Heritage Digital Campus
Programme for the Heritage Digital Campus 2023
The 2023 Heritage Digital Campus will be hosted at UKZN's Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
For almost two decades South African scientific and cultural heritage organisations have been speaking about the imperative of digitisation as a vital tool in the preservation of and access to irreplaceable collections. While there have been pockets of progress many institutions are yet to make the progress they would have liked to have made by now in digitisation and digital preservation. There seem to be so many barriers to entry and there is so much understanding that is required before beginning that it is difficult to even know how to get going. And for those who have managed to start, it is often hard to know whether one is keeping up with emerging international best practices and standards.
The Heritage Digital Campus aims to equip both decision makers and practitioners with a practical and implementable approach to building a digital archive including the digitisation of analogue materials, the processing of born digital materials, as well as digital preservation, curation, access and use. From March 6-10, 2023 Africa Media Online will once again be running the Heritage Digital Campus in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu Natal Libraries and Special Collections.
Whether you are a senior or middle manager needing to understand the whole process of building a digital archive in order to make wise decisions in building teams or contracting service providers, or you are a technician needing to understand the practicalities of meeting international standards, the Heritage Digital Campus is for you. Both those who are starting out and those who have considerable experience will benefit from the expert input and guidance of the highly experienced team running the workshops and masterclasses.
You can book individual courses, or you can book the whole Heritage Digital Campus at a discounted rate.
Africa Media Online has run the Heritage Digital Campus since 2005. Each time we run it we bring out a leading international expert in digital archiving. In 2023 we have the privilege of having the author of the Metamorfoze Preservation Imaging Guidelines, the defacto European digitisation standard for the digitisation of flat heritage materials, Hans van Dormolen. Metamorfoze has been an essential leg upon which the new International Standards Organisation ISO 19264-1:2021 standard has been built. Hans will be running two one day sessions – one that enables participants to understand the various digital imaging standards – FADGI, Metamorfoze and ISO – and the parameters that make up quality cultural heritage imaging – and the other will be a practical workshop demonstrating the correct calibration of digitisation capture devices (cameras and scanners).
Monday March 6, 2023
Building a Digital Archive
Twelve Processes in Building and Maintaining a Digital Archive
HDC 2023 01
Building a digital archive successfully involves very much more than simply pushing a button on a scanner or getting yourself a digital repository. This session is based on the 12 processes involved in building a digital archive – scoping, screening, selecting, preparing, Inventorizing, capturing, processing, describing, loading, storing, accessing and using. This masterclass will give you the big picture and a clear roadmap of how to go about this vital task.
Facilitator: David Larsen, Founder, Africa Media Online
Date: Monday March 6, 2023
Start Time: 8:00 am for 8:30 am
End Time: 4:30 pm for 5:00 pm
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Lecture and workshop style
Cost: Full Day includes teas and lunch
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R3,294.50
Tuesday March 7, 2023
Digital Imaging Essentials
Understanding the Fundamentals of Digital Imaging
HDC 2023 02
Bits and bytes, bit depth, colour space, colour mode, resolution, file size, file type… the mind boggles. We hear these terms but often don’t know what they really mean. How does one understand what one is doing to the extent that one knows one is able to assess whether digital files are at the right standard? That is what this session will help you grasp so you can approach digital imaging confidently knowing what you are looking for and the standards you need to hold your providers or suppliers to.
Facilitator: David Larsen, Founder, Africa Media Online
Date: Tuesday March 7, 2023
Start Time: 8:00 am for 8:30 am
End Time: 12 noon
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Lecture and workshop style
Cost: Half Day includes morning tea and lunch
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R1,705.00
Practical Digital Workflow
From the Capture Device to the Digital Archive
HDC 2023 03
The digital era has made it easy for everybody to create born digital content (audio, video, documents, web content, research data etc. that was not analogue before). This session will give you a handle on how to establish a solid production workflow that ensures that your digital files are reliably and consistently managed from the point of origin (be it a camera or capture device) to permanent storage location without any compromise or loss of data.
Facilitator: David Larsen, Founder, Africa Media Online
Date: Tuesday March 7, 2023
Start Time: 1:00 pm
End Time: 4:30 for 5 pm
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Lecture and workshop style
Cost: Half Day includes afternoon tea
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R1,485.00
Wednesday March 8, 2023
Enabling Accessibility
Organisation and Description for Heritage Digital Archives
HDC 2023 04
The ability to access material within an archive will depend largely on its organisation and description. This session provides a practical approach to organising archival material in a manner that can be easily and accurately reflected in its digital archive counterpart, and provides the tools for ensuring discovery through description. Following an overview of descriptive metadata, school archivists will be provided with clear and simple guidelines to take on the capture of metadata in their digital repositories with confidence and enthusiasm. A scaffolded discussion will also provide the opportunity to explore the potential of metadata to expand the reach and value of a digital archive within a school community.
Facilitator: Dr Nicki Kirby, Business Development Strategist, Africa Media Online
Date: Wednesday March 8, 2023
Start Time: 8:00 am for 8:30 am
End Time: 12 noon
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Lecture and workshop style
Cost: Half Day includes morning tea and lunch
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R1,705.00
Digital Curation
Curating your Digital Collection with Preservatio’s Memat Web Interface
HDC 2023 05
Memat is the web interface for the Preservatio digital repository system. Preservatio’s ArchiVault digital asset management system preserves and backs up digital files and their associated metadata while Memat enables the user to access that material. Built as a plugin to the world’s most widely used Content Management System (CMS), WordPress, and harnessing the power of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), Memat provides the user with many options in the curation process. In GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) institutions, curators are professionals who study the acquisitions of these institutions to retrieve objects and present them to the public, or selected audiences, to highlight current, as well as to develop new narratives about these items. Likewise, digital curators engage with the content/assets in a digital repository to showcase these objects and present them in an engaging way. These selections may also be used to share content on social media platforms. This session will stimulate your thinking around the creative presentation of your institution’s content and provides a brief overview of the principles and practice of digital curation in Memat.
Facilitators: Deon Schutte, Digital Curator and Project Manager, Africa Media Online
Date: Wednesday March 8, 2023
Start Time: 1 pm
End Time: 4:30 pm for 5:00 pm
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Lecture and workshop style
Cost: Half Day includes afternoon tea
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R1,485.00
Thursday March 9, 2023
Theory: An Introduction to Preservation Digital Imaging Standards
Understanding Digitisation Quality Control and Quality Assurance
HDC 2023 06
Consistently creating digital images for long term preservation requires an awareness of and an understanding of digital imaging standards. This masterclass introduces you to the three foremost standards for preservation imaging of flat objects – FADGI (the American standard), Metamorfoze (the European standard) and ISO 19264-1:2021 (the international standard) and will give you an understanding of the measurable elements that make up preservation quality imaging. Hans van Dormolen is about to launch Metamorfoze 2.0 and you will gain an insight into the latest standard and well as a real understanding of what makes for an image that can be trusted for decades and even centuries to come.
Facilitator: Hans van Dormolen, Director, Hans van Dormolen Imaging & Preservation Imaging (HIP)
Date: Thursday March 9, 2023
Start Time: 8:00 am for 8:30 am
End Time: 4:30 pm for 5:00 pm
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Lecture style
Cost: Full Day includes teas and lunch
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R4,094.50
Friday March 10, 2023
Practice: Implementing the Metamorfoze Standard
Hands On Preservation Digital Imaging
HDC 2023 07
Understanding the theory is one thing, putting it into practice is another. Building on the Introduction to Preservation Digital Imaging Standards masterclass the day before, this practical workshop will take participants through the every day practice of ensuring consistent fidelity in your digitisation practice whether you are intending to conform to FADGI, Metamorfoze or ISO 19264-1:2021.
Facilitator: Hans van Dormolen, Director, Hans van Dormolen Imaging & Preservation Imaging (HIP)
Date: Friday March 10, 2023
Start Time: 8:00 am for 8:30 am
End Time: 4:30 pm for 5:00 pm
Venue: Campbell Collections, 220 Gladys Mazibuko Road (formerly 220 Marriott Road), Durban
Format: Practical workshop style
Cost: Full Day includes teas and lunch
- Entries close: COB Wednesday March 1, 2023: R4,094.50