ERIC Number: ED441409
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1999-Aug
Pages: 8
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
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Available Date: N/A
Network Access to Visual Information: A Study of Costs and Uses.
Besser, Howard
This paper summarizes a subset of the findings of a study of digital image distribution that focused on the Museum Educational Site Licensing (MESL) project--the first large-scale multi-institutional project to explore digital delivery of art images and accompanying text/metadata from disparate sources. This Mellon Foundation-sponsored study evaluated the costs, infrastructure, and efforts involved in implementing the MESL project, as well as user reaction to functionality. The study also examined costs of running analog slide libraries and compared these to costs and functionality associated with digital image distribution. The paper briefly discusses the cost-center models used to examine the distribution of digital and analog images, including: creating digital images and metadata, mounting and distributing digital images, maintaining a distribution house, running a slide library, and an analysis of hybrid image libraries. It presents a comparison of user interfaces and search engines from the MESL universities and reports on the results of focus groups discussing faculty adoption of digital images for classroom use. (Author/MES)
Descriptors: Access to Information, Comparative Analysis, Computer Interfaces, Costs, Focus Groups, Higher Education, Information Technology, Metadata, Museums, Slides, Teacher Attitudes, Visual Arts
For full text: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/papers/021-112e.htm.
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York, NY.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A