Online Behind-the-Scene Tours

A highlight of our in-person meetings, this year we are offering Virtual Behind-the-Scene tours of cultural heritage institutions. Tours will take place 21-23 June as noted below. Only Technical Session Registrants will have access to the tours.

MONDAY 21 JUNE 14:00 - 15:00 NY / 20:00 - 21:00 Paris

The Photography Studio at the George Eastman Museum is a 600-square-foot space dedicated to the digitization of the various collections at the museum. In this tour, we will highlight the copy stand, backdrop, and hanging grid— the three main areas in the studio that are most often utilized. Notable objects in our collection include glass lantern slides, 35mm slides, daguerreotypes, and cameras. We use focus stacking for the majority of our three-dimensional object imaging. We are also delving into RTI and photogrammetry for scientific imaging.

The day-of presentation includes a slideshow in conjunction with a "live" tour that highlights certain areas of the workflows

Length: 60 minutes Software: Zoom Recording: This tour will be recorded for later viewing.

Munsell Color Science Laboratory
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

This tour showcases the research capabilities and activities of the Munsell Color Science Laboratory at Rochester Institute of Technology. It starts with a short introduction of the history of the Lab, and then moves to a series of labs where researchers (faculty and graduate students) describe their research. The tour features the Studio for Scientific Imaging, established by Roy Berns under a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the research of cultural heritage capture processes; the Dynamic Visual Adaptation Lab, where an LED system is used for testing lighting environments and measuring visual adaptation; and the Perception Lab, where recent experiments have addressed display characteristics and corresponding colors..

Length: 60 minutes Software: Zoom Recording: This tour will be recorded for later viewing.

TUESDAY 22 JUNE 10:00 - 11:00 NY / 16:00 - 17:00 Paris

Outsourcing and Partnering: Cultural Heritage Preservation and Digitization Vendor Perspective
Arkhênum with American Battle Monument Commission

Cultural institutions do not always have the time or the necessary equipment to perform some—or even all—of their digitization projects themselves. In such cases, working with a service provider is an option, but knowing what projects are best suited to this type of work and how materials are handled is important. This tour provides a behind-the-scenes look at Arkhênum, a provider of heritage preservation and digitization services worldwide.

Using a real-world example, this tour discuss cases in which an institution should think about externalizing a digitization project, along with the steps and challenges. The tour is introduced by the American Battle Monument Commission, which shares why they choose to externalize the preparation and digitization of their archives for their “Vanishing Treasures” project. In light of this project, Arkhênum will present the entire production workflow—including equipment—and complete production cycle of an externalized project. This tour offers a unique opportunity to explore and better understand the way a service provider works.

Length: 50 minutes Software: GoToWebinar SPECIAL NOTE: This tour will NOT be recorded, therefore you must attend the LIVE presentation to view the tour

TUESDAY 22 JUNE 10:00 - 11:25 NY / 16:00 - 17:25 Paris

Fraunhofer IGD – CultArm3D: Autonomous and color-faithful 3D digitization
Department Digitization of Cultural Heritage, Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD

Throughout various projects in the field of digital preservation of cultural assets and witnessing the increasing demand for 3D mass digitization in this area, our department has focused on developing the first automated approaches for autonomous and color-faithful 3D digitization of cultural heritage objects. Our unique robot-based solutions are characterized by three priorities: safety of objects scanned (this is paramount); systems that are push-button, easy-to-calibrate, and easy-to-use for everyone; and systems that provide repeatable high-quality for scientific purposes, helping to implement standards for 3D digitization and to ensure comparability of results.

This behind the scenes tour shows you how years of research end up in simple-to-use systems capable of autonomously capturing geometrically complex objects and optically challenging surface materials. After an introduction to the lab and the topic of autonomous and color-faithful 3D Digitization systems, the tour offers a live demonstration of the CultArm3D System—including calibration of the CultArm3D (standards implemented for geometry and color), digitization of challenging objects (dynamic view planning algorithms, occlusions, shooting through holes), and results (3D Models, Highres Videos, AR scenes, 3D print models)—and concludes with a Q&A session.

Length: 90 minutes Software: MS Teams  Recording: This tour will be recorded for later viewing.

WEDNESDAY 23 JUNE 14:00 - 15:00 NY / 20:00 - 21:00 Paris

Colourlab: The Norwegian Colour and Visual Computing Laboratory
Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Since its founding, the Colourlab has risen to become an internationally-leading research and educational institution in the area of color imaging science and image- and video-processing. After a brief overview of the Colourlab, its equipment, and relevant research projects (CHANGE, Lying Pen, Texrec), participants will learn about some specific projects related to cultural heritage imaging, including:

• Spectral imaging (Munch paintings, including The Scream; stained glass; quality issues)
• Robotic arm and RTI
• Scanning of old films
• Imaging and analysis of manuscripts

The tour will be a combination of presentations and walks around the lab given by various members of the research staff.

WEDNESDAY 23 JUNE 14:00 - 15:30 NY / 20:00 - 21:30 Paris

LOC's New Digitization Center
Library Digitization Center, Library of Congress (LOC)

Take a virtual tour of the Library’s new Digitization Center with Tom Rieger, manager of Digitization Services at the Library of Congress. Planning for the new Center began before the pandemic, and was modified during the pandemic to conform with best practice for digitization in a pandemic environment. The Center is being constructed in conformance with FADGI and ISO specifications for cultural heritage digitization, including improvements to our capture, post processing, inspection, and ingest processes. The new facility also includes a “gold” level secure storage room for collections storage.

The tour will start with an initial overview of the design process and elements that needed to be addressed before construction, followed by a walking tour of the facility and then Q&A. During the tour, we will also discuss processes we have developed for remote post processing and metadata creation, enabling limited staff presence onsite during the remainder of the pandemic.

Length: 90 minutes Software: Zoom Recording: This tour will be recorded for later viewing.

Signinum Conservation Laboratory
Signinum, Lda and FREND

This tour is a real-world case scenario using Signinum's latest spectral imaging technology performed by a partner team, doing daily basic work. What is shown is the actual work done by the Signinum Conservation Laboratory, showing their work in situ work either in the laboratory's controlled facilities or in a public institution where they are preforming a specific service. The tour highlights real-world challenges using state-of-the-art technology for collection management.

Length: 90 minutes This tour will be recorded for later viewing.