Browsing by Subject "documentation"
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Item Designing and implementing a digitization workflow for post-custodial initiatives at the Benson Latin American Collection, UT Austin(2017-05-24) Bliss, David A.; University of Texas at AustinThis poster will detail the book digitization workflow developed at the University of Texas at Austin's Benson Latin American Collection in Fall 2016, implemented as part of a British Library Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) grant project in Michoacan, Mexico. The project will digitize 192 books containing roughly 150,000 pages of valuable but vulnerable historical material over the course of two years. This grant project dovetails with the Benson's commitment to post-custodial archival partnerships with organizations in Latin America and worldwide. Through these partnerships, Benson archivists provide equipment, training, and digital hosting to often under-resourced repositories to make their materials available to researchers -- without physically removing those materials from their original cultural contexts. For this grant project, a team of historians from Michoacan, trained by the Benson team, is responsible for digitizing and describing materials. Beginning in July 2016, the Benson team worked to develop set of workflows to be implemented by the local project team. After reviewing various digitization methods and equipment set-ups, the Benson settled on a digitization workflow that uses standard DSLR camera, copystand and lights, and Adobe Lightroom to produce high-quality scans quickly and cost-effectively. My poster will outline the Benson's EAP project and commitment to post-custodial archiving, the digitization workflow that was developed, and the lessons we learned during the build-up to (and following) its live implementation in November 2016. The poster will present the workflow developed as the Benson as an effective method of digitization at small and medium-sized institutions. The poster will also offer insight into the process and challenges of a post-custodial approach to archives, which may be new to many conference attendees.Item The HABS Culture of Documentation with an Analysis of Drawing and Technology(2012-02-14) Akboy, SerraThe Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is one of the oldest federal programs in the United States. In 1933, the HABS culture of documentation started with the mission of creating a permanent record of the nation's architectural heritage. Since the inception of the program, the formal documentation methodology has been measured drawings, large-format photographs, and written histories. HABS documentation accentuates the act of drawing as a mediating conversation between the documenter and the historic environment. In a typical HABS project, the documenter is immersed in the historic setting by hand measuring the structure and creating field notes. The documenter's intimate access to the artifact develops his awareness of cultural heritage and helps cultivate an appreciation for the compositional sensibilities of the architectural precedents. However, the HABS culture of documentation has been fine-tuned to incorporate a number of digital technologies into documentation projects. When projects involve issues of logistics, time, and cost, HABS professionals utilize a host of digital methodologies to produce measured drawings. Although HABS prepares deliverables to meet the archival standards of the Library of Congress, the hardware and software necessary to recognize digital files have a limited lifespan that makes them unacceptable for use in the Library. Only measured drawings that use archival ink on stable translucent material, accompanied by negatives on safety film, can be submitted to the Library. Thus, if HABS pursued only digital technologies and deliverables, the effects of this approach on the quality of the documenter's engagement with cultural heritage would pose a significant question. This study addressed the question of how the HABS culture of documentation evolved in regards to drawing and technology, and how this relationship might be transformed in the future. Using HABS as a focus of inquiry is important in order to illuminate similar dynamics in heritage projects that utilize digital technologies. The methodology used in this study included a literature review, participant observations, and an analysis of documentation projects, as well as in-depth interviews with HABS staff, project participants, private practitioners, and academicians. The outcome of the study will be recommendations to heritage professionals for a future that resides in digital means without compromising the qualities that the HABS experience has offered to generation of documenters.