DIAMM: Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music

几乎所有的研究都依赖于对原始资料的获取，而研究的质量又取决于获取原始资料的质量，而获取原始资料的质量又取决于现有搜索工具的灵活性和能力。DIAMM的主要目标是为世界各地的用户提供最好的访问有价值的，脆弱的和稀有的文件，从学者和表演者到一般感兴趣的公众成员。在某些情况下，DIAMM为用户提供了比直接查阅原始资料更好的查阅途径。高质量的数字图像为近距离和比较性的手稿研究提供了根本性的改进机会，并通过使用超出肉眼可达的放大率促进了详细的发现。自1998年项目开始以来，通过为基础图像档案添加一个放置手稿图像的丰富元数据环境，以及发展一个先进的在线环境，免费向最终用户提供图像。截至2006年，约有368个手稿来源的原始集合（约。7500张图片）被412名注册用户反复访问。该网站目前是一个门户网站，提供3127份手稿来源的详细目录列表（其中许多是最近发现的，有些是在这里唯一描述的），并提供近15，000张图像，尽管这些图像仅占所列来源的15%。网站统计数据显示，该网站（http：//www.diamm.ac.uk/awstats/awstats）的使用非常活跃，目前有2 000多名注册用户，网站平均每天点击7 000多次，其中许多是重复用户。尽管目前还不能完全搜索来源和清单信息，但这种活动已经存在，这种资源依赖于一个复杂的信息数据库，目前可用于复杂的搜索和创建可定制的列表或保存的搜索，连同我们的档案质量的图像最好的在线交付中心计算在人文科学（CCH）的基础上国王学院，伦敦。然而，用户可获得的数据取决于新内容的创建以及来源与项目小组开展的工作之间复杂联系的建立。许多手稿的原始目录信息是在半个多世纪前创建的。需要为最近的研究发现了新的或更准确的信息的手稿编写新的描述。这些工作必须由在该领域具有重要研究背景的研究人员完成，他们的专业水平适合准确创建此类信息。尽管由于委托DIAMM为其拍摄的个别研究项目，新图像不断添加到档案中，但这些项目并不一定能使收藏保持完整的覆盖范围：存在信号空白。目前的项目将为这些缺失的来源中一些更重要的来源提供图像。照相机升级将使该项目能够对目前需要使用慢速回扫成像的尺寸的源使用单次拍摄技术，从而将吞吐量从每天约80张图像增加到每天约400张图像，使许多项目第一次实际可行，该申请还寻求为该项目提供一名项目经理/研究员和文书助理，为期一年，在此期间，数据库内容可继续得到加强、扩大和更新，并可对若干重要来源进行摄影。

Almost all research relies on access to primary source material, and the quality of that research is dependent the quality of access to the source materials, which depends in turn on the flexibility and power of the search tools available. It is the primary goal of DIAMM to provide the best possible access to valuable, fragile and rare documents for a worldwide community of users, from scholars and performers to the general interested members of public. In some cases DIAMM provides users with better access than that which they could obtain by direct examination of the original source. High-quality digital images offer radically improved opportunities for close and comparative manuscript study, and have facilitated a level of detailed discovery by using magnificiation beyond that achievable with the naked eye.Since the inception of the project in 1998, this goal has been met and exceeded by adding to the foundation image archive a rich metadata environment in which the manuscript images are placed, and by the development of a sophisticated online environment to deliver the images, without charge, to end users. By 2006 the original collection of some 368 manuscript sources (approx. 7500 images) was being accessed repeatedly by 412 registered users. The website is currently a portal to detailed catalogue listings for 3127 manuscript sources (many recently discovered, and some described uniquely here), and provides access to nearly 15,000 images, although these images comprise only 15% of the sources listed. Web statistics show very active usage of the website (http://www.diamm.ac.uk/awstats/awstats) with over 2000 currently registered users and an average of over 7000 hits per day to the website, many of those from repeat users. This level of activity already exists despite the fact that full searchability of the sources and inventory information is not yet available.This resource depends on an intricate database of information that is currently being made available for complex searching and the creation of customizable lists or saved searches, together with the best possible online delivery of our archive-quality images by the Centre for Computing in the Humanities (CCH) based at King's College, London. However, the data available to users depends on creation of new content and the establishment of complex linkages between sources and works that is undertaken by the project team. The original catalogue information for many manuscripts was created over half a century ago. New descriptions need to be written for manuscripts where more recent research has uncovered new or more accurate information. This must be done by researchers with a significant research background in this field, with a level of expertise suitable for the accurate creation of this type of information.Although new images are constantly added to the archive thanks to individual research projects that commission DIAMM to undertake photography on their behalf, these projects do not necessarily allow the collection to maintain a cohesive coverage of the entire repertory: signal lacunae exist. The current project will provide images for some of the more important of these missing sources. A camera upgrade will enable the project to use single-shot technology for sources that are of a size that currently requires use of slow scanning-back imaging, thus increasing throughput from c.80 images/day to c.400 images/day, making many projects practically feasible for the first time.The application also seeks to provide the project with a project manager/researcher and clerical assistants for a year, during which time the database content can continue to be enhanced, expanded and updated, and photography of several important sources can be undertaken.