INTRODUCTION
T HE P URPOSE OF W ORK P ACKAGE 3 3
Judaica Europeana aims to highlight the Jewish influence on European urban development by cataloging content that reflects Jewish presence and heritage across European cities Collaborating with various European cultural institutions, the initiative will enhance access to a vast array of Jewish cultural heritage at the level of individual cultural objects.
Work Package 3 (WP3) of the Judaica Europeana project aims to implement essential technical tools for Judaica-related tasks while offering comprehensive support to both Partners and Associated Partners.
1 The digitisation process and issues concerning hardware, software, file formats, design and presentation, storage.
2 Content enrichment facilities through a metadata entry system
3 Advanced web management facilities based on open source CMS and associated DBMS supporting mash-up from the EUROPEANA open API.
4 Semantic interoperability including the representation of controlled vocabularies in RDF/SKOS.
5 Selection, installation and support for the use of an open source knowledge management package.
WP3 is led by partner AIU (partner number 3) and will receive technical support from MiBAC (partner number 6), along with contributions from ATHENA project partners and contractors Additionally, partner 12, the British Library, will leverage its expertise in operational context from the IMPACT sub-project to enhance the implementation of advanced mass digitization technologies within this work package.
O VERVIEW OF THE DELIVERABLE 3 2 SUPPORTING THE PARTNERS IN DIGITISING THEIR RESOURCES
This document outlines the progress made on Task T3.1, which focuses on digitization processing It details the assistance provided to partners in digitizing resources from their physical collections within the thematic domain WP3 has offered support in various areas, including workflow planning, selection of hardware and software, file format choices, as well as design, presentation, and storage solutions.
Five out of seven Judaica content partners are currently engaged in digitisation programs, utilizing local contractors selected through competitive bidding for cost efficiency A detailed summary of these initiatives can be found in section 11.2.2 of the DoW Work Package 3 has guided partners, especially those new to digitisation, towards effective best practice guidelines in this field.
This document outlines the progress made towards our objectives, which includes presenting at consortium meetings to inform partners, collecting pertinent digitization guidelines, and collaborating with the British Library team involved in the IMPACT project (Improving Access to Text) to provide assistance to interested partners.
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
2 Supporting the Partners in digitising their resources
P RESENTATIONS CONCERNING THE D IGITISATION W ORK F LOW
In January 2010, the inaugural consortium meeting took place in London, where Jean-Claude Kuperminc from AIU and Dov Winer from EAJC presented and discussed the digitization workflow with partners, as part of the review of WP3 tasks For further details, refer to Annex 2.
During the second consortium meeting in London in May 2010, Jean-Claude Kuperminc and David Klein from AIU provided an in-depth review of the digitisation workflow, highlighting a specific project focused on digitising periodicals For more details, refer to Annex 3.
In May 2010, during a consortium meeting, Aly Conteh and Neil Fitzgerald from the British Library introduced the IMPACT project, highlighting its role in supporting the digitization efforts of the Judaica Europeana project They emphasized the upcoming Decision Support Tools designed to assist in initiating, organizing, managing, and budgeting mass digitization projects.
The project partners explored various technical advancements, highlighting their interest in utilizing advanced OCR applications developed within the project These applications, based on existing ABBYY Production 1 products, focus on recognizing Gothic German characters and Hebrew, catering to the specific needs of the partners.
D IGITISATION RESOURCES AND GUIDELINES 4
WP3 has carried out a survey of relevant resources that can assist the partners in the planning and execution of their digitisation workflow This is available as Annex 1 below.
The MINERVA project, led by MiBAC, the Italian Ministry of Culture, has produced several important resources for Judaica Europeana partners Although the last document was published in 2008, the authors remain available to offer guidance and support to partners involved in the project.
The CALIMERA project's Digitisation Guidelines, available in all European languages, offer a thorough overview of the digitisation process Published in 2006, these guidelines encompass not only technical aspects but also address social and managerial considerations, making them a valuable resource for a holistic understanding of digitisation.
Other guidelines, in particular those maintained by JISC Digital, NISO and the University of Maryland are more recent and constantly updated.
The IMPACT project provides innovative tools designed for advanced digitization initiatives, with detailed descriptions available in the following section A key partner in this project is the British Library, which, as a participant in WP3, offers valuable advice to partners of Judaica Europeana.
T OOLS AVAILABLE FROM THE IMPACT (I MPROVING A CCESS TO T EXT ) P ROJECT 4 3 CONCLUSIONS
IMPACT aims to provide comprehensive support to European stakeholders, including libraries, cultural institutions, businesses, decision-making bodies, and funding agencies, by offering high-quality information on the mass digitization and transformation of historical texts.
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
These objectives are addressed through the following resources:
A set of Decision Support Tools that can be used to initiate, organise, manage and cost mass digitisation projects
A learning resource toolbox that will contain operational guidelines, providing guidance on real world implementation of all tools produced within the project
Our Help Desk system efficiently manages end-user requests by connecting them with project partners and other digitisation centres of expertise We offer a comprehensive training program focused on large-scale digitisation technologies, complemented by a variety of supporting documentation accessible on our project website.
For a review of the available IMPACT Decision Support Tools see the presentation by Neil
Fitzgerald (Britihs Library) at: http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/Neil_Fitzgerald_Decision_Support_Tools_01.pdf IMPACT has also released several pilot (pre-release) guidelines See:
Metadata for Text Digitisation & OCR
IMPACT Best Practice Guide: Metadata for Text Digitisation & OCR 671 K http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT-metadata-bpg-pilot-1.pdf
IMPACT Briefing Paper: OCR 148 K http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT-ocr-bp-pilot-1b.pdf
IMPACT Best Practice Guide: OCR Section 1 253 K http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT-ocr-bpg-pilot-s1.pdf
IMPACT Best Practice Guide: OCR Section 2 820 K http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT-ocr-bpg-pilot-s2.pdf
IMPACT Best Practice Guide: OCR Section 3 157 K http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT-ocr-bpg-pilot-s3.pdf
IMPACT Storage Estimator 637 K http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT_Storage-Estimator_BSB_version3_01.xls
IMPACT Storage Estimator - Tutorial 1.1 M http://www.impact-project.eu/uploads/media/IMPACT-isa-tutorial.pdf
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
The Judaica Europeana partners are actively engaged in digitisation programs, with one of the tasks in Work Package 3 aimed at supporting these efforts Relevant topics have been addressed and deliberated during the project consortium meetings conducted to date.
WP3 has compiled a comprehensive list of guidelines and resources to assist partners, identifying key projects that can enhance their efforts Notable resources include those from Judaica Europeana partners, such as MiBAC, the Italian Ministry of Culture, which spearheads the MINERVA network, and the British Library, a prominent contributor to the IMPACT (Improving Access to Text) initiative.
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
GUIDELINES AND OTHER RESOURCES FOR DIGITISATION PROGRAMMES
IMPACT – Improving Access to Text
IMPACT Pilot-released materials http://www.impact-project.eu/taa/pilot-tools/
The JISC Digital Media guidance documents provide comprehensive information on the creation and utilization of digital media resources Users can access specific documents by navigating to the respective media sections, such as Still Images, Moving Images, and Audio, or explore the Cross-media section for guidance applicable to all types of media.
Within those sections, you can also browse by digital lifecycle stage (Managing a project, Digitising analogue media, Creating new digital media, Managing your digital resources or Finding and Using digital media). http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/advice/managing/pdf/sust.pdf
National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Framework Working Group with support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services
A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections (2008)
It provides an overview of some of the major components and activities involved in the creation of good digital collections and provides a framework for identifying, organizing, and applying existing knowledge and resources to support the development of sound local practices for creating and managing good digital collections. http://framework.niso.org/
For a selection of good resources See: http://framework.niso.org/node/7
Other NISO Recommended Practices: http://www.niso.org/publications/rp/
Best Practice Guidelines For Digital Collections http://www.lib.umd.edu/dcr/publication/
Digital Content Guidelines: Selection Criteria for Digital Objects (October 2010) Jennie Levine Knies, Alexandra Carter http://www.lib.umd.edu/dcr/publications/SelectionCriteriaforDigitalObjects2010.pdf
Best Practice Guidelines for Digital Collections (2007)
Yvonne Carignan, Janet Evander, Gretchen Gueguen, Ann Hanlon, Kate Murray, Jennifer Roper, Tony Ross, Susan Schreibman http://www.lib.umd.edu/dcr/publications/best_practice.pdf
Digital Content Guidelines for Audio (2008)
Ann Hanlon, Jennie Levine, Kate Murray, Vin Novara http://www.lib.umd.edu/dcr/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/digital_content_guidelines_audio.pdf
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Digitization best practices http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Digitization
AHDS Guides to Good Practice
Guides indicating best practice and good standards in digitisation http://www.ahds.ac.uk/guides/index.htm
COST A32 Open Scholarly Communities on the Web: Best practices and guides on digitisation http://qsg.barbz.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&viewegory&id=8%3Abest- practices&Itemid
A comprehensive tool kit for digitisation projects In addition to detailed technical guidelines it includes several chapters that refer how digitisation is related to Social Policy issues and how to cope with the Management challenges in a digitisation project These guidelines have been translated to most European languages and also to Hebrew They are available at the country profile pages. http://www.calimera.org/Lists/Guidelines/Forms/default.aspx
MINERVA – Knowledge Base – Digitising Content Together http://www.minervaeurope.org/
MINERVA Technical Guidelines for Digital Cultural Content Creation Programmes: Version 2.0,2008 Editors: Kate Fernie, Giuliana De Francesco and David Dawson
These Technical Guidelines have been prepared for the MINERVA project in the context of a series of European and national initiatives in recent years to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable. http://www.minervaeurope.org/interoperability/technicalguidelines.htm
MINERVA: Digitisation Guidelines – a selected list http://www.minervaeurope.org/guidelines.htm
MINERVA: Good practices in digitisation http://www.minervaeurope.org/listgoodpract.htm
MINERVA: Handbook on Cost Reduction in Digitisation (September 2006) http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/CostReductioninDigitisation_v1_0610.pdf
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
DIGITISATION, METADATA ENTRY, API AND WEB
WP3 Presentation at the Judaica Europeana kickoff Consortium Meeting
Digitisation, metadata entry, API and Web
Jean-Claude Kuperminc (AIU) and Dov Winer (EAJC)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
WORKFLOW AND CREATION OF DIGITAL FILES
WP3 Presentation at the Judaica Europeana Second Consortium Meeting
Digitization process: workflow and creation of digital files
Jean-Claude Kuperminc and David Klein (AIU)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
The IMPACT Project
Presentation of the IMPACT project and its tools at the Judaica Europeana Second Consortium Meeting
The IMPACT Project –Improving Access to Text
Ali Conteh and Neil Fitzgerald (British Library)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)
Report on the digitisation of the resources provided by partners (1 st version)