The effects of digitisation and publication of museum objects in 2D as part of the "www.muzeach" project
The task: “Digitisation and publication of museum objects in 2D” was carried out as part of the "www.muzeach" project co-financed by the Operational Programme Digital Poland. It consisted of several stages, and all the works were supervised by professionals.
Photographers in action
First, selected museum objects were photographed in high quality. The result of numerous photo sessions was tens of thousands of pictures. Some of the documented items had to be temporarily removed from the exhibition, which required extremely careful planning so that the exhibits could return to their place as soon as possible. Many of them, e.g. sculptures, furniture and clocks, often require special transport due to their size, weight and fragility. Some of them could not be moved at all, so the photographers had to go to the exhibition and arrange a temporary atelier there.
Cooperation is the key
Regardless of the operating procedure, photographing each object required close cooperation between the photographer and restorers responsible for the safe delivery of the items to the atelier. The restorers also supervised the safety of the exhibits during the shooting. Then the photos were developed, processed and checked by digitisation specialists for quality in terms of the composition and colour fidelity. In addition, each photo received a digital label containing a detailed metadata description.
At the same time, the keepers of the collections prepared popularising descriptions, which differ from the substantive professional descriptions contained in the record documentation mainly in the use of simple language. It is more vivid and accessible to all audiences. These descriptions were then translated into English.
The next step requiring coordination and cooperation was the creation of unified dictionaries for the website. For this purpose, all institutions provided dictionaries of techniques, materials and contextual terms used by them. After standardising and ordering, the dictionaries were translated into English.
The materials prepared in this way were exported to the website database containing a multi-search engine, i.e. a tool for intelligent and multi-threaded object search. Thanks to it, every Internet user will be able to search and admire the collections of partner museums.
The fulfilment of the task “Digitisation and 2D publication of museum objects” required cooperation of specialists from many fields: collection custodians, art restorers, specialists in the transport of museum pieces, photographers, digitisation specialists, editors, translators and programmers. Close cooperation between the project participants was very important, as it enabled maintaining high standards in the preparation of materials.
The project “www.muzeach” is co-financed from European Funds and from the funds of the Ministry of Culture and National of the Republic of Poland. The project is implemented under the Operational Programme Digital Poland for the years 2014-2020, Priority Axis 2 “E-government and open government,” Action 2.3 “Digital availability and usefulness of public sector information,” Sub-action 2.3.2 “Digital availability of culture resources.”
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