Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations

The authors share first-hand experiences of digitisation in a wide variety of environments. This book contains invaluable practical guidance on how to expect the unexpected and deliver quality results in challenging situations.
From establishing the scope of the project, via practical considerations about equipment, work routines, staffing, and negotiating local politics, to backing up your data and successfully completing your work, Remote Capture walks you through every stage. Bursting with helpful hints, advice and experiences from people who have completed projects everywhere around the globe from Latin America to Africa to Asia, this book offers a taste of the challenges you might encounter and the best ways to find solutions.
With a particular focus on the process of digitisation, whether using a camera or a scanner, Remote Capture is invaluable reading for anybody considering such a project. It will be particularly useful to those who apply for an EAP grant, but the advice in these pages is necessary for anyone wondering how to go about digitising an archive.
—Andreas Nef, Technical Lead, Docuteam GmbH and Digital Archive Consultant supporting Swisspeace and others in countries including Sierra Leone, Tunisia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands
This is a must-read how-to guide if you are planning to embark on a scholarly digitisation project. Tailored to the specifications of the British Library’s EAP (Endangered Archives Programme) projects, it is full of sound, practical advice about planning and carrying out a successful digitisation project in potentially challenging conditions.From establishing the scope of the project, via practical considerations about equipment, work routines, staffing, and negotiating local politics, to backing up your data and successfully completing your work, Remote Capture walks you through every stage. Bursting with helpful hints, advice and experiences from people who have completed projects everywhere around the globe from Latin America to Africa to Asia, this book offers a taste of the challenges you might encounter and the best ways to find solutions.
With a particular focus on the process of digitisation, whether using a camera or a scanner, Remote Capture is invaluable reading for anybody considering such a project. It will be particularly useful to those who apply for an EAP grant, but the advice in these pages is necessary for anyone wondering how to go about digitising an archive.
Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations
Jody Butterworth, Andrew Pearson, Patrick Sutherland and Adam Farquhar | April 2018
192 | 48 colour illustrations | 6.14'' x 9.21'' (156 x 234 mm)
Open Field Guides Series, vol. 1 | ISSN: 2514-2496 (Print); 2514 250X (Online)
ISBN Paperback: 9781783744732
ISBN Hardback: 9781783744749
ISBN Digital (PDF): 9781783744756
ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 9781783744763
ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 9781783744770
ISBN Digital (XML): 9781783746132
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0138
Subject codes: BIC: AJG (Photographic equipment and techniques), GM (Museology and heritage studies), GP (Reference, information and interdisciplinary subjects); BISAC: SOC019000 (SOCIAL SCIENCE / Methodology), PHO007000 (PHOTOGRAPHY / Techniques / Equipment), SOC024000 (SOCIAL SCIENCE / Research), REF020000 (REFERENCE / Research)
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List of figures
List of tables
Contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
A note on the text boxes
Brands and manufacturers
Digital resources
Introduction
1. Planning the project
Project design
Calculating the budget
2. Equipment and skills for digitising in the field
Cameras and scanners
The Digital SLR camera: a general introduction
DSLRs: principles and settings
Tripods, copy stands and remote controls
Lighting and flash
Copying glass plate negatives and transparencies
Essential equipment and skills
Practical advice for photography in the field
Hard drives and data management
Scanners
3. Image standards
Introduction
Considerations
Examples of good and bad images
4. Collection care and document handling
General considerations for safe handling of library material
Dirty and dusty material
Pictures and glass plate negatives
Loose-leaf items
Bound items
Housing
5. A workflow for digitisation
Preparation
Creation of the digital images
Renaming and organising the digital images
Developing and exporting the digital images
Backing up
Virus checking
Cataloguing/creation of metadata
6. On the ground
Before departure
Politics
Local liaison and partnerships
Managing expectations
Communication
Staff and their management
Money
Outreach and publicity
Conclusion
Further resources
Useful downloads
Other reading
Glossary
Index
Digital Appendices (available online at https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0138.11)
Digital Appendix 1. Practical Methods for Digitisation
Digital Appendix 2. Using Electronic Flash
Digital Appendix 3. Digitisation Process Notes
Digital Appendix 4. Costed Equipment List
© 2018 Jody Butterworth, Andrew Pearson, Patrick Sutherland and Adam Farquhar. Copyright of individual chapters is maintained by the chapter’s authors.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text and to make commercial use of the text providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that he endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
Jody Butterworth, Andrew Pearson, Patrick Sutherland and Adam Farquhar (eds.), Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2018. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0138
Further details about CC BY licenses are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher.
Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher.
Cover image: Monks digitising Buddhist manuscripts in a courtyard at Gangtey Monastery, Bhutan (2006). Photo by Karma Phuntsho, CC-BY 4.0.
A set of Digital Appendices for this book are available online at the British Library website: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0138.11
Digital Appendix 1. Practical Methods for Digitisation
Digital Appendix 2. Using Electronic Flash
Digital Appendix 3. Digitisation Process Notes
Digital Appendix 4. Costed Equipment List
These resources will be updated by the British Library as appropriate.
Digital Appendix 1. Practical Methods for Digitisation
Digital Appendix 2. Using Electronic Flash
Digital Appendix 3. Digitisation Process Notes
Digital Appendix 4. Costed Equipment List
These resources will be updated by the British Library as appropriate.