Course Catalogue

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This course will develop your practical and theoretical competencies in a range of digital imaging techniques and in the technical principles underlying digital imaging technologies, including resolution, colour management, file formats, compression, lighting conditions, and computational processing workflows. You will gain experience in designing and planning digitisation projects and develop critical analytical frameworks for evaluating digitisation projects. You will analyse the social, political, and ethical factors of digitalisation, such as access inequality, structural discrimination, and environmental sustainability

1 x 2hr Lecture and 1 x 1hr Seminar/Lab each week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus

Standard entry to College at Masters level

INFOST4021 Digital Imaging

None

Portfolio 100% 4000 words 

Project outputs including Digitisation Project Plan and Critical Review of Published Project

This course aims to:

■ Develop practical competencies in a range of digital imaging techniques such as 2D digitisation, photogrammetry, structure-from-motion imaging, reflectance transformation imaging, and manipulation of 3D model data from various sources (e.g. laser scanning, microCT, photogrammetry).

■ Gain a comprehensive understanding of the technical principles underlying digital imaging technologies, including resolution, colour management, file formats, compression, lighting conditions, and computational processing workflows.

■ Evidence the technical principles of digital imaging as they would be applied in real-world settings.

■ Enable students to design and plan digitisation projects appropriate to different material types, institutional contexts, and project objectives, from initial scoping through quality control to delivery, preservation and maintenance. 

■ Develop critical analytical frameworks for evaluating digitisation projects, assessing their methodological choices, quality standards, accessibility provisions, sustainability, and their success in meeting stated objectives. Also provide students with an understanding of how digitised collections are used by a variety of stakeholders, including cultural heritage practitioners, researchers, students, and the wider public.

■ Communicate technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences (technical specialists, cultural heritage professionals, public users) through written reports, visual documentation, and oral presentations. 

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the technical principles, capabilities, and limitations of multiple digital imaging technologies (2D scanning, photogrammetry, RTI, SfM, laser scanning data manipulation, microCT data processing). 

2. Articulate critical perspectives on the relationship between physical objects & places and their digital surrogates, including debates about affective emotion, authenticity, aura, materiality, and representation.

3. Explain and apply professional standards and best practices for metadata creation, quality control, file management, and long-term digital preservation. 

4. Analyse the social, political, and ethical dimensions of digitisation, including access politics, representation of marginalised communities, colonial legacies, digital repatriation, licencing and copyright, and environmental sustainability and be able to articulate good practices that account for these dimensions. 

5. Engage in reflective practice, documenting processes, troubleshooting problems, and learning iteratively through hands-on experimentation.