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Standards & Quality of Submitted Resources

The following information outlines tips on taking photographs, scanning documents and quality standards for uploading images to the gallery.

Choosing Resources to Submit

There are many galleries of resources available over the internet. However the quality of the resources is often poor. The E2BN gallery has been designed to allow the upload of true broadband resources that can be used effectively on a whiteboard or downloaded for use in lessons, as posters or even backgrounds for filming animations. This makes the gallery a unique resource. Therefore it is better to put up a small number of really good images than many poorer quality ones.

The best way to check the quality of an image is to maximise it full screen on your PC (or whiteboard if you have one). If the image looks sharp and clearly illustrates what you intend then it will most likely be of use to others.

Taking & Editing Photographs

To maximise the quality:
Don't
Photograph the resource through glass. If this is unavoidable take the photograph at a slight angle which will diminish flare
Photograph a light coloured resource against a pale background - ensure there is enough contrast
Photograph an item against a very busy background - this will detract from what people are meant to be looking at
Use flash photography, if this can be avoided. If possible set the camera to an inside setting or ensure maximum natural light

Do
Take lots of pictures - you can always delete those that are not so good
Put the picture through some kind of package to sharpen and maximise the image quality. (Avoid packages that at the same time automatically ‘optimise' image size for the web. E2BN's gallery is a broadband gallery and we want images at the maximum size possible whilst retaining quality).
Make sure you trim and level off your pictures where necessary.

Scanning Pictures and Text
Always
Make sure the scanner is clean
Make sure the item is placed on the scanner level
Scan at optimum quality - do not use low level quality settings for email or web
Use a package to trim and level the picture if required.

Quality Standards

When uploading to the gallery:
The picture should be uploaded at camera quality - do not reduce the pixels or picture size (the gallery will automatically provide images of different size for download).
Pictures should be sharp and clear
Text should be readable, or else it will be of limited use in the classroom. Text should be clear even if the picture scanned is an old document in Latin or Old English, because if the text looks fuzzy then picture will give an impression of poor quality.
The item should be well balanced and central to the picture

Labeling & Text

In the gallery:
Make sure you clearly label what the item is - Keep the title brief.
Text should be spelt correctly - use the E2BN gallery spell-checker.
Pitch the text at an appropriate level; consider the range of users that will be accessing the gallery.
Label when and where the photograph was taken, or the date of the item photographed (if an artifact); say what the picture is showing (if this is not obvious) plus any interesting information you have.
Keep the backup text as brief as possible. The amount you will want to write will vary according to the resources you are putting up. Text should not exceed 500 words maximum, unless there is a specific reason for this.
Reference other resources where applicable. You can make reference to other resources in the gallery or even on other sites by adding hyper-links when you upload a resource.
If you are putting up a sequence or range of images, consider writing a case study that can be posted in the ‘Teachers' area.