Creating an on-line interactive database to aid research into historic printmaking processes and techniques

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The proposed research is to construct an on-line database cataloguing the works contained in the print collection of the Royal Society of the Painter-Printmakers, founded in 1880 by Francis Seymour Haden. This will include digital reproductions of the works alongside the descriptive and technical information relating to the print as well as biographical details pertaining to each artist The importance of the collection lies in the fact that it spans a period of 125 years and includes examples from a diverse group of printmakers including established and emerging artists.Through increasing access to this collection and supplying supplementary information, such as biographical detail, this body of work will prove a significant contribution to the history of printmaking. The body of information contained in the database will also help to form a social and technical contextual framework for the prints to be viewed through, preventing the prints from being viewed in isolation.Running alongside this is the idea of research into what constitutes best practice when designing and building databases to present a collection through. This will include looking at issues such as methodologies for identifying and capturing the relevant information from the physical collection, structuring this information to the best effect in the database as well as creating strategies for knowledge retrieval.The aim of the bid is to facilitate access to the collection, the creation of an on-line database will allow anyone with an internet collection to view the prints, aiding in the removal of geographical barriers as it will no longer require the user to travel to the physical location of the collection at the Ashmolean museum in the first instance. The structuring the information within the database and the building-in of data retrieval strategies will also allow the user to mterrogate the collection in a consistent and comprehensive manner. Although basic searches of the collection are currently able to be undertaken using the paper-based listings, the database would allow the user to create more complex searches, for example thematic based process or technique searches. The inclusion of a keyword taxonomy to catalogue the visual content of the print will also allow the user to undertake searches based on this content, for example searching for all prints in the collection that feature a sea view or a bridge.The database will provide a valuable research tool for researchers and those interested in the history of printmaking as it will provide access to an extensive and important body of work. The structuring of information and the inclusion of a glossary defining terms relating to technique and process will also help make the collection accessible to the general browser, and therefore a wider audience, by demystifying the terminology used to describe the prints.