About Us - Technology
Preservation and Documentation
A Database is an innovative new tool that lifts the archiving and recording of contemporary art onto a new plane. Its ease of access for artists and public alike will create communities at both ends of the message while democratising the medium.
The distinguishing features of its software system address two key issues in the long-term preservation of data in a digital environment:
- Storage in open access (non-proprietary) formats.
- Systems that do not rely on the long-term survival of a software vendor.
AD is also distinguished from other systems by its unique resource discovery tools that prioritise the image rather than the text.
Open Source: Free, Safe and Democratic
AD is being built within the principles of open source technology. All information resources will be recorded and stored in the open source XML language. All image files, however created, will be archived as uncompressed TIFF image files with a defined colour space. The database will be built using MYSQL database software on a Linux Apace web server. The database software and query language is PHP5.
In addition, AD will be employing a regular multi media and multi site backup strategy for data security. There is no anxiety about long-term safety or accuracy. This is a robust, cutting edge system that does not risk obsolescence.
Resource Discovery: A Road Map to the Visual Future
The structure and type of descriptive information about an artwork, such as creator or provenance, is the most efficient way to access it online. These data structures, or metadata schemas, best described as ‘resource discovery tools’, exist to delineate specifically visual data as opposed to the usual more generic data schemas in use. The present absence of adequately defined data on visual material makes the works in question elusive in conventional search engines. The image has primacy in the AD – a road map to the visual future.
Storing data centrally, using a museum standard resource discovery tool, enables the public to discover works online more easily.