This section covers all aspects of organising and managing a sustainable digital video collection. These papers are aimed at staff who will provide support for managing digital collections but also provide valuable advice to small collection owners so they can manage their digital assets.
Providing a textual representation of the audio content of a video program can be time consuming, but for some users it can prove to be invaluable. Not only does captioning help meet W3C requirement by facilitating access for people who have hearing impairments, it also helps: users who have no audio playback hardware; mobile users who are sited in a quiet area (such as a library) and those without proper audio codecs installed on their machines. This short paper takes a practical look at how to add subtitles to a Flash video file for online delivery. This is only one method of many but is perhaps the most straightforward and quickest for beginners.
Read full advice document...Working with metadata can be a very time-consuming and resource heavy activity, so it is important to have a firm understanding of your objectives before initial decisions are made. Before reading this advice document, it is worth familiarising yourself with the document An Introduction to Metadata.
Read full advice document...‘Digitisation' is a process in which analogue materials become digital, while ‘transcoding' is the shift from one digital format to another digital format. This brief paper looks at some common situations which call for transcoding, such as when ‘migrating' data to new formats in order to avoid obsolescence.
Read full advice document...This advice document provides an overview of the research carried out for our advice documents: Using Web-based Services for Hosting Videos and Finding Videos for Academic Purposes Using Web-based Video Hosting Sites.
Read full advice document...This advice document deals with the potential of using web based services for hosting videos suitable to support and promote academic work and an institution's research and business and community engagement (BCE) activities.
Read full advice document...Related cross-media advice:
Digital preservation aims to ensure that a digital collection remains usable, regardless of the inevitable changes in technology the future will bring. Without the appropriate preservation methods in place a digital collection can easily become inaccessible and so useless in just a few years. This paper discusses the preservation of digital output and the associated metadata.
Read full advice document...This is the first in a series of advice documents about metadata. In general the documents are aimed at those developing managed and sharable digital collections and are of use to those creating still image, moving image or audio collections. This first document defines metadata and introduces some of the key themes and issues that are dealt with in more depth later on.
Read full advice document...JISC Digital Media has surveyed a range of image management software developers to gather specific information about their systems. These are the responses from Papermule DAM & Workflow Engine.
Read full advice document...JISC Digital Media has surveyed a range of image management software developers to gather specific information about their systems. These are the responses from The Digital Asset Lab MediaFiler.
Read full advice document...By reviewing copyright enquiries which have reached us via our helpdesk, we've collated answers to some of the most common. These are presented here as an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
Read full advice document...This paper looks at the issue of accessibility. The topic is introduced and defined and then the term 'reasonable adjustment' is explained. The advantages of digital media for accessibility are discussed, followed by sets of guidelines and a basic accessibility check that can be performed on existing documents.
Read full advice document...File naming is a vital first step for those beginning to digitise. This document examines planning and using an effective file naming system when managing digital files. This paper highlights the advantages of using the 8.3 convention and looks at some options when naming derivative, surrogate files.
Read full advice document...We look at some of the tools and processes for creating, using, managing and delivering digital media resources.
Read full advice document...It is common to think of using digital media in education as a ‘new thing’ when in actual fact it has been used for many years in a variety of guises. What’s new however, are the opportunities that a convergence of the internet and affordability of devices has provided the mass market. This document looks at some of the options for delivering digital media using the web as a delivery platform.
Read full advice document...This directory provides details of more than 70 vocabulary sources. It categorises the various types of vocabularies available to us as Thesauri, Subject headings, Authority lists and Classification schemes. Thesauri, subject headings and word lists more generally, are used primarily in aiding retrieval, whereas Classification schemes help us to organise resources, and Authority Lists help us to standardise the expression of values used in our metadata, like, for example, the way we enter names and dates. Although there are overlaps, broadly speaking each serves a different purpose in helping to control the terminology used in our schemas and in aiding the search and retrieval of our resources.
Read full advice document...Copyright and other intellectual property rights are central to the development, use and sustainability of digital collections. This advice document provides a broad overview of copyright.
Read full advice document...This advice document brings to your attention the free online bookmark service Delicious. Its ability to allow you to manage bookmarks by saving, searching and sharing will be of interest to anybody who has to manage many bookmarks for individuals or groups. It has applications of use for teaching and learning which will be described below.
Read full advice document...This document looks at the ways teaching presentations can be distributed to their end users. While there is a choice of presentation programs, Microsoft PowerPoint is the dominant application and will therefore be the main tool covered in this paper.
Read full advice document...This paper looks at the high-level challenges associated with establishing a digital preservation policy. It is intended to be of use to readers responsible for managing digital media collections. For hands-on digital preservation advice see the document An Introduction to Digital Preservation.
Read full advice document...This document looks at the theory of file formats and the common methods of data compression.
Read full advice document...Fonts are software for creating and displaying typefaces. As with any software, you need to license font software in order to use it. This document provides a simple guide to font licensing.
Read full advice document...This paper looks at the development of a graphical user interface (GUI) for a digital collection. It takes a general view of facilitating effective access to a digital resource and then examines more closely the issues of usability and then accessibility. It is intended to be of use to collection managers wishing to grant access to a digital resource.
Read full advice document...This guide discusses the various types of electronic book (e-book) and ways to read them. It also discusses some key design considerations for e-book production and introduces the types of multimedia file formats that can be supported.
Read full advice document...We understand that the term ‘e-learning’ can be confusing. Aimed at practitioners who are just starting out in incorporating e-learning into their teaching, this document will demystify the term, outline key terminology and its relevance, and introduce commonly used e-learning terms.
Read full advice document...The list below survey a selection of audiovisual and digital preservation related organisations and provides links to their websites.
Read full advice document...This advice document aims to provide a comprehensive look at the various choices the developer of multimedia collections has in terms of metadata standards and the principles behind using them. It attempts to provide a synopsis of general metadata trends, a) in usage for audio, moving and still image format types; b) in specific areas of practice such as museums, archives, libraries and education; and, c) in various activities and tasks such as preservation, interoperability and resource discovery. For an overview of the whole series of papers, and an introduction to the metadata issues discussed here, please see An Introduction to Metadata.
Read full advice document...The following tables comprise a selective guide to various free and open source software tools for a variety of digital media applications.
Read full advice document...Here we highlight the major considerations needed when managing still images, video and audio within a virtual learning environment (VLE) and look at practical solutions to help ensure you do this effectively.
Read full advice document...This guide provides an overview of the JISC Digital Media website, highlighting materials we think may be of particular use to HE/FE staff involved in business or community engagement (BCE).
Read full advice document...Email has long been established as the primary communication tool for online support between two parties. However the synchronous nature of newer tools, themselves becoming quite established, means there are now opportunities to improve web-based support incorporating digital media.
Read full advice document...This directory provides a list of formal metadata schemas and related standards giving brief descriptions and links to further information. It complements JISC Digital Media's series of advice documents on metadata, which the reader is strongly advised to read alongside this resource.
Read full advice document...Once funding for a digitisation project comes to an end, how will you ensure the long term sustainability of your newly-created collection? This is a fundamental question that needs to be addressed at the outset of the project. This document looks at different approaches to sustainability and discusses the factors you need to take into consideration when planning for sustainability. We will highlight the practical steps a project can take and examine various options for financing the ongoing maintenance and availability of the collection beyond the life of the project.
Read full advice document...Everyone's collection and context is unique, so your choice of a system (or systems) for managing your digital media will require a careful assessment of your needs and resources and an evaluation of the available options. This paper provides an overview of a number of different approaches to media management: from some very cheap and 'low-tech' approaches to much more complex and specialised solutions.
Read full advice document...This advice document gives you an overview of the things to consider when using digital media in your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Read full advice document...e-Portfolios are an important part of many learners' academic life. This advice document introduces the concept of an e-Portfolio and explains how digital media can be used effectively.
Read full advice document...This advice document is intended to provide an understanding of how digital media can be used in the Moodle VLE to support teaching and learning. We will be referring to the term digital media as: still images, moving image and audio. Each may be used in conjunction with written learning material.
Read full advice document...This advice document aims to introduce the Blackboard virtual learning environment (VLE) and how you can use digital media to support your Blackboard course design, content, and delivery. We will be referring to the term digital media as: still images, moving image and audio. Each may be used in conjunction with written learning material.
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