JISC

Introduction

This project aims to produce a national repository for biomedical images that are copyright-cleared and free for use in learning, teaching and research.

The project will build on the Bristol BioMed Image Archive, a highly utilised and well-regarded image archive. The archive has been established for 10 years and originally comprised a collection of images from the medical, dentistry and veterinary sciences, supplied by Bristol University and other academics.  The project will include the circa 8500 images that are currently in the BioMed Image Archive, which are all copyright cleared for use in higher education (HE).

The new resource will allow users from other institutions to add images and metadata to the archive for the purpose of sharing with the image using community.  All images will be copyright cleared for use in further education (FE) and HE. By adopting this approach the resource will be far greater than one that could be produced by an individual institution.   

Aims and Objectives

The project aims to provide a robust online image resource.  This will provide educators with the ability to input their own images to share with others for use in learning, teaching and research in FE and HE.  

The project has five key areas to address: 

1) User needs analysis
2) Hardware & software issues
3) Copyright and patient permissions
4) Metadata and interoperability
5) Dissemination and promotional activity  

These key areas break down into the following project objectives. 

Objectives

The project will: 

• Set up specialist focus group meetings with current and would-be users in order to investigate the needs and wants of the community.
• Provide a robust hardware and software structure for the deposit and retrieval of images. 
• Examine and adopt the most appropriate metadata schema for the resource.
• Produce a collections development policy.
• Develop and deliver online user guides in order to ensure the ease of use for image deposit and retrieval.
• Approach United Kingdom universities in order to get overall approval for their academics to deposit images in the archive.
• Extend the relevance of the BioMed Image Archive to the FE community, particularly at NVQ and A Level.
• Provide up to date information regarding current sizes of images and resolutions for specific purposes applicable to learning, teaching and research.
• Examine the current legislation and provide guidelines for production and use of images containing patients, for online use.
• Provide basic technical advice for those new to making images for use in teaching and learning.
• Identify and engage a network of subject specialists who will approve images on a number of criteria, before they are added to the resource.   
• Run workshops for subject specialists responsible for image approval, in order to provide training to ensure images meet quality control benchmarks.
• Widely promote the end product, the BioMed Image Archive, to the image using community and engage non-image users to consider the advantages images can provide for learning and teaching.
• Promote community ownership of the BioMed Image Archive.  
• Develop a model of sustainability for the BioMed Image Archive and other JISC digital image collections.

Overall Approach

The overall approach to the five key areas is as follows. 

User Needs Analysis

The project will investigate the majority needs and wants of the image using community.  This will be achieved by holding focus group meetings.  The meetings will comprise existing and “would be” users, from FE and HE institutions around the country.

All of the project's objective areas will be addressed by the focus groups. This will gauge what users would like and expect from the new site.  The meetings are central to establishing what users and would-be users of images feel about the various areas under review. 

Information and results provided by the focus groups will provide direction for the objective areas including: metadata, copyright, user guides, quality issues and image searching. It is envisaged that an accurate direction will be established for the project to further investigate its objectives, as necessary. 

Focus group meetings will also allow the opportunity to examine areas of concern, from the group and individual perspective.  They will also provide a platform from very early on in the project, to engage users and promote the project further. 

Hardware and Software

A robust structure and infrastructure is paramount to engage users to keep returning to the resource.  Scalability will be provided to allow the easy addition of capacity to the server in the event that this is needed.  Investigations will be made into additional features that the archive could provide, such as the ability for users to add animated graphic format files to the archive where appropriate. Also, scalability will be provided to allow for the provision of video streaming, in the event of demand for this feature and funding being available at some point in the future.

Investigations will be made into innovative features for the site, including the ability for users to have their own image space, with a history of images they have downloaded.  Examination will be made into the facility for users to register their requirements for images types at the site. This will generate an email, sent directly advising when a new image in the user’s particular area of interest is added to the archive. 

Copyright and Patient Permissions

The project will examine the area of copyright and patient permissions independently.  Conclusions will be drawn and recommendations made from investigations for the most appropriate use of copyright wording for adoption by the revised resource.

In conjunction with the Learning and Teaching Support Network for Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science (LTSN-01) and British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), the project will approach UK FE and HE institutions in an endeavour to gain blanket approval from institutions for their educators to deposit images.  Thus a donor would be able to deposit images to share in the community easily, without the need to identify the relevant person in that institution who is able to grant the appropriate copyright permission.  It is hoped that by removing this potential hurdle image donors should feel more at ease with using the archive with the minimum of effort.  

Currently there is no guidance concerning the use of identifiable patients’ images for inclusion on Web-based resources in FE and HE.  The project will work with other image specialists in order to set guidelines for the resource and provide benchmark standards and guidance for other Web-based image archives that will, in the future, consider using images of identifiable patients.  

Metadata and Interoperability

Investigation of currently used metadata schemas will be made to establish those currently available to the project.  Consideration will be given to metadata standards from the user’s point of view, as it will be an expectation of the archive that users input their own metadata.  Subject specialists will check the metadata before the image is made available from the archive, as a quality control measure.  By providing best practice guides, the project will present a platform for an image resource of high quality and relevance.       

The project will support the Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) in order to allow users great flexibility in the way images and their associated metadata are processed.  Investigations will be made into the most suitable formats, which provide the most open access to the resource. 

Existing images and associate metadata will be data converted into the appropriate format, ensuring that current images are still relevant and even more usable and searchable than before. 

Dissemination and Promotional Activity

The project sees promotion of the resource as being at the heart of engaging users to deposit and retrieve images and thereby ensure the uptake and continued success of the resource. 

We will provide promotional materials, such as flyers and other promotional tools for distribution at conferences, meetings and mail outs by project staff to UK FE and HE institutions. Posters will be made to provide additional benefit and all opportunities to display posters at relevant events taken, with project personnel in attendance to fully support this activity. 

Project staff will provide demonstrations to FE and HE institutions to give a greater awareness to potential users.  Project staff will continually write articles for publications targeting potential and existing image users, who may not be aware of the new development.  Investigations will be made early in the project into the feasibility of a sponsored road show, to showcase the BioMed Image Archive after the testing of the trial stage has been successfully achieved.  This will again be to promote the advantages of the BioMed Image Archive to relevant areas of the community. 

Project Consortium

Institute for Learning and Research Technology – University of Bristol - Lead

The consortium is led by The Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT), University of Bristol.  The ILRT will facilitate between the various parties, comprising the consortium.

End user interests will be represented by the outcomes of the focus group meetings, all data being assessed and assimilated by the ILRT.  

Luminas Limited
Chosen to provide the hardware and software infrastructure, and computer expertise, Luminas will carry out data conversion of existing metadata, and provide the necessary interfaces in close consultation with the ILRT project staff.     

Learning and Teaching Support Network-01
LTSN-01 will be involved to promote the project to the image using community.  They will also provide support by helping the project approach UK FE and HE institutions with a view to achieving blanket copyright approval for institutes supporting the project to grant their educators the right to deposit images in the archive for the benefit of the community as a whole.  

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency
Becta will provide an essential gateway by helping the project to approach the FE community in a number of ways.  These will include newsletters, emailing lists and access to meetings held by Becta.