After I had copied the digital files onto the group drive, I had to do some light image modification. Since the beginning of this project, I have been inserting the filename tag onto each of the images. The first purpose of including a tag with the image was to show relative size and identify the artifact from the photograph. I initially attempted to do this by printing out file names onto heavy weight paper, folding them over into a paper tent, then placing them next to the artifact when I photographed it. The problems with this method were numerous. First, the text did not always appear clearly in the photograph. Second, this took up a great amount of time, paper, and ink. Third, I found that the perspective in photographing each object changed from artifact to artifact, resulting in some tags needing to be flat on the table or ground and some needing to be tented in order to stand upright. This led to the tags not really helping to define relative size. In the end, with my Photoshop classes behind me, I found it was easier, quicker, and more efficient to simply insert the text onto the digital image. I achieved this by creating a second layer on top of the image, typing the filename, creating another layer, selecting a box around the text, filling the background white, and using the Stroke function to create a black outline around the box. Though this does not help with relative size, it does make the tag easy to read and the artifact easy to identify.
Additionally, many of the printing plates were extremely difficult to digitally capture, given their nature as etched negatives of photographs and/or thickly engraved text. Because of this, digitally altering the image was crucial in order for the viewers to see the images on the plates while also being able to compare it to the original page it corresponded to in The Romance of Antarctic Adventure. I manually adjusted the light levels on the images on most of the files. I also adjusted the color, if the flash or fluorescent lighting gave the image a yellowish hue.
The insertion of a filename and the level adjustments were not accounted for in the metadata of the file. I felt that this was irrelevant and/or self explanatory. I did add some metadata of image modification in certain circumstances, however. For example, I had photographed a small plate from the first box along with its corresponding page. In the second box, I found another small plate that corresponded with the same advertisement on the same page. The problem was that when I began the second box, the items in the first box had already been housed in envelopes and packed away. I chose to photograph the second item individually and when I got to the computer work, I decided to copy the first image and the second image into one file and place it along side the scanned advertisement from the book (scanning the book was step 5 in this whole process). The end result was effective and made sense. This was accounted for in the metadata under "Modifications."
The fifth step involved scanning the book into a .pdf file. I had many problems with this step, as I had was working with the Epson software that came with the device and I was unfamiliar with the procedures. I chose to scan the book in color in order to preserve the yellowed pages. Additionally, scanning in greyscale caused the images to look shaded and patterned. I chose a medium resolution and chose to preserve the digital pages in their original 9" x 7.25" size. I did not know that Media Manager (a homegrown web-based program that I am using to upload the digital content to the Byrd Polar Media page) could be used outside of images. I uploaded the scanned book and was happy to see a link under the cover image that allows the user to download the entire book.
We had problems with this initially, however. My ninth step was to ensure that all of the files were viewable and downloadable. Though my supervisor was able to view the "Click to Download" link, I was not. I tried updating plug-ins, such as Flash, and trying Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome web browsers. My supervisor realized that the protection options and permissions were set to prohibit any downloading from the site to the public. She changed the permissions and the link appeared on multiple computers. I realized that this brought up a fairly large issue. The permissions on this program can only be set on an album-basis, not an item-basis. Because the public can now download this .pdf file, they can also download any other digital content from this album (which includes all artifacts in the Richard E. Byrd Papers collection). Though this is not a very large issue for this particular collection (the images themselves are not incredibly valuable, as they are being used to describe the item and are not the item themselves), it could be a problem if the album had mixed content and included files that the Archives did not want public access to (such as photographs).
Each plate has a note in the metadata that tells with which page in the digital .pdf the plate corresponds. It also includes a link back to the .pdf file for user convenience and ease of access and navigation. I wanted to emphasize that this links to the digital copy's page numbers and not the actual page numbers in the book. I omitted blank pages in the scanned copy and stated this in the metadata for the .pdf. As a result, the digital copy is 49 pages, while the actual book is 52.
The entire day was extremely busy and I was thankful to be finished with these boxes. I also spent time introducing my project to an undergraduate student worker, in case this project must be finished by another person after my practicum is complete. It gave me a brief moment to exercise my oral communication skills and explain the purpose, process, and importance of my project to another person who did not have the same knowledge base.
The total number of items now available for public view = 64. This has now surpassed the amount of items that we had hoped to complete throughout the entirety of my practicum!
In: 8 a.m.
Lunch: 12:15 - 12:30 p.m.
Out: 5 p.m.
On-site hours completed today: 8.5
On-site hours completed total: 43.75
On-site hours left: 56.25
Out: 5 p.m.
On-site hours completed today: 8.5
On-site hours completed total: 43.75
On-site hours left: 56.25
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