General course information

NOTE: If you want to get email about the class (which you will need to do if you are taking the class), at the beginning of the term you will need to send an email message to requests@lists.gseis.ucla.edu .  Make sure that the return address for this message is your own personal email account.  In the body of this message you need to put the words "subscribe IS-208 yourname" in either the subject or the body of the message.  (Put your own name [not your email address] in place of yourname.)  You will receive a confirmation request that needs to be returned within 24 hours to officially subscribe (all you have to do is reply back and send

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Grading

• 40%  final project/presentation (written projects due June 7)
• 20%  class participation
• 40%  projects and assignments
• contribute to the new edition of Introduction to Imaging
• T-Shirt Image Database Assignment (re-doing Howard's T-Shirt Image Database)
• create multimedia photoessays using material from Howard's March 2001 Cuba trip
• Work with Rick Prelinger on the Internet Archive's Moving Image Archive (see background description)
• scan and create an image database of campaign buttons

Possible Readings

General Readings

• class textbook: Howard Besser's Introduction to Imaging (please compare both online and print editions but primarily use print edition)
• Howard's Image/Multimedia Database links
• Procedures and Practices for Scanning, by Howard Besser, for Canadian Heritage Information Network, 1997
•  D-Lib Magazine
• Digital Photos: Easy to Take, Tough to Take Care Of, New York Times, January 4, 2001
• Reality Bites, but on TV It's Always Attractive, New York Times, January 11, 2001
• 'Lord of the Rings' Taps the Net to Build Excitement for Film, New York Times, January 11, 2001
• A Comeback for Short Films Is Linked to the Web, New York Times, January 15, 2001

Events to Check out:

• Design Department Lecture series (Monday evenings plus other events)

 

Tentative Weekly Schedule

Apr 5--Multimedia & oft-forgotten elements (Metadata & Standards, Longevity)

Introduction--what is this class about?

Apr 12--Scanning and Metadata for Still Images

Review of Scanning procedures and best practices
Look at a multimedia project (Office Clippy)
Introduction to T-Shirt Image Database project

Before class read:

• Howard Besser's Introduction to Imaging (please compare both online and print editions but primarily use print edition)
• next week you will be asked to hand in comments about aspects of this
• Note:  Mitchell was able to obtain 6 copies of Introduction to Imaging.  I will be out of town until Wed night, but these will be in a bag (marked "Getty") by the door in my office.  So if you can manage to convince someone (perhaps Lydia) to let you in my office, you can take a copy of the book.  And bring a check to re-pay Mitchell in class on Thurs (at his nice discounted rate of $8.06).
• review Howard's T-Shirt Image Database
• Be prepared to discuss the database in class
• Introduction of T-Shirt Image Database Project (scanning due May 10, metadata due May 24)

Apr 19--Multiple Narratives, Editing, and Repurposing

Introduction of Photoessay assignments (incl Lab instruction)
Discussion of revisions to T-Shirt Image Database

• Assignment due:  Bring intelligent suggestions to class on how to revise the T-Shirt DB fields
• Introduction of 2 photoessay assignments:  Re-edit a selection of photos and text from Howard's recent Cuba trip to create two different narratives: one that involves some research and attempts to be "truthful" and "accurate" (due May 17), and another that could be either "truthful" or fictional (due sooner -- May 3).  Each narrative should include at least 40 photographs and several hundred words of text.  You can include text or photographs from other sources, but your primary source for photos should be the one provided by the instructor.

 

Apr 26--The Museum Educational Site Licensing Project and what we've learned

From 5:00-6:00 we will attend the Ben Schneiderman Talk, The Eyes Have It: User Interfaces for Information Visualization which will be in our regular classroom, and we will leave his talk early (at 6:00) and resume our own class in room 121.

Discussion of the MESL Project & implications
Review of Introduction to Imaging (assignment due)
More discussion on Data Dictionary for T-Shirt DB
Don't miss From Metaphor to Metadata by Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz of the Electronic Café on Mon April 30 6-7PM in 1473 Dickson Art Center (EDA)

• Assignment due:  Turn in written comments on revisions needed to Introduction to Imaging
• Before class read:
• Christie Stephenson, The Evolution of the MESL Project, in Christie Stephenson and Particia McClung (eds.), Delivering Digital Images: Cultural Heritage Resources for Education, Los Angeles: Getty Information Institute, 1998, pages 1-8
• The Museum Educational Site Licensing Project: Technical Issues in the Distribution of Museum Images and Textual Data to Universities by Howard Besser and Christie Stephenson  in James Hemsley (ed.) E.V.A. '96 London (Electronic Imaging and the Visual Arts), Thursday 25th July 1996 (vol 2), Hampshire, UK: Vasari Ltd, 1996, pages 5-1 - 5-15
• and read 2 of the following:
• MESL Implementation at the Universities by Howard Besser, from Christie Stephenson and Patricia McClung (eds.), Delivering Digital Images: Cultural Heritage Resources for Education, volume 1, Los Angeles: Getty Information Institute, 1998, pages 70-84
•  Comparing Five Implementations of the Museum Educational Site Licensing Project: 'If the museum data's the same, why's it look so different?'  by Howard Besser, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Hypermedia and Interactivity in Museums, (Paris France, 3-5 September 1997), Pittsburgh: Archives and Museum Informatics, pages 317-325
• the Executive Summary (front matter) and conclusion  (Part V) from The Social and Economic Implications of the Production, Distribution, and Useage of Image Data (final report to the Mellon Foundation, 1999)

May 3--Making of America II

Standards & Best Practices
More discussion on Data Dictionary for T-Shirt DB
Discuss Electronic Café presentation
Discuss final project (have a proposed idea ready)
 
• Assignment due:  first Cuba photoessay due
• Before class read:
• As a guide for scanning projects, read Best Practices for Image Capture (September 1, 1999) , California Digital Library Architecture & Standards Workgroup (derived from Making of America II)
• Also suggested: Hurley, Price-Wilken, Proffitt, and Besser. The Making of America II Testbed Project: A Digital Library Service Model, Digital Library Federation, Washington: Council on Library and Information Resources, December 1999.

May 10 -- California Digital Library Architecture & Standards

Finish discussion of Standards & Best Practices, MOA2
Discussion on Internet Moving Images Archive
Presentation of First Cuba Photoessays
Making Thumbnails and derivative images
 
• Assignment due:  All T-Shirt Images should be scanned by class time
• Assignment due:  Come to class with suggestions for improvement to the Internet Moving Images Archive
• Before class read:
• Digital Image Collection Standards,  California Digital Library Technology Architecture & Standards Workgroup (Sept 1999)
• Open the archives! How the open source movement is changing historic archives, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Apil 25, 2001

May 17--Digital Longevity

Discussion of differences btwn Web and print versions of Intro to Imaging
Presentation of Second Cuba Photoessays
Discussion of Final Projects
Discussion of Digital Longevity
 
• Assignment due:  second Cuba photoessay due
• Before Class read:
• Besser, Howard.  Digital longevity, in Maxine Sitts (ed.) Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access, Andover MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, 2000, pages 155-166
• Besser, Howard.  Longevity of Electronic Art, submitted to International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting, 2001 (posted while under review)
• Besser, Howard.  Digital Preservation of Moving Image Material?, submitted to The Moving Image, Fall 2001  (posted while under review)
• Before Class review:
• Howard's Longevity website
• Lyman, Peter and Howard Besser (1998). Defining the Problem of our Vanishing Memory: Background, Current Status, Models for Resoltuion, in Margaret MacLean and Ben H. Davis (eds.) Time and Bits: Managing Digital Continuity (website | book), Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 1999
• Electronic Café International website

May 24--National Information Standards Organization Technical Imaging Metadata

• Assignment due:  All cataloging for the T-Shirts should be completed and entered into the database
• Before class review:

National Standards Organization Invitational Meeting on Technical Metadata Elements for Image Files

• Howard's meeting presentation
• Howard's summary of meeting results

May 31 -- Holiday; no class

Jun 7--Final Presentations

Assignment due:  Turn in list of all problems with the T-Shirt database

To see ongoing activities and course taught by this instructor click here.  To send email to the entire class, write to IS-208@lists.gseis.ucla.edu .