Looking for DT Photo?
Select Page

2023 Cultural Heritage Roundtable

 

11.1.23 | San Francisco, CA | 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM PDT

 

 

Celebrating the Real-world Impact of the Digitization Community

The 2023 edition of DT’s Annual Cultural Heritage Roundtable has wrapped up! This year we focused on how digitization is impacting the community as a whole; from ensuring the historical record of at-risk collections to opening up new avenues of research and study, it’s safe to say that digitization techniques and technology have fundamentally changed the world of cultural heritage.

Save the date for next year’s roundtable, in New York City on October 23rd, 2024! We look forward to seeing you there – in-person and online.

2023 Speaker Lineup

FEATURED SPEAKER:
Iryna Martyniuk
, Chief Keeper of Collections
Ukraine’s National Reserve: Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra


Information
Bio

Iryna Martyniuk has spent over 25 years working in the library research field, managing multiple historic collections within the Museum Fund of Ukraine. Her current position as the Chief Keeper of Collection at The Lavra see her in charge of the organization, storage, and preservation of over 72,000 items within the museums collection. Outside of her interest in the history of the Ukraine and world culture, Iryna enjoys singing and playing the guitar, ballroom dancing, traveling by car to visit cultural and historical locations.

Presentation Abstract

SAVED FOR ETERNITY. SIGHTS OF UKRAINE IN THE CONDITIONS OF WAR

Digitization of museum collections in Ukraine is especially relevant today, when about 12 million objects of the state part of the Museum Fund of Ukraine are under threat of damage and destruction, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.

Long before the war, the Reserve began digitizing its collection (more than 72,000 monuments) through photo-fixation, scanning, etc. However, a significant number of items require a special approach during digitization.

Cooperation with Digital Transition made it possible to expand the possibilities of obtaining high-resolution photos of museum objects in a timely manner, and taking into account the technical requirements for each category of objects.

The effectiveness of this project: images created through digitization allow researchers to see and read what could only be seen with a magnifying glass. In addition, many unique items are stored in storage for a long time, and no one has seen them. This will also make it possible to popularize the cultural sights for the whole world both through Internet services and printed publications, and to save the photos themselves for posterity as “Digital Art”.

Ukrainian culture is still little known to the whole world. Moreover, the Russian aggressors are constantly trying to destroy it. The Digital Transition project will contribute to the dissemination of information about artifacts unknown to the world, which are markers of Ukrainian identity and a cultural nation that strives for development and peace.


Lauren Gaylord
Pixar Animation Studios Archives


Information
Bio

Lauren Gaylord joined Pixar Animation Studios in 2012 and currently serves as a digital and research archivist. She leads boutique digitization projects for the archive, acting as the primary cataloger and camera operator for all imaging requests. In addition to her digitization duties, Lauren is deeply involved in collecting and organizing digital and physical materials for reuse by the studio. She regularly conducts research for internal and external requests about Pixar’s history, culture, and productions and has collaborated on books, exhibitions, documentaries, and theme park attractions, hotels, and cruise ships.

Lauren received her BA in History from Westmont College before earning her Master of Science in Information Studies at the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on archives management. While completing her degrees, she interned at various cultural heritage institutions and corporations, including Whole Foods Market, the Benson Latin American Collection at UT Austin, the San Francisco Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library.

Presentation Abstract

Archives in the Spotlight: Supporting Documentaries Through Research, Digitization, and More

In 2021 and 2022, the Pixar Living Archives participated in two in-depth documentary projects: Beyond Infinity (Disney+) and A Visit to the Pixar Living Archive (Criterion Collection). These projects required a range of support from the Archives team, including digitized artwork, research services, location shooting, and even archivists as on-camera talent. Lauren Gaylord will discuss how her team approached these two projects and collaborated with the filmmakers from beginning to end. She will also share lessons learned along the way and tips on how other cultural heritage institutions might leverage past and future digitization to support similar storytelling projects.

Julie McVey, Special Collections
National Geographic


Information
Bios

Julie McVey

Julie McVey (she/her) is the Senior Manager of Digital Collections for the National Geographic Society’s Special Collections team. She joined NGS in 2018 to lead a digital preservation archive initiative and has worked with colleagues to establish in-house digitization workflows, standardized metadata practices, and digital object discovery processes. She now oversees the Special Collections digital preservation program and contributes expertise in digital curation, metadata standards, technology innovations, and collections accessibility and outreach. Julie serves as a board member on the Digital Cultural Heritage DC professional networking group and is interested in connecting cultural heritage professionals across disciplines to further collaboration and creative problem-solving. Other professional interests include AI in the GLAM field, collaborative stewardship of cultural heritage collections, and facilitating digital public history projects and initiatives. She holds a Master of Arts in History and a Master of Library and Information Science, both from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Presentation Abstract

Managing the Chaos: National Geographic Society’s Special Collections Team’s Grant Project

In the spring of 2020, the National Geographic Society received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a large-scale project to conserve and digitize around 15,000 early color photographs on glass. Three challenging but rewarding years later, the grant work has wrapped and the Society has several lessons learned to share about managing a complex project with many unexpected elements. In this presentation, Project Director Sara Manco (Director, Photographs) and Project Manager Julie McVey (Sr. Manager of Digital Collections) will walk attendees through the process of preparing for the grant and the challenges they faced due to myriad factors, including the global pandemic.. They will also discuss how they worked together to manage the many moving parts of a large project, including dos and don’ts learned along the way.

Sara Manco, Special Collections
National Geographic


Information
Bios

Sara Manco

Sara Manco (she/her) is the Director, Photographs for the National Geographic Society’s Special Collections team and is the Project Director for the Early Color Photography Conservation and Digitization Project. Her duties include overseeing a photographic and art collection of nearly twelve million objects, performing preservation on a wide variety of photographic materials, selecting material for digitization, and efforts to make content available for a wide variety of projects. Manco is passionate about the stories that can be told through photographs, sharing those photographs as widely as possible, and bringing diverse voices into the collections. She holds an M.A. in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University.

Presentation Abstract

Managing the Chaos: National Geographic Society’s Special Collections Team’s Grant Project

In the spring of 2020, the National Geographic Society received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a large-scale project to conserve and digitize around 15,000 early color photographs on glass. Three challenging but rewarding years later, the grant work has wrapped and the Society has several lessons learned to share about managing a complex project with many unexpected elements. In this presentation, Project Director Sara Manco (Director, Photographs) and Project Manager Julie McVey (Sr. Manager of Digital Collections) will walk attendees through the process of preparing for the grant and the challenges they faced due to myriad factors, including the global pandemic.. They will also discuss how they worked together to manage the many moving parts of a large project, including dos and don’ts learned along the way.

Don Ross
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art


Information
Bio

Don Ross (he/him) is the Senior Photographer at SFMOMA where he has been honing his skills in cultural heritage photography for nearly two decades. Managing a team of fellow photographers and a digital tech, Don oversees a studio responsible for making accurate captures of paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and installation views of exhibitions. The team also produces images of compelling museum events, and staff and artist portraits. These images all serve the museum’s wide-ranging and exciting goals to reach our audiences in print and digital publications, as well as for the institution’s archives.

Presentation Abstract

“Cool / Cold” Storage & Digitizing Color Photography at SFMOMA

Over the past twenty years, the photography collection of SFMOMA has doubled in size and the number of chromogenic photographs and digital prints acquired has been consistently increasing. According to one Conservation fellow, SFMOMA’s photography curators in the late 1970’s and 1980’s were a small and pointed group who collected contemporary photography by artists using (and sometimes experimenting with) unknown processes at the time. A rarity to collect such work at the time on the West Coast, these curators felt it was extremely important to collect contemporary photography at the time that was pushing the boundaries in alt processes.

 Some of these color processes were found later to be chemically unstable, making the color somewhat fugitive. Extensive research studies conducted by the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) in Rochester, and Wilhelm Research Inc provide scientific evidence that low-temperature environmental conditions play an important role in the long-term preservation of color photographs. This also offers a way to greatly extend their lifespan. According to the IPI storage recommendation for long-term preservation of photographic materials, almost all photographic works of the collection should be stored in cold storage. With SFMOMA’s expansion in 2016, a “Cool / Cold” storage environment of roughly 1500 square feet was created specifically to house part of the museum’s collection of 1970’s and 1980’s early color photography. For obvious space limitations, priority was given to the most fragile dye-based photographic processes: chromogenic prints and early dye-based inkjet prints.

For those of us who aren’t conservators: what makes color photographs so fragile, concerning, and candidates for cold storage? Most color photographs deteriorate even if preserved at standard museum environmental conditions, and in dark storage. The image material of the vast majority of color photographs consists of dyes rather than pigments. Typically, a dye is a molecule that absorbs portions of the visible spectrum and causes the appearance of the color. The color that we perceive depends on that specific molecular structure of the dye. If the structure changes, the color will change in appearance to our eyes. Change can be induced by light energy when on display or heat energy (temperature), moisture and air pollutants when in dark storage. Light and dark fading have distinct chemical mechanisms and sometimes different effects on the image. Dark fading has the greatest effect on the survival of the color photographs, as prints spend most of their life in storage.

 Aligned with the Conservation and Registration Departments, the Imaging Studio was charged with imaging the works before they were to be house into “Cool / Cold” storage in support of preserving the prints while ensuring a level of access to the works through visual documentation. Over the course of years of this large-scale imaging project, there have been interesting challenges regarding treatment of the objects, and each objects’ individual states of being for access by the Imaging Studio. For example, some photographs are housed in solander boxes (easy to address) while other photographs are framed and glazed (not so easy to address), in some cases thus requiring unframing before imaging. Thanks to Digital Transition’s copy-stand set-up two+ years ago, the image quality that is produced with our Phase One camera allows for extreme closelooking and for deep discoveries of works of art in our digital asset management system: image files delivered to researchers, and made available on our website www.sfmoma.org

 The “Cool / Cold” imaging project also directly connects with SFMOMA’s charge to exhibit or otherwise make accessible works by historically underrepresented artists. The images of color photographs made by the Imaging Studio are also, importantly, contributing to increased discovery, awareness, and knowledge of works by artists from many different backgrounds. In fact, during our presentation we will touch on some of the early color works by Cindy Sherman, Janet Delaney, April Dawn Alison, Jonathan Calm, as well as contemporary artists using alternative processes such as Meghann Rippenhoff.

 Come hear the Photographers explain their process of this mass “Cool / Cold” digitization project, and explore with the group new philosophies around balancing preservation needs alongside making the photographs as accessible as possible — all towards knowing that the photographs that are in our care have a life to be viewed by our audiences. 

Tenari Tuatagaloa
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art


Information
Bio

Tenari Tuatagaloa (he/him) is a Photographer and Imaging Specialist for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Starting in 2022, he has been responsible for collection imaging for both 2D and 3D objects. In addition, he helps to create installation images of each exhibition. His current role has further developed his skills into the cultural heritage world, where he brings experience in photography, video production, and retouching skills.

Presentation Abstract

“Cool / Cold” Storage & Digitizing Color Photography at SFMOMA

Over the past twenty years, the photography collection of SFMOMA has doubled in size and the number of chromogenic photographs and digital prints acquired has been consistently increasing. According to one Conservation fellow, SFMOMA’s photography curators in the late 1970’s and 1980’s were a small and pointed group who collected contemporary photography by artists using (and sometimes experimenting with) unknown processes at the time. A rarity to collect such work at the time on the West Coast, these curators felt it was extremely important to collect contemporary photography at the time that was pushing the boundaries in alt processes.

 Some of these color processes were found later to be chemically unstable, making the color somewhat fugitive. Extensive research studies conducted by the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) in Rochester, and Wilhelm Research Inc provide scientific evidence that low-temperature environmental conditions play an important role in the long-term preservation of color photographs. This also offers a way to greatly extend their lifespan. According to the IPI storage recommendation for long-term preservation of photographic materials, almost all photographic works of the collection should be stored in cold storage. With SFMOMA’s expansion in 2016, a “Cool / Cold” storage environment of roughly 1500 square feet was created specifically to house part of the museum’s collection of 1970’s and 1980’s early color photography. For obvious space limitations, priority was given to the most fragile dye-based photographic processes: chromogenic prints and early dye-based inkjet prints.

For those of us who aren’t conservators: what makes color photographs so fragile, concerning, and candidates for cold storage? Most color photographs deteriorate even if preserved at standard museum environmental conditions, and in dark storage. The image material of the vast majority of color photographs consists of dyes rather than pigments. Typically, a dye is a molecule that absorbs portions of the visible spectrum and causes the appearance of the color. The color that we perceive depends on that specific molecular structure of the dye. If the structure changes, the color will change in appearance to our eyes. Change can be induced by light energy when on display or heat energy (temperature), moisture and air pollutants when in dark storage. Light and dark fading have distinct chemical mechanisms and sometimes different effects on the image. Dark fading has the greatest effect on the survival of the color photographs, as prints spend most of their life in storage.

 Aligned with the Conservation and Registration Departments, the Imaging Studio was charged with imaging the works before they were to be house into “Cool / Cold” storage in support of preserving the prints while ensuring a level of access to the works through visual documentation. Over the course of years of this large-scale imaging project, there have been interesting challenges regarding treatment of the objects, and each objects’ individual states of being for access by the Imaging Studio. For example, some photographs are housed in solander boxes (easy to address) while other photographs are framed and glazed (not so easy to address), in some cases thus requiring unframing before imaging. Thanks to Digital Transition’s copy-stand set-up two+ years ago, the image quality that is produced with our Phase One camera allows for extreme closelooking and for deep discoveries of works of art in our digital asset management system: image files delivered to researchers, and made available on our website www.sfmoma.org

 The “Cool / Cold” imaging project also directly connects with SFMOMA’s charge to exhibit or otherwise make accessible works by historically underrepresented artists. The images of color photographs made by the Imaging Studio are also, importantly, contributing to increased discovery, awareness, and knowledge of works by artists from many different backgrounds. In fact, during our presentation we will touch on some of the early color works by Cindy Sherman, Janet Delaney, April Dawn Alison, Jonathan Calm, as well as contemporary artists using alternative processes such as Meghann Rippenhoff.

 Come hear the Photographers explain their process of this mass “Cool / Cold” digitization project, and explore with the group new philosophies around balancing preservation needs alongside making the photographs as accessible as possible — all towards knowing that the photographs that are in our care have a life to be viewed by our audiences. 

Ben Heath, Digitization Officer
The University of Western Australia


Information
Bio

Ben Heath is the Senior Photographer for the Digitisation Centre of Western Australia (DCWA) which is located at the University of Western Australia (UWA).

Ben has 28 years commercial experience working with professional photographers as a printer, scanning technician, photographic editor and re-toucher. His career transitioned from commercial photography to cultural heritage digitisation when he joined the Digitization Services Department at State Library of Western Australia (SLWA) during COVID 19 Pandemic. In 2021 he started his current position in the DCWA and has been playing a crucial role in setting up the photographic digitisation workstations and managing the workflows in the Centre.

Presentation Abstract

De-risking the process of Cultural Heritage Digitisation – Providing a centralised centre for Western Australia

In 2020 Perth’s Universities, along with the State Library of Western Australia, and the West Australian Museum, was awarded a government research grant to set up a digitisation centre with a goal to digitise their collective cultural heritage collections within the next 10 years. There was an overriding need to build Perth first centralised digitisation centre for the university and arts sectors.

The Digitisation Centre of Western Australia (DCWA) aimed to de-risk and make accessible the process of cultural heritage digitisation in Western Australia. It is a state-of-art digitisation facility providing services to archival standard to local cultural institutions and small organisations. It not only proves itself to be a more viable alternative to transporting material to other digitisation service providers clustered in the Eastern states of the country, but also becomes a platform for further collaboration, innovation and knowledge dissemination in terms of preservation and digitisation of cultural heritage collections in Western Australia.

Ben is involved in the DCWA project since the first day and he will give an overview of the Centre in its early development. He will then illustrate the value that DCWA brings to the Western Australia community through a showcase of a number of digitised collections from the government, the university and local museums.

Doug Peterson, Head of R&D
Digital Transitions


Information
Bio

Doug Peterson is Co-Owner and Head of R+D and Product Management at Digital Transitions. He holds a BS in Commercial Photography from Ohio University. He is the lead author of a series of technical guidelines and recommendations for cultural heritage digitization, including the Phase One Color Reproduction Guide, Imaging for the Future: Digitization Program Planning, and the DT Digitization Guides for Reflective and Transmissive Workflows. He oversees the DT Digitization Certification training series, and has presented multiple Short Courses at the IS&T Archiving imaging conference. He is a member of the International Standards Organization where he sits on Technical Committee 42 which works on digitization standards.

Presentation Abstract

The Lastest DT R+D Updates & Announcements

It’s been a busy year at DT R+D. Doug Peterson will introduce our newest member of the R+D team, and review progress on our recent products and announcements including DT Stellar, DT Gemini, DT Fusion, and DT FADGI Flow featuring in-workflow color profiling, standards validation, and AI Cropping.

Christine Huhn, Head Library Imaging Services
University of California, Berkeley


Information
Bio

Chrissy Huhn

Chrissy Huhn is the head of Imaging Services at the University of California, Berkeley, Library. Library Imaging Services is responsible for the digitization across all 23 libraries on campus. At the height of the pandemic, Library Imaging Services produced roughly 3 million images, including providing essential course texts to students while they attended classes remotely. Previously she has worked in the digitization lab at the National Archives Civilian Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, the National Archives in College Park where she was a part of the Iraqi Jewish Archive digitization project, and at Stanford Library as a part of the Digital Production Group. Chrissy holds a bachelor of fine arts in photography from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a master of arts in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design. Chrissy pursues her passion as a fine art landscape photographer. Her work has been published in pamplemousse Magazine, Cyanotype Toning: Using Botanicals to Tone Blueprints Naturally, and exhibited nationally. Chrissy also teaches darkroom photography classes and workshops in Berkeley, CA.

Presentation Abstract

The Nitty-gritty and Not-so-pretty: Imaging Decisions in Cultural Heritage Digitization

The way we approach photography is both instinctual and based upon personal and professional experiences. How do you determine the best way to digitally represent an object? Sometimes we make methodical decisions based on previous work, but other times we encounter uncharted territory requiring creative problem-solving. While project-planning addresses imaging choices at the highest level, we still often need to make decisions for ourselves and our staff in the moment when an object is at the copy stand. Should I image these blank pages? Which direction is “up?” Can I unfold this half-glued note? Each with over a decade of cultural heritage imaging experience, Astrid and Chrissy will describe their similar and different ways of approaching digitization. They hope that a conceptual take-away from this talk will be a deeper consideration for how our imaging choices, large and small, impact digital objects, and that a practical take-away will be the inspiration to create a reference for yourself and your staff so that even spontaneous choices can become thoughtful guidelines for future imaging work.

Astrid Smith, Rare Book and Special Collections Digitization Specialist
Stanford University


Information
Bio

Astrid J. Smith

Astrid J. Smith is Rare Book and Special Collections Digitization Specialist and a Production Coordinator with Stanford Libraries. She has been providing cultural heritage imaging services in that role for over a decade, overseeing or personally imaging rare and fragile materials such as medieval codices and wax-sealed charters, rare musical manuscripts, and collections of fine press books. She has an AA in humanities (Foothill College), BA in art with an emphasis in mixed media painting and book arts (San Francisco State University), and an MA in liberal arts (Stanford University). Astrid is working on a forthcoming book, Transmediation and the Archive: Decoding Objects in the Digital Age (Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2023), and has chapters in Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021) and Debates in the Digital Humanities (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2023.) She approaches both her personal creative art and her digitization work with a combination of intensity, curiosity, and delight.

Presentation Abstract

The Nitty-gritty and Not-so-pretty: Imaging Decisions in Cultural Heritage Digitization

The way we approach photography is both instinctual and based upon personal and professional experiences. How do you determine the best way to digitally represent an object? Sometimes we make methodical decisions based on previous work, but other times we encounter uncharted territory requiring creative problem-solving. While project-planning addresses imaging choices at the highest level, we still often need to make decisions for ourselves and our staff in the moment when an object is at the copy stand. Should I image these blank pages? Which direction is “up?” Can I unfold this half-glued note? Each with over a decade of cultural heritage imaging experience, Astrid and Chrissy will describe their similar and different ways of approaching digitization. They hope that a conceptual take-away from this talk will be a deeper consideration for how our imaging choices, large and small, impact digital objects, and that a practical take-away will be the inspiration to create a reference for yourself and your staff so that even spontaneous choices can become thoughtful guidelines for future imaging work.

DT Annual Roundtable Background

Our Cultural Heritage Roundtables began as small, one-off gatherings between Digital Transitions and our valued customers and partners as a formal way to gather the community’s collective experience, share the latest knowledge and solutions, and foster a discussion on how to push our efforts forward.

Since its inception, the event has grown from a single day at our office to two annual conferences—both in-person and online—across the United States. Attendees come from a variety of countries, disciplines, and institutions to see the latest digitization technology, learn best practices from experts, discuss workflow tips, and network with other cultural heritage professionals. Whether you work in galleries, libraries, archives, museums, corporations, media, entertainment, or sports, if you have an interest in preserving culture and history through digitization, this event is for you!

Watch Last Year’s Presentations Here

Why Attend?

Learn from industry-leading institutions and network with Cultural Heritage professionals.

INSPIRING
PROJECTS

GREAT
NETWORKING

NEW
TECHNOLOGY

Have any questions? Contact us at [email protected] and we will happily assist.

Can’t wait for the event? We get it.

Explore our available trainings, free resources, and hours of content.

 

DT Knowledge Resources

We aren’t just a commercial entity, we pride ourselves on leading the Cultural Heritage community with resources to learn effective and viable approaches to preserve our history. This is why we have developed free resources for you to learn about the latest in the industry.

Film Scanning Knowledge Center

Digitizing transmissive materials at the highest possible quality can be an intimidating task, so we built this resource to guide you through it. Whether you’re aiming to meet image quality standards like FADGI or just looking to get the most detail out of your personal collection, you’re in the right place. Dive in for hardware and software solutions, project planning tips, handling considerations, video resources, and much more!

Click here to browse our resource center

Recorded Live Events

Explore our YouTube channel for knowledge resources on medium format photography and digital imaging technology. Discover more about the best digital imaging systems in the world, learn why medium format makes all the difference, all from the industry’s leading experts.

Click here for more

Upcoming Events & Trainings

We have a variety of trainings available to suit your needs for digitization. Whether you are looking to improve your post-processing skills in Capture One, learn invaluable techniques for film scanning, or seeking certification as a digitization operator.

DT Digitization Certification Program

One of our core missions at DT Heritage is to be a knowledge resource for the Cultural Heritage digitization community; helping to foster the spread of information and best practices in an industry that too often relies on individuals figuring out techniques and workflows on their own. As part of that ongoing initiative, earlier this year we launched our DT Digitization Certification Training Program to help educate the Cultural Heritage community on the equipmentsoftwareworkflows, and best practices associated with modern digitization.

Click here to learn more

Celebrating 20 Years of Digitization Excellence - 2003-2023

Subscribe to our Cultural Heritage Newsletter

Processing...
Thank you! Your subscription has been confirmed. You'll hear from us soon.
ErrorHere
X
X