LIS
471 Management of
Photographical Archives
Youn
Jung Choi (Yuna)
Preservation of Digital Photography
Introduction
Since the invention of the digital
camera by Steve Sasson, a Kodak engineer, in 1975[1],
there have been huge changes in photography. Nowadays, many more people use
digital cameras than film cameras because of economical reasons and convenience.
As a result, more and more born-digital photography has been created, and
libraries and archives should set up a different archiving plan for this new
field. There are several major characteristics of digital photography that are
differentiated from existing photography.
The
Characteristics of Digital Photography
1) Economical
aspect
Instead of film, memory cards, which can
store thousands of pictures, are used for digital cameras. The number of photos
which the photographer can take depends on the format of the photo and the
capacity of the memory card, but still it can store many more photos than film.
Also, contrary to film cameras, people can take pictures and delete them as
much as they want without spending a penny. Because of this characteristic,
there might be a tendency for photographers to take more photos than when they
used film cameras. Since there is much more capacity of storage of photo
images, people first take a lot more pictures than they actually need and then pick
appropriate images among the photos.
2) Usability
People do not need a dark room to print out
photos as they use digital cameras. People can print the photos using printers,
and digital files become new digital negatives. Also, it becomes much easier to
edit photo images using computer software. People can edit the white balance,
brightness, and color saturation and retouch the image without difficulty.
3) Speed
Since digital photography does not need
a printout process in a dark room as mentioned above, it becomes much faster to
process and send the images. This is a great advantage especially for news
sources, which require a rapid delivery of information. Also, it is possible to
send the files anywhere and anytime through the Internet.
Issues
of Preservation of Digital Photography
Nowadays, digital photography is much
more popular than film photography based on the advantages mentioned above. The
LIS field is also the part of this phenomenon. As this new format of
photography is becoming prominent, related problems have appeared.
1) What
is the original? What should we preserve?
Since there is no negative film for
born-digital photography and it is possible to reproduce the exact same copy of
the digital image as many times as people want, it is hard to say which one is
the original of the born-digital image. The possible ways to postulate are that
the RAW file, the TIFF file or the highest resolution file is the original. Since
the RAW file format does not undergo a loss of image quality and has a good
flexibility, some people call it “the ultimate latent image.”[2] It is
necessary to pass through a process of digital format change to print RAW files
and one of the formats is a TIFF file.
Since it is almost impossible to improve
the quality from a low-definition image to a high-definition image, it is
advisable to set the default format as RAW format and save the images as TIFF format
to get the best quality and flexibility. However, not all photos are saved in
TIFF format and in that case, the highest quality of photo image could be
considered as an original because it has the best quality and possibility to
edit thereafter.
However, JPEG files also should be
preserved. Usually archives and libraries store TIFF file images as originals
and make a JPEG copy for service. A JPEG file is a compressed format and has a
loss of quality but the size of the file is much smaller than a TIFF file. A
JPEG file has a relatively low resolution and low flexibility, so it is
adequate for simple reference or reading which would not infringe the copyright.
In conclusion, the notion of originality
of born-digital photography is hard to define, but RAW files might be a digital
negative or latent image. A TIFF file or the image which has the highest
resolution could be an original of that image which should be preserved, but
also JPEG files should be stored for fulfilling patrons’ needs.
2) Storage
issue
Since the physical media is different
from existing photography, born-digital photography has different storage
issues.
-Capacity and Quality
Negative films and positive photo prints
need adequate space for storage and special facilities which can keep low
temperatures and appropriate relative humidity. For digital photos, however,
large physical space is not necessary. The digital images are stored in hard
drives which take up much less room, and there are no worries about damages from
handling images.
However, instead of physical space,
digital capacity matters when storing digital images. TIFF files have the best
quality but also take up a lot of space. With the advancement of technology,
the hard disk capacity has increased, but the quality of digital photo images
and the size of each photo image also have increased. Libraries and archives
should consider their budget and develop a plan for storing digital images
effectively. According to the policy and users’ needs, libraries and archives
should choose whether they will store more photo images in a worse quality
format or fewer photo images in a better quality format.
-Digital Obsolescence
The economic issue based on the storage
capacity is not the only problem of digital image preservation. Libraries and
archives spend a lot of money to store images in hard drives, but there is
always a risk of digital obsolescence.
* Bit rot: Bit rot means “the gradual
decay of storage media.”[3] The
reasons of bit rot vary depending on media. Usually the environment, humidity
and temperature, affect the media a lot. To prevent this loss, “Refreshing,” which
means transferring the data between two types of the same storage medium[4], can be useful. In
other words, it is effective to copy the images from old CDs or hard drives to
new ones regularly. Also, the “Replication” strategy, which
creates duplicate copies of data on one or more systems, is useful to prevent
possible damages. These strategies are also effective to prevent damage from
physical shock.
* Software Obsolescence: Digital images
always need a software environment to render them.[5] However,
as the technology develops, the software which processes the digital images
also changes rapidly. After the lapse of time, there is a possibility that the
photo image processed by old software cannot be accessed by the new software.
This is the reason why software stays compatible when software companies update
the programs or release a new product. To prevent this, the “Migration”
strategy, which is the transferring of data to newer system environments[6], is an effective method.
This includes a conversion of file formats which can provide options to access.
* Hardware Obsolescence: Hardware also becomes
obsolescent as time passes. For example, nowadays computers do not have drivers
for floppy disks. To prevent this obsolescence, the “Emulation”
strategy (re)creates the environment in which the digital object
was originally created[7].
Suggestion for Preservation of Born-Digital Photography
Besides the prevention of digital obsolescence
mentioned above, returning to an analog way might be effective to preserve
digital photography. In other words, if libraries or archives print out the
digital images and archive them as physical photography, the print-outs can be
another original photography. When the digital image is damaged or cannot be
accessed anymore, the library can scan the print-out and use the digital image
again.
Utilizing the Internet, Webhard or Cloud
storage, is also good way to enhance possible options. If libraries upload the
digital images on web sites, the images are safe even if the images that are
stored in the hard drives are damaged.
Conclusion
Since digital photography has become a
general tendency that is hard to reverse, libraries and archives should prepare
for this general trend. Digital photography has many advantages compared to
existing photography, but also has shortcomings resulting from its
characteristics.
All storage media, hardware, and
software always have the possibility of decay over time, and the technologies change
rapidly. There are various strategies to prevent the obsolescence of digital
images, but depending on the circumstance of each institution, some of the strategies
would be hard to implement. The important point is that librarians should keep
in mind that there is always potential obsolescence and should keep updating
the related materials regularly. After all, the key point is “Do not put all
your eggs in one basket.”
[1] Co.Design, “How Steve Sasson Invented The Digital Camera,” http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663611/how-steve-sasson-invented-the-digital-camera-video
No comments:
Post a Comment