Introduction

Both CHIN and AMOL receive regular correspondence from museums beginning or in the course of, a digitisation project. Below are a few of the questions you might ask; just click on the text and you will be taken to the appropriate section of the course. Should you have any futher queries, please feel free to contact amol@amol.org.au or service@chin.gc.ca.

Questions you might ask

1. What is a digital image?

2. What can I use my digital images for?

3. Who will be able to use our digital images?

4. What is a pixel?

5. What does someone mean when they use the term 'bit depth'?

6. What are the benefits to my museum of a digitisation project?

7. Will digitisation help me manage my collection better?

8. What should I digitise first?

9. How much will digitisation cost?

10. How can I reduce some of the costs of image digitisation?

11. Are there grants available to help me buy computer equipment?

12. How can I develop a plan to manage a digitisation project?

13. Is it best to use in-house staff and resources, or external contractors?

14. What kinds of staff and skills do you need for an image digitisation project?

15. What kind of computer equipment will I need for my digitisation project?

16. Should I buy a digital camera or a flat bed scanner?

17. What is the best file format for saving digital images in?

18. What is metadata?

19. What is the difference between a master image and a surrogate image?

20. Is it important to make back-up copies of my images?

21. How do I name an image file so that I can easily identify it?

22. What kind of storage device should I use to store my digital images?

23. If our museum owns an object, do we automatically own copyright of images of that object?

24. Once created can I simply crop and edit images however I like?

25. What is a "Rules of Use" statement and do I need one?