In this first class in the Technologies for Digital Libraries 1 course, we'll have a closer look at some of the basic tenets of computing, by zooming in on how digital data is stored, accessed, and shared on the computer. After a brief discussion on the affordances the digital medium opens up for our collections, we'll have a look how we can go about digitising texts and images, by converting them to binary number sequences. We then have a closer look at a series of often used data formats and their extension, to reflect on their pros and cons in a digital library and/or research setting. Finally, we learn how data can be hosted on the Word Wide Web for sharing over the Internet, and what the difference between the two is.

The slides to this class are available through this link. They were designed by Wout Dillen, as part of a class on ‘Data Formats and Technological Foundations for the Web’, that was part of the Technologies for Digital Libraries 1 course in the University of Borås’ International MA programme on ‘Digital Library and Information Services’ at the Swedish School for Library and Information Science. This class took place on Monday 1 November 2021. Wout currently works as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Borås.

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