Here are the handouts from the CNI session that I mentioned in my previous
message.
 
jennifer
 
_________
 
Describing Image Files: The Need for a Technical
Standard
 
Coalition for Networked Information
Fall Meeting
Orlando, Florida
November 30, 1994
 
Howard Besser   Visiting Professor
                School of Information and Library Studies
                University of Michigan
                [log in to unmask]
 
Jennifer Trant  Manager, Imaging Initiative
                Getty Art History Information Program
                [log in to unmask]
 
MAJOR QUESTIONS
 
** What information should be recorded about digital image
files?
 
** Where should image files be documented? What information
must be placed in the image header, and what can be placed
in an accompanying text record?
 
** What controlled vocabularies exist to record this
information? Have fields been identified to store it?
 
** Where can we use existing standards?  Adapt existing
standards to our needs?  Work with other bodies to ensure
the standards they adopt will meet our needs?  Set the
standards ourselves?
 
 
DRAFT OUTLINE OF
GENERAL KINDS OF INFORMATION NEEDED
 
Information to view the image
        - type (bit-mapped, vector, video)
        - format (TIFF, GIF, JFIF, PICT, PCD, Photoshop, EPS,
CGM, TGA, ...)
        - compression (JPEG, LZW, QuickTime, ...)
        - dimensions and dynamic range
        - CLUT
        - Color metric (CMYK, RGB, ...)
 
 
Information about the quality and veracity of the
image
        - source image digitized
        - the source of that image (recursively)
        - source type
        - source ID
        - institution responsible for creation of the digital image
 
 
Information about the scanning process
        - light source (full spectrum, infrared, ...)
        - resolution
        - dynamic range
        - type of scanner (for color re-balance)
        - date of scan
        - scanning personnel (in-house information)
        - a journal/audit trail of what is done to each image
          and when it was done (crop, color, adjust, ...)
        - Digital signatures, authentication, ...
 
 
Description of depiction/surrogate
        - VRA Data Standard and terminology for perspective,
          position, orientation, aspect...
        - linking between various views of the same original
 
 
Description of original object
        - AITF Categories for the Description of Works of Art
        - Systematics
        - AACR2
        - Other content standards...
 
 
Rights and Reproduction Information
        - copyright of original, digital copyright, surrogate copyright
        - name of rightsholder
        - use restrictions (viewing, printing, reproducing, ...)
 
 
Location Information
        - URNs, URLs, URCs
        - different versions (browse, hi-res, medium res)
          derived from the same scan
 
 
POSSIBLE ORGANIZATION
 
A recent meeting of the Computer Interchange of Museum
Information (CIMI) Consortium organized these in the
following way (with the header information being a subset of
the technical data fields):
 
Image File with Header
        Information needed to view the image
        Rights and Reproduction Information
 
Image Technical Data Fields
        Information to view the image
        Information about the quality and veracity of the image
 
Content
        Description of depiction/surrogate, surrogate history
        Description of original object
        Rights and Reproduction Information
 
Location
        Location Information
 
 
Note: This first schema may need further refinement and
elaboration. If you are interested in participating in these
 discussions, please contact J.Trant [[log in to unmask]]