The following paper seeks to provide background to some methods for describing images that may be deployed by those building shared image collections. While the emphasis is on describing digital still images, those developing collections in other multimedia formats - particularly video - may find some of the methods and research outlined here applicable.
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...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...A guide to the creation and use of AAC compressed audio resources. AAC is the successor to the popular MP3 format, and this document explains its advantages over MP3, as well as its place within the wider MPEG-4 media family.
Read full advice document...This document summarises the main features of uncompressed audio file types, including WAV, AIFF and Broadcast WAV (BWF). It gives an overview of these ‘raw’ formats, and a simple explanation of the common options they will offer the user when creating or working with digital audio. It also looks at lossless compression tools for subsequently reducing the size of these files which will allow reconstruction of their original audio data sonically unaltered. Several sections include links to further resources covering specific relevant topics in more detail, so this is a good place to start if you want to learn more about any of these formats.
Read full advice document...A guide to the creation, manipulation and use of audio flies in the popular MP3 format, including a close look at the many audio and metadata options which MP3 offers, and its use within teaching and learning.
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...An introductory guide to recording an audio podcast on a computer with a microphone and free open-source software.
This advice document will help users with little or no experience of recording audio to record their voice onto their computer using free software and simple peripherals. It then covers basic processing and editing of their recording and mastering it to a final format - in this case MP3. Simple instructions are then given for delivering this recording as a podcast through an institution’s VLE and for archiving projects.
Read full advice document...This paper discusses the considerations needed when planning a workflow for digitisation. It outlines some of the preparation needed when creating a workflow and precepts that need to be incorporated. The paper then offers an example generic workflow for digitising open-reel audiotapes onto a computer hard drive system.
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...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...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...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...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...The list below survey a selection of audiovisual and digital preservation related organisations and provides links to their websites.
Read full advice document...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...Now that many important materials are in a digital form, building an accessible online media collection which successfully delivers images, sounds, video and other media is a goal of many institutions.
Until recently, expensive Digital Asset Management systems where the most viable option, but now open source server applications such as Dspace, Omeka and Drupal hold the promise of truly interoperable and standards-based collection management.
This one day course will offer a model of digital collection management, based upon open source solutions. Attendees will gain hands-on experience of planning, building, managing and delivering a digital media collection.
Read course description...This course is designed specifically to help you consider how to effectively incorporate metadata into the fabric of your image collection, through explanation, discussion and practical activities.
Read course description...This course will provide you with a hands-on experience of creating, managing and delivering a departmental image collection. You will acquire the foundation knowledge required to make well informed decisions about building an image library. You will also have the opportunity to discuss and share information with people from the HE/FE/Cultural sector facing similar issues in order to help you develop practical solutions.
Read course description...A new advice document covering Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), an audio compression method designed to replace MP3.
Read blog entry...A new advice document looking at use and management of the popular MP3 audio format. From its suitability for use delivering audio in teaching and learning, to how to use ID3 tags to identify, catalogue and manage your MP3 resources, we look at all aspects of this most well known of sound file types.
Read blog entry...We have just published our completely updated advice documents on metadata.
Read blog entry...Do you want to increase the amount of people that find and then follow your Tweets on Twittter?
Read blog entry...The keen-eyed among you will have already noticed we have just released details of our new training programme for September to December.
Read blog entry...In the 16 months since Flickr launched The Commons, the photo sharing site’s partnership with publicly-held photography collections has seen close to 30 institutions signing up.
Read blog entry...OK, so metadata may not be everyone’s favourite subject.
Read blog entry...An excellent short animation from DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) aims to spread the word about digital preservation in an easy to follow format.
Read blog entry...We have just revised our Metadata Standards and Interoperability advice paper.
Read blog entry...The developers of a potentially useful new online tool for optimising images have hastily withdrawn one of the main ‘image crushing’ features it launched with.
Read blog entry...The newly-launched Metadata Working Group, a consortium made up of Adobe, Apple, Canon, Microsoft Nokia and Sony, has announced the publication of its Guidelines for Handling Image Metadata.
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