Janice Siegel
Instructional Technology Development Grant (ISU) Application (successful) 2003
I have created a huge website of international acclaim integrating my own photographs (five of which have been published in either scholarly or pedagogical books) of classical sites and material culture with lectures I have written on a variety of classical subjects. These lectures and photographs I use on a regular basis in my classroom teaching. I created this website with equipment best described as "stone knives and bearskins" compared to the technology now available. In the past I have scanned in images (easily a thousand) at three different resolutions - by hand - and stored them in directories of my own devising without benefit of an image cataloguing system (or, in fact, any system to speak of at all). I have not been able to advance my project in the last two years because of time constraints. But now I can accomplish so much more for my students with just a fraction of the time and effort.
First, I seek aid in cataloguing the thousands of photographs I have collected and not had time to organize, and therefore, to use in class instruction (these include many sites and museums in Italy -- Rome, Paestum, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia) -- and the British Museum, all of which are relevant to my Latin classes. These images are stored in a variety of ways - on Kodak picture cd-roms, on slides, and as regular photographs. This term I have the help of an in-class honors student who is eager to learn about classics and technology by cataloguing and researching the many images (which temple *is* that?) I have already captured. Most of the photos that need to be catalogued concern Roman culture and art and architecture, all subjects extremely relevant to my teaching, since my previous focus was on Greek literature and archaeology. Eventually, my students will have complete access to my entire portfolio of photographs, and we can devise any number of instructional uses for them: to prepare instructional materials for Myth and Meaning by connecting the ancient tales to their topographical settings and artistic tradition in ancient and modern cultures, to use the ruins in the fora to illustrate Livy’s description of Rome (we read Ab Urbe Condita, Livy’s history of Rome, in Latin 116), and to provide my students with the resources to illustrate their own class presentations and reports (recent semester projects of Latin 221 students would have benefited from photos I have buried somewhere in my files but couldn’t make available). Once available for use, this photo bank will also be of use to many of my colleagues at ISU, including those in the departments of English, History, and Theater and Fine Arts.
The digital camera will promise that photos I take from now on will not need scanning or other extremely time-consuming manipulation. I have several trips planned for the spring and summer which will provide extraordinary opportunities to gather rare and useful images that I am eager to integrate into my class instructional materials (visits to the British and Ashmolean Museums, a Roman fort, etc.). Snapping photos the old-fashioned way, and scanning them in when I get home, is simply out of the picture for me these days. The digital camera and image management software will provide me with a quick and easy way to do in hours what it literally took me months to accomplish before. The software will allow the photographs to be catalogued so they can be used effectively (call up statues of Roman Emperors from the first century or match the temple with the god). The camera will allow me to expand the Roman culture side of my website and photograph collection, thereby enhancing my teaching and enriching my students' experience.
Item #1: The Ultimate Digital Camera Software Kit
ACDSee digital photo and image management software. This will allow fast and easy cataloguing, displaying and searching of my many thousands of photos, no matter their source. A special package bundles the basic management software with two other useful products: RealOptimizer (lets you quickly resize and optimize single or multiple images for Web) and ACD FotoSlate 2.0 (creates layouts of many photos on one page).
Item #2:
Sony's MVC-CD250 Digital Still Camera (2.0 megapixel resolution, 2.1 MegaPixel gross, 3X optical zoom). Data storage is on a mini cd-rom, obviating the need to lug around a laptop on trips. This model also promises equally clear photos at 100, 200, and 400 ISO (good for both inside museums and outside at archaeological sites). Includes 1 GB of CD media (6 CD-R & 1 CD-RW), NP-FM50 Infolithium® rechargeable battery, AC-L10 AC Adaptor/in-camera charger, A/V and USB cables, lens cap w/strap, shoulder strap, CD-ROM w/Pixela ImageMixer for Sony v1.0, USB driver.
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=292297
The technology is cutting edge, yet proven, and is sure to be useful beyond a limited number of years.
These products may be less expensive if bought by the university...but this is the best I found on the web:
cost of The Ultimate Digital Camera Software Kit (ACDSee):
$110 + $10 shipping
http://www.acdsystems.com/English/index.htm
cost of Sony's MVC-CD250 Digital Still Camera:
$499.97 + $49.99 (3 year warranty) + $31.25 taxes (unless ISU is exempt) + $8.50 shipping
camera carrying case: $28.72 + $5.50 shipping
http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/skugroup25350.html
cheaper prices are available here:
http://www.everyprice.com/cgi-bin/search/hyperseek.cgi?search=CAT&Category=Consumer%20Electronics%3ADigital%20Cameras%3ASony%3AMavica%20MVC-CD250
but I do not know these companies.