Dear colleagues
Some of you may remember that last Summer I was seeking participants
for an MSc research exercise. Indeed many on this list participated
by filling in a questionnaire.
Those who participated and requested a summary of the results have
now been sent them, but I thought others on this list may be
interested in receiving them (as a 50K Word doc). If so, please let
get in touch with me directly.
I append the dissertation abstract so you can get a flavour of the
findings and see whether they are of any interest.
With best wishes,
Grant
--- ABSTRACT ---
A study was made to investigate the creation and development of
digital image collections for teaching art history within UK higher
education. It asked three questions: (1) What factors are driving
the creation or development of shared digital still image collections
for teaching art history within UK HE? (2) What factors are impeding
the creation or development of such collections? (3) In what ways do
these factors vary according to institutional setting? The study
used an emailed questionnaire. It identified 118 institutions
teaching relevant subjects and then sought associated slide or
digital image collections. Questionnaires were distributed to
managers of 93 collections, with 68 returned (73%). Respondents
represented: 20 collections that included both slides and digital
images; 47 with slides only; and 1 with digital images only.
Respondents reported a decline in slide acquisition and usage.
Digital collections were generally new and small with uncertain
usage. The study reported image collection managers themselves as
the main group driving digital collection development and the
strongest motivations as developing a teaching resource and improving
access to images. Copyright was seen as a significant barrier, along
with resource-related issues. Respondents identified changes to the
copyright situation (licensing or law change) and the availability of
free national image collections as factors that would most assist
them in building digital collections. The study noted some variations
according to institutional context, but recommended that these be
explored further via qualitative means. It also recommended further
study on the users and usage of art history image collections.
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Grant Young, TASI Technical Research Officer
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http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/aboutus/staff?search=cmgay
TASI - Technical Advisory Service for Images
Free help, advice and guidance for the
Further and Higher Education sector
http://www.tasi.ac.uk/
A JISC Service
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