Digital Curation Project
Working with the Art and Art History Department at the Univesity of New Hampshire to digitize their permanent collection, specifically, a series of Japanese Prints, to JSTOR. While gaining hands-on experience in curating, digitizing, cataloging, and publishing.
"The University of New Hampshire is very fortunate to have within its Study Collection almost two hundred Japanese woodblock prints. These prints are easily recognized by their unique visual traits—sinuous lines, decorative patterns, rich color, and fine craftsmanship. Produced during Japan’s Edo period (1615—1868) and Meiji period (1868—1912), these prints are known as ukiyo-e, or ‘pictures of the floating world.’ Ukiyo-e prints are among the most revered and sought-after works of Japanese art."
GALLERY
Academic Essay
This hands-on project was an inspiring learning experience for everyone in our Digital Humanities class. Allowing us to truly understand the process of digitizing curations of our choice. For my project, I immediately knew, given the options between the Maine MILL, Dimond Library Archives, and the Art and Art History Department; that I wanted to be involved in the Art and Art History project. I have a strong interest in this field, so I knew this project would not only be interesting, but beneficial for myself in the long run as I plan to minor in Studio Art for photography. Regardless, I didn’t hesitate to choose this project. My group and I were immediately introduced to the 3 students that would be assisting us throughout our project, Berkeley, Juliet, and Luke. Later in the week we were introduced to our mentor, Otto Luna, who helped us curate, digitize, catalog, and publish our work to a platform called JSTOR.
The materials we were set to use were Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Permanent Collection here at the University of New Hampshire, where over 2,000 objects are housed. We were introduced to various artists, of which we got to choose which artist’s work we would like to digitize. In PCAC, we worked with Otto to photograph these prints using a Nikon Z7 II Camera. After photographing, we edited the photos using Adobe Photoshop and a color corrector to make sure everything was in order to move onto publishing to JSTOR. Overall it was a steady process of getting the artwork to the place we had it. Right from the start of photographing, we saw a very similar quality compared to the platforms we reviewed throughout the semester; the quality of the zoom-in features were phenomenal.
I had a conversation with Otto about the other projects he had planned for future English 510 classes where it included the possibility of larger artwork from the permanent collection. We discussed the fact that it is hard and nearly impossible to get these larger pieces into the single frame of the camera; I recalled the process for one of the platforms I reviewed, The Map of Lyon, where they used copper plates to digitize sections of the complete map because it was impossible to get an accurate scan in one shot. I related that to possible ancient scrolls that Otto had brought up. I thought this was a productive conversation to understand the deeper relation that Digital Humanities has on these curation projects.
Otto and I also discussed the relation this project had to Metadata and what we’ve learned from that in Digital Humanities so far. As we know that “metadata can also be administrative”(Drucker, 52), in the sense of, “to organize the data in large sets of records.” (Drucker, 52) We see metadata in something as simple as the file types we used to transfer our scanned prints; starting off with the RAW files, transferring them to TIFs and then to JPEGs, and to something more complex in metadata such as the Japanese artists themselves as we gain more insight on the background of these prints. When looking at chapters three, four, and five of the Digital Humanities Textbook by Johanna Drucker, a lot of the content within these chapters tie into this project as we cover the obvious topic of digitization, as it talks about coding and the specifics of digitization such as HTML and Javascript; which wasn’t necessarily covered for this project but still important to have knowledge of, and chapter three also covering accessibility of platforms. Furthermore discussing metadata and overall designs of databases. Continuing on the spectrum of Digital Humanities, by publishing artwork from the permanent collection to JSTOR, it allowed for greater accessibility, something we learned about in length throughout the semester. Accessibility includes publishing the collection to “Public Domain,” which makes the website and contents of the website accessible to the general public, rather than just our university and/or those on the university's wifi, therefore not just limiting our permanent collection to staff and students at UNH. Digitizing the prints also allows these pieces to be safely kept and contained; as they are in fragile condition as it is, by digitizing them it allows them to have a longer lifespan in general while still being accessible, just in digital format. Which is the main goal of the Art and Art History Department.
By having the opportunity to be a part of what we have learned about Digital Humanities; rather than simply analyzing it, I have gained greater insight on the processing and presentation of Digital Humanities. This project was the perfect segway into our final project of designing, curating, and publishing our own website geared to who each of us are individually; as we learned how to accurately curate content to publish, including cataloging information and going through the process of publishing with a mentor, I feel confident in our final project after having a good amount of experience.