The Center for Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research (CERSER) at Elizabeth City State University is an umbrella for several funded projects. These projects include: The Northeastern Chapter of the IEEE-GRSS Society, The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), NOAA's Educational Partnership Program at ECSU, The Undergraduate Research Experience in Ocean and Marine Science Program (URE OMS), as well as the Undergraduate Research Experience Program supporting undergraduate research at ECSU. These programs entail numerous special events that generate both video and photographic images. Reports and other documentation are also created to record the success and progress of each program.

A standard method of digitizing images, movies, and documents and documenting the attributes of these digitized files was developed during this project. Standard procedures utilizing the equipment currently in place were developed, tested, and refined in order to convert VHS formatted tapes and developed photographs into digital files. Software such as CapWiz and Hewlett-Packard flatbed scanning software were used to complete this process. These files were then annotated in a Microsoft Access database utilizing the Dublin Core Element Set as a standard. A combination of Microsoft Access and Active Server pages was then utilized to provide access to the digitized images and the attached metadata via the web.