Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music: The evolution of a digital resource

Abstract

This article discusses the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM), and the ground-breaking work they have done in digitizing manuscript sources for medieval music. In many cases this has involved digital reconstruction where the notation is illegible, erased, or hidden under later texts. Through their good example DIAMM have been instrumental in educating photographers in archives and researchers alike in the proper methodology of digital photography with regard to medieval manuscripts. Their standards are especially high in capturing the images and the metadata they store. This enables them to undertake the sometimes miraculous digital restoration. The article covers the methodology of the DIAMM project, the delivery of images, and some of the problems they have encountered.

Keywords

• Electronic Preservation
• Music
• Manuscripts
• Zoomify
• Images
• Image Restoration