Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:40:19 -0500 From: Sara Steele <smsteele@wisc.edu> Subject: Re:Tom- piccas Cataloging Photos Message-id: <000201c90a35$80b46420$0000a398@CPQ21854107312>
Hi Tom
Thank you for your recent posting.
Please take time to tell us more about Picasa and how you use it at Kaukauna. Tell us more about 1) the size of your photo collection 2) how frequently you get photos from it, 3) the uses made of those photos and 4) the extent you view the photos as being heavily used by your society members as they combine them with text or real objects in exhibits. It is one thinig to make a list of avialble photos available as an inventory or to the general public. It is another to have a way fo quickly finding specific photos for in your socieys's projects. In some cases apparently the purpose is primarily that of letting the public know what is in your collectioni.(ase WHS seems to be doing)
I was interested in the subject categories that appeared on the web page you referred us to and wondered if you folks set them up or if you had taken them from some predesigned source like the Library of Congress.
I was glad to hear of Picasa and think it may be very helpful if we decide to put a collection of individual photos up on the web for public accessiblity Perhaps I did not go far enough and find more, but the email address you gave seemed to show only a finished product with out indicating how the information is inputted or how the categories were derived.
Purposes, uses, and way you secure photos
As in most systems, the kind of system that is most useful depends very much on 1) expected users and use and 2) whether you are only concerned with individual isolate photos, or whether you want to establish connections to a set of photos or to a historical period or subject matter context.
In part that depends upon how much publishing your group is doing and the extent to which your society uses photos from your collection in exhibits. It also depends upon whether you have a "drift in" collection--happily accepting photos that cross your path, or if you have a "sought out" collection, happily accepting volunteered photos but going beyond them and trying to find photos to fill out specific content areas such as a sub collection of as many photos of your rural schools (buildings, students, teachers) as you can gather.
With a few exceptions we had been following the "drift" in approach and our early collections were often made up of photos that people gave us or that came from post cards--either way, the original was kept by us and the photos were enlarged on a color copier for our public albums. If we had to, we accepted a copy if it had been done on a color copy machine (even if it was a black and white photo.) Then we encountered a woman who was happy to put some key photos in our collection but she did not want the orignals to leave her house. We were stymied. A year or two later we got a lap top and scanning bed and went to her home and other homes selecting photos directly from albums that fit our various categories. .
Currently, I am the most frequent user of our photo collection using photos to accompany newsletter items and newspaper articles and helping our exibit folks find the photos that will connect to actual artifacts. In addition, we occasionally have a request for certain photos. Yesterday I helped a businesman select photos from our collection of buildings that his company has recently replaced with a new building. I designed our categories for this kind of use to be able to find a specific photo relatively quickly for my own or someone else's use.
Making some or all of the more than 3,000 photos available on the web is something that is just beginning to be thought about. My thought so far is that if we put photos of people up, we need also to give the names. Fine for portraits, but I shudder at correctly naming all of the students in a photo of a class. I am pretty sure that more people check web sites for genealogical information than they do for local history. I also feel rather strongly that other photos--buildings, events, etc. should be presented in photo essays with a breif amount of text tieing them together and telling a brief story. But the amount of accurate typing involved looks horendous. (We only have about 20 active local members and only a few are good typists.) If we do move into this area, I hope we will develop a general organization plan and then work on parts of it at a time.
"Share Captioning"
Also, Tom, would you please explain what you mean by "share captioning among several volunteers." I went to the web site and did not see any explanations of the photos (ie captions) on that page. I am guessing that Picasa is a scanning software that somehow makes an index that one can print out and thus becomes your print photo inventory and that you can print that inventory by photo subject. Is that the case? If so are your captions limted to a few words or does the software have various sub places for entering approximate date of the photo, donor, and three or four places to give key context words? Or does it just offer the opportunity to give one 5 or 10 word phrase.
Orgaizing photos already collected vs organizing photos as an on going activity
Our photo archivist has kept a numbered list of all of the photos. I only got involved with categorizing photos about 6 years ago when the number was too great for me to remember each photo. Unfortunately, I worked out the procedure Word processing outline that I am now transferring to Exell before scanning became common place.
We have just had a member of the community volunteer to scan our collection. At this point we expect simply to add the scan number to the chronological list which gives number and content and eventually to add it to the subject matter categorized lists or use the Excell sort function on the chronological list and print a new subject matter index. That effort is just beginning.
Our next problem is how we fit our new scans into the scanned library because we are continually adding to our photo library. If Carol. or anyone else who is beginning to work on a photo collection, has waded through this, I suggest you try to find or develop an efficient system which lets you scan, caption, list, categorize.in one operation. Picasa or some such software may be the answer, i it gives you enough flexibility in categorizing.. Exell is simple and works on photos already in your collection, but it is a multi step process and it is easy to forget to update the list as new scans come in.
I went back and inserted the paragraph about scanning in homes because I do not enter captions on the photos I scan either then or shortly after I do the scanning. In most cases both the photos I take and my scans are captionless. I know I should but I hate to take the time. I have the original scans and a large recent photo collecion on my computer so I waste a lot of time trying to find photos. Even though my memo is long, I am taking your time to alert others that it will make life much simpler if you develop skill in adding captions as you scan or take photos. However, I have not done enough of it to know if you can get a complete enough caption to be able to sort by for multiple categories.
And yes, I know when I decide to respond I go on too long. However, from my 4-H and professional adult education background I am a very strong believer in the importance of local history societies building photo files and connecting them to enrich text, AV, and exhibit presentations on the history of the area.
S
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Duescher
To: localhistory@listserve.uwec.edu
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Cataloging Photos
Carol,
I have been in the computer industry for 30 + years and found the solutions using Excel to caption images just does not work well for a multitude of reasons.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kaukaunapubliclibrary
This is the solution for photos and captioning that we found works well. I have set this up for 3 Historical groups with great success. It is free and does not require any software other than a scanner. It allows us to share captioning among several volunteers and it can easily be backed up. Most people that could run Excel can be trained in about 15 minutes.
I would be happy to provide additional help if you are interested.
Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: gardner87@netzero.net
To: localhistory@listserve.uwec.edu
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: Cataloging Photos
Barbara & Sara,
Thanks for your thoughts on cataloging pictures. We are also a new committee and even though we have not started on the pictures yet we are hoping to begin this winter.
As I understand you are using Excel. Cataloging with multi entries on one picture depending on it's contents and then you are sorting with the Excel program when you are looking for a particular subject. That sounds great. So if I am correct or need to be corrected let me know.
I do not know that our pictures have been catalog at all. We have a house with the family photo's that we like to use as we show the house. We use the pictures for specific events or holidays etc. Example the graduation pictures of the family were out in the spring. Recently we were sharing pictures of the family doing summer things like fishing and visiting family. So you have the idea I am sure.
Thansk for any thoughts you might give me.
Carol Gardner
Pontiac, Il