Controlled vocabularies for photos
October 6, 2009 9:33 PM   Subscribe

I'm looking for controlled vocabularies to describe photographic images.

I need to do a comparison of several different ones for a library science class in vocabulary building. I've already taken a look at the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials and The Controlled Vocabulary Keyword Catalog and I'm looking for a few more. They can be print or electronic resources and they don't need any particular type of formatting or compatibility. Anyone have any experience with controlled vocabularies for describing photographic images or any suggestions?
posted by pahool to Media & Arts (6 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have a lot of experience with Getty Images CV, but they don't publish a guide to it or anything. If you'd like to email I'll be happy to help however I can.
posted by blaneyphoto at 9:45 PM on October 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


In my library, we catalog subject content of our photography with the Getty's Art and Architecture Thesaurus.
posted by gyusan at 9:54 PM on October 6, 2009 [3 favorites]


There is ICONCLASS which
* is a subject-specific international classification system which museums can use for iconographic research and the documentation of images.
* contains definitions of objects, persons, events, situations and abstract ideas that can be the subject of an image.
* consists of a classification system (approximately 28,000 definitions), an alphabetical index, and a bibliography with 40,000 references to books and articles of iconographical and cultural historical interest.
posted by gudrun at 12:45 AM on October 7, 2009


You may also want to ask this question on the Archives & Archivists list (you don't need to be an SAA member to join the list).
posted by gudrun at 6:40 AM on October 7, 2009


I did this for a living for several now-defunct stock photo companies. I was heavily influenced by the aforementioned AAT to build CVs, which of course are not published or available, but if you have specific questions, feel free to MeMail me.

On the print side, there's the Chenhall's Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging.

Sounds exactly like a class I took in lib school - you're not at SJSU by any chance, are you?
posted by chez shoes at 6:51 AM on October 7, 2009


Response by poster: Thanks everyone. Iconclass, the Getty resources, and Chenhall's Nomenclature were all helpful and were exactly what I was looking for. I appreciate the assistance.
posted by pahool at 12:05 PM on October 8, 2009


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