Digital Heritage: Applying Digital Imaging to Cultural Heritage

Citation

Srisa‐ard, S. (2007), "Digital Heritage: Applying Digital Imaging to Cultural Heritage", Online Information Review, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 541-542. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520710780511

Recent advances in the quality of digital photography and digital imaging make it possible to apply digital imaging much more effectively to the field of documentation and cultural heritage conservation and restoration. Through digital media and the internet digital imaging can provide virtual reality, combining imagery with annotations, text and sound via an interactive graphic user interface for historical building tours, conservation and access.

This book addresses digital photography and digital image processing and illustrates how they are being applied to the conservation of and access to cultural heritage. It provides detailed knowledge on concepts and techniques for applying digital image processing to cultural heritage conservation and restoration in a perspective of leading developments and international cooperation. The book covers the imaging of decorated surfaces in historical buildings and the digitisation of documents, paintings and objects in museums and galleries. Numerous case studies illustrate the methods and show how user requirements can be met by the application of powerful digital imaging techniques.

The editor notes that the motivation for this book was Veridical Imaging for Transmissive and Reflective Artefacts (VITRA), a European research project. Indeed, many of the authors have been directly involved in this project.

The collection is organized into three main parts: User Requirements, Technology, Applications. The first part has six chapters focusing on how to identify the users, and to elicit and meet their needs. These chapters overview the evolving nature of user requirements, covering the historical development of digital imaging in research and general libraries, museums, commercial photographic collections, fine art auction houses, and the built heritage. The respective chapters are on digitising documents for public access, digitising rare books and manuscripts, digitisation programmes in the Victoria and Albert Museum, digital access to a photographic collection, digitisation in the commercial art world, and user requirements for metric surveys.

The second part contains seven chapters on the principles and evolution of digital cameras, high resolution imaging, image resizing, image databases and access, colour management in heritage photography, image compression and jpeg2000, and assessing image quality. The applications in Part 3 show how the methods may be applied to various media in practical situations. The last seven chapters are on the following topics: imaging historical architectural sites for conservation, imaging of stained glass windows, making online monuments more accessible through interface design, visualisation of panoramic images over the internet, 3‐D virtual restoration of polychrome sculpture, digital imaging for Easel paintings, and research policy and directions. The work is replete with illustrations, diagrams and other visual aid that greatly enhance the reader's underdstanding.

This book is aimed at anyone seriously interested in digital imaging from a practical perspective, and it may also be useful in university courses.