Digitization Training

SECTION GOALS UNDERSTAND WHAT DIGITIZING IS EXPLAIN WHY DIGITIZING IS IMPORTANT GET FAMILIAR WITH THE TOOLS USED TO DIGITIZE DISCUSS MS WORD’S USE IN DIGITIZING EXPLORE VARIOUS FILE TYPES USED WITH DIGITIZED INFO Section One: What is Digitization?

Digitizing Overview While it may seem like a nonsense or buzz-word, digitizing has a specific meaning. Any time you convert a document – which could include papers, images, analogue audio and video, or any other information – from something that you exists in the real world (something you can physically touch) to one that exists only inside a computer (where you cannot physically touch it), then you are digitizing it. This course will focus on digitizing documents and images as well as some best practices when you do this.

… And WHY is This Important? The true value of digitization lies with its ability to be stored and archived for latter use or review – without harming the original. If you have digitized an important Tribal document, you can review it, send it (in an email, for example) to many other people to review, and even duplicate the documents without ever touching the original file (which can be safely put away for protection, if needed). There’s also the redundancy aspect to digitizing. Redundancy is the ability to reproduce needed elements, as a backup, should something happen to the original. Example: When electricity is no longer available, a backup generator can be used for temporary restoration of electrical power. In this case, the generator has allowed for some redundancy of electricity. Digital documents can also be used as backups for the original ones, should something happen to the originals.

Tools of the Trade In order to convert something to digital form, you need tools to do so. Some common tools for digitally converting files include digital cameras and scanners . In addition, you will also need some specific software to not only facilitate this conversion, but to manage or edit the files on the computer, once you digitize them.

Using MS Word to Capture Images Some of you may be aware that MS Word can be used to capture and house digitally scanned images. Using Word for this is certainly an option and is useful if you want to use that image in a Word document only. However, there are some drawbacks to using this process. We will cover best practices in detail later.

Final Product You already use many variations of digitized documents. These file types include: PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, MPEG, MP3, AVI, MOV, WMV, and many others. We will talk about what file types are best to use for your digitization needs, but for now just know that there are several types. PDF DOC DOCX JPEG MPEG MP3 Avi MOV WMV

Section Review What does Digitization mean? What can be Digitized? What makes Digitization important? What are some tools needed to convert files? Can you use MS Word to help convert images? What are some common file types that contain information converted to digital form?

Questions? Any thoughts on Digitizing?

SECTION GOALS UNDERSTAND DIGITAL IMAGES EXPLORE HOW SCANNERS WORK INVESTIGATE SETTINGS FOR A DIGITAL IMAGE LEARN HOW TO SCAN AN IMAGE WITH WINDOWS DISCUSS VARIOUS DIGITAL IMAGING SOFTWARE Section Two: Digital Imaging Basics

Digital Images Whether you Digitize official text-based documents or images, you can use digital images as the converted form.

Scanner Basics A scanner is basically a digital camera with a very specific lens. Most scanners are either flatbed or have a document-feed slot, where you can place several papers at once and have the scanner self-feed the documents into its scanning bed.

How Scanners Work Once activated, the scanner illuminates the side of the document or image being scanned. The white or blank spaces will reflect more light back to the scanner’s sensors than inked and colored areas do. A motor moves the scanning sensor across the document or image. As the scan sensor is moves, it captures light that was reflected from individual areas, which is bounced around through an intricate system of mirrors, focused into the beams of light and transmitted to light-sensitive diodes that convert the measure of reflected light into an electric current. The amount of the current depends on the amount of light reflected. In a color scanner, the scan head makes three passes under the image; the light on each pass is directed through a red, green or blue filter before it strikes the original image. The digital information is sent to the PC where it is translated into a format that a graphics program or software can read.

Image Preferences A digital image – like any other image – is only as useful if it can be clearly seen (at least, as clearly seen as it needs to be for any particular project). Thus, digital images have certain controls, settings, or preferences that must be managed correctly before any Digitizing may occur. How you scan your images is dependent on what sort of project you have in mind. Will this image ONLY be seen on a computer screen? Is it for commercial print? Is a photograph? Is it text-only? Does it have color? In order to correctly choose the settings, let’s take a look at what a digital image really is…

Digital Image A digital image is a computer based image made up of pixels , the smallest units displayed by computer monitors. Each pixel is assigned a tone value (black, white, a shade of gray, or color) and is stored in binary code (zeros and ones).

The Resolution Confusion Digital images also have a specific Resolution …but what IS resolution. Resolution refers to the density of pixels in an image per inch or PPI . But, for most cases, scanning resolution refers to the 'image-sharpness' of a document, usually measured in dots per inch ( DPI ), not PPI. DPI is specific for monitors and printers. For our purposes, while there is a distinct difference in PPI and DPI, we will be using DPI, which is the resolution setting scanners allow you to specify. Here is a table that outlines the DPI requirements for various projects. Final Product DPI needed Graphic for computer monitor ONLY (website, electronic newsletter, email, etc.) 72 dpi Inkjet printer (B&W or Color) 300-600 dpi Laser Printer 600-1800 dpi

Resolution (cont’d) NOTE Documents can be scanned at various resolutions depending on your particular needs. The higher the resolution of a document, the greater the image-sharpness, and the larger the file size will be. So be careful and know what your final project should be. In most cases, unless computer size or actual scanning time is a problem, the larger the scan, the better (as we will see later, image resolution can always be lowered without loss of detail, but not the other way around).

Other Considerations Like real photographs, digital image quality also relies on Brightness and Contrast to properly depict its contents. Generally speaking, Contrast can be defined as the relative difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image. In other words, Contrast measures how MUCH difference there is between an image’s brightest section and its darkest. Brightness simply raises or lowest the image’s ability to appear light or dark (washed out or black are the two extremes).

Practice: Get pictures from a scanner already connected to the PC Note: To obtain pictures or images, the scanner must first be installed, turned on, and connected to your computer. Plug your scanner into your computer, if not already done. Open the My Computer folder by clicking: Start > My Computer Double-click the scanner icon.

Practice (cont’d) From the Pop-Up menu, choose Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard . Click Next at the new Welcome screen. You will then need to choose the correct settings for your project from the “Choose Scanning Preferences” menu.

Choose the Right Settings You can choose from the of the four following Picture Types: Color picture – you can use this setting when you just need to do quick scans for the computer. Scans made with this choice will be acceptable for viewing on the computer screen – and for smaller printed items – but this setting will not give you a rich, high resolution digital image. Grayscale picture – similar to the color picture setting above, this is a great setting for quick black and white photos, images, or flyers, or photocopies. However, this setting will not give you a high resolution digital image and will have some level of distortion in almost all printer types. Black and white picture or text – this is a good setting for a quick scan of text-only documents, with no images. The difference between this one and the Grayscale setting is that this only scans in B&W, not various shades of gray; text-only would not need this gradient, but a document with images would need this ability to recreate its gradients. Custom – choosing this setting tells the scanner to use the specific settings you have made in the Custom settings menu.

Applying Custom Settings When your project require specific settings – meaning anything OTHER than viewing on a computer monitor, which is MOST cases – you will need to manually enter your own custom settings. Click on the Custom settings button . Inside the Properties menu window that appears, enter a custom DPI in the “Resolution (DPI)” text box. For most images, including text-documents, a range of 300-600 is acceptable, with 600 DPI as the suggested resolution. While you can leave the Brightness and Contrast at the default settings, know that if your scanned images look too dark or ‘washed out’ you need to adjust these settings here. For now, leave them at the default settings. What if you play with these settings and forget what you’ve done? Click the RESET button to go back to the default property settings. When you’re done, click the OK button.

Using the PREVIEW button In many cases, you will not need to use the Preview button. Specifically, if you are scanning full-page documents, you do not need to preview your scan. However, if you are only scanning a portion of an image or document, previewing will allow you to chose the area you want to scan, rather than the entire document or image, which can save you time and file size. Click on the Preview button. The scanner will conduct a very short scan of the entire document.

Preview Button (cont’d) Corner-handles In most cases, if there is nothing else surrounding the image you wish to scan, Windows will make a guess about the area you would like scanned and crop the image, based on surrounding white-space. In some cases, you may need to grab the corner-handles of the cropping window and manually specify the area you wish to scan. Microsoft scans the entire area of the scanner’s bed, by default, unless otherwise specified or detected.

The Actual Scanning Once you have chosen the appropriate settings and have specified the specific area (or non-specific area) you wish scanned, it is time to start the scanning process. Click on the NEXT button On the “Picture Name and Destination” menu, enter information at the following areas: In the Name field, enter a file name for this digital image. NOTE: If you are scanning multiple pages of a single document, you will need to entire a project name, such as “InfoDoc_p”. This will allow Windows to add a _001, _002, _003, etc. to the end of your file name, and number the images in the order in which they are scanned. Choose a file format. In most cases, a JPEG image will work for your projects. However, for richer, more detailed images, consider TIF or PNG…especially if your project will be going to a professional print shop. Specify the file folder you wish to place these images. NOTE: Again, if you have multiple scans, create a specific folder BEFORE starting the scanning process (creating a new folder within the scanner wizard is a little tricky).

Scanning (cont’d) Click NEXT when you are ready to scan. The scanner will begin. When the scanner is finished, you will be asked if you want to publish your images online, order prints, or do nothing. While you can explore these options for yourself, choose “Nothing, I’m finished with these pictures” and click NEXT The Wizard will open the file folder you chose so that you can review the images.

MS Word Considerations As mentioned before, you can also use Word to capture images from a scanner. This can be especially useful if you have a familiarization with MS Word and feel confident that you can use the image in a powerful Word document somehow. Such examples might include a scanned table or chart, a newspaper clipping, or other Digitized image.

MS Word However, what if you do not want to save the image as a word document; what if your scanned image was indeed a photograph or other visual image? What if your audience did not have MS Word to view the digital file? How would your audience view your image? What if you later decided you needed to edit the image somewhat from its original form? Word is a great and powerful tool and can indeed be used to capture digitally scanned images, especially for use in a Word document. Outside of this use, it is recommended to scan and save Digital images in a more universal format, such as JPEG or PNG. Word cannot do this, so stick with the scanner for now.

Capturing Images from a Digital Camera While different camera models may have different instructions on how to download images to your PC, you can also use the Camera and Scanner Wizard, as we did for scanning images. Alternatively, you can also use a USB cable connection (if applicable) or a memory stick, if both your camera and your PC have available compatibility. Whatever method you use, keep the settings above (resolution, brightness, contrast, and file type) in mind when you download these images.

Specialized Imaging Software While you have now successfully made the conversion from a physical document to a digital image, this process can be taken further. Your computer has much of the necessary software already installed that allows you to view your digital images. If you chose the JPEG filetype, you can view the image with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer or use the Microsoft Paint program to make minor changes and edits (more on this in a moment).

Viewing Digitized Images To view the image with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, locate the file in the folder you created and double-click it. The image should use this software to open, by default. If another program opens it, you can always right-click the JPEG file and choose Open With > Windows Picture and Fax Viewer .

Changing or Editing Digital Images Making changes or edits to your digital images is quite a different creature from simply converting the documents to a digital form…at least from a software perspective. While your images may never need editing in any way, it’s best to know what software will serve you best, should you need to make changes.

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is vastly a popular software program for creating and modifying digital images. Photoshop also allows you to view TIF files, if you used that format when scanning images. With Photoshop, you can change the resolution, color, size, and scale of graphics among many other settings. In most cases, Photoshop does not come pre-installed with your PC; Photoshop must be purchased and installed separately. Given its reputation as a professional software tool, it can be quite pricey. However, few software packages can compete.

Photoshop Alternatives While Photoshop is the ultimate authority, there are other, more affordable solutions available, should you need to exercise them. GIMP: The GNU Image Manipulation Program, loving referred to as “GIMP” by its users is an image manipulation software available to download, install, and use for free. It aims to be a free version of Photoshop and very nearly succeeds, as it offers many of the same editing functions.

Picasa Google offers a way to catalog all of the images on your computer for free. Picasa also comes with a useful image editor that can do many of the basic functions that Photoshop can.

Paint (formerly Paintbrush for Windows) is a simple graphics painting program that has been included with almost all versions of Microsoft Windows since its first release. It is often referred to as MS Paint or Microsoft Paint. The program opens and saves files as Windows bitmap (.bmp), JPEG, GIF (without animation or transparency, although the Windows 98 version and a Windows 95 upgrade did support the latter), PNG (without alpha channel), and TIFF (without the multiple pages). The program can be in color mode or two-color black-and-white, but there is no grayscale mode. It is simple to use and can work to resize and reformat (save to another file type) in a pinch. Access MS Paint by clicking START > All Programs > Accessories > Paint.

Acrobat READER Acrobat Reader is needed to view PDF files on your PC. You can download and install Reader for free. However, you cannot create PDF files with this software. It is essential for others to have this software installed to view any PDF files you create.

Alternatives to Acrobat Professional Not to be confused with Adobe Acrobat READER, which only allows you to view PDF files, Acrobat Professional allows you to create PDF documents either from other digital document (MS Office Suite included) or from scratch. This software is also considered a premier package and can be quite costly. However, there are few other software tools that allow you create PDF files (more information on free alternatives to this in a moment).

Alternatives to Acrobat Professional While Acrobat Professional offers the most robust creation and editing tools for authoring PDF files, there is also a free solution to consider. CutePDF Writer is a freeware program that converts printable documents into the PDF format.[1]It installs itself as a printer, and can be used from any Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista program with printing capabilities. Also, it requires another installation, Ghostscript (also free) to operate fully. The PDF quality CutePDF produces is similar to Acrobat Professional. However, as mentioned, it is not as robust as Professional and does not allow editing, commenting, and changing of documents; yet, it can be a very useful and affordable alternative.

Section Review What are some examples of Digital Images? In general, how do scanners work? What are some Settings for a Digital Image? Explain how to Scan an Image with Windows. What are some various Digital imaging software to EDIT digital images? What is one freeware version of Digital imaging software?

Questions? About scanners or digital images?

SECTION GOALS UNDERSTAND THE VARIOUS FILE FORMATS FOR DIGITIZED IMAGES LEARN ABOUT THE DIFFERENT STORAGE MEDIA AVAILABLE Section Three: File Formats & Storage Media

File Formats Ok, now that you understand digital images, how to use a scanner, and what software you need to view or edit the images, let’s talk about the various formats you can use to save your Digitized documents and their uses. As before, keep in mind your specific Digitization project, as it will help determine the proper format.

MS Word (or other Office Document) - .DOC Believe it or not, you probably have done quite a bit of Digitization already without noticing it. When you create a Word document, many times you are pulling text from somewhere else…whether it’s from inside your mind or another paper-based document in front of you. Regardless, the Word document you create is also a digital file format. As mentioned before, you can also use Word to Digitally convert images from their analog form. However, it is recommended that you use the default Scanner and Camera Wizard instead. Those of you with Acrobat Professional installed know that you are able to publish a Word file directly to a PDF by clicking one button. This is another file format that you are converting to and we will talk about this format in a moment. Remember that you can also create PDFs from inside MS Word by using the CutePDF freeware as well.

Adobe Acrobat - .PDF No doubt that many of you have had at least some experience with PDFs, even it has only been opening and reading these file types. The file type is easy to create, by using Acrobat Professional, using the Professional “plug-in” for MS Word’s one-click function, or creating them with CutePDF. PDF files are pretty powerful creatures: they are sometimes an accepted file format by professional printers, who need high resolution graphics to make things look good. That being said, be careful with PDF files, as they can go either way: hi res or low res…high resolution for quality paper-based printers and lower resolution for PC monitor-only viewing. Tt all depends on the settings specified when you create the PDF. Whether you create the PDFs or have someone do it for you, be sure to check the image settings and follow the guidelines in this course for best practice.

Joint Photographic Experts Group file- .JPEG or .JPGs JPEGs are probably the most common file type used of any of the formats. This file type is very utilitarian and almost recognized by almost all software packages (that deal with images). JPEG is a perfectly acceptable file for almost any project (professional printers prefer other file types over this one…however, JPEGs can be used for print shops, if the settings are properly managed). That being said, JPEGs are not perfect for every project. If you need high resolution images with high fidelity, you will most likely want to look elsewhere. Yet, JPEG is the ‘work-horse’ of digital images and will most likely work for many of your needs.

Portable Network Graphics file - .PNG PNGs are becoming more popular and more readily used with various projects. PNGs compress digital images with little loss of information and few degradations (pending original scanning settings). Originally created for use on the Internet, PNGs can allow transparencies without jagged edges (an improvement over GIFs, an older file format that is not used as much as it formerly was). Because of their image quality and effective extras, like transparencies, PNGs would be a good choice when improvement from JPEG files is needed, but maintaining a small file size is still important.

Tagged Image File Format - .TIF or .TIFF TIFs have long been the premier file format when quality is a necessity. TIF files are uncompressed (usually) and can have transparency information – for these reasons, TIF has long been a favorite with desktop publishers and those individuals needing a rich file format. TIFs are usually larger file sizes and should not be used for PC monitor-only viewing and especially not for viewing via the Web.

Storage Media While this course is not specifically about how to store and archive your Digitized information, it is important to understand how to maintain, archive, and preserve your digital images – specifically, if your project focuses on digitizing Tribal documents for posterity. Below is a table that outlines the storage media, information about its potential use, and any limitations the media possesses.

Media Table Storage Media Type Information Limitations / Considerations PC Hard drive This is the hard drive “space” your machine; usually the C drive or other. While this is a good place to begin capturing and using digital images, computers are subject to user error (accidental deletion or change) and outside hazards (virus attack or malicious code). Unless Digitized images are also backed up on another storage media, there is no redundancy and files could potentially be lost or damaged. Floppy Disc (3.5 inch or other) Usually small and square-looking; maximum capacity: 1.44 MB. Unless your Digitized images are extremely small and/or for PC monitor-only viewing, ‘floppies’ will mostly likely not offer enough storage space. Mechanical moving parts are easily damaged, making data easily lost. Susceptible to heat and other environmental factors. However, they are very portable.

Media Table (cont’d) Storage Media Type Information Limitations / Considerations CD or CD-ROM High density storage media based on a 4.75" reflective optical disc. Can hold up to 650 to 700 MB of data, that is equivalent to 12,000 images or 200,000 pages of text. No moving parts. Some susceptibility to heat and environmental factors, but not as bad as floppies. DVD-ROM Physically the same size as a CD-ROM, a DVD has much more capacity for information. A standard DVD-ROM can carry 4.7GB of data which is over 6 times as much as a CD-ROM. DVDs can be authored so that they are compatible with home DVD players, as well as for PCs, Macs and laptops etc. No moving parts. Some susceptibility to heat and environmental factors, but not as bad as floppies.

Media Table (cont’d) Storage Media Type Information Limitations / Considerations ZIP Drive Similar to Floppy, but holds much more. A high-density removable-media drive. Each diskette holds either 100 or 250 megabytes. Mechanical moving parts are easily damaged, making data easily lost. Susceptible to heat and other environmental factors. However, they are very portable. USB or “flash” or “jump” drives Portable storage device with a USB interface to connect with PC. Flash drives storage capacity is ever-increasing. Currently up to 5+ GB storage. Portable. No moving parts. Some susceptibility to heat and environmental factors, but not as bad as floppies. External USB Storage USB connection; external hard drive; usually externally powered. Unlimited storage (currently up to 800+ GB). Usually very sturdy.

Section Review Name two specific file formats for Digitized images. What can a JPEG be used for? Who might request a TIF file from you? What is one specific storage media available?

Questions? Additions about file types?

SECTION GOALS UNDERSTAND BEST PRACTICES FOR DIGITIZATION, BASED ON PROJECT. Section Four: “Hot Sheets” for Best Practices

Hot Sheet: Digitizing Images Viewed on a Computer Monitor Only (Web or computer-only documents) Scan your image using the Scanner and Camera Wizard If it is a photo or color image, choose “Color picture” If it is a B&W photo or image, choose “Grayscale picture” If it is a text-only document, or one with no grayscale gradients, use “Black and white picture or text” Use the default image settings on the scanner (150 dpi) Chose JPEG as file type Save file Additional considerations: In addition to the above steps, you can use Adobe Photoshop, if you have it installed, to further optimize your Digital image for monitor-only viewing. Open the file in Photoshop Choose File > Save for Web A new window will appear Choose a specific image size (if applicable) Choose on JPEG as file type Save The new image will be stripped of all the extraneous information that a computer monitor would not be able to see anyways. The file will be smaller and load faster.

Hot Sheet: Digitizing an Image for an In-House Printer Scan your image using the Scanner and Camera Wizard Select the “Custom” Click the “Custom settings” button Change the image settings to either 300-600 dpi (pending file size availability; 600 is recommended) Chose JPEG as file type Save file

Hot Sheet: Digitizing For Professional Print Shop Scan your image using the Scanner and Camera Wizard Select the “Custom” Click the “Custom settings” button Change the image settings to either 600 - 1800 dpi (pending file size availability; 1800 is recommended) Chose TIF as file type Save file Additional considerations : Check with your printers, as a high quality PDF may be acceptable as well. Unlike an uncompressed TIF file, PDFs can be compressed and maintain much of their quality. Depending on file size, PDFs could be more easily transported than TIFs (using email, CDs, or Flash dives) to the print shop.

Hot Sheet: Using the Right Storage Media Digitization Project Suggested Storage Types Web-based images; email newsletter; PC monitor-only view. Floppy USB Flash Drive (recommended) PC Hard Drive Digital Image for In-House Printer USB Flash Drive PC Hard Drive (recommended) Digital Image for Print Shop USB Flash Drive PC Hard Drive CD/DVD (recommended) Archiving Digitized Images PC Hard Drive CD/DVD External USB hard drive (recommended)

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