BAHL : Belgian Aviation History Library We are a group of friends active in many aviation groups (BAMRS, BAMF, BAHA, Fonds National Alfred Renard). Since 2003, we united our efforts to preserve and share by digital methods pictures and documents about aviation history in Belgium. Thanks to the BAMF, we received first quality hardware and support to start scanning and catalogue collections of pictures and drawings. Describing aircraft pictures Introduction Using digital techniques to preverse pictures is very common today. Theses methods offer many advantages, amongst theses we can mention : – It is very low cost, much lower cost than classical picture reproductions. – It is more secure. Many copies or backup can be stored in different places to avoid destructions or robberies. – It is storage effective. You can store many pictures on a CD's. Theses CD can be stored in a limited space,

much more limited that the original pictures. – It is Scanning pictures is a very simple task however it is not useful if this no more possible to easily find back the pictures when a great number of pictures are stored on a CD or a hard disk. This is the same situation if you want to preserve your own pictures taken during Museum's visits or air shows This situation can fast become a nightmare if some peoples try to work together to preserve pictures if everyone identify the pictures in own way or use a technique who permit to much variations. Another aspect is to ease the exchange of pictures. Scans speed up communications of the visual evidences. But when sorting or processing received pictures it will be easier to directly find the subject, the source and other information if these information are included in the pictures itself. Last but not least, clearly identifying pictures will ease the works of serious researchers and make more difficult the action of pictures pirates. This is not an exact science but a set of techniques in progress. Fortunately with the success of digital photography, these techniques are improving everyday. This text is not a theoretical works but more the results of some experience. Our target is to help anyone to better preserve aviation pictures and ease researches by sharing information and techniques. If you are interested in more technical information, you can find interesting information in our links and sources sections. Using filename : the wrong way ? A si mple way to ease the retrieval of pictures is to name the file containing the picture. Then it will be easy to import the description of the picture in a database (it could be a simple excel file) or to execute a search on a CD-ROM or a hard disk to find the needed pictures. We first tried to use a system base on the name of the file containing the picture.

As a template we used the description provided by the SEPIA project (see http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/sepia/home.html and http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/sepia/workinggroups/wp5/cataloguing.html#docs ). The target of the description of a picture is basically to provide information about – who: persons, animals, things – what: actions, conditions – where: geographical or architectural space – when: - Sources For pictures of aircraft, it would be more significant to provide the information sorted as – who: aircraft & persons – what: situation – where: geographical or architectural space – when: - Sources For example – who: Fairey Firefly Norbert Leboutte – what: Meeting – where: Evere – when: 1936 –Source: Collection Norbert Leboutte This classification is still limited to describe aircraft pictures, we then introduce further fields –unit or company : 2 Sq –registration: Y-75 –repetition: as the same aircraft can be portrayed in the same situation many time (001 first shoot, 002 second shoot …) _identification: unique codification of the picture to easy latter retrieval. For example – who: Fairey Firefly Norbert Leboutte – unit: 2Sq –registration: Y-75 – what: Meeting _where: Evere _when: 1936 –repetition: 0001 _id :YD0001 –Source: Collection Norbert Leboutte then the name of the picture file would be : Fairey Firefly Norbert Leboutte 2 Sq Y-75Meeting Evere 1936 0001 YD0001 Collection Norbert Leboutte This layout has still some defects -there is no visible separator between the different fields, then it is not easy to interpret the description -as there is no separator between the fields, a database software cannot directly read the information to upload the description -there is some case where it is not possible to have information about the “ where” or “ where” so there is a need for a separator character permitting to split field and allow blank field. By convention we will use “ _” character, our example will then be Fairey Firefly_Norbert Leboutte_2 Sq_Y-75_Meeting_Evere_1936_ 0001_YD0001_Collection Norbert Leboutte

If the what & where are unknown the title will be Fairey Firefly_Norbert Leboutte_2 Sq_Y-75_ _ _1936_ 0001_YD0001_Collection Norbert Leboutte Where _ _ _ signify the what & where field are blank Here are some other examples of this codification B26Marauder_ _ _ _Victory Display_Cinquentaire parc - Bx l_1945_ 001_YD00005_coll-JL-ROBA.jpg| Caudron C59_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 001_YDU00007_coll JL Roba.jpg| Caudron C59_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 002_YDU00008_coll JL Roba.jpg| de Havilland Mosquito_ _ _ _Victory Display_Cinquentaire parc - Bx l_1945_ 001_YD00006_coll-JL-ROBA.jpg| Hawker Typhoon_ _ _ _ Victory Display_Cinquentaire parc - Bx l_1945_ 001_YD00006_coll-JL-ROBA.jpg| Morane Saulnier MS236_ _ _ _ _ _001_YDU0009_coll JL Roba.jpg| Limitations & codifications

• Filename size : Some CD recorder software limits the filename size to 64 characters. It means if the filename is longer that 64 caracter, the information will be lost, so if further information need to describe the pictures I suggest a text file containing comments with the same name but with a tx t extension will be created for example : Fairey Firefly_Norbert Leboutte_ _ _1936_ 0001_YD0001_Collection Norbert Leboutte.tx t containing a text describing the picture.

• Codification of aircraft type: the who field can be very long if the full aircraft name are included for exemple Republic RF84F Thunderflash can be coded RF84. A certain amount of detail is needed for subtype classification for exemple BRXIX A2B2. A list must be created to ease codification.

• People name : I suggest the first name second name will be the standard (Norbert Leboutte for Capitaine Norbert Leboutte). If the title (colonel, Lieutenant) is not significant for the picture, these title will not be included in the pictures. But for exemple if the titles is important in the context, it would be included (for example, the titles of members of a acrobatic teams).

• In case of doubt : If there is any doubt about the identification, place, time or description it is better to avoid to introduce the information. For example, if there is a doubt about the exact location where a picture is taken, do not introduce the information if you are not sure. The target is not to achieve identification performance but to scientifically classify information.

• Accentuated characters : Although this situation still improves, the use of accentuated characters can still be the cause of some technical problem when converting information or wxhen publishing on Internet. So, as far as possible it is better to avoid such characters as äïéèç …

• Language : to better standardize classification and easy searches, we strongly suggest to use English to describe the pictures.

• Using the right name : It is already a common practice within the BAHA to try to use as much as possible the right term the describe air forces, for example KLU for Konijnlijke Luchtmacht and not RNAF or Armée de l’air and not French Air Force. We suggest also to use the right term according to the time, for example Belgian Air force between 1922 and 1940 must be code Aem

The main drawback of this method is when you need to correct the description. For example For Fairey Firefly_Norbert Leboutte_2 Sq_Y-75_ _ _1936_ 0001_YD0001_Collection Norbert Leboutte After examination you discover another details fot the example the place, Nivelle. No problem, you change the description but you need to correct all the catalogues containing the description because there is risk of confusion between your original description and the corrected one. More problematic is the fast if you transmitted the pictures to some others peoples they can themselves be confused and they can not get the last information on this pictures. We can image some codification giving the status of the picture and recording the date of the last update but it complicate again the codification.

Abbreviations The use of abbreviation will help the codification however in certain situation it could lead to some confusion. We must keep in mind, anyone including non specialists must be able to understand, so if abbreviation are used a list of abbreviation and their significance must be included with the collection. Let’s take care at abbreviation we use everyday but nobody understand. Software tools As the name of the files contains the description of the picture, it could be tricky to not forget field, the following template can be used by copy/paste as a template Whoaircraft_whopeoples_Unit_Registration_what_where_when_ rep_id_coll Thumbhtml provide a tool to convert the list of the filename contained in a directory in a textfile which can be used to upload a database. Excel, Access and other database can import textfile generated by Thumbhtml if the _ separator suggestions are followed. Recoding ancient files and evolution of the model. The target is not to stop any running pictures scanning activities to “ ’correct” ancient filename codifications or to rename thousand and thousand of pictures files to “ follow” the proposed regulations. I would be far easier and more productive to correct filename when pictures are accessed. Then it will possible to enhance the quality of the information on a regular basis and ease the adoption of this standard. In practise, we suggest to use the method proposed for new scanned images. When “old” scanned images are manipulated, then change the filename in accordance with the new standards by using file rename. IPTC : The final standard ? As we see, using a method base Another coding for the pictures names Why to tag the picture ? Who is the owner of a picture ? What software can we use ? Using ex ifer and other tools. References

Exifer Ex ifer is a freeware1 software permitting to perform some interesting features :

• The pictures can be described using both ex if & iptc2 standard • The pictures descriptions can be modified in batch (for exemple, you can enter the same information in a

field on a set of pictures). • The ex if and iptc are stored in the pictures • Informations in ex if and iptc can be converted from one standard to the other one. • Informations in ex if and iptc from the pictures can be exported to text or excel compatibles files. • Pictures can be renamed on a logical way (for exemple a root+a counter like YDU00001.jpg) • There is no loss in pictures quality when pictures are documented.

You can download it from http://www.friedemann-schmidt.com/software/exifer/ Ex if description field of a picture MakeModelDescriptionArtistCopyrightDate modifiedOrientationX-Resolut ionY-Resolut ionResolut ion unitFirmware versionWhite pointPrimary chromaticYCbCr coefficientYCbCr-PositioningRef. black/whiteComment 1 A Freeware software is a software you can freely and legally use. 2 Exif and iptc are two standard used to describe pictures both in Jpeg and tiff format. Ex if is more dedicated to describe technical information on a pictures, iptc was designed to describe pictures for the press industry including author, location, country.

iptc description of a picture Author Sent dateCredit Sent timeSource CityURL StateCopyright notice Country codeAuthor name CountryAuthor t it le Transmission referenceObject name Edit stateHeadline UrgencyDescription CycleSpecial Instruct ions Reference serviceCategory Reference dateSub categories Reference numberKeywords SoftwareCreation date Software versionCreation time Job stateDistribution date Service-IDDistribution time Comment Just an example what can be done with exifer

Nice picture ! More info ?

Then in ex ifer Select the picture you want to describe (here July 02 2004 166ter.jpg)

To describe the picture, select EXIT/IPTC, Edit

Select IPTC Data

Here following an example of describing a picture

When all information are entered, click on OK to save the information with the pic ture. By clicking on Save as template, you can re use the same description for some pic tures. You can also select some pictures and edit in one time all the descriptions or enter the common fields.

A layout to describe the pictures Here the layout I use

The original source of the picture

The name of the person who take the picture if known

The name of the owner of the copyright if known

The title of the picture

The title of the picture repeated (same as object name)

Detailled description of the picture with maximum details

Keywords as much as you want

Place where the picture was taken

Country where the picture was taken

Date when the picture was taken

Reference of the collection (for example BAHL10)

Status of the picture : original, corrected, scan by, received from

Viewing the pictures descriptions When a pic ture is documented, you can v iew the description on the right panel of ex ifer

You can also check which pictures is documented or not

Description of the picture

Selected picture

Theses two pictures have IPTC descriptions

Theses pictures have no IPTC descriptions

Using IPTC with others software Here a few examples of IPTC descriptions entered using IPTC and used in other softwares. Photosop is not illustrated but can use IPTC.

Exporting pictures descriptions to an excel file Select all pic tures of a folder by

Selected files

Select export the description

Selected all to select all the information

You can save these settings for further process

Click on continue to go to the next step of the export

Give a name to the file containing the descriptions. Use a .tx t extension for better result (for example ex ifer.tx t in place of exifer.csv), then click on save.

Ex ifer export the descriptions

Open the result file In excel

Selected tx t files

Selected delimited

Click on next

Selected comma as delimiters

Click on next

Click on finish

Data imported in excel

Finding pictures using search based on IPTC Kalimage permit to index and search pic tures based on IPTC informations

Imagewalker permit also to search pic tures on information in IPTC

Tagging pictures with exifer

Installation of exifer You can download ex ifer from http://www.friedemann-schmidt.com/software/ex ifer/ or More about http://www.digital-photo-software-guide.com/ex ifer.html More about IPTC http://www.controlledvocabulary .com/imagedatabases/iptc_naa.html http://www.ap.org/apserver/userguide/codes.htm http://www.matirsoft.com/main/folder_v iewer.htm http://www.tucows.com/prev iew/194967.html http://bppdocs.camner.net/html/metadata.htm http://www.tasi.ac.uk/adv ice/delivering/ims-software.html http://www.tasi.ac.uk/adv ice/delivering/ faqtagging.html http://www.forum4designers.com/message164244.html photoshop & IPTC http://www.agfanet.com/en/cafe/photocourse/digicourse/lesson11/cont_chapter05.php3 http://www.nabocorp.com/cam2pc/ freeware.php Cam2PC : a tool to read IPTC information http://www.takenet.or.jp/~ryuuji/minisoft/ex ifread/english/