[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Presenting documents on the web



My predecessor here did something like this for about 50 manuscripts
relating to slavery.  Computer science students created a very
complicated database (I could give anyone details if they interested)
with a couple of searchable fields for names, dates, and keywords.
There was a drop-down menu for each field to select terms, but no free
text searching.  Then you could click on a button to pull up a nice,
clear scanned image of the document.

This particular database is now lost somewhere.  It disappeared when the
school switched servers.  I'm hoping it's residing on the Computer
Science Department's server, but they're being very coy.

For a similar project, I am thinking of creating a database using Dublin
Core, MARC, or some adaptation thereof, and then attaching a PDF file or
a scanned image.  If you have to have free text searching, you will
probably have to transcribe each handwritten document.  OCR would
probably be helpful for publications, but I'm not sure what kind of
accuracy you'll get with older materials.  Recent ones come out very
well, but they all need review.

As with everything else, it's all in the planning.

Good luck with your project.  As someone getting ready to embark on a
similar adventure, I'd be very interested in hearing what advice you've
received, and what you've decided to do.

Rebecca Fitzgerald, CA
Mt. St. Mary's Archives & Dept. of Special Collections
Mt. St. Mary's College & Seminary
Emmitsburg, MD
301/447-5397
301/447-6868 (fax)
rfitzger@msmary.edu 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Ford [mailto:fordjim@ANDREWS.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 1:59 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Presenting documents on the web


We are in the infancy stage of a proposed project to provide a wide
range of historical documents on the web.  These would be documents from
the 1800s primarily so as to avoid copyright issues.  Documents could
include volumes of periodicals, books, etc.

The question is, how to best present this material on the web?  I've
done some web surfing and failed to find examples of other archives or
special collection doing such a project.

PDF seems to be the easiest (which is attractive), and it preserves the
original appearance of the document.  But it is not as easily searched
as text, plus it takes more space and loads slower for those using
modems.

Text is preferred for some of the reasons above, but it takes a lot more
time to prepare it.

We are going into the project with a very limited amount of time
available to work on this project.  Our hope is to get as much material
available for use with as little cost to us in time.  Perhaps this goal
and limitation should make us step back and wait, but if we wait nothing
will happen for a long time.

Thank you for any comments, suggestions, or URL's to look at.


Jim Ford
Curator & Archivist
Adventist Heritage Center / University Archives
James White Library
Andrews University
Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>