About The Barnchive

The Barnchive is a project for Multimedia 450 The Theory and Practice of Building Digital Archives, at Bradley University, spring semester, 2007. The basic premise was to create high-resolution, digitally composited, photographic images of both the interior and exterior of barns located in the Peoria area. Obviously, both time and proximity played roles in the final outcome of the project. Below is the original project proposal and production schedule for completing the project.


The Barnchive

Members:

Abstract:

We plan on capturing the still images of 5 barns around Peoria and surrounding areas. The barns we are photographing are in Washington and Metamora, IL. We chose these barns based on architectural difference, proximity, and habitual residents.

List of defined content:

Detailed Summary:

We will access the content by locating area barns and asking owners for permission to photograph the barns for archival purposes. We will have paperwork to validate that we are students and are performing a legitimate project for Bradley University. We will categorize by year constructed, style, size, and usage.

The selection process was fairly simple - the barns that were selected all had something that made them stick out from the countless barns around central Illinois. In addition to that all of the barns being unique, distance from Bradley was also a contributing factor. Because each barn is different, we will have an archive that has several unique barns. Only one of the barns is your “standard” modern barn, so the archive will give the user a unique experience about barns.

We will not be incorporating Quicktime VR in the production because it is an impractical way for us to present our content, and would ultimately be more time consuming that it's worth. Instead, by using stitched images we will be able to create several incredibly high-quality images per barn from different perspectives, including the outside from many angles. This will let users get an in-depth look at the detail of the interior and exterior of each structure. In addition to this we will be using high-quality pictures of significant details within the barn, including wear, architecturally interesting or unique qualities, construction components, windows, color, etc.

We are by no means experts about barns, so as far as scholarly content goes, we hope to obtain as much information as possible from the owners themselves. Hopefully, they can provide us with architectural notes as well as some history of the barns. Preliminary interviews with the homeowners have proven that they are an incredibly knowledgeable and friendly source of information. This will not be our only source of information on the subject of barns; we will also be doing research into types of barns and uses, as well as different styles and interesting information. Different descriptive metadata attributes include: name, type, year, usages, color, size, material, facts, previous owners, GPS coordinates. Different technical metadata include: file size, resolution, f-stop, aperture, shutter speed, camera used.

For the user interface, each barn will get its own dedicated page within the site, all easily navigable from the homepage. Metadata will link the barn pages to the other pages in the piece, with information on specific parts or details that will not be on the main barn pages. Thumbnails will link to a reasonably sized preview of the image. On this site there will be a “download full image” link on this larger image size where the user can download the full resolution image for their personal use. We hope to create an archive of these particular barns, as well as some general information on the barns themselves that will be useful in itself, and a good addition to the specific content we will have collected.


Project Timeline

Acquisition Phase:

Summary:

High resolution pictures of every applicable side of the outside of the barn made of multiple smaller pictures, plus detailed pictures six megapixels or higher of smaller details such as texture, color, and materials. If allowed, inside stitched shots of the barn will be taken as well as detail pictures, if applicable. Physical measurements will be taken when possible.

Dates and Production Components:

Chris Cooverts
1763 N. Main St.
Washington, IL 61571
(309) 303-4995
-Production: 4/14
-Post Production: 4/15

Scott Huser
796 North Fork Rd
Metamora, IL 61548
(309) 367-4665
-Production: 4/10
-Post-Production: 4/12

Jamie Adams
1156 County Rd 900E
Metamora, IL, 61548
(309) 367-2678
-Production: 4/14
-Post-Production: 4/15


-Post Production: 4/16-4/21
-Interface Design: 4/16-4/20
-Database Development: 4/15-4/22
-Presentation: 4/24