Kinsey and the Wasps: Mapping a Journey
Part Six: Moving Parts #1, in Which We Start Scanning
Scanning was done with two different machines, both capable of producing the high resolution (600 dpi) ideal for digital-collection images. The first scanner, pictured below, is located in the GIMMS Department and is frequently used for large-format scans. This scanner was also used to capture images of the Russian maps that were digitized and georeferenced as part of a CLIR grant project headed up by Theresa Quill and Michelle Daumau (see a National Geographic write-up of the project here). The presence and proximity of such sophisticated equipment , already configured to send images to the nearby workstation, made for scanning conditions about as ideal as one could hope for. The workstation itself was configured to automatically open the large .tiff files in Photoshop, so that an RGB (red-green-blue) color profile could be created. Digital images for online collections are meant to represent the original as faithfully as possible, so beyond the color profile and any straightening of the image needed, the only other adjustment made is to crop the image such that the entire map is visible, with a narrow border of blank margin (1/4 inch or so) retained around all four sides of the map edge.
The other machine is a tabletop scanner on the 5th Floor of Wells Library, West Tower. I used this one for maps that might not do well between the rollers of the GIMMS scanner. The tabletop model scans the image using the same method, which I believe has to do with lasers but beyond that the rest is magic to me. On tabletop-style machines, the scanning mechanism captures the image from above, so the only part that touches the map is the scanner cradle, made of a soft material that is easy on fragile paper. I was trained on the workflow for that scanner by the capable and wonderful Kara Alexander. Like the GIMMS scanner, the tabletop model is configured to send files directly to a nearby workstation, and though some of the steps differ, the essential steps of modifying and saving the file remain the same.
In the next blog post: Marvelous Metadata. Same Wasp time; same Wasp channel.
Heather Sloan is an ILS Master’s student with a specialization in Digital Humanities. She is a full-time staff member in the Media Services and Government Information, Maps & Microform Services (GIMMS) departments of Herman B Wells Library. She has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance from SUNY Stony Brook, and her interests include Caribbean folkloric music, Latin music, record collecting, and design in popular culture. Her Digital Humanities work focuses on intersections between digital and humanitarian mapping, the environment, and arts advocacy. She is a 2019-2020 HASTAC Scholar.
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