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The Pioneer Digital Image Database (PDID) is a system to collect, manage, and present
digital images and collections of images using a user-friendly interface. It will act as a
central digital image system for campus-wide teaching needs.
The project stemmed from a critical need to find a replacement for a fraile and aging
system called the Art Image Database. That system housed about
20,000 images that had been digitzed from a much larger (120,000+) slide library
maintained by the Art Department and used in many courses across campus. Moreover,
that system had an associated system called the Faculty Image Management System
(FIMS). That system allowed faculty to create course level and topic level collections.
In order to be successful in migrating the image collection, we knew we would also need
to migrate the FIMS collections the faculty were using in their courses.
Luckily, we found a tool called Madison Digital Image Database, an open source application
created by James Madison University. The tool is built upon very common web technologies
including ASP, Flash, and a MySQL database. CTSs spent a week installing the system,
migrating the Art Image Database, and testing basic functionality. During the 2nd week,
the CTSs were able to migrate the FIMS data from a Filemaker 5 data structure into the
MDID MySQL data structure. This was just in time for the critical need of students --
preparing for final exams.
We rebranded the system to be called PDID, reflecting a Grinnell College theme. We have
now upgraded to the current verison of the software, 0.4.0, and we are continually
amazed at the ease with which the system can be used. Currently, we are working
towards migrating the Theatre colleciton as well as two faculty members' collections.
Below are some screen captures of the system along with descriptions. However, you
are more than welcome to visit the system at http://pdid.grinnell.edu/
and see for yourself. Please note that currently, the only colleciton available to guests
is the Paul Wilson Plant Image Database. Please send any feedback to
Fred Hagemeister.
The image below shows the Collection Overview page of current collections. The user gets a
sample slide, a description, and a user agreement, if applicable.
The image below shows the interface the user has while viewing a single image or
a slideshow. Metadata is provided on the lefthand side while the image is viewable
on the righthand side. Also, one can zoom and pan the image.
The image below shows how users can search one or more of the available collections.
Depending on the collection, one can search using many fields.
The image below shows how one can browse a collection by choosing a field
(Creator in this case) and then a letter of the alphabet. The user then receives a selectable
list of all records that start with that letter (in this case, a list of all creators that start with
the letter "V").
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