The purpose of this project is to build a database of some 3-4,000 digitized pictures, making the Nansen collection available to the users while still preserving the originals for posterity. Registration and search in the database are facilitated through FotoMac, a Hypercard application. The project will be completed by the spring of 1992 and cost a total of approx. NOK 900.000.

The Nansen collection is one of the most widely used sections of the Picture Collection at the Oslo University Library. It contains some 8,000 photographs, prints and drawings of or by Fridtjof Nansen. The pictures cover all parts of Nansen's adventurous life - his polar expeditions, his humanitarian effort for starving Russians in the early 1920's and his later political and diplomatic career. Nansen made conscious use of photography for documentation, and the collection is therefore also a source of information on the technical development of photography.

This material is in high demand by researchers, writers, journalist and by the general public, which naturally leads to wear and tear. The Picture Collection has acquired the Nansen material through a number of donations, and the material has never been completely registered or prepared for storage and use. When the project was initiated, the collection was in need of restoration. Some pictures were obviously damaged already during the expeditions they record, where conditions were hardly the best for delicate phographic material. Others were damaged from contact with acidic paper and years of storage under inferior conditions. In addition comes the strain on the material from people searching through the originals for illustration material for exhibitions or publications.

On this background the aim of the project is to preserve the material - while also providing easier access. The University Library has much experience in building databases, and in this case the electronic registration "cards" permit access also to the digitized pictures they carry information about. However, there are many practical and technical details to consider in a picture base of this size.

HyperCard searches sequentially, card by card through the stack, and as more pictures were registered, the search time increased. To speed up the search, extra software (HyperKRS from KnowledgeSet Corp) was installed to create an index of all words in the HyperCard stacks, which can now be searched 60 times faster than originally.

The scanner had to be upgraded to recognize 256 grey tones, a degree of solution made necessary by the quality of the pictures. Decisions also had to be made regarding the future use of the digitized pictures. Most of the pictures will be scanned with a solution of 75 points per inch, which provides maximal computer screen solution, and only some 3-400 of the most sought-after items will be scanned with 150 points per inch, to give acceptable quality for some printing purposes. This distinction has been made in order to reduce the need for storage capacity - since digitized pictures represent a lot of information, and the higher the solution, the more information. Without some form of compression the total picture collection will demand 2.2 GBytes of storage capacity. The digitized pictures are at present stored on optical disks.

2.2 GBytes is an impracticable amount of information to handle, so for practical purposes the information will be compressed, presumably to about 600 MBytes, to be distributed to user points on a 5.25" magneto-optical disk. Compression and decompression inevitably means losing some information. Compression techniques, however, are rapidly improving, and therefore the uncompressed digitized pictures will be stored so that they may be compressed with improved techniques and reduced loss of information at a later stage.

KOMITEINNSTILLING OM ET KOMPETANSESENTER FOR MUSEER I NORGE

---

REPORT ON A COMPETENCE CENTRE FOR NORWEGIAN MUSEUMS

In 1987 the Board of the Association of Norwegian Museums for Art and Social History (NKKM) raised the idea of establishing a joint centre of competence for the member institutions. The centre would work within the fields of computerization, nomenclature and the documentation of the present time.

In the autumn of 1990 the board of NKKM applied to the Ministry of Church and Culture for funding for a pilot project to work out the plans for such a centre. The Ministry asked for a report on the demand for such a centre for the entire field of Norwegian museums. This report, entitled Institute for Museum Development: a Competence Centre for Norwegian Museums, was presented to the Ministry of Culture in June 1991.

The report says that Norwegian museum staffs possess considerable competence, and that many museums have highly specialized skills. However, there is no organized cooperation, and therefore small exchange of information. The establishment of a competence centre would mainly be a means to make more efficient use of the existings competence.

By coordinating efforts and disseminating information and competence, the centre would help avoid unnecessary duplication of development work, while at the same time drawing on the competence and skills found in the individual museums. The centre should assist the museums in developing practical solutions which may help consolidate and coordinate the professional milieus in order to strengthen their capacity. The report recommeds that the centre be established in Oslo, making use of the facilities already found at the Secretariat of NKKM. It suggests that the Centre would need a minimum of 5 employees for development work and 7 employees for information and consultant work, and that the centre should be financed by the Norwegian State. The centre should be started by 1 January 1992.

The report discusses various organisational models. One of these would be to start by servicing the NKKM member institutions, and then negotiations could be opened about the inclusion of other types of Norwegian museums.

MULTIMEDIER PÅ MUSEER, BIBLIOTEKER OG ARKIVER

---

MULTIMEDIA IN MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

---

This article presents multimedia applications in use at three institutions in Denmark. The author defines multimedia as screen-based information systems making use of text, numbers, sound, pictures and living video. Pictures are important, but they are also problematic to handle, and therefore the author turns to the museums to see what their experience is with large quantities of digitized pictures.

The National Museum is one of the institutions that employs multimedia technology for various purposes. One application concerns the museum's collections of objects. 1 million objects were registered in protocols or on cards, and the registered objects were safely stored away in depots: in practice inaccessible to both researchers and museum personnel. By updating the catalogues on computer, and storing pictures of the objects on video disks, the museum has created an effective organisational tool, as well as a good source of information for research.

As an example of a multimedia information system, the author points to the National Museum's product on the Danish Liberation Struggle 1940-45, which consists of 11,000 photographs and nine video sequences stored on a video disk, and a computer control system to guide the viewer to exactly the material of choice. This video disk has been on the market for more than a year, and is sold to a number of schools in Scandinavia and to research institutions in many parts of the world. People have objected to some of the information presetned, and actually corrected the "official" versions of the events.

The Royal Library in Copenhagen is planning a national picture database in cooperation with Danmarks Radio: the purpose is to register and make accessible large collections of pictures - about 10,000,000 items - which at present are difficult to access: they are found in just one location, Slotsholmen, and can be viewed only during opening hours and under ths auspices of a museum consultant. An average of 60,000 such visitors are guided through relevant collections every year, which naturally draws heavily on the resources of the museum. Besides, searching, in this case means leafing through the originals, provided they are available and registered.

In this situation a database of digitized pictures stored on some optical storage medium will facilitate easy access, quick and efficient searches - and geography is no hindrance.

The third case is taken from Telecom Denmark in T}strup, which is developing a database of historical pictures showing the development of tele-communications in Denmark.

These cases share common concerns for conservation, dissemination, technology and economy.

New technology may definitely reduce the wear and tear on the original photographic material through the creation of compupter registers with digitized copies. Some kind of permanent storage for the original material will still have to be found.

Dissemination is very well catered for by the new technology: it may give the museum personnel a new, complete overview over the collections, and visitors may freely search the entire picture base.

Technology: At present data bases of high-solution data bases are very expensive. The best solutions seem to be central information data bases and decentralized picture bases - the pictures stored on laser disks.

The most expensive element in creating picture data bases is still preparing and registering the pictures, i.e. the manual labour. The technological investment takes a smaller proportion of the budget the higher the number of pictures to be entered.

ET HUMANISTISK NETVÆRK

---

A HUMANIST NETWORK

---

A Scandinavian Culture-historical Network is now being established under the coordination of the author. This network will center around the fields of ethnology and folklore, where there is already an extensive Scandinavian cooperation. The communicative basis will be national networks, which will be made to function together as a means of professional communication within Scandinavia. Naturally, there will also be access to the large international networks.

The network will provide a number of services: access to bibliographic database, conference, eletronic mail service, news, factual databases, articles, reviews and bibliographic news. In the information society, the problem is not to get access to information: the problem is rather to avoid the unnecessary information. Hence, the material on the network will be edited, abbreviated and registered such that the individual user may get just the amount of information he desires. This service will be provided by the editorial staff of Nord Nytt (the Scandinavian periodical for ethnology).

The main sources of material will be the larger institutions, but the network will be open to all users. Two organisations for Scandinavian cooperation, The Nordic institute of Folk Literature and the Nordic Work Group for Ethnology and Folklore, will participate from the start, and Scandinavian Bibliography of Ethnology will be made aceessible from an early point.

During the first year of the project, starting this fall, the organisation and financial basis will be established and the practical arrangement for machinery and software will be worked out. The work planned for the second year includes working out editorial routines and accessing the databases. After that the network will basically be operational. The pilot project will run for one additional year, and the network will then be evaluated before a decision is made about permenent operation.

A more complete presentation of the plans can be found in the article Communication Network for researchers Within the Humanities, to be published in Nordinfonytt.

KOMITEINNSTILLING OM ET NORSK MUSIKKTEKNOLOGISK SENTER

---

A NORWEGIAN CENTRE FOR MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

---

In the spring of 1991 the committee for the establishment of a Norwegian centre for music technology presented a revised report to the Ministry of Culture and to the Ministry of Church, Education and Research. The committee has been chaired by Arvid Vollsnes, University of Oslo.

Modern electro-acoustic technology has become an integrated part of the current music scene, making up a natural and important part of practically all types of modern music.

What we see on the surface is the use of a wide range of new electronic instruments and auxiliaries appearing in the market and on stage. However, the technology also represents a fundamental challenge - aesthetically, professionally and socially:

Composers of all kinds of music are today making use of the new technology, but they have not had professional training, and need the opportunity to learn more about the technological possibilities.

There is a professional interest in doing reasearch in this type of music and in psycho-acoustics. The pedagogical element needs to be strengthened. At present interested young people know more about it than teachers and pedagogical institutions. Finally, this is a field where modern communication technology may make an important contribution, since electronic music may be accessed via networks regardless of distances.

There is a large potential in this technology, which should be exploited fully, to the advantage of all music milieus in Norway. The centre would coordinating Norwegian expertise and competence in order to take charge of the expansive development and to partake in deciding how it should influence the music milieus.

Norwegian musical and artistic competence need to be strengthened in order to preserve national characteristics. Norway may well be the only European country which does not have a single dedicated studio for composers who wish to work with electro-acoustic technology.

In order to achieve the best results it is important to invest in equipment and develop knowledge and ideas. A Norwegian centre for music technology would draw on Norwegian expertise in modern music technology, organize courses and education, coordinate a Norwegian network of knowledge and help create Norwegian contemporary music.

The committee proposes that the centre be established in Oslo, to facilitate the cooperate with other centres that are concerned with new information technology. The proposed centre should have a minimum of three employees, and the committee recommends that the Norwegian government takes economic responsibility for the enterprise.

ET KONKORDANS-PROGRAM SOM HJELPEMIDDEL I LITTERATURFORSKNING OG LITTERATURUNDERVISNING

---

CONCORDANCES AND LITTERATURE

---

In this article the author discusses the use of concordances for research and teaching of literary texts. Literary studies make less use of computer-based methods than many other disciplines within the humanities. The article suggests that this may be due to the fact that the computer is ill suited as a medium in the primary process of reading, experiencing and interpreting literary texts.

However, the author maintains that the computer may be of help in the secondary work of literary interpretation. When teacher or student is to synthesize the literary experience and organise the elements of the text in order to argue for a specific interpretation, concordancing software will find ALL occurrences of key terms, and will make it easier to substantiate a specific reading.

The article is based on work done with TACT, an indexing and concordance program developed at Toronto University, and an electronic edition of the works of Henrik Ibsen.

The article presents the results of a few searches in A Doll's House, showing how these may be used in order to systematize themes and present a reading of the play. For an understanding of the whole, one is still dependendent on reading the complete text. And for that purpose, the author admits, the old-fashioned book is still a more efficient medium.