The latest version of the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources Quality Assurance Image Defects page is now “live” and made freely available to the cultural heritage and library communities.
This is a long-awaited tool that serves a range of production, development, and training needs. It includes sample images of common (and uncommon) defects, causes/sources, and potential remedies.
The Web Redesign Team is working hard on the new website, especially the content creation environment and tools. We hope you are working on your web content, too--developing, editing, and refining the content you plan to publish on the new website’s subject guides, branch pages, and project pages.
We recommended some guidelines for Writing for the Web earlier to help you evaluate the clarity of your content’s message. But what about images, videos, or attached documents on your pages? Here are some guidelines to consider as you look at your content.
Guidelines for uploading documents to the library web environment
When moving content to the new website, you will need to follow the same guidelines established for capturing and sharing Everyday Electronic Materials (EEMs):
“In general, capturing and redistributing digital material is understood to be an act of distribution, which is an exclusive right of the copyright owner. Therefore, SULAIR must seek permission from the rights holder, unless the work is in the public domain or explicitly licensed for redistribution."
When in doubt, link to documents instead of uploading them.
The Archive of Recorded Sound has completed the processing of four significant collections under the sponsorship of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation which are now ready for use by researchers, students, musicians, and the public. The creators of all four collections have California connections, but their work and influence extended far beyond state borders to distant regions of the world.
In April, approximately 41,000 images representing just over 1,300 items across several collections were accessioned to the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR).
While many of these objects are already discoverable via SearchWorks others will get SearchWorks records in the coming months. However, all materials are currently available via the item’s PURL (a persistent URL which ensure that these materials are available from a single URL over the long-term, regardless of changes in file location or application technology).
The International Image Interoperability Framework (http://lib.stanford.edu/iiif) is an initiative driven by several major research and national libraries to enable the rich and robust delivery of digital images through common interfaces, and to spur the development of open source and commercial software solutions in this space.
The IIIF Working Group invites comment and feedback on a proposed API for the the delivery of images via a standard http request. The full specification can be found at:
http://library.stanford.edu/iiif/image-api
The IIIF Image API specifies a web service that returns an image in response to a standard http or https request. The URL can specify the region, size, rotation, quality characteristics and format of the requested image. A URL can also be constructed to request basic technical information about the image to support client applications.
Between January and March of this year the web redesign project took a small break in full-time engineering to focus attention on design work, bug fixing, user testing, and analyzing user feedback. The outcomes of this work have been positive, as we've learned a great deal from students, faculty and staff about how they would use the new site and whether or not it will help them successfully complete their most important tasks. Many small and large improvements to librarypreview.stanford.edu have already been made, and continue to be added.
In March, approximately 2,100 objects representing three collections were accessioned to the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR).
More details, including links to sample images are listed below.
While many of these objects are already discoverable via SearchWorks others will get SearchWorks records in the coming months. However, all materials are currently available via the item’s PURL (a persistent URL which ensure that these materials are available from a single URL over the long-term, regardless of changes in file location or application technology).
The Online Experience Group is increasing its focus on enabling content creators to author clear, concise content for the new website. While an exact date is not yet set, technical developments are progressing at a pace that will soon allow content creators to access the site, update existing content and build new pages. In the spirit of laying “fresh eyes” on current content and developing good habits for continual content review and updating, we recommend the following e-resources on writing effective web content.