From Images to Images: the ALADIN project

Scholars in the field of historical research have used iconographic databases for a long time. The rise of the Internet led numerous libraries and research centers to envisage the sharing of this scientific patrimony with the general public. But such a popularization project cannot be undertaken without reassessing part of the database initial orientations. This communications presents the results of tests carried out as part of a digitization project undertaken by a team of librarians and historians. After an in-depth analysis of the process of image reading, we suggest new ways to access and index images. Firstly, we propose to design an overview interface to allow for a constant dialog between the user and the archive; secondly, we have recourse to the concept of "scenotype" to better understand image reading and to conceive an innovative indexing method.