Blog Post 7

 For my group’s project we will be working with the UNH art department to photograph and upload Japanese art prints onto JSTOR for digital archival purposes. We are splitting up the work by dividing the number of prints for each of us by the specific artist, which ends up being about five prints for each of us. The first step was meeting with the project interns from the art department and learning about the project. We then discussed who would do what artist and divided the work between us in a shared Google Doc. From the art department interns’ presentation, we learned we will be working with physical and digital materials. The prints are physical paper and ink products that we will be taking photos of using a specialized camera and tripod set up. This will be uploaded to a computer where we will use digital tools like photoshop, cropping, and color correction to ensure the photograph is accurate to the print. The goal is to provide a complete set of accurately recorded images uploaded to a concrete website (JSTOR) for public use. The publication of the images makes them accessible to UNH students, and everyone around the world. My individual role in the project is to focus on my artist and his five art prints. I will be photographing the print, uploading it to a computer for color correction and cropping, and then transferring the file into JSTOR. Then I can type in the metadata that should be attached to the image and add it to the project’s archive in JSTOR.  

I think this project with the art department pertains to a lot of what we have learned in this class about digital humanities. I specifically did my first analysis project on the William Blake Archive, which entails similar goals to the art department’s archival project. Both aim to preserve artistic images online for academic and public use. In relation to digital humanities as a whole, projects like this involve accuracy, organization, and commitment to scholarly methods. As should be considered in all digital humanities projects, we know that the Japanese print materials are uncopyrighted and therefore available to upload online without any legal issues. But there may be something to consider ethically, as anyone should when working with humanities data. How were these prints brought to UNH? What were their prices and who were they bought from? Were they ethically sourced and is uploading them online an ethical approach? I think we have considered that because they are a piece of distant history that is now owned by UNH, we have permission to digitally catalogue them. Still, their origins should be emphasized in their connected information. Important in the uploading process, as in most digital humanities projects, is the metadata. Carefully writing and formatting the metadata for these images will ensure that the collection is organized, standardized, and scholarly on JSTOR. When working with our client further, we will ensure that the data of the Japanese prints is collected carefully and accurately, and we will make sure to conform to their standards and methods throughout the pro