Photo of Jamie Shakespeare and Jack Strawbridge, the ISYP digitisation Team

March 3, 2017, by Matt Davies

ISYP Digitisation project news.

DHC Volunteers Jamie Shakespeare and Jack Strawbridge work on the ISYP database.

DHC Volunteers Jamie Shakespeare and Jack Strawbridge work on the ISYP database.

The digitisation of work produced by students of the Classics department’s Independent Second Year Projects module (ISYP) has moved into a new phase with this year’s volunteer team.

Whilst the photographing and scanning of project work continues, Jack Strawbridge and Jamie Shakespeare have continued previous DHC volunteer  Rhiannon Compton’s project to set up a searchable database of the work (read about Rhiannon’s work on the project and how it helped her to land a dream job at the House of Parliament archives here).

Rhiannon uploaded the digital images to Portfolio; a standalone desktop DAM (Digital Asset Management) system along with their associated metadata (information about each item that allows it to be archived and searched) Since then the University has invested in a new DAM system called Omeka which will allow digital files to sit in a University server and be more widely accessible online.

Geoffrey Yarnall –a group leader from the University’s IT department -was kind enough to come over to DHC and meet with me, Jack and Jamie, get us set up on the system and show us the ropes. The next move is to export the images and metadata from Portfolio to Omeka, which uses Dublin Core, a metadata schema common to art art and heritage projects.

Once this initial phase is complete, digitisation and uploading of the files and data will continue on an annual basis. The Classics department will be able to use the database to show potential students the pioneering teaching and assessment methods used for this module, as well as the high standard of creative work carried out by Classics students at Nottingham.

Meanwhile DHC student volunteers working on the project continue to gain a valuable insight into digitisation, archiving and data management. It also helps them to gain some of the specific skills required in the archiving, arts and heritage sectors as well as to attain the level of digital fluency required in most of today’s industries.

A big thank you to Rhiannon for staying in touch with DHC and for finding the time to advise the new guys, and also to Geoff Yarnall for his help and support.

Posted in DTH Volunteers