Digitized Scrapbook Study
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VRA 2021 Session: Best Practices in Digital Collections
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Digitized Scrapbook Study
- 1. The Perils of Complexity: A multi-stage study to determine necessary images for digitized scrapbook representation Visual Resources Association Conference 2021 | March 26, 2021 Shannon Willis, University of North Texas Marcia McIntosh, University of North Texas
- 2. Context 2
- 3. Context 3
- 5. Longer elements that unfold 5
- 8. Booklets 8
- 10. Newspaper clippings that extend beyond the books 10
- 11. Large pieces of paper 11
- 14. Newspaper puzzle pieces Candles Hair Flowers Flags Negatives Sugar cube Things We Have Found in Scrapbooks 14
- 15. The Problem of Beloved Artifacts 15 1 2 3 4 5
- 16. Also, what do users need? 16
- 17. Research Study Phase 1 Review of DPLA Phase 2 User-Survey Phase 3 Digital Survey 17 ● What images are needed to fully represent the object? ● What images are needed, if any, in order to provide context for the users as to the nature of the distinct elements? ● What order should those images appear to make the most sense to online users when they are interacting with the object in a digital library?
- 18. Phase 1 18 Review of DPLA
- 19. Phase 1 19 •DPLA “scrapbook” Survey •29 Partners •55 Contributing Institutions •69 Total Scrapbooks surveyed •8 Scrapbook Aspects
- 20. DPLA Survey Aspects 20 •Targets •Borders •Foldouts and Envelopes •Loose Items •Cropping and Zooming •Blank Pages •Orientation •Structure
- 21. Phase 1 Conclusion There are both trends and a lot of variation among digitization practices in the U.S. 21
- 23. Paper Prototyping Design ▣ Users build own design from paper ▣ “It enables users to be proactive producers and, therefore, key contributors to the design process. Paper prototyping allows users to fully express their conceptualizations and, thus, reveal their mental models of a proposed design.” B. Still and J. Morris, "The Blank-Page Technique: Reinvigorating Paper Prototyping in Usability Testing," in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 144-157, June 2010. doi: 10.1109/TPC.2010.2046100 ▣ Added some modifications 23
- 24. Elements selected for further study in Phase 2 Items in Envelopes Loose Items Foldouts 24
- 25. Sample Scrapbook Items in Envelopes Loose Items Foldouts 25
- 26. Multiple Image Variations 26
- 27. Our Version of Paper Prototyping 27
- 28. 28 Method of a Session ▣ Tour of Portal ▣ Shown Special Collection scrapbooks ▣ Completed 3 tasks ○ Picked images they wanted ○ Placed on white board ▣ Final results photographed ▣ Think-aloud protocols ▣ Audio and video recording
- 29. Phase 2 Results And conclusions 29
- 30. Task 1: Items in Envelopes Context Shots? 30
- 31. Card on the page and card off the page 31 Card on page only 7 participants Card on and off page 4 participants Card off page only 4 participants
- 32. Task 2: Loose Item Do users want or need this image? 67% included image 32
- 33. The Choice 33 0001 0002 loose loose
- 34. Task 3: Foldout To provide a cropped image of the foldout, or not to provide a cropped image of the foldout? 53% included cropped image Only 2 included without other cropped articles 34 No Crop Cropped
- 36. 36 Digital Survey 3 unique elements tested
- 38. Loose Item 38
- 40. 40
- 41. Phase 3 Results And conclusions 41
- 42. Items in envelopes 42 Option A: 46% Option B: 53%
- 43. Loose Items 43 Option A: 40% Option B: 60% Loose
- 44. Loose Items Comments “I think the indication that it is a loose item is clearer.” “A cleaner, more concise, less visually confusing representation to my eye.” “Appears to be easier to understand.” “It seems less confusing than viewing one image on top of another.” “much less confusing than having a loose item superimposed over another image.” 44
- 45. Multi-page Foldouts (Booklets) 45 Option A: 26% Option B: 74%
- 46. Study Summary
- 47. Conclusions 1. Loose objects should not be digitized on top of neighboring pages; instead use descriptive labelling, 2. No extra context images for items in envelopes are necessary. Current lab standards adequate. 3. Single page foldouts do not need to be cropped down to the foldout. 4. Multi-page items attached to scrapbooks are better cropped down to just the item. 47
- 48. 48 Sequence for Item in Envelope Item in envelope Inside of envelope Images of item
- 49. Conclusions 1. Loose objects should not be digitized on top of neighboring pages; instead use descriptive labelling, 2. No extra context images for items in envelopes are necessary. Current lab standards adequate. 3. Single page foldouts do not need to be cropped down to the foldout. 4. Multi-page items attached to scrapbooks are better cropped down to just the item. 49
- 50. Potential for Descriptive Labeling 50 Card from envelope Booklet on page
- 51. Takeaways 51 ● Learned how users think ● Learned what users think ● Learned what’s important to users ● Can repeat study elements to test other objects Shell Oil Workers in Suits, photograph, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth49949/), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Library and Hall of Fame.
- 52. Thank you Shannon Willis Shannon.Willis@unt.edu 52 Marcia McIntosh Marcia.McIntosh@unt.edu
Editor's Notes
- I am Shannon Willis. And I am Marcia McIntosh, And today we are going to talk about a study we did to improve the way we digitize and represent scrapbooks online. Alt Text: Black slide with a thin white frame with the title “The Perils of Complexity: A multi-stage study to determine necessary images for digitized scrapbook representation”. Underneath are the presenters names and the conference name and date, March 26, 2021.
- We are librarians in the Digital Projects Lab at the University of North Texas. We digitize materials from within the library, from other departments at the university, and from external institutions to create The Portal to Texas History, a digital repository of cultural heritage materials related to Texas that is freely available online. Alt Text: A screenshot of The Portal to Texas History Digital Library home page and search bar.
- Over the last few years, our Lab has seen an increase in the number of digitization requests for individual scrapbook objects and collections. These are not modern scrapbooks or simple photo albums. They are incredibly complex beasts with a multitude of added elements of different media types that overlap and move.
- They have elements that unfold. Sometimes they are as simple as a card.
- Sometimes they are a bit more larger than a simple card
- They have elements that overlap and must be moved to reveal all information on the page.
- They have loose items stuck in between the pages.
- Tiny booklets attached to the page that flip open
- Booklets that extend beyond the page edge.
- Newspaper clippings that extend beyond the page
- Small packets of paper that are attached to the page and must be lifted to reveal pages behind it
- Elements that are attached sideways
- Envelopes that flip open with contents inside
- And many, many more oddities. We have found scrapbooks with shreds of newspaper clippings that can be puzzle pieced together if you are so industrious. I have seen scrapbooks with candles, hair, ribbons, flags, negatives, a tie, and something I believe to have been a sugar cube that was rapidly deteriorating (which you can see pictured to the right). And each scrapbook page often has a number of these elements, not just one.
- In short-- scrapbooks can be problematic. Just from an imaging standpoint, they present many challenges for how to safely capture all elements on a page. And it takes many, many images to capture it all. Currently, it takes us on average 7.5 tiffs to capture a single page. Our most challenging scrapbook had a mere 36 pages in it, but it took 483 image files to fully capture. You can see here it took 5 images to capture everything on this 1 page.
- But beyond the imaging challenge these scrapbooks present, what images do users need to make sense of a scrapbook online? Since each page, and sometimes a single element on a page, can take multiple images in order to fully represent it, what shots do our users want and in what order should they appear for it to make the most sense in a digital environment? And since a single scrapbook can take many, many images to fully capture, it is important that we only include what actually helps our users make sense of these scrapbooks when they are looking at them online.
- To answer these questions about what images are needed and in what order they should appear, we conducted a research study in three phases. We started with a review of what other institutions were doing. We then conducted an in-person user study to try to better understand what our users need and how they think. And then we did a final digital survey to narrow down user preferences.
- In Phase one...
- We did a survey of 69 scrapbooks in the Digital Public Library of America to analyze how other institutions were digitizing and representing scrapbooks online.
- We looked at 8 scrapbooks aspects (targets, borders, foldouts and envelopes, loose items, cropping and zooming, blank pages, orientation, and structure)
- While we did find many trends for representing certain elements of a scrapbook (for instance, most institutions surveyed did not rotate scrapbook pages even when elements were affixed to the page sideways, and most institutions do not photograph loose items on top of a neighboring pages), we also saw a lot of variation. Almost any method imaginable, some institution is doing it. This research reinforced the need to do a user specific study.
- In Phase 2, we conducted an in-person user study
- The study’s design was based on the ideas of paper prototyping, a technique that allows participants to build their ideal design for a product using paper. It is commonly used in software development and usability testing. It’s cheap, and it allows participants a great deal of freedom in designing their ideal product. For the purposes of our study, given that it was not meant to test a user interface or a piece of software, we modified the process a bit to better fit our needs.
- First we narrowed down the unique elements of scrapbooks to three features that we wanted to test. Items in envelopes, loose items, and objects that fold out.
- Then, using a blank scrapbook and old clippings, photographs, and other materials we could source, we made a sample scrapbook. Each page had a dynamic feature that we wanted each participant to try to convey digitally.
- We then scanned those pages in all the variations we could think of, and had those images printed off on cardstock. We put alphanumeric codes on the back of each image to better facilitate future data analysis.
- For our paper prototyping inspired study, instead of giving participants plain blank paper to work with, they had sample images for each task from which to choose. We also provided them with blank paper and drawing materials in case an image they wanted was not present in the sample images. We also supplied them with post-it notes, so that if a sample image was close, but they wanted something altered about it, they could draw or write explaining what needed to be changed on the sample image.
- In each study session, we began by showing the participant The Portal to Texas History so they understood the viewer and the repository. They were then shown real scrapbooks from our Special Collections, so they understood the complexity of the objects this study was trying to address. We then had them complete tasks for each of the three unique elements we were testing. They chose the images they wanted (or modified and/or drew their own) and then placed them on a white board. Their final results were photographed. We also had the participants think aloud as they worked and we took both audio and video recordings of each session. We also kept session notes.
- We had 15 self-selected participants for this study, and these are the results and conclusions we drew from the data.
- Task one, items in envelopes The results of task 1 varied wildly. There was far more variation than trends. We had assumed that one or both of these images might be used as context images for the participants, to show where the card in the envelope had come from. And they were sometimes, but not always exclusively.
- Since so many participants included other images of the card on top of the scrapbook page, it was hard to discern if these other images of the card on top of the page were also needed to provide context, and, if so, which image or images of the card on top of the scrapbook page were best (since there was little consistency across participant results). The results left us with lingering questions about which images are needed for context, if any, so people can understand the movement of objects on the page and the relationship of objects to each other.
- Task two, loose objects With task 2, we hoped to learn if users want or need this image when they are trying to make sense of a loose item -- do they need or want to see the loose item on top of the page where it was found before seeing the loose object by itself? The study did show a preference for this image (or some slight variation of it) by the participants, 67%.
- With less variation between participants, the results seemed to indicate that the context image should be included, like in option B. However, several of the participants, regardless of whether they included the above image or not, did say that what they really wanted was something to indicate that the photo was a loose item, an icon or a label or something. So we wondered, if we were able to label the loose object as “loose” in our system, would participants still want or need the context image of the photo on top of the page?
- Task 3, fold-outs Task 3 came down to whether or not to include a cropped image of the foldout or not. There was a slight preference for inclusion, 53%. However, looking more closely at the participants who did include it in their final result, only 2 of those participants included it without also including other images cropped down to the articles on the page. So the foldout image may not be uniquely important to them. So we did not see enough persuasive data to warrant the inclusion of images cropped to the fold-out object. However, we did wonder if we would get different results if the foldout was different, say if it had multiple pages.
- This brings us to Phase 3, the digital survey
- For our digital survey, we narrowed and adjusted our research questions based on the results of the user-study in phase two. We, again, kept it to testing just three unique elements of scrapbooks. For the survey, we wanted to examine 3 specific questions:
- One, do users prefer to have a context image of a card in an envelope where the card is slightly pulled out of the envelope, or do they prefer to have a context image with the card out of the envelope and on top of the scrapbook page?
- Two, do users prefer to have a context image of a loose item on a page of the scrapbook, or do they prefer to have labels to indicate that an object is loose?
- And Three, do users prefer to see the pages of an attached booklet with the whole scrapbook page visible, or do they prefer to see the pages of an attached booklet with the rest of the scrapbook page cropped out?
- Our survey included both audio and video elements to help respondents understand the nature of the questions. At the beginning of the survey, respondents watched a short video giving them introductory information on The Portal to Texas History and the viewer used in the Portal. And before each question, a short video played demonstrating how the physical scrapbook looked and moved and explained the choices for that particular survey question. There were only three questions, and only two choice options for each question, although respondents were given the space to explain their choice.
- Results and conclusions for Phase 3
- Objects in envelopes We wanted to know which of these two images users preferred as context for the origins of the object in the envelope . The results were sneaky close, 46 percent for option A (image of the card slightly pulled out) to 53 percent for option B (image of the card on top of the page). Furthermore, the respondents’ comments seemed to show that there was little or no preference between the two options. Many respondents stated in their comments that they saw little difference between the two images and that they had no strong opinion as to which was better. As a result, we did not find there was not enough compelling evidence to include either context image in our usual standards for representing objects inside envelopes since we always include an image of the card inside the envelope to begin with.
- Loose objects With this question we wanted to know if users preferred a context image for loose objects or if they preferred descriptive labelling. The results for this question were about 40 percent for option A, the object on top of the page, and 60 percent for option B, descriptive labelling of the image as “loose.”
- What was particularly interesting about the results for this question were the comments made. Several of the respondents found the context image of the loose item on top of the scrapbook page from option A, to be confusing, as though they could not quite tell what they were looking at. This confusion does actually harken back to many comments made by participants during Phase Two of the study. While many chose to include an image of the loose object on the scrapbook page in their results, a number did not like how the loose object was placed on the scrapbook page in the image. They wanted to skew or move the loose item so that it was shown on the neighboring page but was more obviously (to them) not attached to the page, making the image less confusing. Perhaps these results show that if one is doing the digitization and handling the physical object, one can more easily make sense of an image of a loose item on top of a scrapbook page, but if you are simply viewing the images digitally and are completely removed from the physical item, such an image makes less sense. Unsurprisingly, we concluded that we should not include images of loose objects on top of pages but instead should attempt to provide descriptive labelling in our repository of those images of loose objects captured off of the scrapbook page.
- Multi-page (fold-out) booklets We wanted to know if when a fold-out had multiple pages, did users prefer to see the object cropped down to just the object or did users prefer to see the whole scrapbook page. Results were about 26 percent for option A, the uncropped version, and 74 percent for B, the cropped option. The results were pretty clear which one was the winner, but a few of the respondents also pointed out, very astutely, that, although our system does allow users to zoom in on individual images, if they were trying to read the booklet, they did not want to have to re-zoom in on every new image of the next page. So cropping makes it easier to read the scrapbook elements in the case of a multi-page attached object.
- Study Summary
- Over the winding road of our three phase study, we came to the following solid conclusions that we can implement: Loose objects should not be digitized on top of neighboring pages; instead use descriptive labelling, No extra context images for items in envelopes are necessary. The way we are already doing them is just fine. Single page fold-outs do not need to be cropped down to the fold-out. Multi-page items attached to scrapbooks are better cropped down to just the item.
- Image of the item inside the envelope. Images of the item captured off the scrapbook. Image of the empty envelope
- Over the winding road of our three phase study, we came to the following solid conclusions that we can implement: Loose objects should not be digitized on top of neighboring pages; instead use descriptive labelling, No extra context images for items in envelopes are necessary. The way we are already doing them is just fine. Single page fold-outs do not need to be cropped down to the fold-out. Multi-page items attached to scrapbooks are better cropped down to just the item.
- We also see potential opportunities for descriptive labelling of images in scrapbooks that we had not considered before. Our system does not naturally allow for such labelling, but there is a way we can do it. And beyond loose objects, labelling objects from envelopes or even cropped multi-page items might provide some benefit.
- This study also allowed us a window into how users think, what they see and don’t see, and what they care about when viewing an item in a repository. We see potential future opportunities in repeating the digital survey method of our study to test the representation of other kinds of objects or elements.
- Thank you