Dear Debbie and all,
Please excuse my tardy reply - I haven't found time to respond to this thread until now.
To answer Richard's question first, I think this is about ease of access, usability and engagement. If a reader or potential reader already knows that you have a certain image in your collection, and would simply like to check a facsimile of it, then sending them a PDF, or allowing them to view it within the reading room, could well be sufficient. But if the idea is to increase engagement with your collection(s), then making the image collection nicely browsable within the reading room - and, subject to any relevant copyright or other constraints, online - may well be a better solution. This approach also makes sense from a sustainability point of view (inc. digital preservation), as such collections of images can be aggregated and managed together going forward.
One very simple way of providing images online - and within a reading room, assuming local internet access is available - is to use a free online platform such as Wordpress.com, or Flickr.com.
An obvious idea is to put the images on your own site, but in my experience this is not always a straightforward, or even cost free, option.
Another possibility is to use something like Google docs, or Microsoft OneDrive etc - the names keep changing, but access to your images should not be affected. This option might be good if you want to restrict access, although the other tools offer this too.
Archives, museums and related organisations are increasingly using such solutions. Advantages include:
+ 'free' to implement, other than the time required to create an account (a few minutes) and then to upload images and info. The latter can take a little while the first time you do it, but there are lots of people who could show you how to do this - myself included, with no charge or obligation. 'Free' is in quotes because of the possible need for design work - see below.
+ the user interface is already well designed for the job - this is not easy to get right and is where most web development goes awry
+ you can add metadata with the image - whereas if you simply provide them in a folder,for example, the only easy way of including information is via the image filenames
+ maintenance and updating of the system is taken care of, meaning that security is kept up to date and the interface and user experience get better and better
+ most people are already familiar with the interface, so you don't have to explain how to use it
+ you can add other collections as and when time permits, adding cross references where appropriate (between such collections and/or directly to your catalogue), to broaden the appeal to users
+ if you are using an open platform such as Flickr, you can benefit from additional 'traffic' (use by other people) from the enormous numbers of people already using the service, who may well happen on your material serendipitously, assuming you decide to allow general public access
A few key points, in case they are useful:
- Does it need to look nice and /or professional? With most of these services it is quite easy to add some branding, still at zero cost. But if the interface needs to be slick, or match your corporate environment exactly, then you would need to pay for a little design work, to get things to match up.
- Do you feel concerned about putting the material online? If so, is it simply because of a lack of knowledge about digital solutions? There is plenty of help available, online and through informal contacts. Is it because of a perceived need to restrict access? If so, have a look at what TNA and other large organisations are doing.
- If a user knows that the images they accessed in the reading room are also available online from home, they are more likely to continue to consult them, and your other material
- What type of functionality do you need for your users? If you use Wordpress.com (and Wordpress.org) then there are plenty of free plugins (an extra feature you can plug in to the site) with a variety of gallery types. And of course Flickr.com is specifically designed for image browsing, organisation and sharing.
This is probably obvious, but in case it is useful, a typical use pattern is as follows.
1. View a set of thumbnails of the images (perhaps with captions/info underneath, or none at this stage)
2. Search the images (very useful if well set up and for larger numbers of images) or simply browse through, and select a single image
3. Opening the image gives a larger version, hopefully with some metadata (info about the image, inc provenance /copyright etc if appropriate)
4. Ideally, clicking on the image opens a much larger version - watermarked if necessary, though increasingly organisations are not using these except for very valuable images, as they interfere with user engagement, and are not foolproof in any case. Creative Commons licenses are increasingly being used to make clear terms of use, in a clear, legally appropriate format.
5. Next and Previous buttons, to enable the user to move on to the next image, ideally from both medium and large versions, markedly increases depth of engagement with the collection.
6. Links to other relevant or potentially interesting material can help encourage users to explore more of your material.
In addition to the free options listed above, there are plenty of image management systems and other paid-for solutions that may be of interest.
Another approach is to use a not-so-new laptop or tablet, put the images on it, and allow users to scroll through them on that, although there are issues to consider when allowing users access to a device that is not 'locked down'.
To return to your original question Debbie, it all depends on how many images there are, what budget you have (I usually assume zero or close to it, unless otherwise stated), the setup in the reading room (including degree of supervision), the type of material to which the images relate (could you build them into a simple narrative, for example?), and all the usual constraints including copyright. Can you give more details, either on- or off-list?
Anyway I will stop typing now as I am not sure if any of this is of interest to Debbie or anyone else (and more especially as I am on holiday in Greece...) but if anyone would like any more info just let me know and I can email with further suggestions.
One key point is to consider which audience(s) you aim to serve, or develop, with such provision:
- existing users of your service including researchers, specialists - generally such people will persevere until they find what they want, however non-intuitive the systems and interfaces. For this reason, this is not a good audience to test usability when developing a new resource, although their feedback is of course essential with regard to search facility including presentation of results, filtering, etc.
- skilled researchers or specialists coming new to your resource - more or less as above
- users without specialist knowledge relevant to your collections or well developed research skills, who might nevertheless find some items of interest, and who may in this way become engage in more depth with your collections - these are the audiences we are all ideally trying to develop further. It is for these people that it may (or may not, depending on priorities and capacity in relation to these collections) be worth creating usable, intellectually accessible, engaging online resources
- family history researchers straddle the above groups
(and there are obviously other ways of categorising your audiences, depending on the situation - in university archives for example)
Finally, I am presenting a session on Understanding online audiences at the ARA conference, and this will include doing simulated user testing of websites and or digital resources. If you would like any feedback on your own website or digital resource, or someone else's, please feel free to suggest it. Please include a specific URL if possible, as well as any particular aspects you would like feedback on.
Best wishes
Martin
----------------------------------------------------
Martin Bazley
Digital heritage consultant
Martin Bazley & Associates
15 Margin Drive
Wimbledon
SW19 5HA
0780 3580 727
[log in to unmask]
www.martinbazley.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Hankins
Sent: 28 June 2014 12:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Software for browsing digital collections
Debbie,
this may be a naive question, but why would you use anything other than Adobe Acrobat to bundle the digital files up and then Adobe Reader to view them? Maybe I'm missing something here...?
Richard
On 26/06/2014 16:43, Debbie Usher wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations for software to enable easy browsing of digital collections in a reading room?
>
> The material (digitised newspapers and microfilms) is likely to be on a stand-alone computer.
>
> With Many Thanks,
>
> Debbie Usher, Archivist RMARA
> Middle East Centre Archive
> St Antony's College
> Oxford OX26JF
> UK
> tel. +44 1865 284706
> tel. UK 01865 284706
> email: [log in to unmask]
> web: http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/mec/meca.shtml
>
> St Antony’s College is a Registered Charity (Number 1141293)
>
> Contact the list owner for assistance at
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>
> For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during
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