Digitisation / Cataloguing of non-textual objects: Creation of a Standard for the 3D computed tomography of musical instruments and enhancement of the MIMO Digitisation Standard (DFG-MUSICES)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. G. Ulrich Großmann; Professor Dr. Randolf Hanke
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 248476191

High-resolution, three-dimensional industrial computed tomography (3D-CT) is a preferred means for examining and documenting musical instruments in collections, as conventional investigation techniques are able to access and measure certain important constructional details not sufficiently, or in a risky way, or not at all. The multitude of materials and their combinations as used in instrument construction as well as the very differing object sizes are, however, a constant challenge for this method, requesting frequently considerable efforts in time and costs for test runs. Using a representative corpus of instruments of different types and sizes, the standard will provide guidelines enabling high-quality three-dimensional tomographies of a musical instrument, independently of a particular CT-facility, operator, or viewing software. The 3D-CT allows any section or views including the interior of the object and e.g. the separation of materials according to their densities. Further on, the project involves the respective international scientific community to decide which details are of particular interest for which type of instrument and should therefore be depicted in higher resolution. A metadata model for 3D-CTs will be developed and integrated into the LIDO-standard. The results will be made accessible via the international database MIMO-DB and Europeana as well through the websites of the partner institutions where they will be accessible for future harvesting through the German Digital Library (Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek). A best-practice-guide, based on the experience acquired with the project will document paradigmatic workflows and shall act as support for making future 3D-CT digitization projects more efficient. Given the constructive complexity of musical instruments the standard is expected to be transferred to other groups of objects within a reasonable scale of modifications.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Persons: Dr. Frank P. Bär; Professorin Dr. Eszter Fontana; Dr. Theobald Fuchs; Professor Dr. Lars-Christian Koch; Markus Raquet; Professorin Dr. Conny Sibylla Restle