Exploring Digital Collections

[jawalsh]

In groups of three or four, select a digital collection from the list below, or find another collection on your own. Explore the collection and try to answer the questions below. Include links to examples. The group leader should present the group's findings to the class and submit the written response.

Digital Collections

• Wright American Fiction https://libraries.indiana.edu/resources/americanfiction
• Digital Public Library of American http://dp.la
• Digital Comic Museum http://digitalcomicmuseum.com
• HathiTrust Digital Library https://www.hathitrust.org
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com
• David Rumsey Map Collection https://www.davidrumsey.com
• Blue Mountain Project http://bluemountain.princeton.edu/exist/apps/bluemountain/index.html
• Sheet Music Consortium http://digital.library.ucla.edu/sheetmusic/
• IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/inharmony/
• Algernon Charles Swinburne Project http://swinburneproject.org
• Indiana Magazine of History https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/index
• Legacy Tobacco Documentation http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu
• TCP/EEBO http://textcreationpartnership.org
• Victorian Women Writers Project http://dlib.indiana.edu/collections/vwwp/
• Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/
• Walt Whitman Archive http://whitmanarchive.org
• Project Gutenberg http://gutenberg.org/
• William Blake Archive http://blakearchive.org
• Mark Twain Project https://www.marktwainproject.org/homepage.html

Questions

• What is/are the subject(s) of the collection?
• What is the content (what's in it and how much)?
• What media type(s) is/are represented?
• In what file format(s) is the content delivered?
• Who is the publisher of the collection?
• What metadata are available for items in the collection (e.g., author/creator, title, date, location, ID number, etc.)?
• What types of contextual information are provided (e.g., “about” pages, essays, biographies, etc.)?

[jwparkinson]

What are the subject of the collection?
The subject of the collection is any public domain eBook; Project Gutenberg aims to provide access to as many books as possible.

What is the content (what's in it and how much)?
Project Gutenberg is an online library of public domain eBooks, containing over 60,000 individual books.

What media type(s) is/are represented?
The collection is composed entirely of eBooks.

In what file format(s) is the content delivered?
The content is delivered in a wide variety of formats with HTML, EPub, MOBI, Plain-Text/UTF-8, and PDF as the most common file types.

Who is the publisher of the collection?
Project Gutenberg is the publisher of its own collection.

What metadata are available for items in the collection (e.g., author/creator, title, date, location, ID number, etc.)?
Author, Title, Uniform Title, Original Publication, Credits, Category, Ebook-No, Release date, copyright status, number of downloads, Language, LoC Class, Editor

What types of contextual information are provided (e.g., “about” pages, essays, biographies, etc.)?

• "Readers also downloaded..." link (refers users to similar content)
• Shows book covers with additional information about the text.
• You can click on the author's name & see what other works were published by them.
• The website itself has an about page, collection development info, history and philosophy etc.

[casemach]

Group 6 (Casey, John, MarQuis):

1. The subject of the collection is video game assets. It is user-uploaded artwork that are related to video games. They can be used in individual steam accounts or for personalized projects.
2. 211,981 Grids
   , 51,278 Heroes
   , 53,990 Logos
   and 18,383 Icons. They mainly consist of .png and .webp files.
3. The media type is mostly images, both static and animated.
4. The file formats are .png and .webp.
5. The publishers of the collection are the users. All images provided are from users of the site, but there are moderators who have to approve images and will delete images that do not follow the website uploading guidelines.
6. Much of the metadata follows DublinCore guidelines. Metadata includes title, creator, date of image, date of upload to the site, file size, file format, and the video game collection.
7. The site includes the rules for uploading on the site, FAQs about the site, a blog that includes yearly reviews of additions to the collection, a library of individual collections focusing on different types of games, and a list of supporters who have donated to the site. There is also an application of the site available for download.

[casemach]

This is SteamGridDB by the way

[myren-mitchell]

Our group chose to explore the digital collection YouTube.

The collection consists of a millions of audio and visual materials of a wide range of topic. Content on the platform is restricted to non-explicit materials, and length con vary greatly. Each item also includes some form of description, and occasionally user comments. Most file formats are supported by YouTube, some examples include .MOV, .MP4, .MPG, .AVI, MPEGPS, etc. To download videos, users can select .MP4. Content is hosted by YouTube but can be published by a variety of creators. Metadata includes, creator, date created, video duration, number of comments, description, likes, copyright information, views, etc. As for contextual information, it depends on whether or not the creator has made a description for the video. It is also possible to go to different creator pages go gain additional information about the individual creators.

[peter-jos]

Bluemaxima’s Flashpoint
-Subject of the collection:
-Flash media content from the Internet, largely mid 2000s to mid 2010s

-What is the content?
-Largely shockwave flash files; games, animations, etc; roughly 1.5 terabytes' worth of files have been archived

-What media types?
-Entirely digital Flash media

-File formats
-Largely shockwave flash files(.swf)

-Who is the publisher?
-Ben Latimore, from Australia

-Metadata?
-Developer, Publisher, Platform, Date of release, file ID search system

-What types of contextual information are provided?
-Not a whole lot. Most of the information provided is the metadata.

[thomdaro]

Chosen collection: David Rumsey Map Collection

• What are the subject of the collection?
  Various types of maps: atlases, globes, map-themed paraphenalia (board games, etc.) from many different regions and representing different types of information
• What is the content (what's in it and how much)?
  116,000 maps and map-related items, from the 16th through the 21st century
• What media type(s) is/are represented?
  Largely images and interactive 3D models
• In what file format(s) is the content delivered?
  jp2 (jpeg 2000) for the map images, jpeg for the interactive globes (possibly an image projected onto a 3D model of a sphere)
• Who is the publisher of the collection?
  David Rumsey Map Center, Standford Libraries
• What metadata are available for items in the collection (e.g., author/creator, title, date, location, ID number, etc.)?
  Author, Date, Short Title, Publisher, Publisher Location, Type, Dimensions, Scale, World Area, Full Title, etc.
• What types of contextual information are provided (e.g., “about” pages, essays, biographies, etc.)?
  About pages are included, some information on the history of the collection, pictures of the physical space the collection is displayed in, an accompanying blog and other publications

[absuddar]

Seth Cope, Megan Vladoieo, Abigail Suddarth - Mark Twain Project

What are the subject of the collection?
Mark Twain’s writings

What is the content (what's in it and how much)?
Mark Twain’s stories, letters, photographs, etchings/engravings, and maps

What media type(s) is/are represented?
Text and images

In what file format(s) is the content delivered?
XML, JPEGS

Who is the publisher of the collection?
University of California Library; UC Press; The Regents of the University of California

What metadata are available for items in the collection (e.g., author/creator, title, date, location, ID number, etc.)?
Date, Author, Creator, Descriptions, Subject, Repository, Source Format, Letter Direction (incoming or outcoming), Availability,

What types of contextual information are provided (e.g., “about” pages, essays, biographies, etc.)?
About Page has a user guide and information on how the collection is maintained, updated, history of his project, frequently asked questions, and a privacy policy.

[Jbingham14]

Jerome Bingham, Alan Morris, Heidi Yarger, Caroline Scheving

What are the subject of the collection?
Letters to and from Vincent Van Gogh

What is the content (what's in it and how much)? 

902 letters and 25 related manuscripts (loose sheets and unsent drafts of letters included)

What media type(s) is/are represented? 

Scanned documents

In what file format(s) is the content delivered? 

At least some of the documents are PNG files

Who is the publisher of the collection? 

The Vincent Van Gogh Museum

What metadata are available for items in the collection (e.g., author/creator, title, date, location, ID number, etc.)? 

Source Status, Location, Date, additional information, correspondence (to and from), sketch

What types of contextual information are provided (e.g., “about” pages, essays, biographies, etc.)? 

Original date, line ending, facsimile, translation, notes, artwork