Prometheus (picture archive)

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prometheus - The distributed digital image archive for research and teaching is a web-based image collection with over 2 million high-resolution image files on art and archeology. It is aimed primarily at scientists and students in the cultural-historical subjects, in particular at representatives of art history and classical archeology .

In contrast to other image archives, prometheus does not represent a centralized image database in the technical sense. Rather, it is a metaserver ( data broker ), which in turn brings together image information ( metadata ) and images from decentralized image databases. Only the metadata is collected and stored centrally. The images themselves can remain on the source servers. In principle, prometheus can integrate all forms of metadata and is therefore an open system in which every image provider can contribute as an image contributor. Accordingly, the image material is heterogeneous. There is no content filtering, so that prominent images of art history are regularly included several times, as they are brought in by different contributors. Likewise, prometheus does not check the image quality of the image contributions.

During the first years of the project, prometheus was technically operated by the database system kleio. Since 2006, the central server has been based on the in-house development pandora, which is programmed on the basis of Ruby on Rails. The software is made available as free software under the GNU Affero General Public License . The source code is open.

In addition to the image search based on metadata, prometheus also offers various tools for collecting images in workbooks, for presenting images and for downloading. These instruments are primarily intended for use in academic teaching. There are also collaborative functions here, since picture folders can be released for other users to read or write.

Project history, sponsorship, financing

The project came about as part of the “New Media in Education” project program launched by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research in 2000. With a grant of 1.8 million euros (today's purchasing power 2.42 million euros), the project officially started on April 1, 2001. The Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (locations in Köthen and Dessau with the fields of computer science and design), the Humboldt University of Berlin (art history), the University of Gießen (art history, classical archeology) and the University of Cologne (fields of art history, educational psychology and historical Information processing in cultural studies ). A first version of the web application went online that same year.

In order to ensure the continuity and continuity of the project after the funding runs out, the non-profit sponsoring association prometheus - the distributed digital image archive for research and teaching eV was founded, which has been the office of the archive and the associated administrative and technical tasks, in particular the operates technical development.

To further finance the project, a license model was developed that provides for the use of the archive for a fee. However, small parts of the prometheus image collections can be used license-free as Open Access areas. In accordance with the non-profit nature of the project, the license fees only cover the costs of maintaining the server operation, in particular personnel costs. Prometheus continues to see itself as an open content and open source project. The apparent discrepancy between the levying of license fees and the use of the term open content has occasionally provoked sharp criticism.

Legal issues

Numerous images in prometheus are subject to copyright regulations as the protection periods have not expired. "For the use of the images in research and teaching, prometheus has signed a contract with VG Bild-Kunst , which on the one hand allows the images to be made accessible in prometheus through a wide variety of image databases and on the other hand allows them to be used for research and teaching [...] permitted ". The image material may therefore only be used free of charge in the context of research and teaching and without consulting the rights holders. Further uses require agreement with the rights holders. A particularly favorable contractual agreement exists with the picture agency for art, culture and history (formerly the picture archive Preussischer Kulturbesitz), which has allowed the free use of its images in publications with a circulation of up to 1000 copies.

Scientific research projects

In cooperation with German universities, prometheus runs the Meta-Image project for the collaborative description of image details with corresponding digital tools.

Subsidiary projects

The Marburg Photo Archive of Older Original Documents (LBA) online project is largely based on server scripts that were developed by prometheus in the first phase of the project.

After the collapse of the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne on March 3, 2009, the prometheus association initiated the project The Digital Historical Archive Cologne with the aim of digitally merging digital copies of lost or unusable archives from Cologne and making them usable in a virtual reading room. After initial reservations by the archive management, an official cooperation project between the archive and prometheus developed from this.

literature

  • Georg Hohmann u. a .: prometheus - The distributed digital image archive for research and teaching. Synergetic use of heterogeneous databases in the humanities . In: Information - Science & Practice . Vol. 53, no. 6 , 2002, pp. 355–360 ( PDF file; 59 kB [accessed March 12, 2012]).
  • Ute Verstegen : prometheus - The distributed digital image archive for research and teaching . In: zeitblicke . tape 2 , no. 1 , 2003 ( online [accessed March 12, 2012]).
  • Jürgen Nemitz, Manfred Thaller : Equals among equals: Prometheus. Information systems without the need to standardize . In: EDV-Tage Theuern 2001. Proceedings . Kümmersbruck 2002, p. 50-58 .
  • Jürgen Nemitz, Ute Verstegen: Server development, consolidation, legal issues. The distributed image archive prometheus in the 3rd year of the project . In: EDV-Tage Theuern 2003. Proceedings . Kümmersbruck 2004, p. 58-66 .
  • Holger Simon : prometheus - The distributed digital image archive for research and teaching. Does prometheus promise more than it can deliver? Lecture at the AKMB conference Collecting, Preserving and Mediating: Photo Collections in Libraries / Digital Image Archives , Dresden, 09. – 11. November 2005. In: ART doc. Publication platform art history . Heidelberg 2005 ( PDF file; 35 kB [accessed on March 12, 2012]).
  • Holger Simon: Norming and standardizing subject indexing? A plea for the heterogeneity of collection descriptions . Lecture at the conference Electronic imaging and the visual arts (EVA) , Berlin, 10. – 12. November 2004. In: Jörn Sieglerschmidt (Hrsg.): Museum Information System (MusIS) . Constance 2006, p. 100–105 ( PDF file; 96 kB [accessed March 12, 2012]).
  • Ute Verstegen: prometheus - The distributed digital image archive for research and teaching. Copyright issues and rights management in a cultural-historical online archive . In: Communications from the German Association of Archaeologists . tape 38 , no. 2 , 2007, p. 90-101 .
  • Holger Simon: Art History in the Digital Information Age - A Critical Positioning . Plenary lecture on March 14, 2007 at the 29th German Art History Conference in Regensburg. In: ART doc. Publication platform art history . Heidelberg 2007 ( PDF file; 50 kB [accessed on March 12, 2012]).
  • Holger Simon: prometheus and Justitia - Image archives of the arts and cultural studies in the field of tension of the media upheaval towards a digital information society . In: Karl-Nikolaus Peifer, Gudrun Gersmann (Ed.): Research and teaching in the information age - between freedom of access and the incentive to privatize (=  publications on European copyright law ). tape 4 . Berlin 2007, p. 65–86 ( PDF file; 68 kB [accessed March 12, 2012]).
  • Lisa Dieckmann: prometheus the distributed archive for research and education goes international . In: EVA London 2008. Electronic Visualization and the Arts. Conference Proceedings . London 2008, p. 61–67 ( PDF file; 915 kB [accessed March 12, 2012]).
  • Lisa Dieckmann u. a .: Meta-Image - a collaborative environment for the image discourse . In: Alan Seal et al. a. (Ed.): EVA London 2010. Electronic Visualization and the Arts. Conference Proceedings . Plymouth 2010, p. 190–198 ( PDF file; 721 kB [accessed March 12, 2012]).
  • Lisa Dieckmann: prometheus: the distributed digital image archive for research and education . In: L'Art et la Mesure - Histoire de l'art et méthodes quantitative . Sous la direction de Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, avec la collaboration de Luc Sigalo Santos. Editions Rue d'Ulm, Paris 2010, p. 141-151 .
  • Lisa Dieckmann, Claus Kalle: Cooperation from data storage in the AFS to the private cloud - prometheus image database changing over time . In: Kölner Universitätszeitung . IT supplement. tape 5 , 2010, p. 2 ( PDF file; 374 kB [accessed on March 12, 2012]).
  • Lisa Dieckmann, Jürgen Nemitz: The Marburg photo archive of older original documents (LBA) online. A consideration with special consideration of papal documents . In: Irmgard Fees u. a. (Ed.): Papal documents of the early and high Middle Ages. External characteristics - conservation - restoration . Leipzig 2011, ISBN 978-3-938533-27-7 , pp. 95-115 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. In prometheus you will find 2,096,314 high-quality digitized images from the fields of arts, culture and history. October 23, 2019, accessed October 23, 2019 .
  2. kleio homepage. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  3. About Pandora. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  4. ^ Funding program for new media in education. (PDF file; 9.8 MB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 14, 2007 ; Retrieved October 6, 2012 .
  5. From project to association - The story of prometheus. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  6. prometheus - The association. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  7. license fees. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  8. Perversion of the concept of open content. In: Archivalia. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  9. Information on image rights and the use of images in prometheus. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  10. Meta-Image: Development of a distributed virtual research and communication environment for the image discourse in art history. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .
  11. ^ Cologne City Archives: Copyright to archival material? Retrieved March 12, 2012 . and head of the Cologne City Archives sees the making available of reproductions a violation of copyright. Retrieved March 12, 2012 .