Online searchable item level catalogue and sample digital surrogate of the Archigram archives
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Grant Holder:
Dr Kester Rattenbury
The Archigram Archival Project (AAP) is a major new research resources that makes the work of the seminal 1960s-70s British architectural group, Archigram, available free online for public viewing and academic study.
The extraordinary influence of Archigram is internationally acknowledged through the award of the RIBA Gold Medal in 2002, exhibitions, books, and through their role in shaping many of the world's greatest contemporary architects and buildings. Yet prior to the completion of this project, just a few of their projects were well publicised, while the vast bulk of their visionary work remained practically inaccessible, being stored in domestic conditions and subject to dilapidation, sale and loss.
The Archigram website/database is available free online for general public use at a restricted image size. A high-resolution version has further been deposited with the University for use by appointment by bona-fide researchers.
The website marks an entirely new kind of archive: it is a scholarly, online collection of material which does not depend on ownership, and which is designed to operate in the popular digital media as easily as it forms a reliable academic source. Besides receiving acclaim from academics internationally, the website's easy access, lively and yet scholarly design has drawn a vast number of enthusiastic informal users, mainly coming from Twitter and Facebook, suggesting a new model for academic archives. The website has already received 290,000 individual page views from a total of 53,000 users in just its first month of operation, which is staggeringly successful for this kind of output.
Conversion from FileMaker Pro datasets to standard sql database, Production of compressed JPEG files from uncompressed TIFF files for web dissemination.
| Project start date: 2006-06 | Project end date: 2010-01 |
Subject domains:
Era(s):
Country/region(s):
| Methods used | Category |
|---|---|
| 2d Scanning and photography | Data capture |
| Resource sharing | Communication and collaboration |
| Cataloguing and indexing | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Coding and standardisation | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Collating | Data analysis |
| Indexing | Data analysis |
| Desktop publishing and pre-press | Data publishing and dissemination |
| Sound recording | Data capture |
| Documentation | Strategy and project management |
| Graphical interaction (asynchronous) | Communication and collaboration |
| Graphical interaction (synchronous) | Communication and collaboration |
| Image feature measurement | Data analysis |
| Iterative design | Strategy and project management |
| Lemmatisation | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Prototyping | Strategy and project management |
| Record linkages | Data analysis |
| Risk management | Strategy and project management |
| Searching and querying | Data analysis |
| Server scripting | Data publishing and dissemination |
| Sound encoding | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Version control | Strategy and project management |
| Textual interaction (asynchronous) | Communication and collaboration |
| Textual interaction (synchronous) | Communication and collaboration |
| Usability analysis | Strategy and project management |
| Interface design | Data publishing and dissemination |
| Video editing | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Video and moving image compression | Data structuring and enhancement |
| Web browser scripting | Data publishing and dissemination |
| Curation | Strategy and project management |
| preservation | Strategy and project management |
| General website development | Data publishing and dissemination |
| General project management | Strategy and project management |
| Use of existing digital data | Data capture |
| Manual input and transcription | Data capture |
Funding sources:
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Content types created:
Dataset/structured data, Moving Image, Sound, Still Image/Graphics, Text
Software tools used:
MySQL, Perl, Microsoft Word, Filemaker Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Linux, Apache, phpMyAdmin, Google Maps, jQuery, Final Cut Pro, ImageMagik, Firebug, JW Player, PHP5, Espresso as PHP IDE, eAccelerator
Source material used:
The material digitised has predominantly come from Archigram Archives and Herron Archives, with significant contributions additionally being provided by the private collections of Peter Cook, David Greene, Michael Webb and the children of Warren Chalk. The bulk of the digitised collection consists of the original drawings and magazines produced by Archigram. Other items that have been digitised include the slide collection the group used for lectures, early sketches and revisions of specific drawings, original pieces of text, collected ephemera and photographs.
Digital resource created:
The Archigram Archival Project (AAP) is a major new research resources that makes the work of the seminal 1960s-70s British architectural group, Archigram, available free online for public viewing and academic study.
The extraordinary influence of Archigram is internationally acknowledged through the award of the RIBA Gold Medal in 2002, exhibitions, books, and through their role in shaping many of the world's greatest contemporary architects and buildings. Yet prior to the completion of this project, just a few of their projects were well publicised, while the vast bulk of their visionary work remained practically inaccessible, being stored in domestic conditions and subject to dilapidation, sale and loss.
Through the AHRC grant, and in collaboration with surviving Archigram members and their heirs, our team has made the main body of their work available online through a custom-built, easily searchable website/database and catalogue containing almost 10,000 images deposited by Archigram. It includes drawings, collages, paintings, models, magazines, original texts and multi-media. The site covers the more than 200 projects currently listed in Archigram's own records. It also includes major new interpretative material, notably: recorded interviews with Archigram members or their families; a major bibliography of writings on Archigram; an extensively annotated list of collaborators; and a series of newly written and contemporaneous critical texts.
Access to digital resource:
Open Access
Data Formats created:
JPEG, TIFF, XML, PNG, GIF, MPEG4 videos, SQL database
Publications:
Archigram Archival Project: http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk
Fraser, Murray; Rattenbury, Kester. "Archigram Archival Project", published on Archigram Archival Project website: http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk/about.php?pg=text&tab=1
Fraser, Murray; Rattenbury, Kester. "Archigram Archival Project", published on Archigram Archival Project website: http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk/about.php?pg=text&tab=1
Project staff and expertise:
| Principal staff member: | Dr Kester Rattenbury, Prof. Murray Fraser |
|---|---|
| Other staff: | Computing officer(s) / Technical supporter(s) |
| External expertise: |
| Metadata on this arts-humanities.net record | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) of record | Clare Hamman |
| Title | Online searchable item level catalogue and sample digital surrogate of the Archigram archives |
| Record created | 2010-10-04 |
| Record updated | 2010-10-04 12:05 |
| URL of record | http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2324 |
| Citation of record | Clare Hamman: Online searchable item level catalogue and sample digital surrogate of the Archigram archives. <http://www.arts-humanities.net/node/2324> created: 2010-10-04, last updated 2010-10-04 12:05 |