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2013

Culture and Heritage Informatics CI3130 Report Student name: Zain Baig Student No. K1022503

Contents page

Executive summary....Page 2 Analysis of the problem, challenge, and opportunity addressed in the project and technical walkthrough Page 3-5 Theoretical or intellectual issuesPage 6 Project review.Page 7 References...Page 8 Appendix.Page 9-12

Executive summary Client organisation and its activity The online gallery that I have implemented is described in this report and is intended for clients such as me and people who are interested in the history, culture and design of mosaic art pieces. I have a personal interest in mosaic artwork and want to further explore and display an online gallery showcasing images of mosaic art pieces. This exhibition will showcase and display mosaic artwork and design through an online exhibition consisting of images of mosaic artwork. Most of the content will be user generated and the exhibition will give users the option to upload their own images of mosaics. As this module was about culture and heritage I needed to choose a suitable topic that is related and one that I can design an online exhibition for, I chose to do an online gallery of mosaic art work because this is a subject that interests me and I will put more endeavour into the project as I am personally interested in the subject. Brief synopsis Mosaics are pieces of artwork that involve placing small pieces of materials such as glass, tile, and shells accordingly to pattern and design an artwork. Mosaic artwork is involved in many cultures across the worlds such as Roman, Greek , Persian and ranges far back as 4th century BC but more commonly mosaic designs are being created by just about anyone for decorative purposes or just as an hobby. This online gallery is to exhibit images of mosaics across the world and showcase designs related to content, design and time periods. As my project is an online exhibition it mostly consists of images of different mosaic designs from around the world. Seeing as my exhibition was a display of user generated content this wouldnt be feasible with the basic version of Omeka- which is an open source web platform that allowed me to display my exhibition so I had to upgrade to the more advanced option where I could let users that are visiting the exhibition upload and describe images of their own mosaic artwork they have made or taken a picture of. Theoretical or intellectual issues The theoretical issues that came up was the copyright law that is related to images that are going to be uploaded, I wanted to make sure that copyright material is not put on the website and if it is shall be removed immediately from the exhibition I also got the users to agree to terms and conditions regarding the owner rights to an image before posting their image and to
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solve a reCAPTCHA system to prove they are actually users and not just spam messages. Also when an image is uploaded the administrator which is me needs to screen the image and then only when I have approved the image it shall be uploaded onto the exhibition and made live for everyone to see.

Analysis of the problem, challenge, and opportunity addressed in the project and technical walkthrough My project is an exhibition that is displaying user generated content of mosaic art pieces, this is where users can upload images of their own mosaic art work or which they have taken and hold the rights to. I will engage users by providing the option to upload images onto the gallery; this is of high importance in this project as the main focal point will be the option of letting users uploads images so that they can be displayed on the exhibition. The initial problem arose when I was deciding which platform to use for my project that displays content for exhibitions or museums on a small scale there are quite a few options out there but I wanted to make sure I select the one that is most suited to my need and not just select the easy option. In my exhibition I wanted to give the option of letting users upload images to the gallery this was a challenge in finding the appropriate software to use and also the option that the image needs verification from the exhibit admin before it can be published .After some research I chose to use Omeka which is an online content management platform for digital collections which is really good to design and showcase exhibitions. As I wanted my exhibition to be of user generated content I upgraded from the standard subscription to the more advanced version where you have the option of letting users upload images and this will be verified by the administrator which is me and only then will images be published. When verification is done to upload the pictures they will be put into their selective categories i.e. roman mosaics, vase mosaics, animal mosaics respectively. The users of the system was initially me as I have a interest in mosaic design but it appeals to the craft community of designing and making mosaics for an hobby or actual history of mosaics and images that have been taken off mosaic artwork from across the ages, all the users have to do is make sure that they have the rights to an image before uploading and put a small description of the image alongside as well. Not all users need to upload images but
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they can rather look at the different collection of images that are display on the exhibit and just explore the art and design of the mosaic pieces people have uploaded. My initial content to make the exhibit purposeful when designing came from creative common image sources which have little or no image copyrights to them, where I have used images even though they dont have any rights attached to them I still referenced them back to the author which shows good practise, but now the aim is to get more users to visit the exhibition and upload more user generated content. Detailed account of the exhibition designed and implemented for the client organisation I used the Omeka publishing platform to design and build an exhibition displaying mosaic art work from around the world. Omeka is an open source platform that on the internet as a good platform for hosting digital images. It is very easy to use and is flexible to my needs for uploading digital images and creating an online digital exhibition. Themes are also available with Omeka which I can edit accordingly and select plugins to make my exhibition more user friendly and give an overall good user experience. Firstly I had to register with Omeka and create an account; the basic subscription is free which contains 500 MB of storage, 1 site, 9 plugins and 4 themes. I firstly chose this plan and decided to test and review it and see if it was feasible for my exhibition and then I found out that it didnt have the option of letting visiting users upload media onto the exhibition. I then found out that the plus+ account had the option of letting users upload data onto the website it also boasted 1 GB of storage, 2 sites, 13 plugins, and unlimited themes this was more suited to me as I could customise the exhibit further and make it tailored to my specifications the cost for this subscription was however $49 for a whole year which isnt too bad if it allows me to let users upload data onto the webpage. After I had paid for the subscription I started work on the design of the exhibit I wanted to put a welcome message on the home page which would give a brief synopsis of the exhibition to the users and visitors explaining that this is an online gallery showcasing mosaic displays from around the world whether that be famous mosaics images or designs that people have come up with- this will be displayed on the main home screen (Figure A). I have also created a page which is entitled copyright this when clicked shows a brief statement explaining the issues of copyright and says all images that are on the website are free from any copyright attachments(Figure B). Next I started naming the different collections that are going to be in my website in this context a collection

is sort of a gallery of images that are related to each other through their appropriate context. Currently I have 6 different named collections (Figure C) such as Animal mosaic display- this is where mosaics that are related to animal designs are placed under. Vase mosaic display- this is where mosaics that are related to vase designs are placed under. Roman mosaics- this is where mosaics that are related to roman designs are placed under. Mirror mosaics- this is where mosaics that are related to mirror designs are placed under. Mosaic frames- this is where mosaics that are related to mosaic frames are placed under. Miscellaneous- this is where all the mosaics that are not particular described or dont fit in any of the other categories are under. At the first stage where I was still designing the exhibition initial images were used to make the website appear more suited to its purpose so images of mosaics were uploaded to the website. These initial images were taken from creative common websites where images are uploaded but they dont have any copyright attached to them or the author allows use of the image but reference needs to be made back to the author. I used creative commons websites such as morgue file to get initial images for the website so that it can be used to attract more users as it was just very plain with no content. I also referenced back to the authors where images were taken from even though they were copyright free because it shows good practise (Figure D). All images were automatically placed into browse items page (Figure E) this is where all the media that is on the exhibition is placed under. Here users can search for items using tags to narrow down the search for what they require. Tags are keywords that are used to describe in my context an image and what is relates to, it is like a sort of label that is attached to an image whether that be one tag or several tags (Figure F). Asides from the collections of different mosaic categories there is an option to contribute an item this is the main focal point of my exhibition this is where users can upload images of their mosaic designs and images they hold the rights to and showcase on the exhibition. When they upload an image file they will put a brief description alongside with it, an email address and name will also be needed of the contributor and they need to acknowledge and
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agree to the terms and conditions before submitting a contribution and also solve a reCAPTCHA problem to make sure that the user is human and limit spam attacks (Figure G). When the contributor has completed all of this the administrator of the website which is me will receive a notification and when I approve of the image only then will it be published on the website. In addition to adding an image users can also contribute stories to the website about the history and experiences with mosaic artwork. Also there is a contact page where users of the website can contact me with any suggestions that they have again to beat spam a reCAPTCHA method is in place before a message can be sent through (Figure H). Theoretical or intellectual issues The overall aim of this project was to produce an exhibition that was hosted online and the content that is uploaded is user generated. This means that users of the exhibition will have the freedom to upload images, stories and descriptions of content that is related to the exhibition which in my case is mosaic artwork. There are many advantages of the online exhibition I have created but the main principal is that the exhibition can reach a much wider audience as it is based online and can attract users from across the world, this is great for the exhibition as content that will be added to the gallery means that images can be uploaded from all over the world and this will give users a real sense into the art of mosaics and how they are portrayed and used in different cultures and countries. Next i will discuss the copyright law as images that are put on the exhibition need to be checked for copyright rights and need the permission of the original author. Any images that are breaching the copyright law will be automatically removed from the website and subsequently the user will be banned. Also spamming will be an issue to remove any unwanted messages or images entering the exhibition this will be counteracted by introducing a reCAPTCHA puzzle where users will need to prove they are human so to speak and a user of the website solve and verify an image holding text before allowing the post to be published. Also even if there is unwanted uploaded to the website it will all be finalised by me the administrator as when a user uploads a picture I will have to verify it before it can be uploaded for everyone to see. In addition there wasnt really anything else that had theoretical or intellectual issues from what I recall it was just to do with the copyright issues.

Also daily maintenance of the exhibition will be done this is to verify and allow new content to be posted onto the exhibition, this will keep the exhibition relevant and keep users interested, also a weekly sweep will be done of all the content to make sure all content that is displayed is relevant and anything that is not required shall be removed accordingly.

Project review In this module I have achieved the design and implementation of an online gallery displaying user generated content about mosaic artwork. I am really satisfied with the exhibition I have created, I have achieved a mosaic gallery that displays content of mosaic artwork from around the world and can give users the option to upload images and descriptions onto the exhibition. Seeing as it is currently a working prototype it still has all the features to go and become a live exhibition and is fully functional and interactional for end users. As I was one of the end users of this exhibition I was testing all the features as I was going along when designing in order to make sure it has a good user experience. The main issue that arose in the making of the exhibition was that with the basic package didnt let users upload images onto the gallery and this for me was one of the main functioning points of my website where users are given the option of uploading images onto the exhibition. I then found out that the plus package gave the option of letting users upload images onto the website this however was a paid subscription which I had to purchase for the use. My exhibition then gave users the option to upload images onto the gallery of mosaic artwork and designs and also contribute stories about mosaic designs. Overall I was happy with the use of the Omeka software, at first it was a bit confusing to use as you have to make collections to upload images into and it was also a bit slow in uploading images as there wasnt the option of letting multiple images being selected and uploaded at the same time. The plugins and themes Omeka offered to me were more than sufficient and I opted to use a very simple yet effective theme as sometimes simplicity works best in terms of user navigation. I would say I was fairly satisfied with the Omeka publishing platform as it gave me the freedom to design and exhibit the content how I wanted. Future development could be to make an exhibition that is purely related to one context such as having mosaic artwork that is purely to do with vase design and nothing else; this would

be more appealing to a user that is just searching for a specific content of mosaic than have miscellaneous images put on the exhibition. Another improvement could be to do video interviews with artists that design mosaics and get them to talk about their work and publish these onto the exhibition. In relation to sustaining the exhibition it shall be posted through other social media tools such as twitter and Facebook and direct traffic to the exhibition through them. As long as users keep interest in the exhibition and post new content users will still visit the exhibition and new users will want to come and visit the exhibition and so it shall stay relevant. Exhibition available at: www.mosaicgallerydisplay2013.omeka.net References Dongming Lu, Yunhe Pan (2010). Digital Preservation for Heritages: Technologies and Applications. China: Springer. p124. Niels Brgge (2010). Web history. New York: Peter lang publishing . p322. Martin R. Kalfatovic (2002). Creating a Winning Online Exhibition:. USA: ALA Editions. p35-43. Bibliography http://www.omeka.net/ http://creativecommons.org/ http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p16_photography_copyright http://www.morguefile.com/ http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ http://www.aquilomosaics.com/a_brief_history_of_mosaic_a.html http://www.museum101.wetpaint.com/ http://mosaic.cc/mosaic.html

Appendix

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Figure D

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Figure E

Figure F

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Figure G

Figure H

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