Academic Image Cooperative. Description
In January, DLF convened a meeting to explore ways of using
digital libraries to enhance the quality of art history teaching
and research in the nation's colleges and universities. (For the
minutes of this meeting see results.) Art history faculty, visual
resources librarians, and representatives of the College Art
Association participated in the meeting.
As a result of the meeting, participants are now proceeding
with the development of prototype mechanism, called an image
exchange. The facility would enable scholars in the field to
share with others images, to which they own the rights, of works
referenced in the major art history textbooks. Since March,
participants in the projects have opened discussions of the
development of the image exchange through formal presentations at
the CNI spring meeting and a Visual Resources Association
regional meeting, and through a variety of informal presentations
with interested organizations such as AMICO and art history
publishers. In addition, DLF contracted with Robert Baron, an
independent art historian and consultant with expertise in
information technology and intellectual property matters, to
serve as project manager.
The Image Exchange organizing group met at Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh on May 22-23 to design and to begin
constructing the prototype system. (For the report of this
meeting see results.) With the help
of CMU computer scientists, the group settled on a comprehensive
set of features for the Exchange. It is now at work developing a
set of these features, including a concordance of images in key
art and architectural history textbooks, to comprise the
prototype Image Exchange.
Details of funding models for the Exchange are being fleshed
out, a planning grant proposal for approximately $100,000 is
being prepared to cover costs of the prototype development, and a
generic grant proposal is being outlined to support the full
development of the Exchange.
For further information please consult the following
pages:
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