Digital imaging workshop

As a follow up to your response to our preliminary posting, we are
pleased to announce the following Digital Training Workshops. Although
you may have already provided us with some of the information requested
below, please make a formal application as outlined at the end of this
message.

Digital Training Workshops:
Use of Digital Image Technology for Preservation and Access
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
June 12-16, 1995
August 14-18, 1995
October 9-13, 1995
March 18-22, 1996

Organized by Cornell University Department of Preservation and
Conservation, co-sponsored by the Commission on Preservation and Access.

The Cornell University Department of Preservation and Conservation
announces its offering of a series of digital training workshops.  The
workshops are designed as intensive one-week training programs to
provide participants with the means to develop a baseline knowledge
about the use of digital image technology for preservation and access.
The training will focus on the reformatting of paper- or film-based
library materials, including books, serials, archives, manuscripts,
graphic materials, and photographs.  Primary emphases will be placed on
the conversion process itself, on an examination of factors affecting
image quality, and on the use of digital imaging in a preservation
context.

Each workshop will combine the practical with the theoretical.
Participants will select samples of materials from their own collections
to bring to Cornell for scanning.  During the workshop, participants
will be introduced to the vocabulary and concepts of digital image
technology, the components of imaging systems and their attendant costs,
factors affecting conversion quality and the longevity of digital
information, and access-related issues.  Through presentations, review
of computer-projected illustrations, hands-on exercises, six hours of
directed lab assignments, demonstrations of current digital projects,
and an extensive training notebook, participants will gain an
understanding of how bitonal, grayscale, and color scanning affect the
capture, storage, and use of a broad range of library materials.

The workshop is intended for preservation administrators, librarians,
archivists, records managers, curators, and other information
professionals who are responsible for collecting, preserving, and making
accessible documentary materials.

Instructors

Anne R. Kenney and Stephen Chapman will serve as the principal faculty
for these workshops.  They will be joined by several guest instructors,
including James Reilly who will present a session on digital conversion
of photographic materials.

Anne R. Kenney is the Associate Director of the Department of
Preservation and Conservation at Cornell.  For the past five years,
Kenney has managed and co-managed the majority of Cornell's digital
imaging projects.  She also developed the New York State digital
training workshop concept and served as one of the principal instructors
in that series.  Kenney is the past president of the Society of American
Archivists, and serves as one of two American representatives to the
Committee on Image Technology of the International Council on Archives.

Stephen Chapman is the New York State Preservation Intern (through March
1995) in the Cornell University Department of Preservation and
Conservation.  Chapman is the project liaison for the NEH-funded
"Digital to Microfilm Conversion Project" and was an instructor in the
New York State digital training series. He has co-authored with Anne R.
Kenney the tutorial, "Digital Resolution Requirements for Replacing
Text-Based Material: Methods for Benchmarking Image Quality", to be
published by the Commission on Preservation and Access in the spring of
1995.

James Reilly, Director, Image Permanence Institute, has been designing,
executing, and directing research into photographic preservation since
1978.  He most recently participated in the RLG Technical Images Test
Project, which investigated how various choices in capture, display,
compression, and output affect image quality for photographic materials.

Institutional Profile: Since 1990, Cornell has been investigating the
use of digital image technology for preservation and access.  With
private, public, and corporate support, the Department of Preservation
and Conservation has undertaken a series of projects to digitize
research library materials and to produce high quality paper and
microfilm replacements.  The projects also assessed the role of digital
technology in providing networked access to library and archival
resources.

Schedule for Workshop 1:  June 12-16, 1995

Monday, June 12

8:00-8:30 a.m.  Registration

8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.  Theoretical Overview.  Concepts and vocabulary of
digital imaging; document categories and scanning characteristics
affecting image quality; selection for preservation; determining quality
benchmarks for digital reformatting.

3:45-5:00 p.m.  Scanning Overview.  Basic operations associated with
bitonal, grayscale, and color scanning as they relate to image capture;
introduction to resolution, tonal correction, and sharpening; assessment
of effectiveness in converting a variety of document categories.

Tuesday, June 13

8:00-10:00 a.m.  Imaging System Components: Capture and Display.
Relationship between image quality/throughput considerations and
hardware/software capabilities of scanners and monitors.

10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m.  Imaging System Components: Network Transmission,
Printing, and Storage.  Network links and hardware/software issues
related to storage, transmission, retrieval, and printing of digital
images from local and remote locations.

1:30-2:45 p.m.  Scanning Printed Text.  Introduction to basic techniques
used for capturing printed text and line art; utility of bitonal
scanning and the role of resolution and image enhancement.

3:00-4:00 p.m.  Scanning Manuscripts.  Issues associated with conversion
of handwritten materials and effects of physical deterioration on image
quality; tradeoffs in quality, file size, and portability associated
with bitonal, grayscale, and color scanning.

4:00-6:00 p.m.  Scanning Lab I (track one):  Text and Manuscripts.

Wednesday, June 14

8:00-10:00 a.m.  Scanning Lab I (track two): Text And Manuscripts.

10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m.  Scanning Illustrations.  Issues associated with
digitizing the range of illustration types found in books published over
the past century and a half; review of illustrations and reproductions
produced xerographically and through binary and grayscale scanning.

12:00-1:30 p.m.  Optional Lab.  Participants will be able to scan their
own documents.

1:30-3:45 p.m.  Scanning Photographs.  Assessment of key technical
issues and problems associated with the digital reformatting of a
variety of types and formats of photographs and photographic
intermediates; range of technical choices and practically obtainable
results will be explained and demonstrated.

4:00-6:00 p.m.  Scanning Lab II (track one):  Illustrations and
Photographs.

Thursday, June 15

8:00-10:00 a.m.  Scanning Lab II (track two):  Illustrations and
Photographs.

10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m.  Image Indexing and Database Management.  Issues
associated with providing access to digital files by such means as
document control structures, WAIS indexing, and links to on-line
bibliographic databases; evaluation of relational, flat-file, and
object-oriented databases, using fixed-field and controlled vocabulary
structures; discussion of database security, privacy, integrity, and
confidentiality.

12:00-1:30 p.m.  Optional Lab.  Participants will be able to scan their
own documents.

1:30-2:30 p.m.  Converting Bitmapped Images Into Text-Readable Files.
Key concepts and capabilities of OCR technology; pre- and
post-processing issues affecting OCR accuracy; integration of
OCR-generated text into image databases.

2:45-4:00 p.m.  Vendor Selection and RFP Development.  Discussion of
economic viability of outsourcing conversion of library materials to
imaging service bureaus; negotiation strategies to attain a product that
meets preservation and access requirements; review of sample RFPs
developed by AIIM and Cornell; means by which to judge a vendor's
viability and product.

4:00-6:00 p.m.  Scanning Lab III (track one): Indexing, OCR, and
Database Management.

Friday, June 16

8:00-10:00 a.m. Scanning Lab III (track two): Indexing, OCR, and
Database Management.

10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m.  Hybrid Approaches.  Review of Yale University's
Project Open Book (to create digital images from microfilm), and
Cornell's Digital-to-COM Project (to produce raster computer output
microfilm from digital images); comparison of COM to conventional
microfilm; issues associated with preparing microfilm for future digital
conversion.


12:00-1:30 p.m.  Optional Lab.  Participants will be able to OCR and
index their own documents.

1:30-3:00 p.m.  Demonstrations of Cornell Projects.  Reports and
presentations of ongoing imaging projects for text and visual materials,
such as Making of America, Utopia, and the Museum Educational Site
Licensing Project.

3:15-5:00 p.m.  Concluding Session: Enduring Access, Sources of
Information, Wrap up, And Evaluation.  Institutional and technical
considerations associated with maintaining enduring access to digital
libraries; review of additional sources of information (to be
distributed as a supplement to the training notebook); discussion of
questions and issues arising from various workshop components; overall
evaluation of workshop.

Accommodations      Student housing may be available.  Please indicate
                    if you are interested in receiving information on
                    this option.

Cost                $1,500*  Travel and lodging not included.


* Cornell is seeking additional support to reduce the registration fee
to $1,200.  Positions will be filled on a first-come, first-serve
basis, with the understanding that if this support is not obtained,
individuals will not be obligated to attend and may cancel their
reservations.  The final registration fee will be set in four to six
weeks.

Application:

Enrollment for each workshop is limited to 16 participants.  Send a
letter with the following information:

Name:
Institution and current position:
Postal and e-mail addresses:

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:74
                  Distributed: Thursday, March 9, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-74-013
                                  ***