Retroconversion of a catalog of hidden images on Eastern and Southeastern Europe and digitization of historical photography collections (ImagOst)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 547479117

The proposed project has four objectives: Firstly, it represents a pilot project for the indexing and electronic identification of hidden (dependent) images. The starting point is a card catalogue of more than 20,000 images from publications on Eastern Europe maintained by the Osteuropa-Institut München, predecessor of IOS Regensburg. This catalogue will be retro-converted and imported into the Bavarian union catalogue and the meta-catalogue of the Osmikon research portal. Because only a small part (15%) of the original card catalogue covers the countries of southeastern Europe, a further 500 hidden images from publications on this region will be catalogued. In order to ensure better retrievability, relevant motifs are indexed using the "Gemeinsame Normdatei" (GND). In a second step, 500 copyright-free hidden images will be selected for digitization and made available in open access. The focus is on previously undocumented views of places and portrait photographs. The digitized material will be linked to the annotation tool Recogito; for this purpose, the IOS operates ist own Recogito interface, which is IIIF-capable and thus ensures the interoperability of all digitized material. In addition, a further 120 publications with hidden images that are not yet available on Osmikon will be digitized. Through these measures and the creation of a manual for cataloguing dependent visual media, the so far barely considered genre of hidden images will be made accessible for research and their relevance demonstrated in an exemplary manner. The third objective is the digitization of selected collections, including the copyright-free photography holdings of the IOS's predecessor institutes and of selected copyright-protected collections for which the IOS has obtained the rights to put online a total of 500 photos, and their hosting on Osmikon. Together with the records and digital copies of hidden images, this will form the basis of the annotatable IOS image collection in Osmikon. Fourthly, the project strengthens community building between image-digitizing institutions and visual studies: an initial workshop on visual materials will bring together people from information infrastructures and research, identify research needs, and contribute to outlining future metadata and technical standards. As one of the supporting institutions of Osmikon, the IOS will organize a second workshop on this basis to coordinate functional enhancements of the digital image and map platforms, in cooperation with supporting institutions. Bringing together people from libraries and from visual studies will be supported also by awarding a fellowship funded by IOS Regensburg.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Institution: Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (IOS)
• Co-Investigator: Tillmann Tegeler