Case Study
Media & Entertainment: TimePix - The Time Inc. Picture Collection
Business Challenge:
Catalog one of the world's premiere picture collections and enable worldwide access via the Web to clients seeking digital reproduction rights.
Business Team:
Time Inc. Ever since the first issues of TIME and LIFE, the nation's leading news and picture magazines, the world's most significant people, places and events have been captured in TimePix, the photo archive of Time Inc. Over the years, images from the pages of great magazines including PEOPLE, FORTUNE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, MONEY, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and others have been added. Many of the world's preeminent photographers and agencies have entrusted their work to the TimePix collection, making it the ultimate archive for the most well-known images of our time.
Electronic Scriptorium, Ltd., solves complex information management and data conversion problems for leading media companies, e-commerce initiatives, museums, libraries and government agencies. In a business association unique to Scriptorium, cloistered monks underpin a highly educated workforce that meets exacting standards of quality and accuracy. Scriptorium provides expertise in content creation for online product catalogs, digital photography, digital photo cataloging, USMARC record cataloging and XML document conversion.
Technical Approach:
Time Inc. has long held the foremost collection of world-class photography. In the late 1980's, Time took on the challenge of moving its traditional photograph collection to a digital format. In response to new, Web-based opportunities, Time developed a blueprint of a Web-based image delivery system and detailed the desired capabilities. Prospective purchasers of images would be able to search the online photo database using basic words in English. More complex searching techniques would then allow clients to narrow their selections. Next, clients would be able to view an unlimited number of thumbnails (small, low-resolution images) and full-size images, and organize the selected images in electronic folders called "Lightboxes." Finally, requested images would be submitted and received online in the format specified. Clients would even be able to download high-resolution image files directly to a computer desktop!
While the technical aspects of implementing such a Web-based image management and delivery system were formidable, the manual cataloging effort needed to support the creation of a database containing hundreds of thousand photographs was overwhelming. The complexity and enormity of the cataloging project outstripped Time's internal resources and thus a call went out to Electronic Scriptorium for assistance.
Time Inc. has maintained its picture collection since before the days of modern computing. At the outset, managing the collection relied on the manual assignment of subject headings. The manual photo management process required the creation of a comprehensive subject heading taxonomy that classified each photo by the terms most likely to be used to retrieve the photo. Additional information about the photo was also recorded, including photographer, date, location and reproduction rights.
All of the supporting written information about the photo needed to be converted into a standard record format along with additional subjective information. Time Inc. required that the photos be cataloged real-time directly into the company's proprietary photo management system, placing additional demands on catalogers.
Implementation Methodology:
Time Inc.’s subject cataloging system has been implemented and refined over decades of use, resulting in a well documented taxonomy of subject headings. Electronic Scriptorium applied the taxonomy to the digital images that make up TimePix. In addition to gaining a thorough understanding of Time Inc.’s cataloging system, Electronic Scriptorium helped to refine that system by suggesting new terms for the cataloging taxonomy. Electronic Scriptorium reviewed each image for a range of other objective and subjective factors that included model rights, image orientation and data integrity. By contributing its expertise and knowledge of photo collection management techniques, the Electronic Scriptorium staff effectively became an extension of the Time Inc. staff.
Over the course of the five-year project, Time Inc.’s trust in Electronic Scriptorium increased steadily. Before long, Time Inc. was shipping large quantities of actual TimePix photographs to Electronic Scriptorium for processing. This step saved Time Inc. money and effort by precluding the need to make backup copies of the photos prior to shipping them to Electronic Scriptorium’s Leesburg, Virginia, facility.
Time Inc. required that the cataloged images be added in real time to the TimePix online system. To meet this requirement, Electronic Scriptorium’s technical staff worked with Time Inc. to install multiple dedicated data lines to Electronic Scriptorium’s corporate facility and to a monastic subcontractor facility. The dedicated lines provided Electronic Scriptorium with direct access to the live TimePix database while at the same time meeting Time Inc.’s secure firewall standards.
Time Inc. and Electronic Scriptorium worked closely together to implement a comprehensive inventory control system that provided Time Inc. with the confidence to ship its "one of a kind" images to Electronic Scriptorium. The inventory system also allowed Electronic Scriptorium to quickly locate photos required by Time Inc. to support breaking news stories.
Conclusion:
Electronic Scriptorium's ongoing cataloging for TimePix has produced cataloging content for over 600,000 of America's best recognized images. The project allowed Time Inc. to reduce its cataloging costs by over 50% from traditional methods. At the same time, cataloging production significantly exceeded Time Inc.'s in-house capacity.
Electronic Scriptorium is especially proud of its record in meeting the quality and production requirements of such an important and progressive clients. The project required both organizations to identify new and innovative solutions to technical, logistical and quality challenges encountered during development. Electronic Scriptorium gained valuable experience with the practical issues involved in applying historically accurate subject headings to images in a business and social environment fraught with political sensitivities. The TimePix project is a milestone in both Electronic Scriptorium's and Time Inc.'s corporate histories.
Catalog one of the world's premiere picture collections and enable worldwide access via the Web to clients seeking digital reproduction rights.
Business Team:
Time Inc. Ever since the first issues of TIME and LIFE, the nation's leading news and picture magazines, the world's most significant people, places and events have been captured in TimePix, the photo archive of Time Inc. Over the years, images from the pages of great magazines including PEOPLE, FORTUNE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, MONEY, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY and others have been added. Many of the world's preeminent photographers and agencies have entrusted their work to the TimePix collection, making it the ultimate archive for the most well-known images of our time.
Electronic Scriptorium, Ltd., solves complex information management and data conversion problems for leading media companies, e-commerce initiatives, museums, libraries and government agencies. In a business association unique to Scriptorium, cloistered monks underpin a highly educated workforce that meets exacting standards of quality and accuracy. Scriptorium provides expertise in content creation for online product catalogs, digital photography, digital photo cataloging, USMARC record cataloging and XML document conversion.
Technical Approach:
Time Inc. has long held the foremost collection of world-class photography. In the late 1980's, Time took on the challenge of moving its traditional photograph collection to a digital format. In response to new, Web-based opportunities, Time developed a blueprint of a Web-based image delivery system and detailed the desired capabilities. Prospective purchasers of images would be able to search the online photo database using basic words in English. More complex searching techniques would then allow clients to narrow their selections. Next, clients would be able to view an unlimited number of thumbnails (small, low-resolution images) and full-size images, and organize the selected images in electronic folders called "Lightboxes." Finally, requested images would be submitted and received online in the format specified. Clients would even be able to download high-resolution image files directly to a computer desktop!
While the technical aspects of implementing such a Web-based image management and delivery system were formidable, the manual cataloging effort needed to support the creation of a database containing hundreds of thousand photographs was overwhelming. The complexity and enormity of the cataloging project outstripped Time's internal resources and thus a call went out to Electronic Scriptorium for assistance.
Time Inc. has maintained its picture collection since before the days of modern computing. At the outset, managing the collection relied on the manual assignment of subject headings. The manual photo management process required the creation of a comprehensive subject heading taxonomy that classified each photo by the terms most likely to be used to retrieve the photo. Additional information about the photo was also recorded, including photographer, date, location and reproduction rights.
All of the supporting written information about the photo needed to be converted into a standard record format along with additional subjective information. Time Inc. required that the photos be cataloged real-time directly into the company's proprietary photo management system, placing additional demands on catalogers.
Implementation Methodology:
Time Inc.’s subject cataloging system has been implemented and refined over decades of use, resulting in a well documented taxonomy of subject headings. Electronic Scriptorium applied the taxonomy to the digital images that make up TimePix. In addition to gaining a thorough understanding of Time Inc.’s cataloging system, Electronic Scriptorium helped to refine that system by suggesting new terms for the cataloging taxonomy. Electronic Scriptorium reviewed each image for a range of other objective and subjective factors that included model rights, image orientation and data integrity. By contributing its expertise and knowledge of photo collection management techniques, the Electronic Scriptorium staff effectively became an extension of the Time Inc. staff.
Over the course of the five-year project, Time Inc.’s trust in Electronic Scriptorium increased steadily. Before long, Time Inc. was shipping large quantities of actual TimePix photographs to Electronic Scriptorium for processing. This step saved Time Inc. money and effort by precluding the need to make backup copies of the photos prior to shipping them to Electronic Scriptorium’s Leesburg, Virginia, facility.
Time Inc. required that the cataloged images be added in real time to the TimePix online system. To meet this requirement, Electronic Scriptorium’s technical staff worked with Time Inc. to install multiple dedicated data lines to Electronic Scriptorium’s corporate facility and to a monastic subcontractor facility. The dedicated lines provided Electronic Scriptorium with direct access to the live TimePix database while at the same time meeting Time Inc.’s secure firewall standards.
Time Inc. and Electronic Scriptorium worked closely together to implement a comprehensive inventory control system that provided Time Inc. with the confidence to ship its "one of a kind" images to Electronic Scriptorium. The inventory system also allowed Electronic Scriptorium to quickly locate photos required by Time Inc. to support breaking news stories.
Conclusion:
Electronic Scriptorium's ongoing cataloging for TimePix has produced cataloging content for over 600,000 of America's best recognized images. The project allowed Time Inc. to reduce its cataloging costs by over 50% from traditional methods. At the same time, cataloging production significantly exceeded Time Inc.'s in-house capacity.
Electronic Scriptorium is especially proud of its record in meeting the quality and production requirements of such an important and progressive clients. The project required both organizations to identify new and innovative solutions to technical, logistical and quality challenges encountered during development. Electronic Scriptorium gained valuable experience with the practical issues involved in applying historically accurate subject headings to images in a business and social environment fraught with political sensitivities. The TimePix project is a milestone in both Electronic Scriptorium's and Time Inc.'s corporate histories.
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