I work in the OSU Libraries Digital Imaging Division. As someone who produces digital images, primarily from materials in the Libraries’ collections, I’m interested in knowing what it is that Digital Humanities scholars want/expect/hope for/require from digital surrogates of physical items. I figured I’d just show up at THATCamp and spend the day lurking, as a way of finding out what’s most important to those who study scholarly materials. But, as there are so many questions–and possible answers–involved in even the simplest digitization effort, I decided this issue could generate its own discussion session.
So, when you think about digitization of a book, manuscript, illustration, 3D object, or other item, what is most important to you? Reading text? Studying images? Examining surface detail? Exposing properties that lie under the surface? Reproducing the reading experience online? Leveraging digital capabilities to go beyond traditional reading practices and invent something new?
Whether your ideas are simple or elaborate, highly articulated or barely formed, I look forward to hearing them.
