The importance of planning

Most museums take a 'project' approach to digitisation, while others systematically digitise all or large parts of their collections. Whichever approach you adopt, planning is critical to the success of the project. In 1998 the Claremont Museum in Perth, Western Australia, systematically digitised its collection of  2,000 historic photographs of the town. The Claremont Museum is a local history museum with three full-time staff and 12 volunteers. The project took twelve months and utilised the services of an external contractor who scanned photographic negatives to produce a CD ROM.  "To effectively coordinate all our efforts," explained Penny Kollosche, the curator, "we devised a detailed plan that not only outlined when certain tasks were to be undertaken but also, by whom. Right at the beginning it was important for us to undertake a skills audit to see who of our volunteers could do what. Where necessary we also provided training."

Whether or not your project aims to digitise all or only a part of your collection, before proceeding you need a plan. Very basically this plan should detail what will be digitised and in what order. But even before this plan can be developed you need to undertake an audit of resources you have, or may need to purchase. Ordinarily successful digitisation projects require a range of resources, including the following:

• Trained personnel,
• Digitisation technology and equipment (See more on selecting hardware and software for your project in the Getting Started module),
• Physical space sufficient for the process,
• Funding.

Defining audiences

Before a single image is digitised, the intended users of the images, both inside and outside your institution, should be determined. Furthermore, this audience should ideally be involved in the development of the project brief to ensure that their unique likes, dislikes and skills are taken into account.

The project leader should interview staff members, volunteers and others who will use museum images, asking about not only immediate uses, but future ones as well. If the primary intent of the digitisation project is to increase public access to your collection you should consider placing images on your web site or on a museum public access terminal. Alternatively they could be used in the creation of a CD-ROM or publication.

Evaluating assets

Some museums have thousands of photographs and objects and sometimes it can be difficult to decide which should be digitised first. To develop a priority listing it is often useful to consider the following questions:

• What objects have already been photographed?
• What documentation is available?
• Is copyright cleared?
• Existing images are in what formats?
• How are the images stored?
• What is the quality of the images?
• Are digitised images from a previous project available?
• At what resolution have the digital images been stored?

A survey of all of the photographic holdings of your institution should be carried out to determine not only what images are held in different parts of the institution but also in what formats these images are currently available.

Next is an assessment of the images currently available. Digitising already available images, such as colour transparencies, will be a less costly and time-consuming process than beginning 'from scratch'. Some objects will need to be rephotographed if the images on hand are in poor condition or are not good representations of the original object. Ideally only good, professionally photographed images created with a colour bar or grey scale should be digitised. If previously created digital images are available, be careful to consider whether the quality is high enough for your current needs, and whether the associated documentation is adequate. New photography will add significantly to the time and money required for a digitisation project, particularly when the objects to be photographed require significant preparation time.

Prioritising work

Even if the long-term goal is to digitise the entire collection, the project will probably be done over time in accordance with financial and staff constraints. To achieve this, all work needs to be prioritised according to the project plan previously defined. Generally, priority should be given to the following:

• Images for which you have copyright clearance,
• Iconic images significantly associated with your institution,
• Images for which you have good documentation,
• Objects used in exhibits, current or upcoming,
• Images of the museum that could be developed into a virtual tour or promotional publications,
• New acquisitions,
• Well-formed collections of particular significance or special public and/or educational appeal,
• Images following a particular theme or subject area,
• Natural groupings in your collection.

Resources & reducing costs

Defining the resources required

Your digitisation project will have an impact on budget, staffing, workload, available space and equipment. Staff with the necessary skills will need to be hired or trained (at the least, to document and manipulate the images if the work is contracted out). If existing staff is trained, consider how their ongoing workload will be affected. There are a diverse set of skills required for any digitisation project and often in smaller institutions individuals will need to carry out one or more of the following tasks: 

Administration

• Project management,
• Project leadership,
• Supervision of production.

Collections management or subject specialists

• Cultural material documentation, including composing descriptive information about objects as well as data about the images,
• Cataloguing and documenting digital objects,
• Collections management software expertise to link images with the appropriate documentation,
• Preparation and conservation tasks,
• Photographic expertise.

Systems support

• Technical expertise in operating digitisation hardware and software,
• Photographic expertise if capturing images in-house,
• Experience with image scanning, processing and quality control,
• Ongoing management and operation of the database.

Reducing costs

Some institutions may find many of these resources, particularly human resources and computer equipment, either hard to come by or too expensive. However there are a number of practical ways to reduce costs by building upon local expertise or seeking out additional partners, here are a few suggestions:

• Approach your local university or secondary school for technical assistance
• Approach the museum studies, history or computer faculties of local universities to see if they will make interns available
• Partner with one or more local museums to share costs and expertise 
• Approach your local council or municipality, to see if they have a grant scheme or are willing to make funds available
• Use local newspapers and rotary groups to recruit new volunteers with digitisation skills
• Approach your local employment agency to see if grants are available to employ and train unemployed people 
• Approach your local museum association to see if there are grants or training schemes for digitisation projects
• Approach local business to see if they are willing to offer financial support
• Approach local schools to see if they can offer access to computer and digital photography equipment
• Approach your local library or telecentre to see if they will give you access to their equipment and/or technical support.

Occupational Health & Safety

It is very likely that when setting up your digitisation project you will install one or more computer workstations. The way you design these workstations needs to be carefully considered so staff and contractors can work without discomfort or risk of injury. There are many web-based resources that can help you with the design of this environment, one of the best is Cornell University’s Ergonomics website. Here you will find a comprehensive overview of the dos and don’ts of designing a computer workstation.

Exercises

There are two exercises in this section. One will help you develop an overall project plan, The second will be useful to those institutions with extensive photographic holdings as it will help you analyse the status of your photographic collection.

Exercise 1.

Having considered who the audience might be, along with your institutions’ level of knowledge, practical expertise and funding, a project plan can be drafted. It is important to note that decisions made while planning the project affect the entire process. For example, decisions about the resolution of scanned images, or the amount of documentation, can dictate how the images themselves are used. The project will not be successful if images must be rescanned in a few years because of poor initial choices of technology or documentation. Use the following exercise to help you compile your project plan.

Timeline for project planning:

The following broadly defined tasks or phases should be part of the overall plan:

Exercise 2.

The following exercise will help you assess the size and potential copyright issues you may have with existing images you wish to digitise. When complete, this exercise will help you determine which of your images may be the easiest, or most suitable for digitisation and thus will help you prioritise your work.

Analysing current photographic holdings:

Do you understand:

• What kind of resources you will require to complete the digitisation project?
• What your digital images will be used for?
• Who will use your digital images?
• Why you need to evaluate your collection before starting the project?
• How you prioritise what should be digitised first?
• What kinds of staff and skills you need for an image digitisation project?
• How you can go about reducing some of your digitisation costs?

Date published: 1 August 2001