395T - Advanced Digitization: Building Sustainable Collections Class 2: *defining "faithful" digital surrogates and "essential characteristics” *implications of the physicality of source materials to digitization processes

General Trends in Digitization From lower spatial resolution to higher resolution From 1-bit scanning (for text), to grayscale and, finally, to color capture From low-bit (8 bits per channel) to high-bit (16- bits plus) for grayscale and color From scanning for a specific purpose to digitizing in a “use neutral” manner Future: Move from just high-bit, high-resolution imaging to defining other quality parameters (tone and color reproduction, color mode, capture device performance, assessment of source, image state, etc.)

“Good” Defined Evolution: early – providing proof of concept in the testbed days (jump in and just do it as well as pilot projects) mid – with emergence of standards and practices, bar raised to include levels of usability, accessibility and fitness of use for user groups now – integration and trust have emerged as critical criteria. Trusted information in the sea of stuff on the Web is critical. Interoperability, reusability, persistence, verification and documentation

Essential Characteristics: Conceptual Rationales Preservation Microfilming - “informational content” = text legibility (replication of smallest significant character) Analog-to-Digital - “faithful” representations - “full informational capture” - benchmarking - surrogacy - essential characteristics will inform future users about the originals

Essential Characteristics: Physical and Qualitative Properties Unique to the collection/record/media type  Color fidelity  Ability to see fine detail  Dimensionality  “Look and feel”  Chemical and physical attributes/condition  Defects, generation, curatorial/financial value  Can depend on targeted user population

Essential Characteristics: Defining Specs Based on These Properties e.g. Historic Negatives  -copying-specs.pdf -copying-specs.pdf

Why Did We “Skimp”? Low resolution just for “access” - building critical mass (e.g. Google) “Fixed” approaches rather than defining a process to achieve specific results for individual collection items Minimum specs mean you can do more Digital storage was and is expensive Limitations of science and technology

Implications of the Physicality of Analog Collections in Digitization Involve Preservation Expertise! Akin to Exhibition Considerations - a “care continuum” (Stolow, 1987) Handling, Space and Environment  Training in handling  In-house movement of materials  Light (ambient and scanning source) - UV filtering and heat load. Scanners with no UV energy.  HVAC control  Cleanliness  Adequate space for handling materials

Implications of the Physicality of Analog Collections in Digitization Equipment  Overhead capture (for fragile books, paper and photos) Pre-digitization Review and Stabilization Bibliographic Control Post-digitization QC Off-site  Transportation  Off-site storage and handling  Security Review Cunningham-Kruppa/Metzger paper, “Conservation Considerations Before, During, and After Digitization Projects: The Physical Reality.” 2002.