Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-60)

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF INFORMATICS AND DESIGN OF THE CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE PHOTOGRAPHY CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2013 / This study deals with the pitfalls and standards associated with the digitisation of photographic artefacts in formal collections. The popularity of the digital medium caused a rapid increase in the demand for converting images into digital files. The need for equipment capable of executing the task successfully, the pressure on collection managers to display their collections to the world and the demand for knowledge needed by managers and operators created pressure to perform optimally and often in great haste. As a result of the rush to create digital image files to be displayed and to be preserved, the decisions that are being made may be questionable. The best choice of file formats for longevity, setting and maintaining standards to guarantee quality digital files and consultation with experts in the field of digitisation as well as attention to best practices are important aspects which must be considered. In order to determine the state of affairs in countries with an advanced knowledge and experience in the field of digitisation, a comprehensive literature study was done. It was found that enough information exists to enable collection managers in South Africa to make well informed decisions to ensure a high quality of digital collection. By means of questionnaires, a survey was undertaken amongst selected Western Cape image preservation institutions to determine the level of knowledge of the managers who are required to make informed decisions. The questionnaire was designed to give insight into choices being made regarding the technical quality, workflow and best practice aspects of digitisation. Comparing the outcome of the questionnaires with best practices and recommended standards in countries with an advanced level of experience it was found that not enough of this experience and knowledge is used by local collection managers although readily available. In some cases standards are disregarded completely. The study also investigated by means of questionnaires the perception of the digital preservation of image files by fulltime photographic students and volunteer members of the Photographic Society of South Africa. It was found that uncertainty exist within both groups with regard to file longevity and access to files in five to ten year's time. Digitisation standards are set and maintained by the use of specially designed targets which enable digitising managers to maintain control over the quality of the digital content as well as monitoring of equipment performance. The use of these targets to set standards were investigated and found to be an accurate and easy method of maintaining control over the standard and quality of digital files. Suppliers of digitising equipment very often market their equipment as being of a high quality and being able to fulfil the required digitisation tasks. Testing selected digitising equipment by means of specially designed targets proved however that potential buyers of equipment in the high cost range should be very cautious about suppliers' claims without proof of performance. Using targets to verify performance should be a routine check before any purchase. The study concludes with recommendations of implementing standards and it points to potential future research.

Transparencies: New Zealand from 1953 to 1974 through the Slide Photography of Gladys Cunningham This thesis focuses on the amateur slide photography of Gladys Cunningham, formerly of Onehunga, Auckland. Viewed collectively, these slides provide a visual autobiography of a New Zealand woman’s life, as well as a larger social narrative. As Gladys’s granddaughter, I argue that Gladys’s 35mm colour transparencies, nostalgic fragments that memorialise a family history, are informed by the social history of European New Zealanders between the early 1950s and early 1970s. Gladys’s slides reflect stabilities and changes for the photographer herself, her family and New Zealand society. While the term “transparency” suggests that the meaning of a slide can be understood by all, in reality further contextual information is necessary to appreciate the family and public histories from which these scenes have been separated. To situate Gladys’s slides, I refer to popular magazines and tourist texts from this period, including The Weekly News, National Geographic and New Zealand Holiday, and to commercial slides, postcards and travel marketing texts. I analyse the near absence of Maori within Gladys’s slides and travel journalism, suggesting that their omissions represent a lack of dialogue between Pakeha and Maori. In New Zealand and overseas, slide photography was the popular medium for recording extraordinary family events during the 1950 and 1960s. Through an analysis of memory, leisure and photography, this study examines how Gladys’s photography documents family and community membership and celebration. I explore how aesthetically pleasing representations of family leisure also contain partly concealed clues to less positive memories and to secrets that were not unique to this family. I discuss the impact of private and public transport on Gladys’s slide photography, noting how car travel facilitated spatial and temporal freedoms, and how slide photography strengthened connections to extended family and distant communities. In contrast, Gladys and Jim’s later dependence on coach transport enhanced their ability to take slides and expanded the “family” gaze of their camera, but limited their photographic opportunities.

Transparencies: New Zealand from 1953 to 1974 through the Slide Photography of Gladys Cunningham This thesis focuses on the amateur slide photography of Gladys Cunningham, formerly of Onehunga, Auckland. Viewed collectively, these slides provide a visual autobiography of a New Zealand woman’s life, as well as a larger social narrative. As Gladys’s granddaughter, I argue that Gladys’s 35mm colour transparencies, nostalgic fragments that memorialise a family history, are informed by the social history of European New Zealanders between the early 1950s and early 1970s. Gladys’s slides reflect stabilities and changes for the photographer herself, her family and New Zealand society. While the term “transparency” suggests that the meaning of a slide can be understood by all, in reality further contextual information is necessary to appreciate the family and public histories from which these scenes have been separated. To situate Gladys’s slides, I refer to popular magazines and tourist texts from this period, including The Weekly News, National Geographic and New Zealand Holiday, and to commercial slides, postcards and travel marketing texts. I analyse the near absence of Maori within Gladys’s slides and travel journalism, suggesting that their omissions represent a lack of dialogue between Pakeha and Maori. In New Zealand and overseas, slide photography was the popular medium for recording extraordinary family events during the 1950 and 1960s. Through an analysis of memory, leisure and photography, this study examines how Gladys’s photography documents family and community membership and celebration. I explore how aesthetically pleasing representations of family leisure also contain partly concealed clues to less positive memories and to secrets that were not unique to this family. I discuss the impact of private and public transport on Gladys’s slide photography, noting how car travel facilitated spatial and temporal freedoms, and how slide photography strengthened connections to extended family and distant communities. In contrast, Gladys and Jim’s later dependence on coach transport enhanced their ability to take slides and expanded the “family” gaze of their camera, but limited their photographic opportunities.

Transparencies: New Zealand from 1953 to 1974 through the Slide Photography of Gladys Cunningham This thesis focuses on the amateur slide photography of Gladys Cunningham, formerly of Onehunga, Auckland. Viewed collectively, these slides provide a visual autobiography of a New Zealand woman’s life, as well as a larger social narrative. As Gladys’s granddaughter, I argue that Gladys’s 35mm colour transparencies, nostalgic fragments that memorialise a family history, are informed by the social history of European New Zealanders between the early 1950s and early 1970s. Gladys’s slides reflect stabilities and changes for the photographer herself, her family and New Zealand society. While the term “transparency” suggests that the meaning of a slide can be understood by all, in reality further contextual information is necessary to appreciate the family and public histories from which these scenes have been separated. To situate Gladys’s slides, I refer to popular magazines and tourist texts from this period, including The Weekly News, National Geographic and New Zealand Holiday, and to commercial slides, postcards and travel marketing texts. I analyse the near absence of Maori within Gladys’s slides and travel journalism, suggesting that their omissions represent a lack of dialogue between Pakeha and Maori. In New Zealand and overseas, slide photography was the popular medium for recording extraordinary family events during the 1950 and 1960s. Through an analysis of memory, leisure and photography, this study examines how Gladys’s photography documents family and community membership and celebration. I explore how aesthetically pleasing representations of family leisure also contain partly concealed clues to less positive memories and to secrets that were not unique to this family. I discuss the impact of private and public transport on Gladys’s slide photography, noting how car travel facilitated spatial and temporal freedoms, and how slide photography strengthened connections to extended family and distant communities. In contrast, Gladys and Jim’s later dependence on coach transport enhanced their ability to take slides and expanded the “family” gaze of their camera, but limited their photographic opportunities.

Transparencies: New Zealand from 1953 to 1974 through the Slide Photography of Gladys Cunningham This thesis focuses on the amateur slide photography of Gladys Cunningham, formerly of Onehunga, Auckland. Viewed collectively, these slides provide a visual autobiography of a New Zealand woman’s life, as well as a larger social narrative. As Gladys’s granddaughter, I argue that Gladys’s 35mm colour transparencies, nostalgic fragments that memorialise a family history, are informed by the social history of European New Zealanders between the early 1950s and early 1970s. Gladys’s slides reflect stabilities and changes for the photographer herself, her family and New Zealand society. While the term “transparency” suggests that the meaning of a slide can be understood by all, in reality further contextual information is necessary to appreciate the family and public histories from which these scenes have been separated. To situate Gladys’s slides, I refer to popular magazines and tourist texts from this period, including The Weekly News, National Geographic and New Zealand Holiday, and to commercial slides, postcards and travel marketing texts. I analyse the near absence of Maori within Gladys’s slides and travel journalism, suggesting that their omissions represent a lack of dialogue between Pakeha and Maori. In New Zealand and overseas, slide photography was the popular medium for recording extraordinary family events during the 1950 and 1960s. Through an analysis of memory, leisure and photography, this study examines how Gladys’s photography documents family and community membership and celebration. I explore how aesthetically pleasing representations of family leisure also contain partly concealed clues to less positive memories and to secrets that were not unique to this family. I discuss the impact of private and public transport on Gladys’s slide photography, noting how car travel facilitated spatial and temporal freedoms, and how slide photography strengthened connections to extended family and distant communities. In contrast, Gladys and Jim’s later dependence on coach transport enhanced their ability to take slides and expanded the “family” gaze of their camera, but limited their photographic opportunities.

Transparencies: New Zealand from 1953 to 1974 through the Slide Photography of Gladys Cunningham This thesis focuses on the amateur slide photography of Gladys Cunningham, formerly of Onehunga, Auckland. Viewed collectively, these slides provide a visual autobiography of a New Zealand woman’s life, as well as a larger social narrative. As Gladys’s granddaughter, I argue that Gladys’s 35mm colour transparencies, nostalgic fragments that memorialise a family history, are informed by the social history of European New Zealanders between the early 1950s and early 1970s. Gladys’s slides reflect stabilities and changes for the photographer herself, her family and New Zealand society. While the term “transparency” suggests that the meaning of a slide can be understood by all, in reality further contextual information is necessary to appreciate the family and public histories from which these scenes have been separated. To situate Gladys’s slides, I refer to popular magazines and tourist texts from this period, including The Weekly News, National Geographic and New Zealand Holiday, and to commercial slides, postcards and travel marketing texts. I analyse the near absence of Maori within Gladys’s slides and travel journalism, suggesting that their omissions represent a lack of dialogue between Pakeha and Maori. In New Zealand and overseas, slide photography was the popular medium for recording extraordinary family events during the 1950 and 1960s. Through an analysis of memory, leisure and photography, this study examines how Gladys’s photography documents family and community membership and celebration. I explore how aesthetically pleasing representations of family leisure also contain partly concealed clues to less positive memories and to secrets that were not unique to this family. I discuss the impact of private and public transport on Gladys’s slide photography, noting how car travel facilitated spatial and temporal freedoms, and how slide photography strengthened connections to extended family and distant communities. In contrast, Gladys and Jim’s later dependence on coach transport enhanced their ability to take slides and expanded the “family” gaze of their camera, but limited their photographic opportunities.

Transparencies: New Zealand from 1953 to 1974 through the Slide Photography of Gladys Cunningham This thesis focuses on the amateur slide photography of Gladys Cunningham, formerly of Onehunga, Auckland. Viewed collectively, these slides provide a visual autobiography of a New Zealand woman’s life, as well as a larger social narrative. As Gladys’s granddaughter, I argue that Gladys’s 35mm colour transparencies, nostalgic fragments that memorialise a family history, are informed by the social history of European New Zealanders between the early 1950s and early 1970s. Gladys’s slides reflect stabilities and changes for the photographer herself, her family and New Zealand society. While the term “transparency” suggests that the meaning of a slide can be understood by all, in reality further contextual information is necessary to appreciate the family and public histories from which these scenes have been separated. To situate Gladys’s slides, I refer to popular magazines and tourist texts from this period, including The Weekly News, National Geographic and New Zealand Holiday, and to commercial slides, postcards and travel marketing texts. I analyse the near absence of Maori within Gladys’s slides and travel journalism, suggesting that their omissions represent a lack of dialogue between Pakeha and Maori. In New Zealand and overseas, slide photography was the popular medium for recording extraordinary family events during the 1950 and 1960s. Through an analysis of memory, leisure and photography, this study examines how Gladys’s photography documents family and community membership and celebration. I explore how aesthetically pleasing representations of family leisure also contain partly concealed clues to less positive memories and to secrets that were not unique to this family. I discuss the impact of private and public transport on Gladys’s slide photography, noting how car travel facilitated spatial and temporal freedoms, and how slide photography strengthened connections to extended family and distant communities. In contrast, Gladys and Jim’s later dependence on coach transport enhanced their ability to take slides and expanded the “family” gaze of their camera, but limited their photographic opportunities.