From New Currents 3.2 March 1996
Art meets technology at the Nickle
John Hails
Nickle Arts Museum
The Nickle Arts Museum boasts an astonishing array of visual art and one
of the finest collections of ancient coins in North America; but, like most
museums, the majority of its collections are not readily accessible to the
casual viewer. Storage access, exhibition schedules, and staff availability
are often the issues that ultimately determine the exposure of our collection.
This past year, the museum's staff began a series of explorations to test,
evaluate, and develop the use of new technologies as a means of enhancing
access to our collection and of raising the public profile of museum as
an important learning resource within the university.
Thanks to the generosity of the Nickle Family Foundation, we were able to
replace our aging computers with new hardware and software. In addition,
the museum was successful in receiving both a University of Calgary Multimedia
Resources Allocation Committee (UCMRAC) project grant; a Special Projects
Award; and additional funding from the department of Greek, Latin and Ancient
History. This funding enabled the museum to hire a Summer Career Placement
grant student last summer to finish photographing and recording the backlog
of recent acquisitions. The student also obtained permission from campus
art professors to use digitized images of their works, which reside in our
collection, for in-house tests. The funds will also allow us to augment
our existing systems with additional hardware and software once we have
ascertained our specialized needs.
Trying out new technology
Late last year, the museum began testing a demonstration version of a collections
management software system called Archemuse IV. This system offers users
support for storage and retrieval of text, images, multimedia documents,
as well as complete control over loan agreements, exhibition labels, conservation
records, and artists' biographies. In addition, the system would eventually
allow public users to browse the museum's extensive collection from a stand-alone
terminal within the building or potentially from a remote location on campus
via a proposed ethernet connection.
With the assistance and support of Janice Bakal and Mike Mattson of the
New Media Centre and Dave Brown of Com/Media, we have begun exploring various
means of capturing the museum's existing 35-mm slide images in a digital
format for storage, publication, and electronic distribution. Dr. David
Duffin, a local art collector and software manufacturer lent us a slide
scanner to help us explore the details of the process. In addition, the
museum has been fortunate to have the assistance of Judith McRae to do the
actual scanning and colour correction of images. Once the images are digitized,
we will be able to archive them onto CD-ROM for storage and distribution.
We are also looking forward to trying Apple's new QuickTime VR software,
which was recently purchased by the New Media Centre. Dr Gerald Newlands
of the archeology department has been busy preparing a special camera mount
for this purpose. QuickTime VR will allow us to "stitch" a series
of 360 degree, 35-mm photos together into a single interactive three-dimensional
image, which can be rotated on screen by a viewer. This will allow individuals
to "virtually" examine a three-dimensional object with far more
control than video and without the inherent limitations of a single static
image. Once these virtual images have been created, they can then be compressed
and stored within the museum's database and viewed along with traditional
documents or photographs.
Print-on-demand
For some time now, the Nickle has produced a number of invitations, annual
reports, brochures, and promotions with our own in-house desktop publishing
system. With improvements in equipment as well as access to digital imaging
and printing, we are poised to begin a broader use of both electronic and
traditional printing. In the near future, we hope to produce our first exhibition
catalogue entirely in house. This project will be our initial foray into
the world of print-on-demand, a concept that will allow us to produce only
as many copies of a catalogue as our patrons desire. In addition to print-on-demand,
we also plan to extend the role of printed media into an electronic form
using CD-ROM technology, multimedia, Internet access, and remote terminals
or freestanding kiosks.
While this technology promises to deliver improved access to works in our
collection, it also brings with it a greater responsibility and concern
for the control and proper use of an artist's image. Kodak Canada Inc.,
one of the sponsors of the university's New Media Centre, has given us the
opportunity to experiment with an image encryption system. Original 35-mm
slides are scanned and written to Kodak's Photo CD format, which stores
the images at a number of different resolutions. The Kodak software then
encrypts the higher-resolution images with a watermark, which discourages
their unauthorized use. Low-resolution images intended for viewing on screen
are not encrypted and appear without any watermarks. This software may address
some of the concerns of artists and cultural institutions regarding the
unauthorized printing and distribution of images. The advent of digital
imaging technology has created uncertainty regarding the meaning and enforcement
of copyright legislation. Museum sites such as the National Gallery of Canada
are currently dealing with this thorny issue by posting only low-resolution
images.
In addition to web access, the Nickle Arts Museum is exploring the idea
of making the entire collection, or selections from it, available on limited
CD-ROM format, which could be purchased through the museum's shop. Given
the current bandwidth limitations of the Internet, this may prove to be
a feasible means of delivering large amounts of collections information
in a fast and economical manner.
Museum technician, Don Sucha, and student volunteer, Dan Swan, have completed
the finishing touches to our World Wide Web home page. On the Web you will
find a brief background of the Nickle, a listing of our coming events and
exhibitions, an alphabetized list of artists who currently have works in
our permanent collection, and a list of Nickle publications. You can send
e-mail to us at nickle@acs.ucalgary.ca or you can reach us at:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~nickle.
Many of our plans are still in the development stages, and it may be some
time before we have our entire collection on line, but the museum is committed
to developing an increasingly client-driven means of delivery using the
tools of high technology.
None of this work would have been possible without the help and involvement
of the many organizations and individuals who have assisted us. We would
like to once again extend our deepest gratitude to all those who are helping
us on this path. If you have any comments, suggestions, or advice, please
feel free to contact us.
For more information, contact John Hails at 220-6181, e-mail:
jhails@acs.ucalgary.ca