PRESS RELEASE
 
August 31, 1994
 
For Release: Immediate
 
Contact:  Philippa Calnan, Director, Public Affairs
          Dale Kutzera, Public Affairs Associate
          The J. Paul Getty Trust          310-395-0388 phone
          401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 900     301-395-5289 fax
          Santa Monica CA 90401-1455
 
GETTY ART HISTORY INFORMATION PROGRAM LAUNCHES
INITIATIVE ON DIGITAL-IMAGING STANDARDS
 
 
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The Getty Art History Information
Program (AHIP) has announced the formation of an
international Imaging Initiative to address issues related to
the use of digital images in the arts and humanities.  The
Initiative will foster the development of standards necessary
to ensure that scholars, teachers, students, and the general
public have access to images of art and cultural objects over
electronic communications networks.
 
"The 'information superhighway' offers the possibility for
improved access to our artistic and cultural heritage," said
Eleanor Fink, director of AHIP.  "This potential can only be
realized, however, if common approaches are developed for the
recording, storage, and distribution of electronic visual
information.  The Imaging Initiative's goal is to bring the
full benefit of digital imaging to the arts and humanities
for the purposes of research, education, and enjoyment."
 
Recent technological developments make it possible to
transmit and view digital images over computer networks, but
many barriers remain to universal access.  In March of this
year, AHIP brought together representatives from the various
constituencies involved in the issue--including image
providers (museums, libraries, and archives), legal experts,
and computer network specialists--to identify these barriers
and pinpoint areas were AHIP could act most effectively.
Three principle concerns were recognized:
 
* Standards: Currently, there are no common standards for the
description, capture, storage, and transmission of images
within the arts and humanities community.  This results in
both technological and qualitative barriers to universal
access: existing databases cannot be easily linked, and their
content--both text and images--may not meet the high
standards scholars require.  Networked collections, accurate
description, and high image quality and resolution are needed
to build the critical mass of images necessary to change
effectively the teaching and research methods used in the
arts and humanities.
 
"We stand on the brink of fulfilling the 15th-century
humanist Erasmus' dream of 'a library with no limits other
than the world itself,'" said Stuart Lynn, president of the
Commission on Preservation and Access.  "A key challenge is
to ensure that the exacting requirements of the humanities
and the arts are clearly articulated and recognized, and are
not submerged by the overlapping, but often less demanding
standards that support commercial interests.  I am pleased
AHIP's Imaging Initiative will work toward this goal."
 
The Imaging Initiative will work to form a common
understanding of who uses digital images, how they use them,
and the image quality they require.  This effort will also
include the development of standards for describing a
digital-image file -- which includes what was scanned (photo,
slide, or the actual work), how it was scanned, and at what
resolution--ensuring that scholars can evaluate the digital
images they use in their studies.
 
* Intellectual Property Rights:  Many image providers see
electronic access to their collections as a great opportunity
to reach new audiences, yet the issues related to
compensation and the intellectual property rights of digital
images remain largely undefined.  How can images be
distributed over networks without compromising their
integrity?  How can we ensure they will not be distorted or
altered?  How can institutions manage the use of their images
for commercial purposes? What are appropriate mechanisms for
managing rights to use images and compensating rights holders
for their use?
 
The Initiative will develop and test a model for the
licensing of images of works of art, setting up a mechanism
for the reliable distribution of images that preserves image
integrity and prevents misuse.
 
"The ability to transmit images can add a vital new dimension
to electronic information networks," said Lyn Elliot
Sherwood, Director General of the Canadian Heritage
Information Network.  "Finding the appropriate means to
compensate creators and institutions for this use of their
intellectual property will be critical to our collective
success.  We look forward to an active collaboration with
AHIP in this exciting and timely endeavor."
 
* Common Vision: Currently a wide range of technical options
are available to information providers, yet few serve the
long-term goals of universal access.  Museum directors and
library administrators are often ill-informed about computer
technology, its potential, and its hazards.  They require
more information about the research and educational potential
of digital imaging, the compromises involved in choosing an
imaging system, the implications of networked communications,
and the costs and benefits involved.
 
"There is the need for a coherent plan, endorsed and
understood by the broad community concerned with images and
art information, that describes a coordinated, effective
campaign to improve and expand access to this information,"
said James Michalko of the Research Libraries Group.  "It is
very gratifying that the Imaging Initiative has embraced this
goal as part of their mission."
 
The Imaging Initiative will develop a tutorial with noted
digital-imaging expert Howard Besser to inform image
providers about the benefits and challenges of electronic
imaging.  The resulting information will be distributed
through brochures, fact sheets, white papers, and as an
interactive site on the Internet where users can work through
materials, make comments, download reports, and view samples
of digitized art.
 
AHIP's Imaging Initiative will be managed by Jennifer Trant,
a specialist in arts information management who has worked
for several major institutions including the National Gallery
of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.  She
authored the report of the Art Information Task Force
entitled Categories for the Description of Works of Art, and
was also responsible for the informational content of a major
CD-ROM publication of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural
drawings.
 
"AHIP exists to facilitate a common understanding of the
application of new technologies to art historical problems,"
said Trant.  "This can't be done by a single institution; the
Initiative must work cooperatively with the current efforts
of other organizations.  For the network to work for us, the
community has to work together.  Our goal is to find shared
solutions to common problems, which will make it possible for
the arts and cultural heritage communities to harness the
potential of the communications revolution." Jennifer can be
reached by phone at 310-451-6381, by fax at (310) 451-5570,
or by email at [log in to unmask]
 
The Getty Art History Information Program (AHIP), one of six
operating programs of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Seeks to make
art-historical information more accessible to scholars and
researchers through the use of advanced computer technology.
It does so by promoting common perspectives and standards
among international institutions and organizations on
projects in three general areas: coordinating vocabularies to
facilitate consistent data entry and retrieval; providing
bibliographic services; and assembling art historical
databases.  AHIP plays a catalytic role in helping to focus
attention on the collective challenges facing the information
community in the coming decades.  Among AHIP's projects are
the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, the Bibliography of the
History of Art, the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals,
the Provenance Index, the Witt Computer Index, and the Getty
Study of Online Searching by Scholars.
 
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