DigiROM: Digital indexing of postcards and prints of Rom e.V.

French postcard, family of a Bear Guide, 1902, collection of the Rom e.V.

Project partner

» Rom e.V., Association for the Understanding of Roma (Roma and Sinti) and Non-Roma e.V.
» prometheus – the distributed digital image archive for research & teaching, University of Cologne

Project term

Development of a digitisation concept: 01.02.2017 – 31.10.2017 (1st funding phase)
Implementation and further development: 01.01.2021 – 30.06.2023 (2nd funding phase)

Project description

The aim of the project is the conception and subsequent implementation of a project for the indexing and linking of various image genres and visual media of the Rom e.V. Cologne. In its archive and documentation centre, the association has assembled a unique collection in its interplay of self-representation and representation of others, of which especially 2360 historical postcards and 1225 graphics offer a profound insight into the pictorial construction of Sinti and Roma. The motifs and iconography of these collections will be indexed and made accessible to researchers and the public as an important link between early modern representations and contemporary ideas.
prometheus will provide the technical expertise to create a suitable data model, provide a database and integrate the image pool into the archive after completion of the project. The data will be enriched with norm data and made available in the LIDO exchange format. In addition, the material is to be linked with digitisations from prometheus in order to make further connections visible beyond the collection. Internal pictorial connections are to be reconstructed in the database and breaks and transformations are also to become visible. The keywording of recurring motifs, discourses and stereotypes is intended to ensure indexing and research that above all shows the topological linking of the individual images. The scientific claim of this linking and annotation goes far beyond the preservation of the material provided by Rom e.V.

Funding:

» Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

Applicants (1st funding phase)

Dr. Peter Bell
Computer Vision Group
Heidelberg Collaboratory for Image Processing (HCI)
Mathematikon / INF 205
69120 Heidelberg

Dr. Lisa Dieckmann
Universität zu Köln
Kunsthistorisches Institut
Albertus-Magnus-Platz
50931 Köln

Applicants (2nd funding phase)

Rom e.V. Köln
Venloer Wall 17
50672 Köln