Welcome to the new Digital Picture Library Manager blog designed to add value to the management of your picture and media collections as well as to keep you up to date with developments at Africa Media Online and the world of digital imaging that could be of benefit you.
In this edition:
1. New image standards for picture libraries
2. World media bodies take major step toward global metadata standards
3. Majority World Imagery – the untapped potential
4. Getting your collections to a global audience
1. New image standards for picture libraries
Africa Media Online’s picture portal, africanpictures.net has recently released its updated imaging standards assisting museums, photographers, archives and corporates to maintain a standard in imaging that will ensure their collections are usable generations from now. In future editions of The Digital Picture Library Manager we hope to discuss various aspects of these standards and why we have set them as they are. In the meantime please feel free to download the africanpictures.net Digital Imaging Standards
2. World media bodies take major step toward global metadata standards
Early June saw the world’s first International Photo Metadata Conference held in Florence, Italy. Hosted by the Coordination of European Picture Agencies Press Stock Heritage (CEPIC) and organised by the International Press and Telecommunications Council (IPTC) and IFRA, the world’s leading association for newspaper and media publishing, the event was a great success. Africa Media Online’s Director, David Larsen, was present at the historic gathering. More information as well as a full report can be found by following these links:
CEPIC Report
Controlled Vocabulary report
Photo Metadata Conference website
3. Majority World Imagery – the untapped potential
A night shot of the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy is the main picture at the top of this blog. Florence, with its long tradition of excellence in the arts was a fitting place for the CEPIC Congress 2007. CEPIC is a unique meeting of the global picture industry where producers of images from all over the world gather to trade images and speak about industry issues. David Larsen, Director of Africa Media Online, was invited by Shahidul Alam of Drik picture library in Daka, Bangladesh to present alongside himself and Mark Antman, CEO of the Image Works in the US, on the topic Majority World Imagery, The Untapped Potential . With the Millenium Development Goals and the 2010 World Cup, global attention is certainly turning toward Africa and as africanpictures.net we were able to land distribution partnerships in many countries in Europe, Asia and North America including with the world’s oldest picture agency, Alanari based in Florence, Italy.
4. Getting your collections to a global audience
The state of the art interpretation centre at Maropeng at the “Cradle of Mankind” in the Magaliesberg, Gauteng, South Africa was a fitting venue for the 2007 South African Museums Association (SAMA) conference. Site of some of the world’s most ancient hominid discoveries, the area provided a fitting backdrop to healthy debate around the topic “Museums in a Virtual Age.” There were many excellent presentations, not only on the use of information technologies in the museums sector, but also looking at the fundamental philosophical questions such as the way in which digital facsimilies of museum objects should be used over against the original object itself. On the final day Africa Media Online’s Director, David Larsen, presented a paper entitled “Getting Your Collections to a Global Audience”. Picking up on the philosphical debate, Larsen discussed the changing role of museums in the context of philosophical shifts in society which mean the museum audience is radically different from what it was 20 years ago and what that means for the critical use of information technologies. The full paper can be downloaded here: Getting Your Collections to a Global Audience
Hi Dave,
Keep up the good work.
Remmy