Picasa - A free image editing program.

Scott Hirsch — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:57:00 GMT

Picasa is a free software download from Google that can organize all your photos on your computer as well as edit them. While it is not going to allow you to add meta data to a photograph or batch rename, for the beginner it is a good place to start. And for those intimidated by Photoshop with either it's price or interface, Picasa holds its own with quick fixes and features a more intuitive cropping tool.

Picasa is easy to learn and allows you to see the changes you make to your photos in real time. Having said that it is worth mentioning that this program is not suitable for any sort of serious cataloging and does not allow one to edit image EXIF data and has no meta data tools. What is a historical photo without the caption or history of the photo?

Even the best historical photographs are normally not of great value unless you know something about what is being pictured. Making sure all the information on the back of the photograph or any other information you have on the image is attached or kept with your photograph is critical during your digitizing projects, but even for those who may have access to the latest CS3 Photoshop and/or sophisticated collection management software Picasa may have a place in your workflow.

For example, it may be useful to quickly migrate data from a camera or scanner for quick and painless cropping and sorting. Of course, museums and those digitizing images need a tool that associates a written history of the photo with the image itself which is certainly not Picasa. Photoshop, the most recognized and popular image editing software has good metadata tools. You can create and apply templates to hundreds of photos at a time and then you have only to worry about the few fields like description that will be different. There are also a number of Controlled Vocabulary Keyword Catalog programs and image management programs such as iView Media (now purchased by Microsoft and named Expression Media), BreezeBrowser, Image Info Toolkit, BlueBoxKeyWordCatalog, Photo Mechanic or Adobe's new entry; Photoshop LIghtroom. Whatever your sophistication, Picasa is a fun tool that may help with the basic chores of working with images and for smaller collection that have little or no history to apply it may be all you need to edit your historical photographs.

Preserving Local History

Scott Hirsch — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:56:00 GMT

Preserving Local History
Heritage Network receives $33,687 in
equipment and software

DANI BULL
Statesman-Examiner Staff Reporter

The Heritage Network is dedicated to protecting and preserving artifacts, including photographs, of a historical nature.
Thanks to grants and contributions in the amount of $33,687 obtained by the Heritage Network and SecureWebs for equipment and software, local museums and historical societies now have the ability to digitally preserve historical photographs and artifacts.

The Heritage Network is a forum for member organizations and individuals with an interest in history. Their goal is to connect history enthusiasts with local heritage organizations and together advocate for the smaller rural museums and historical societies.
The Heritage Network and AmeriCorps-VISTA Elaine Colby, with are collaborating on a digital history project based in Colville.

AmeriCorps is a federal agency program off the new equipment created to connect Americans with an used to digitize historical opportunity to give back to their country and photographs and artifacts. community. AmeriCorps-VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America), specifically, provides available to the public through The Heritage full-time personnel to public agencies and Network website at http://theheritagenetwork.org/ community based organizations to expand and create local programs. Newport, Pend Oreille, Loon Lake and Stevens.

For The Heritage Network, Elaine Colby an AmeriCorp-Vista member, has proven to be a real asset with the preservation and digitization of historical assets.

"Many Heritage Network member museums and historical centers are understaffed, unfamiliar with digital technology, and lack appropriate tools to preserve these artifacts and make them accessible to the larger public," said Colby.

With this in mind, Colby assisted in the application and now the administration of a grant from Inland Northwest Community Foundation in the amount of $8,687.

These funds were used to purchase equipment to digitally preserve photographs, artifacts and documents that are regionally historical.
"The equipment is especially effective with items that must be handled delicately or rarely, are damaged or shaped in a way° traditional scanning is not possible," explained Colby.

Local museums and facilities can select 50 items for the project. The digital images will then be available to the public through The Heritage Network website at www.theheritagenetwork.org.

Newport, Pend Oreille, Loon Lake and Stevens County Historical Societies are just a few of the organizations lined up to take advantage of this opportunity.

Scott Hirsch with SecureWebs in Colville, also a member of The Heritage Network, obtained the software necessary to make the online catalog of digital images available.

The "Community Server" software was obtained from a generous contribution from telligent, a software company specializing in Microsoft NET technologies.

Blogs, forums, file and photo sharing is an integral part of what the software valued at $25,000 can do.

Historical images can then be offered to the public online for purchase. This win-win situation not only preserves the historical photo or document but generates revenue for the museums.

SecureWebs has donated office and work space for Colby and the equipment during this three year program.

Odds and Ends

Picasa - A free image editing program.

Preserving Local History