Recent Developments in Cultural Heritage Image Databases: Directions for User-Centered Design

published or submitted for publicatio

Subject-based knowledge organisation: an OER for supporting (digital) humanities research

Humanities scholars can today engage in research inquiry using data from a range of varied collections which are often characterised by poor subject access, often resulting in systems that underperform and even effectively prevent access to data, information and knowledge. In spite of the availability of professional standards and guidelines to provide quality-controlled subject access through knowledge organisation systems (KOS), subject access in such collections is rarely based on KOS. At the same time, KOS themselves may come with problems such as being slow to update, being rigidly structured and not incorporating end-users' vocabulary. It may therefore be useful to consider methods for remediating these deficiencies in KOSs, such as collecting user-generated metadata via social tagging or complementing automated indexing techniques with manual ones. To help address the above problems, the paper discusses these challenges and points to possible solutions in different contexts. It does so by reflecting on an open educational resource (OER) devoted to this theme, titled Introduction to Knowledge Organisation Systems for Digital Humanities. It was developed as part of an EU project called DiMPAH (Digital Methods Platform for the Arts and Humanities), 2021-2023, creating seven OERs for inclusion in DARIAH Teach

Subject retrieval from full-text databases in the humanities

This paper examines the problems involved in subject retrieval from full-text databases of secondary materials in the humanities. Ten such databases were studied and their search functionality evaluated, focusing on factors such as Boolean operators, document surrogates, limiting by subject area, proximity operators, phrase searching, wildcards, weighting of search terms, limiting by type of document, controlled vocabulary indexing and ranking, and display of search results. The author suggests ways in which full-text searching might be improved, whether by enhancement of database records, by introduction of enhanced search functionality, or by the education of searchers in more effective search techniques. The conclusion is that current digitisation projects are not producing databases that meet the needs of scholars

Image indexing and retrieval: some problems and proposed solutions.

Image processing technologies are offering considerable potential for library and information units to extend their databases by the inclusion of images such as photographs, paintings, monograph title-pages and maps. Discusses problems and potential solutions in a structured fashion based on categories of thesauri (text and visual), hybrids, description language and automatic content analysis, with state-of-the-art examples

Digitization and the Changing Roles of Libraries in Support of Humanities Research: The Case of the Harrison Forman Collection

Objective – this article examines the role of libraries in expanding access to primary sources through digitization and in providing support for humanities research. Research method – the author analyzes the literature on information behavior of humanist scholars in light of the increased use of digitized primary sources. Next, using the example of the digitized photographs and diaries from the Harrison Forman Collection, the author explores the emerging role of libraries in creating a new source of scholarly materials and supporting research in humanities. Results and conclusion – digitization increasingly matters not only for practical reasons of ease of use and access but also by offering a new potential for humanistic research. Digitization projects provide enhanced intellectual control of primary resources, offer an opportunity to uncover hidden collections, and bring together scattered materials. Digital collections in their present design demonstrate some limitations in supporting scholars’ browsing behavior and in providing contextual information. Creating digital collections in support of humanities research requires the transformation of library roles and collaboration with digital humanities scholars

Image Retrieval Knowledge and Art History Curriculum in the Digital Age

This study investigates end-users\u27 image queries by comparing the features of the queries to those identified in previous studies proposed by Enser and McGregor (1992), Jorgensen (1995) and Fidel (1997) in order to discover the utility of these existing features for the art history field and identify any expansions or new features. It also examines relationships between user search tasks and image query modes. Enser and McGregor\u27s categories of Unique and Non-unique, and Jorgensen\u27s classes of Location, Literal Object, Art Historical Information, People and People-related Attributes received high degrees of matching by three reviewers. This finding can be applied to add more details to Enser and McGregor\u27s four categories (Unique, Non-unique, Unique with refiners, and Non-unique with refiners) and to re-group Jorgensen\u27s 12 classes of image attributes. This study also found several significant relationships between the participants\u27 retrieval tasks and query modes. The participants who used fewer keywords from their topic title and topic description had a larger number of keywords or phrases they planned to use. A significant difference was found between the mean of the search keywords or phrases participants planned to use and the mean of the search keywords or phrases they actually used. The participants who submitted a higher number of keywords or phrases they planned to use were able to draw more pictures representing their topic title and the participants who had a greater number of keywords or phrases actually used also generated a larger number of post-search drawings. A significant relationship was also found between the level of success and the number of keywords or phrases participants planned to use. Implications for 2 curriculum design in the art history field, library instruction, image indexing tools and image retrieval system design are proposed

Publication practices in the Humanities: An in-depth case study of a Swedish Arts and Humanities Faculty 2010-2018

This paper is a case study of research publication practices at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Linnaeus University, a young, mid-sized university in the south-east of Sweden. Research output was measured from publications in the local institutional repository following the guidelines of local research policy as defined in university documentation. The data collection comprised 3,316 metadata records of publications self-registered by authors affiliated with the faculty during the period of 2010–2018. A statistical analysis of research output was conducted, focusing on preferred publication types, disciplinary specificity, level of co-authorship, and the language of the publication as registered in the local repository. The analysis focused on two main research questions: 1) how do the local research practices stand in relation to traditional publication patterns in the humanities? 2) how do the observed publication patterns relate to local university policy on publication and research evaluation? The empirical results suggest a limited correlation between publication practices and research incentives from university management, a finding that is corroborated by previous research on the scholarly character of the humanities and university policies. Overall, traditional humanities publication patterns were largely maintained throughout the period under investigation