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Photo and Negative Digitization & Dissemination
The Center for Art & Archaeology (CA&A) of the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) hosted a two-day virtual workshop titled 'Photo and Negative Digitization & Dissemination' on March 27-28. This workshop was part of the ongoing Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP)-funded digitization of rare negatives and slides of CA&A. The workshop aimed to provide mid-career Indian digitization professionals with an opportunity to engage with leading experts from the USA, UK, and CA&A to stay updated on the latest developments in the field. Experts from institutions like the British Library (London), Artstor (New York), and AIIS (Gurugram, Haryana) shared insights on digitization procedures, equipment, metadata and image standards, and data processing during the workshop.
A workshop was meticulously organized for 20 representatives who were carefully chosen from prestigious institutions such as Wipro Archives in Pune, Maharashtra, Benode Behari Mukherjee Archives and Research in Kolkata, West Bengal, Heritage Handicraft Museum in Gangtok, Sikkim, Archives of Contemporary India at Ashoka University in Sonipat, Haryana, Aditya Birla Center for Archival Research in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Cotton University in Guwahati, Assam, as well as the National Museum, Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts, and the Prime Minister Museum in New Delhi. Moreover, we welcomed a limited number of international participants from Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the United States, based on their exceptional qualifications and professional backgrounds.
An Introduction to Scanning Analogue Materials
The AIIS speakers included Vandana Sinha, the CA&A's Director and MEAP Project Manager, who delivered a presentation on CA&A’s scanning procedures titled ‘An Introduction to Scanning Analogue Materials – negatives and transparencies’. Vandana also introduced participants to the online MEAP manual about scanning and metadata creation, along with other relevant resources, including metadata schema, all of which are available free to all users. Stuti Gandhi, Senior Research Associate at CA&A and researcher on the MEAP project presented ‘Metadata Management: Best Practices and Standards at CA&A’, sharing an overarching view of the metadata creation processes, use of vocabularies, and data entry standards. Barnet Varghese, Research Assistant at CA&A, shared case studies relating to metadata creation for the MEAP project.
A Minimalist Approach to Contributor Metadata
The expert from the United States, Lisa Gavell, Publisher Relations and Content Curation expert at Artstor/JSTOR, presented "Silence is Golden: A Minimalist Approach to Contributor Metadata". Lisa’s presentation shed light on the synchronization of diverse collections globally, accessioning standards, copyright and legal issues. Jonathon Vines, Senior Imaging Technician at the British Library, United Kingdom, presented "An Introduction to Scanning Analogue Materials – Negatives and Transparencies". Jonathon is also the lead trainer for the Endangered Archives Program, managed by the British Library. His presentation included insights into a variety of digitization procedures for users from diverse setups, including large organizations to individual levels.
Knowledge Sharing and Network Building
The workshop provided a forum for discussions on various important topics, including conservation techniques for different types of archival materials, image creation, editing, and dissemination of digitized collections. It also expanded the knowledge of the AIIS digitization team on different digitization techniques and data management systems. Participants appreciated the opportunity to engage in discussions on these important topics with experts, recognizing the lack of a dedicated platform for exploration.
