Histarchers,
        Discussion of digital cameras and the images they produce are on the
list a good deal this last week, so I thought I would throw the
following out for those who are interested in this new technology.  I
was able to put the "Slate image" which I sent to the list on Tuesday in
the following way.  I took the artifact to our university Media Services
people during a one hour break in classes, they shot three pictures of
it which went directly on a 3.5" floppy diskette.  I carried the floppy
to a colleague who is knowledgeable about web site work.  In 20-25
minutes he had a linked image on the departmental web site.
 
        The thing that impressed me was the rapidity with which the whole thing
was accomplished.    I've worked with scanned digital images in the past
and the process was much more clumsey and time consuming than this
process.  For those who are interested, that image was taken with a low
end digital camera (I was told that it cost about $600).  I don't know
the particulars about the camera (brand, model number, etc.), but if
anyone wants that information, I'll check and e-mail it.
 
        Based on this experience it seems that those who have been advocating
the use of digital cameras for rapid (but not permanent record) image
capture are on the right track.
 
        Chris Murphy
        History and Anthropology
        Augusta State University