Page 363 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

342 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
erenced against the master contact sheet number. It is worthwhile making a duplicate set of contact sheets; one can remain permanently for reference while the other is used for work purposes.
At the simplest level, a computerized subject catalog is the best way to reference material. This can be of immense help when looking for a par- ticular photograph. Simple headings such as cannon, ceramics, navigation equipment, site under water, etc., can cut down the search time. The listing only needs to refer to the film number, as the time required to visually search a single contact sheet is insignificant.
The optimum management system is, of course, the computer database. Although many people advocate systems that identify each individual pho- tograph, it is questionable if these systems are worthwhile. It can take more time registering photographs than actually taking them, and it is totally impractical to consider such a system when the system is large. In estab- lishing a system one needs to put a great deal of thought into its design. A photographic database can become extremely large and full of information that is irrelevant to the objective of finding a photograph in a collection. If the system is to be used to help to find photographs as quickly as possible, then there are certain headings, such as name of site, date, registration number, and type of object. But be careful that the time taken to enter all these data does not become exorbitant, thus counteracting any time-saving benefits.
C. DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
What was previously stated for conventional photographs is also true for digital photography and digital images in general. To some extent the solu- tions that worked for conventional photographs will provide a “road map” of how to deal with the digital material. However, there are some com- plexities. First, digital images, like conventional photographs, can be divided into four basic categories: underwater general, underwater technical, arti- facts, and general land-based. Within these categories the nature of the tech- niques used to make the digital images will include: conventional scanning, digital camera images, conventional scanned hard copy, and, possibly, vector graphics. How should these be cataloged?
The first issue is to determine what will be the method of storing the data. It is worthwhile making a rough estimate of what the total storage require- ments for a year will be. If it is larger than a gigabyte, then some very careful thought needs to go into a secure image server, because access to the data will be important. It may be that these data merely need to be archived or that they need to be worked on and the files will change from time to time.