Debbie Kent
The Visual Arts Data Service, UK

Transforming Visual Art Image Archives for Learning and Teaching

Keywords: VADS, PICTIVA Project, visual arts digital archives, learning and teaching

The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) is currently in the process of running PICTIVA, a project which aims to transform visual arts digital archives for learning and teaching. In this paper I hope to both highlight the groundbreaking work VADS have undertaken regarding digital image delivery and archiving, and to bring the PICTIVA project to the attention of the CHArt community. I hope to encourage your active participation and feedback as VADS looks to transform its image collections for learning and teaching.

Introducing the Visual Arts Data Service

The Visual Arts Data Service is part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS), a distributed service funded by the Joint Information System Committee (JISC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) alongside four other subject specific service providers; the Archaeology Data Service; the History Data Service; the Oxford Text Archive and the Performing Arts Data Service. VADS aims to provide access to a searchable on-line archive of digital resources for use by the visual arts community and also to promote good practice in the creation, management and preservation of digital resources in the visual arts.

VADS has existed since 1977 and for much of that time the emphasis has been on developing our collection. The types of collection that we will deliver is very much dictated by our depositors and our users' needs, with collections from a variety of sources, such as libraries, college and university collections, art galleries and museums. The collections we are currently involved with, either at accession or discussion phase include searchable image databases, HTML collections, computer aided learning and teaching packages and multimedia collections. In the future text based resources and virtual reality could also be included in the collections held by VADS and there is always scope for further developments depending on the available technology.

There are currently four collections online, two image collections, The Imperial War Museum and the London College of Fashion, a computer aided learning program, Documentary Photography: Jacob Riis and finally a multimedia resource, Other Educated Persons: Art and Art Organisations in the East End of London 1972 - 1999. A further six collections are expected to be online by the end of September 2000 and at least seven more collections should be online by May 2001. From late September there will be approximately 3600 records in the image database and by May 2001 that figure will be nearer 20,000. Also from September the search features will be enhanced with a new search page and results page, which will include thumbnail images to allow the returned images to be quickly browsed. The collections will also be cross searchable. This will have a dramatic effect on the users experience of the VADS image databases.

With this substantial body of images we are now able to also address our users' needs with regard to information and training. Our target users are higher and further education and their needs range from learning and teaching to research. We recognise that there are still barriers that affect the uptake of digital resources in the visual arts. The VADS user survey of 1998 highlighted some of those problems. They included a lack of awareness of either the existence of the collections or their relevance to the visual arts community. Also a lack of experience in using digital resources was highlighted with users not having the necessary skills to actually use the service. It is these problems that VADS is attempting to address with the PICTIVA project.

The PICTIVA Project

PICTIVA is a two-year project, funded by JISC as part of their programme to enhance JISC activities for learning and teaching, which started in February 2000. The aim of this project is to promote the use of on-line image collections in learning and teaching in the visual arts by developing a range of generic tools to support access to the image collections offered by VADS. The project will be co-ordinated, delivered and promoted by VADS in partnership with the Institute for Image Data Research (IIDR) at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

The project consists of three core activities: the development of generic tools to support interaction with VADS on-line image collections; the development of materials to integrate the use of specific collections within learning and teaching; and the evaluation of the use of the materials within real learning and teaching situations and the monitoring of interaction of users with the image collections on offer. The project will, therefore, look at an environment for image delivery that is easy to use by the learning and teaching community and models for image use based on the example of specific collections.

The development of tools will concentrate on encouraging the use of image collections as a whole for teaching and learning needs. It will focus on usability, emphasising ease of access and retrieval, and use of the image collections. It is anticipated that the tools created within PICTIVA will include tutorials on how to search and retrieve the image collections and integrate digital images into learning/teaching materials. These tutorials will be aimed at a relatively novice user, in particular a lecturer or student who does not currently actively use image based resources on the Internet.

A tool will be developed to enable users to establish a selection of images that can be displayed in a gallery format (also known as a lightbox) before being downloaded for private research and study purposes at the end of a session. The functionality will be similar to the shopping baskets which are used on many e-commerce sites. A good example of this can be found on the ImageBank website which can be found at http://www.theimagebank.com/. While VADS will not have a commercial function this tool will allow easy comparison between two or more images as well as giving the user the chance to choose which images are most suitable to his or her needs before downloading, a useful facility for any student who does not have access to network space and has to rely on floppy disks for any downloads.

Finally, a trial of content-based image retrieval (CBIR), which allows the retrieval of images through automatically derived features rather than through a text based search, will provide new ways for the user to interact with the collection. A number of commercial CBIR systems are available but we are particularly interested in using Morelli, a system created by Will Vaughan of Birkbeck College which was designed specifically for use in the visual arts context. So far it has only been used as a stand-alone system so we will have to work with our system developers to see if it is transferable to an Internet based collection.

For the development of learning and teaching materials we will enlist the help of academics to provide content for materials which will be based on the collections held by VADS. In commissioning these materials we will try to recognise and provide for the different requirements in the visual arts community. For instance the distinction between learning and teaching as well as the requirements for art historians which are distinct from the art practitioner. Within our restrictions, temporal and financial, we will provide at least two of the following materials: an on-line tutorial, a series of assignments for an art and design practitioner based upon images from a collection or a lecture series with appropriate lecture script and essay questions.

We also plan to provide an exemplary teaching "shell" based around a specific collection that can then be customised to allow images to be used by lecturers in real situations. The project will commence with a period of consultation where opinions of students and lecturers will be canvassed and advice will be sought to ensure that the materials commissioned are appropriate and that the models suggested above are viable. Rights issues concerning the use of collections within teaching contexts, rather than for personal use will also need to be addressed and resolved before the actual commission is agreed.

User evaluation studies will be undertaken and a series of case studies prepared describing use, user experiences and feedback. In these case studies it is proposed that a number of issues will be addressed, including any barriers to take up on at an institutional level and the practicality of integration and use of such materials within core learning and teaching situations. The case studies will set the example of how digital resources can be used and will also highlight any potential problems where amendment by VADS may be necessary.

The effects of the PICTIVA project will enhance both the VADS service and the provision of images to higher education. Enhancements specific to VADS are firstly the development of tools and materials that actively promote the use of delivered collections, the majority of which were created as a result of higher education funding, which will help to justify the investment made in on-line delivery and archiving as well as the original costs of creation. Secondly, it offers VADS the opportunity to consolidate and develop the usability of its catalogue interface to the learning and teaching community and offer resources of significance to that community. Thirdly, such materials would help to develop the relationship of VADS with its depositor community where such materials add value to a given collection and hence to the benefits of the deposit process.

The enhancements which effect the broader higher education context include the opportunity to improve the quality of the service offered by VADS as a component of the JISC Virtual Image Service and the opportunity to develop tools and approaches which are directly applicable to other services offering image rich collections within higher education. The use of digital images as a resource for life long learning will clearly arise as an issue within digital resource and information provision on a national scale. In several respects the lessons learned from this project, which looks specifically at the use of digital images on the Internet in a focused manner, may provide useful insights into methods of introducing image collections to new audiences for the digital resource and how best to promote their use. Therefore the results of this project could also offer additional benefits for a broader audience beyond higher education. A model for image seeking behaviour will be co-ordinated with work being undertaken as part of the VISOR project by the Institute for Image Data Research.

The PICTIVA project has four major stages: consultation, development, implementation and evaluation. The consultation phase will be completed by early autumn 2000 and the results of the user surveys will inform the specifications for the development of the generic tools and the learning and teaching materials. We will then identify authors and titles for learning/teaching materials, as well as the major needs for the tools including CBIR. The tools, materials and case studies developed within the PICTIVA project will be online and available to all UK further and higher education users by February 2002.

September 2000