Image Collections

Heidelberg University Library provides FID4SA the technical infrastructure for the publication and archiving of digital image and object collections in open access. This service is aimed at selected projects in the field of South Asian studies and indology worldwide.

Given the rapid developments in the field of digital humanities, image data and multimedia objects are among the most important tools for research. With FID4SAimages, FID4SA provides a digital and interdisciplinary image and multimedia repository that is specifically tailored to the requirements of these file formats. FID4SAimages is a section of heidICON, the multimedia and object database of Heidelberg University Library, running on the easydb platform (version 5) by Programmfabrik GmbH, Berlin.

FID4SAimages’ hierarchical and object-oriented data management is aimed at describing cultural assets and enables differentiated, event-based in-depth development. The structure of the data model is based on the XML schema LIDO (Lightweight Information Describing Objects), an XML-based application of CIDOC CRM, which was developed by the LIDO Working Group of the International Committee on Documentation (CIDOC).

FID4SAimages enables the assignment of DOIs and persistent URIs at dataset level. The database offers interoperability and reusability through IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) and with the integration of controlled vocabulary and standards data (such as GND, GeoNames, daiGazetteer) central Linked Open Data principles are fulfilled. All functions in heidICON can be controlled via an extensive programming interface (API).

FID4SAimages now also serves as an aggregator database for networking with national and international reference tools such as prometheus, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB) or Europeana.

Using a JavaScript application, the image and multimedia collections can be equipped with an individual (search) interface in a kind of "display window", either integrated into the FID4SA layout or adapted to the layout of the website of the imaging institution's website.

 

Collections in FID4SAimages:

 

In preparation:

  • Louise Allison Cort - The Temple Potters of Puri, Odisha (Curator Emeritus of Ceramics, Freer|Sackler, Smithsonian Institution)

 

If you are interested in publishing and archiving existing digital image and object collections or are currently in the planning phase of a project, please contact us.