PhD student after your views on searching digitised photographic collections

[David Croft]

Hello everyone,

My name is David Croft and I am currently working on my PhD at De Montfort University.

For my thesis I am looking at a new way of searching digitised museum collections for multiple appearances by the same item.

I am trying to use a technique called Fuzzy Clustering, the basic idea is to improve matching by loosely comparing the entirety of the records.

However, my background is entirely in the computer sciences and not the humanities/photography. How I search for records is likely to be quite different to an artist/photographer/historian etc. I have been investigating the differences in search technique by different individuals but I need to expand to encompass individuals from more domains.

Since my thesis is looking at searching for photographic records I am looking for a few individuals from the area of photographic history who would be willing to talk to me regarding how they currently search digitised museum collections and what they expect/desire from the results they get back.

I am hoping to find about 5 people at this stage although I will be looking to expand on this (probably in questionnaire form) in a few months time.

If you are willing to be interviewed or would be willing to answer a questionnaire at a later date then please either reply to this post or email me at [e-mail]

Thanks in advance

David

[Ian Glover]

Hi, I am beginning a personal project recording collections. I am programme leader for BA photo at Bolton uni and from a creative photographic background. I started my photo career at 16 then got into practice first then research. I have some work to view on my blog at www.ianglover.co.uk if you want to have a look. If you think I might fit your research needs please let me know.  Best. Ian

[Ian Glover]

Hi, I am beginning a personal project recording collections. I am programme leader for BA photo at Bolton uni and from a creative photographic background. I started my photo career at 16 then got into practice first then research. I have some work to view on my blog at www.ianglover.co.uk if you want to have a look. If you think I might fit your research needs please let me know.  Best. Ian