitising, but we thought we just wanted to fix a few errors..."
Drawing the curtains, the dust becomes visible.
The quick & dirty trap:
"Well, the board demanded a solution, but we had no resources to do it, and they only look at the surface anyway, so..."
With or without errors corrected?
Digitisation might break down the context of the material
Need re-contextualisation when presenting the material?
Are your material to be found in Google?
These examples are web front-ends to some of our databases.
The main catalogue of the Archaeological Department of the University Museum in Oslo