British Computer Society - Electronic Publishing Specialist Group
One-day London seminar: 20 March 2002

"PIXEL POWER:   the capture, archiving and output
                 of scanned images and digital photos"

                       http://www.epsg.org.uk/meetings/pixelpower/
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

PIXEL IMAGES, more technically known as raster images, constitute
the vast bulk of pictures used in print publishing and on the
Web. Almost all of them are scanned from photographs or art,
or captured with digital cameras.

Although the use of raster images is well established, they
continue to bring challenges and headaches to publishers and
other computer users. Typical problems include quality of image
capture, digital artefacts in images, storage and compression
issues, and the fidelity of printed or displayed output to the
original subject. For large-scale holders of image resources such
as picture libraries, museums and galleries, there are also problems
of categorisation, indexing, searching and asset tracking.

This seminar organised by the Electronic Publishing Specialist
Group will survey the issues that surround the use of pixel
images in publishing workflows, and the ongoing efforts of
research and technical development that is trying to address
them. We shall also look at some novel uses of pixel images in
the creation of virtual environments and 3-D objects. We aim to
deliver some fundamental knowledge about the world of pixel-based
imaging that should be practically useful for every publisher or
designer, as well as examining cutting edge developments.

We believe that the "second tier" of people involved in design,
photography, reprographics and picture librarianship -- many of
whom work inside companies, universities, government departments,
museums and publishing houses -- can learn a lot from hearing
about the arcane-seeming issues and expensive hardware employed
by imaging professionals.  That's because today's fancy technology
trickles down to become the affordable toolkit of tomorrow; and
photographers and repro technicians with their high standards and
demanding clients can make us aware of concerns and techniques
with much wider applicability.

Use this opportunity to learn about:
     image resolution issues  **  pixel data depths
     RGB, CMYK, Lab etc...  **  image enhancement methods
     colour separation for print  **  colour management
     digital halftoning  **  resampling & interpolation
     and more...

Find out what's new and coming up in:
     digital studio photography  **  repro-quality CCD scanners
     image databases, indexing & metadata  **  new file formats
     3-D worlds made from 'stitched' digital photographs...

_________________________________________________________________
Speakers
(Subject to final confirmation)

** Conrad Taylor,
    independent teacher and writer on information design and
    electronic publishing, and current Secretary of EPSG, will
    open the day by talking about "The birth, life-cycle and
    reproduction of pixels" -- dealing with some fundamental
    misconceptions and confusions of pixel images, and examining
    the hardware "frontiers" where advances are being made in
    image acquisition, manipulation and output.

** We are currently waiting to confirm a speaker who can
    talk to us about digital photography at the high end, the
    world of the commercial studio photographer where digital
    camera backs are rapidly supplanting film for catalogue
    and fashion photography.

** Phil Green,
    of the London College of Printing, the author of
    "Understanding Digital Colour", will talk about the vital
    topic of colour management -- the methods and technologies
    which printers and publishers are trying to implement to
    ensure that photographs are printed with consistent quality
    and predictability.

** George Mallen
    of System Simulation Ltd., which has implemented large
    digital asset management systems for commercial picture
    libraries, museums and art galleries (including the
    Compass project at the British Museum), will give a broad
    overview of what's involved in setting up such systems,
    from image acquisition to database management, indexing,
    metadata and collection searching.

** David Clarke
    of the specialist multimedia company Rotography will talk
    about an unusual but exciting application of pixel images
    -- in creating virtual objects on screen that can be spun
    round and inspected from all sides, or environments that
    can be explored on a Web site.

** Prof Lindsay MacDonald
    of the Colour and Imaging Institute at the University
    of Derby will give us a "tomorrow's world" tour of a
    selection of research projects into digital imaging
    currently being conducted by the Institute.

The day will be chaired by Bill Davy, a former EPSG Committee
member with years of industrial experience of designing systems
for fully integrated imagesetting and litho platemaking.

_________________________________________________________________
The conference is to be held in the state of the art Flett
Lecture Theatre of the Museum of Natural History in South
Kensington, London., from 10:00 am to about 4:30 pm, with an
hour's break for lunch and two refreshment breaks.

For further details including fees, a downloadable booking form
and a colourful noticeboard poster, please see the Web pages for
the event by following this URL:

    http://www.epsg.org.uk/meetings/pixelpower/

Registrations are still being accepted. However, if you are interested in
coming, if possible please email [log in to unmask] by Thursday
14 March.


--
Dr David Penfold, Edgerton Publishing Services
Pett Road, Pett, Hastings, East Sussex TN35 4HA, UK
Tel +44 1424 813003; Fax +44 1424 813301; Mobile +44 7850 058544
E-mail: [log in to unmask]