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Setting up a Workspace for Digitising Images

Last updated: 14 November 2005
Published in: Digitising analogue media | Creating new digital media
Tags: digitisation | photographs | workflow

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Summary

In planning a digitisation project, one of the major considerations will be where you decide to do the digitising and how to make best use of the workspace. Ensuring the area is designed and set up correctly will not only help establish a smooth and effective workflow, but will also make sure the project personnel involved are at their happiest and therefore at their most productive. This document looks at the main issues to be considered when planning and setting up a workspace for digital imaging.

Introduction
Outsourcing or digitising in-house?
Forward planning
Planning the layout of the workspace

Introduction

This document looks at the main issues to be considered when planning and setting up a workspace for digital imaging. Of course, every project will have its own individual requirements and these will vary enormously depending on the size and scope of the project, the type of materials being digitised and the method of capture.

The original working title of this document was 'Setting up a Digitisation Studio', but 'studio' (also referred to as 'scanning bureau' or 'imaging lab') is perhaps an inappropriate term, implying a sophisticated, sizeable and dedicated professional workspace. Whilst these are of course desirable qualities, many projects may not be large enough, or simply do not have the budget, to justify a dedicated 'studio'. A small project, for example, may only be able to afford to have one member of staff using a basic scanner connected to an existing workstation.

In an ideal world, a project would have enough money to set up a purpose-built studio from scratch, but more often than not it will have to make do with the space given. If you are in a position to make a case for more money, then allowing for workspace costs should be high on the list of priorities.

Whatever the space is called, and no matter how sophisticated or basic it is, the issues discussed here should be taken into account by anyone who is going to be setting up a digitisation workflow. What you do with the space you end up with is critical to the quality of the digitised output.

Outsourcing or digitising in-house?

It may be stating the obvious, but before launching into detailed plans for the workspace, make sure you have carefully considered whether you should be taking on the digitisation in the first place. In addition to deciding whether the material should be digitised at all (see JISC Digital Media's advice document on Selection Procedures for Digitisation), you will need to decide whether it is more appropriate to outsource the process rather than digitising in-house. Please see JISC Digital Media's advice document To Outsource or to Digitise In-house? for further information.

Outsourcing may make more sense for those projects that do not have a great amount of material to digitise. Handing over the entire process to a specialised company with the experience and expertise, an established workspace, top of the range equipment and facilities, and a tried and tested workflow certainly has its advantages.

However, such services do not come cheap and you will need to create and monitor a Service Level Agreement with your sub-contractors. You will also need your own Quality Assurance system to check their work. Don't forget that valuable, rare and fragile materials will need to be insured, and that it may not always be possible or desirable to let such materials leave their natural environment. Transportation and handling by third parties may not be an option at all for some items.

Digitising in-house may be more appropriate if you already have the skills and facilities, or if you would like to develop them, perhaps for future endeavours. For some, a hybrid approach, dividing the labour and combining the benefits of internal and external resources may be the best option.

See JISC Digital Media's Digitisation Services for a selection of companies offering such services.

If you have decided on digitising in-house, read on. If you will be outsourcing the work, bear in mind that you will still need a certain amount of equipment, software and workspace to undertake the quality assurance work, so many of the points made here remain pertinent.

Forward planning

In order to make the best use of the space you have, begin by asking yourself the following questions:

What exactly is the space going to be used for?

Again, it may seem obvious, but it is worth thinking about all the potential activities that will be taking place in the workspace. It is very likely that scanning will be one of the main ones, but will you be undertaking any camera work? If so, will you be capturing analogue and/or digital images? Ideally, scanning and photography should be carried out in separate areas - this will prevent photographic and lighting equipment from interfering with the scanning process.

Some form of image optimisation is going to be required, but will this be performed by the same person who is capturing the image? On the same machine?

Creating and adding metadata to the images is another vital part of the workflow, but you need to determine how much of this is going to be done at the time of capture (e.g. technical metadata), and how much will be done after (e.g. descriptive metadata). The metadata that can be added as a separate part of the workflow is likely to be carried out by different staff, and will usually benefit from taking place in a separate location.

The metadata stage is not usually colour or light-critical and requires different 'equipment' to that used for capture: reference books, encyclopaedias, databases, the Internet and other research resources (internal and external; physical and 'virtual'). Being close to physical indexing sources (such as the collection's original card index, or records of the photographer's original 'shooting' notes) will make better use of an indexer's time.

However, the indexing part of the workflow should not be physically located too far from the digitisation stage, so that any original materials required for indexing purposes (e.g. photographic prints with captions on the back) do not have to travel too far. Proximity is also important in case re-capture is required.

What type of material will be captured?

Think carefully about the different types of original material you are planning on digitising. The range of formats for photographic items alone is sizeable (prints, transparencies, 35mm negatives, large format glass plates, calotypes and daguerreotypes to name a few), but when you allow for other items such as paintings, engravings, drawings, books, and three-dimensional, awkward or unusual objects, the number of potential sources for capture increases significantly. If you add to this factors such as age, condition, fragility, size, shape and weight, it becomes clear that there are many variables. Some projects may only be digitising a small number of different materials, but it is important to recognise that different capture methods will be needed depending on the physical form of the original.

What sort of equipment will need to be accommodated?

Having determined what the space is to be used for and the sort of material you are going to be digitising, you will need to draw up a list of all the equipment you are likely to need: flatbed scanners, film scanners, drum scanners, cameras, lights, camera stands, tripods, subject supports, book cradles, computers, external hard drives, servers, monitors, printers, CD/DVD burners, desks, chairs, storage units.

Make sure you know how many of each item you need. If you have a mixture of formats and different types of original material and will be using more than one type of capture device (e.g. a flatbed scanner, a film scanner and a digital camera), work out whether you will be using all the devices simultaneously and require dedicated workstations for each, or whether you can divide up the workload so that each device is used in turn on the same workstation.

Similarly, if you will only be using one type of capture device, decide whether it makes more sense to have one device per workstation, or whether multiple workstations will be connected to the same device.

Will computers be connected to more than one monitor? Some operators find it much easier to use two monitors: one uncluttered screen to work on the image itself, and a second one for all other windows (e.g. scanning software, image editing tools and palettes, file directories). This will obviously have a bearing on the amount of desk space required.

Remember to include space for secure storage of material on its way through the workflow (e.g. lockable cabinets or drawers). Keeping incoming work in a separate area from outgoing completed work is important and will also add to the space needed.

Photograph of a fire-proof safe with door open
For rare or valuable materials, a fire-proof safe may be required

If you are lucky enough to be in a position to include air conditioning or climate control systems (and many original materials will demand this for conservation reasons), then space will need to be allocated for their installation.

How many staff will be working at one time?

Clearly the number of people working on the project will affect space requirements. Each person at work in the area at any one time will require a certain amount of personal workspace, and you should make sure you are familiar with the regulations relating to health and safety. Eleven cubic metres for each person permanently occupying a workplace "is a minimum and may be insufficient depending on the layout, contents and nature of the work", Health and Safety Executive: Workplace, Health, Safety and Welfare (PDF file - Get free Adobe PDF Reader).

If you find that the physical space limits you to having fewer staff (or less equipment) than you would like, you might consider extending the 'office hours' to accommodate more than one shift.

Planning the layout of the workspace

Once you have answered these questions and established your equipment and staff requirements, you will have a much better idea of the overall size of the space you will need. Now you can begin to plan the layout.

At this stage it is important not to forget the extra workspace you will need around each workstation: there needs to be enough surface area to allow for the handling, sorting and storing of physical materials during digitisation. This will vary depending on the type of material being captured. Make sure the layout 'flows' sensibly in relation to the production workflow (e.g. not storing incoming items at the opposite end of the room from the door).

You will also need to factor in space for cables and wiring. Will workstations be connected to multiple devices? Will devices be connected to multiple workstations? This will have an influence on the positioning of each device and workstation in relation to one other, as well as on the wiring requirements. The length of the cables may also affect the layout - SCSI cable lengths can be extremely limited, especially when multiple devices are used.

An often overlooked detail is the allocation of space for enough electricity power points and network points. This is one area where it would be wise to overestimate the numbers required. Make sure the power supply is stable and surge protected. An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) backup is vital, especially for servers.

Photograph of several electricity power sockets, with two plugs connected, and network points with one network cable connected
Have you got enough sockets?

When planning the layout of the workspace the following considerations must be addressed:

Health and safety

As well as the regulations on the amount of space needed per person, several other important health and safety considerations need to be taken into account.

Anyone working with computers needs to be aware of the associated health risks. Not only will the digitisation workspace and furniture need to be designed ergonomically to minimise such risks, but the manager will need to keep the health, safety and welfare of staff in mind when planning the workflow.

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), caused by repeatedly performing the same task, affects an increasing number of computer users. The risk can be reduced if staff are given a variety of tasks and regular breaks, and will be made worse through badly designed work areas and equipment. Further information can be found in the NHS Direct Online Health Encyclopaedia's Guide to Repetitive Strain Injury.

Poor posture will lead to back problems. Staff should be given chairs with proper lower back support and adjustable seats. Workstations should allow space for movement. Staff should be encouraged to take regular breaks to 'stretch the legs'. Recently, Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), a condition more often linked to long-haul flights, has been associated with prolonged periods spent sitting at a computer. This is also known as 'e-thrombosis'.

Excessive use of VDUs (Visual Display Units) can lead to eye-strain. Desks need to be deep enough to allow an arm's length between the user and their monitor. Again, regular screen breaks should be encouraged - it is all too easy to sit in front of the monitor for long periods, but resting the eyes at least once an hour is recommended. Make a conscious effort to blink - testing has shown that people viewing a monitor blink far less than they normally do, even as little as 3-4 times a minute. This quickly leads to dry eyes and additional eye-strain. Further information is available in the Health and Safety Executive's Working with VDUs (PDF file - Get free Adobe PDF Reader).

Ventilation, air temperature and lighting all affect the working environment, and adequate measures must be taken to ensure a certain level of comfort. The greater the number of computers, monitors and servers, the more impact the heat being generated will have on your ventilation requirements. Lighting needs to be looked at even more carefully - you will need to strike a balance between providing enough light for operators to easily see what they are doing when working away from the monitor, and keeping ambient lighting dark enough to prevent loss in monitor contrast. If you follow the recommendation in the section below (where lighting is discussed in more detail) to keep daylight out, then make sure staff have regular exposure to daylight, either during breaks or by opening blinds when 'colour critical' work is not being undertaken.

Specific safety considerations relating to electrical and photographic equipment should also be taken into account: lights can get very hot; ladders, tripods and stands need to be stable and used with due care; watch out for trip hazards; tape down loose cables; be careful not to catch fingers or toes in or under heavy stands.

Photograph of a mess of electrical cables and extension leads plugged into a multiplug connector
Are your cables a safety hazard?

Lighting the work area

Working with digital images usually involves viewing colour images and if you are using a monitor to make decisions about the colour quality of the images, then every effort must be made to make the process as accurate as possible.

Judging colour is a very subjective process and what the eye 'sees' and the brain 'perceives' are not the same thing. For this reason the ambient lighting conditions around the work area need to be standardised so that the colour perceived by the brain can be trusted to be a true representation of the colour that the eye sees.

In order to make the ambient lighting around your work area as consistent and standardised as possible, you will need to:

Paint the room in a neutral grey or white. Coloured walls will reflect tinted light onto your monitor or work area.
Cut out all extraneous light from outside the work area. This will mean fitting blinds to all windows to stop any daylight or other un-standard light from creeping in.
Use standardised colour corrected bulbs throughout the work area. You have a choice of using either the print industry standard of 5000ºK or the imaging standard of 6500ºK. Whichever you choose, if you then use this same value as the 'white point' when you calibrate your monitor, a piece of white paper should look the same colour under your lights and on the monitor.
Make sure that the ambient light levels are dark enough that there is no loss in monitor contrast (and the image looks bright on screen), but bright enough that you can easily see what you are doing to prevent eye-strain when working away from monitor.
Overhead lighting will often cause monitor glare. Make sure that there are no lights, or other bright spots reflected in the screen from the operator's viewpoint. A good way to guarantee this is to use a monitor hood to guard the screen from any stray light or reflections.
Set the background desktop colour for your operating system to mid grey. This will provide a more balanced background to your images and highlight any difference in colour across the monitor screen.

Getting the workspace right

Before

Allow enough space between workstations; avoid screen reflections by cutting out daylight and using desk lamps in place of overhead lighting; paint the walls grey; provide proper adjustable chairs.

After

Once you have standardised the ambient lighting, it is important that you always use these standard conditions before doing any calibration or other colour critical work.

Monitor calibration is dependent upon the ambient light conditions at the time you undertake the calibration. You cannot make a reliable calibration until you have set the standard lighting, and then it will only be accurate when you are using the same standard conditions.

Don't forget that the operator is the lynch pin of any colour critical work. You will rely on their skill, so buy them the highest quality monitors and video cards that your project can afford. This will always be money well spent.

When choosing a monitor, remember that those with Trinitron or Diamondtron tubes are more expensive but provide a sharper and more precise image. It is much easier to keep a flat-screen clear of reflections than a curved screen. Larger monitors are both easier to use and more efficient. Better quality video cards will allow you to use higher monitor 'refresh rates' that are much easier to read with less eye-strain. Hardware monitor calibration systems are now much cheaper and provide much more accurate calibration than those based on visual subjective choice.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are becoming increasingly popular, and are easier on the eyes of the operator. They generally provide sharper and brighter displays than traditional CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors, consume less power, generate less heat and take up less desk space. However, LCDs are more expensive, colour reproduction tends not to be as good as on a CRT and there can be issues with calibration. As the technology improves and prices come down, the advantages of one over the other become less easy to distinguish.

Colour Management is never easy, but taking these basic steps in preparation for your project will give you the best chance of getting the highest colour quality that you can. Further information is available in JISC Digital Media's Advice Document on Colour Management.

If you will be using a camera (digital or analogue) to capture your images, you will need to think about lighting in even more detail. JISC Digital Media's Advice Document on Photographic Guidelines gives further information on photographic lighting.

Keeping the project personnel happy

Central to the success of any project, are of course the people working on it. It is therefore vitally important that your operators are happy and comfortable in their working environment.

Beyond any of the health and safety issues already covered, the working conditions need to be conducive to productivity in what will often be repetitive and boring work. There are no hard and fast rules about how to get this right, but thinking about the job and the work area from your staff's perspective will help. The following should also make a difference:

Encourage regular breaks away from the workstation, in dedicated rest areas if possible.
Provide company and encourage teamwork. Solo workers should have regular contact with others during breaks.
Ease the boredom by listening to music/radio. Headphones should solve any problems arising from conflicting personal tastes, and appease those who prefer to work in silence.
Set achievable but challenging targets with realistic milestones. Visually recording each milestone as it is reached (e.g. using a chart on the wall) can be a useful motivational tool, but beware that it could backfire if your targets are unrealistic.
Ensure the team feels valued and proud of their work. Make sure they know what their work is contributing towards and the importance of their role in the bigger picture.
Hold regular team meetings to discuss progress and encourage the team to suggest improvements.
Study the ergonomics of the workplace and be flexible about adapting where necessary.
Be accommodating towards individual work patterns.

Safe, secure and stable environment

In order to protect the equipment and material passing through, the area needs to be secure and stable. Doors, drawers and other storage cabinets should be locked when not in use.

The space needs to be kept clean and dust-free, with a strict policy of no food or drink, and easy access to washing facilities. If there is more than one entrance to the room, it should not be treated as a through-route.

For scanning and photography work, the floor needs to be firm and vibration-free.

It is important to bear in mind that the digitisation environment cannot necessarily improve the quality of your images, but it is the one variable that can easily harm both the originals and the quality of the digitised material.

Taking the time to plan the workspace before you start digitising will go a long way towards the success of the project. After asking yourself a few basic questions about what is needed from the workspace, and addressing the issues discussed here, you should be in a much better position to start creating a practical, effective and staff-friendly space for digitisation.

Last updated: 14 November 2005
Published in: Digitising analogue media | Creating new digital media
Tags: digitisation | photographs | workflow

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