[NHCOLL-L:1663] RE: Creating digital images of specimens and link ing to a database

[Bob Glotzhober]

Why not just type up the catalog number and print it out in crisp, bold
typeface and photograph it with the grasshopper.  The image can later be
cropped for your link to the image from the catalog, but the original image
will always have the catalog number with it.

We are about the start the same process this fall -- hopes yours goes well
-- let us know when things are available for viewing.  So far we have only a
few history items linked to images.  These are our battle flags.  If things
go well, eventually many/most of our cataloged items will have links from
the online catalog to the image.  You can view our online catalog at :
http://www.ohiohistory.org/  and clicking on the tiny words at the header of
the page that say "Go to the Online Collection Catalog"  or you can go
directly to the catalog at: http://www.ohiohistory.org/occ/menu.htm    We
use software known as Horizon and a relatively new interface known as IPAC.
It has some strong search capabilities -- and only certain fields can be
viewed over the website, so sensitive information is protected.
Unfortunately, our original catalog had very limited space and we used lots
of codes and for natural history specimens only scientific names and not
common names.  We have done a lot of clean-up of records, but with
drastically reduced staff of late, it is going very, very slowly.


> ===========================================
> Robert C. Glotzhober		bglotzhober at ohiohistory.org
> Curator of Natural History		phone  614 297-2633
> Ohio Historical Society		fax       614 297-2233
> 1982 Velma Avenue
> Columbus  OH  43211-2497
> 
> Visit the Web Site of the Ohio Historical Society at
> http://www.ohiohistory.org/
> 
> Visit the Web Page of the Ohio Odonata Society (dragonflies & damselflies)
> at
>    http://mcnet.marietta.edu/~odonata/index.html
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Brad Hubley [SMTP:bradh at rom.on.ca]
> Sent:	Wednesday, July 24, 2002 3:00 PM
> To:	nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu; ENTOMO-L at LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA
> Subject:	[NHCOLL-L:1662] Creating digital images of specimens and
> linking to a database
> 
> Hello all and sorry in advance to those seeing this on both mailing lists;
> 
> Our museum is about to engage in a process of digitizing some of our
> objects.  One of our IT gurus has asked me to help him solve a problem.
> It goes something like this:
> 
> Take a grasshopper that has been catalogued into our database (and
> assigned a unique specimen number) and photograph it.
> 
> Create another database consisting of digital images.  Incorporate the
> image of the grasshopper into the database as well as all of its metadata,
> e.g. size of image, resolution, etc.
> 
> Now comes the problem.  Our photography staff will photograph the
> specimen, develop the film, digitize the image (or just snap a digital
> image of the specimen) and then pass it onto the person entering the
> information into the digitization database.  The individual entering this
> metadata doesn't know the specimen number of this image since it was not
> provided to them by the photographer.   Even though the two databases will
> be linked by specimen number, the problem remains, if one doesn't transfer
> the specimen number along with the digital image to the cataloguer, how
> will they know what is the image's corresponding specimen number?  
> 
> Apparently this is not a problem for the Arts & Archaeology side of things
> here, since they are basically dealing with one of kind objects, whereas
> we can have multiples of the same object (species).  Or conversely, we
> could send down one-hundred different specimens of different species, each
> with its own specimen number for the creation of a digital image.
> 
> Are there digital cameras that allow one to create a memo  (text or voice)
> with the image that could be downloaded directly into one's database?
> Does anyone have in place, procedures to ensure that the specimen number
> for a data based insect travels with its digital image to a cataloguer to
> facilitate entry into a database?
> 
> Any suggestions are appreciated.
> 
> Thanks
> Brad
> 
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
>   Brad Hubley
>   Entomology Collection Manager
>   Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology 
>   Royal Ontario Museum
>   100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario           
>   Canada    M5S 2C6
> 
>   Phone:  1-416-586-5764 
>   FAX:      1-416-586-5553 
>   email:  bradh at rom.on.ca 
>   Visit our website at: http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/ 
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~