museumsandtheweb.com - collections

Providing Accessible Online Collections

RachaelRainbow — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:22:00 +0000

MW2012

Rachael Rainbow, Alex Morrison, Cogapp, UK; Matt Morgan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections

Program Item Reference:

Providing accessible online collections

Building an Online Commons for the Park

christinad — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 04:03:33 +0000

MW2012

Christina DePaolo, Balboa Park Online Collaborative, Zachary Szukala, Seso, USA and Erick Kendrick, Piction, Australia

http://www.bpoc.org

Abstract

Program Item Reference:

Building an Online Commons for Balboa Park

christinad — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 01:09:15 +0000

MW2012

Published Paper:

Building an Online Commons for the Park

Keywords:

collections

Keywords:

online

Keywords:

cultural

Keywords:

heritage

Keywords:

open APIs

Abstract:

The Balboa Park Online Collaborative (BPOC) is currently building the Balboa Park Commons, a site that will bring together digitized collections content from 26 museums and cultural institutions into a rich online resource at balboapark.org. Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre park in the heart of the city of San Diego and its 85 cultural and recreational organizations attract more than 10 million visitors per year. The park museums participating in the Commons project include The San Diego Museum of Art, The San Diego Air and Space Museum, The San Diego Natural History Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, and the San Diego History Center, to name just a few.

The key goals of the Commons project are to 1.) increase the visibility of the museums’ content by providing the public with unprecedented access to rare and unique collections from the Balboa Park museums 2.) design a tool-set that meets the needs of San Diego educators and students, and 3.) attract new, more diverse audiences by including social software tools that allow visitors to create their own stories and discover interesting and fun connections across the collections.

In this mini-workshop, we will highlight the technical and non-technical aspects of developing an online digital commons that engages audiences in the creative use of cultural heritage materials. The workshop will review the process of designing a user-centered website based on community workshops and an extensive wireframe process; development of tool sets based on a PHP platform, using a digital asset management system and APIs; and the approach and issues related to creating a new model for getting large data-sets and aggregated collection content online. With each aspect of the project, we’ll discuss how we’re using funding and available museum resources in cost-efficient ways.

This mini-workshop is designed for museum professionals interested in large-scale online collection projects, new models for collaboration and new models for collection access and engagement.

Type:

Mini-Workshop - teaches something or explores approaches

Mini-Workshop on Building an Online Commons for Balboa Park

Site:

http://www.balboapark.org

Authors:

Christina DePaolo

Erick Kendrick

Christopher Borkowski

Abe Serrano

Providing accessible online collections

RachaelRainbow — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:57:22 +0000

MW2012

Published Paper:

Providing Accessible Online Collections

Keywords:

collections

Keywords:

solr

Keywords:

vocabularies

Keywords:

metadata

Abstract:

Feedback from user research for the recently re-launched Metropolitan Museum of Art website made it clear that users need multiple routes into the collections. Visitors want to search across data, on multiple dimensions, and find other artworks that may interest them. To do this with the data available was a huge challenge. Museum collections data is not necessarily structured to support this, especially in a collection as diverse as the Met’s. In this paper we discuss the system we built to enable the Museum to analyse the data and construct rules to support these user journeys. With this system, Museum staff match terms against standard vocabularies (including AAT and TGN), provide contextual interpretation of terms by department, qualify terms such as locations, and define rules for common misspellings. A powerful Solr search system provides the quick and complex search functionality, establishes the relationships between artworks, provides free-text searching, and gives facet counts.

Type:

Paper - in formal session

Online finding

Site:

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections

Authors:

Alex Morrison

Rachael Rainbow

Matt Morgan

Art & Artists

jmkd — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:51:13 +0000

MW2011

James Davis, Tate, London

http://www.tate.org.uk/collection

Abstract

Suppose three people need something. One is bored and needs inspiration, another is focused and needs concentration, a third is curious and needs information. How could their needs be met? Is it possible to make a single thing that could help them all? Would it be a tool, a system, an application, a service, an environment? This paper describes attempts to imagine this problem, to invent a solution, and to try to build it. The context is that of Tate, a family of British art galleries, and the means by which to deliver artwork information, concentrated study, artistic inspiration, and much that is in between, online.

Keywords: art, Tate, gallery, collections, databases, interfaces

Program Item Reference:

Art & Artists

The Trade in Digital: Partnerships and Collaboration in the Content Economy

Timothy Hart — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:35:08 +0000

MW2011

Timothy Hart, Director Information, Multimedia and Technology, Museum Victoria, Australia

Abstract

In our massively connected world content is indeed king and museums if they take a close look, will find themselves, well placed to deliver highly sought after content to an ever expanding audience. Collaboration is emerging as the critical enabler in taking full advantage of the opportunities now available for the delivery of museum online content. Collaboration needs to be both internal and external. The number and quality of national data services now operating is making museum content available for researchers and the public in numbers and types unimaginable only a few years ago. The ground work is laid in most large museums to allow them to participate in providing access to the full range and wonder possible in museum generated content.

Keywords: collaboration, collections, content, data, partnerships, opportunity, economy, research, Australia

Program Item Reference:

The Trade in Digital: partnerships in the content economy

Playing with Difficult Objects – Game Designs to Improve Museum Collections

mia — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:38:54 +0000

MW2011

Mia Ridge, Science Museum, United Kingdom

http://museumgam.es/

Abstract

Crowdsourcing the creation, correction or enhancement of data about objects through games is an attractive proposition for museums looking to maximize use of their collections online without committing intensive curatorial resources to enhancing catalogue records. This paper investigates the optimum game designs to encourage participation and the generation of useful data through a case study of the project Museum Metadata Games that successfully designed games that created improved metadata for 'difficult' objects from two science and history museum collections.

Keywords: collections, games, crowdsourcing, objects, metadata, tagging

Program Item Reference:

Playing with museums - game designs to improve museum collections

Caboodle by Culture24: How to engage children with your collection online in a new way (and how they can engage you in theirs!)

biblio — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:34:40 +0000

Finnis, J., & Kennedy A. (2010). Caboodle by Culture24: How to engage children with your collection online in a new way (and how they can engage you in theirs!). (Trant, Jennifer, David Bearman, Ed.).Museums and the Web 2010. Proceedings.

Collections Online

dbear — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:23:31 +0000

Type:

Session

Chair:

Nate Solas

Programs:

The Community as the Centrepiece of a Collection – building a community of objects with the National Vending Machine

Art & Artists

Rhizomatic Art Stories – balancing between innovation and usability

Reprogamming the Museum

Date & Time:

April 9, 2011 - 1:30pm - 3:30pm

Location:

Congress

online collections

collections

accessibility

Required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*).

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Archives & Museum Informatics EIN: 77-0708617; GST / BN 887978914

Description

Access to collections takes on many hues. What do we mean and how do we enable it?

The Trade in Digital: partnerships in the content economy

Timothy Hart — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:01:00 +0000

MW2011

Published Paper:

The Trade in Digital: Partnerships and Collaboration in the Content Economy

Keywords:

collections

Keywords:

digitisation

Keywords:

partnership

Keywords:

collaboration

Keywords:

mobile

Keywords:

change

Abstract:

Come and discuss a paper that will examine the notion of the content economy where digital assets are the new currency for museums. Our collections have always been central to our existence and mission, the content economy is only increasing the importance of collections. The availability of digital assets both collection and non collection is critical to our success online as part of the visitor experience onsite-online & offsite.

Digitisation has been a central issue for large institutions with legacy collections and the ante is well and truly up; from Museum Victoria's perspective content development partnerships have provided a somewhat unexpected means to an end. l will use a number of examples of effective partnerships that have achieved significant project outcomes to the partners whilst also achieving our digitisation aims.

Australia has developed a number of effective national partnerships, the Collections Australia Network (CAN-AMOL), the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and the National Libraries TROVE project will be used to demonstrate the positives of collaboration and its benefits, challenges and outcomes.

I will also use examples from Museum Victoria and its partnership with the Victorian State Education Department - specifically the Biodiversity Snapshots Project.

We are all increasingly relying on partnerships and "cartels" to build our reputations and maintain our share of online audiences. The notion of digital currency and the content economy is affecting museums dramatically. The changes wrought by the rise of ubiquitous computing are washing over our institutions - mobile as the dominant interaction point with our online content is yet another major shift - we are in my opinion making the most of the opportunities afforded by this latest technology shift.

The real issue comes back to change, how are Museums delivering content in the changed environment - content economy means we must align our museums to produce content in a more nimble and cost effective way. My message will be a positive one, I believe we are responding and growing in maturity and exerting more control over our operating environments.

Type:

Professional Forum - discuss an issue

Professional Forum on the Content Economy - Should we be in or out?

Authors:

Timothy Hart

Gaming the museum

dannybirchall — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:55:41 +0000

MW2011

Published Paper:

Gaming the museum

Keywords:

gaming

Keywords:

interaction

Keywords:

new audiences

Keywords:

collections

Keywords:

education

Keywords:

education

Keywords:

exploration

Abstract:

Why, with the vast resources, and fundamental human subjects at our disposal, have museums failed to make more than a handful of really compelling games? Are we too wedded to the idea that games must be educational? Do we lack the in-house skills to make subject matter and game engines gel, or are we simply trying to enter an overcrowded marketplace with too few resources? Should we leave making games to the professionals?

At Wellcome Collection, we are beginning the process of making games for our website that put compelling gameplay at the centre of the experience, building our subject matter and resources around that experience. Games have their own logics and structure, and there's no reason these should be subjugated to narrow educational aims any more than the physical layout of the museum should determine the information architecture of our websites. The playful and exploratory impulses that draw gamers towards great games are still largely untapped as a means of engagement.

Using the mini-workshop format, we will present our progress to date and open up a discussion of other museums' experience, sharing our ideas and understanding of games. We will use simple exercises to look at matching our available resources (narratives, photography, object databases) to modes of gameplay, as well as investigating reusable game engines, game syndication, and building enthusiasm for games inside the organisation.

Type:

Mini-Workshop - teaches something or explores approaches

Mini-Workshop on Games: I

Authors:

Martha Henson

Danny Birchall

Playing with museums - game designs to improve museum collections

mia — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:39:59 +0000

MW2011

Published Paper:

Playing with Difficult Objects – Game Designs to Improve Museum Collections

Keywords:

crowdsourcing

Keywords:

games

Keywords:

evaluation

Keywords:

research

Keywords:

collections

Abstract:

Crowdsourcing data through games is an attractive proposition for museums looking to maximise use of their collections online without the requirement to commit intensive curatorial resources to enhancing catalogue records. This paper investigates the optimum game designs to encourage participation and the generation of useful data.

Further detail

Projects such as Armchair Revolutionary [1], Carnegie Mellon University's 'Games with a purpose' [2] and InterroBang?! [3] are indicative of the trend for 'games for social good'. Crowdsourced projects such as the Guardian newspapers examination of MPs expense claims [4], the V&A Museum's image cropping [5], Brooklyn Museum's tagging game [6], the National Library of Australia's collaborative OCR corrections [7]; Chen's study of the application of Csikszentmihalyi's theory of 'flow' to game design; and McGonigal's ideas about multiplayer games as 'happiness engines' [8] all suggest that 'playful interactions' and crowd participation could be applied to help create specific content improvements on museum sites. Game mechanisms may help make tasks that would not traditionally be considered fun or relaxing into a compelling experience.

Games designed to crowdsource museum metadata are particularly interesting when limited resources within museums make it difficult to enhance and publish large bodies of collections data in ways that are accessible to non-specialist visitors. Further, museum metadata games are a form of collections access in their own right and have the potential to reach large, traditionally hard-to-reach audiences. Data generated may include terms to improve discoverability by adding alternate terms used by the general public (as in the steve.museum project); information about which objects are more interesting for different types of visitors; data that could be provided by curators and researchers if resources were unlimited but could also be solicited from specialists outside the museum; and experiential data for objects and events within living memory.

Based on a Masters Dissertation project ('Game mechanics for social good: a case study on interaction models for crowdsourcing museum collections enhancement', http://openobjects.blogspot.com/2010/06/game-mechanics-for-social-good-case.html, due January 2011) this paper will cover three topics:

research summary of emerging best practice about games designed to crowdsource metadata

analysis of the most effective elements of game mechanics for application to interfaces for crowdsourcing museum collections enhancement, based on the evaluation of games designed as part of the project and the evaluation of data produced as the games are played.

an emerging typology of game designs applicable for different models of collection data, based on categories such as breadth of collection data (from selected hero objects to the entire catalogue), the type of metadata desired, the level of specialist knowledge required to interpret objects, etc.

Games built with collections from museums of social history and history of science and technology will be available at http://museumgam.es/ from mid-October.

References

[1] https://www.armrev.org

[2] http://www.gwap.com/

[3] http://www.playinterrobang.com/

[4] http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk/

[5] http://collections.vam.ac.uk/crowdsourcing/

[6] http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/tag_g...

[7] http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

[8] http://www.futureofmuseums.org/events/lecture/mcgo...

Type:

Paper - in formal session

Games

Authors:

Mia Ridge

Reprogamming the Museum

luke.dearnley — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:54:19 +0000

MW2011

Published Paper:

Reprogramming The Museum

Keywords:

API

Keywords:

collections

Keywords:

Semantic Web

Keywords:

Web 2.0

Keywords:

Web applications

Keywords:

museum practice

Keywords:

collections online

Abstract:

Many museums have been busy building APIs since the Brookyln Museum set the example, and in 2009 the Powerhouse made the decision to offer a much of its collection data downloadable as a data dump. The decision was primarily a pragmatic one, as the Museum wanted to test the waters and examine how the data might be best used before dedicating resources to developing a full API. The release of data was timed to coincide with a number of 'government 2.0' activities occurring in Australia, and it was hoped that by providing downloadable data, it would be used in government 2.0 mashup contest. In the end, several individuals in the contests did make use of the data - the most notable being Flip Explorer, a dynamic catalogue created for in-gallery use by two developers who were not known to the Powerhouse. However the best usage was by the Digital NZ project that incorporated it into their search - thus providing access across many New Zealand websites.

Drawing on the in-sector work of Bernstein (2008), Ellis (2008, 2009), and Morgan (2009) as well as that of Digital NZ; as well as similar APIs provided by Flickr, Open Library, OCLC Worldcat and others, the Powerhouse has reconsidered the appropriate functionality of a museum API.

As the Powerhouse had already deployed several techniques to add value and meaning to the collection data - 'folksonomic' tags drawn both from the Powerhouse site and the Flickr Commons, as well as Flickr comments and geolocation data (and more) about objects, as well as semantic information mined using Thompson Reuters' Calais Tagging API; and an extensive log of the relationships between search terms and objects - it was decided that this structured data should also be made available.

This is in stark contrast to the original data dump that simply contained a subset of descriptive fields about collection objects. Thus the enhanced API allows access into our collection from the starting point of themes, collections, categories, subjects and object popularity rather than just objects.

Drawing on the work of Chan (2010) the API use and its resulting output is able to be tracked in some detail, allowing the Museum to monitor the return on investment of the the provision of the API service.

This paper looks at how the API launched in 2010 quantitatively and qualitatively improves upon the access provided by the data dump, as well as how the tracking methods were built into the API to ensure that the project is best able to adapt to the user needs of API developers. It provides details on the lessons learned and suggests best practices for API development in the cultural sector.

Type:

Paper - in formal session

Collections Online

Authors:

Luke Dearnley

Spreadable collections: gaining insights from educational cut & paste

biblio — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:10:55 +0000

Chan, S. (2010). Spreadable collections: gaining insights from educational cut & paste. (Trant, Jennifer, David Bearman, Ed.).Museums and the Web.

How to manage and build a web collections search project in a museum

biblio — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:10:49 +0000

Morgan, R. (2010). How to manage and build a web collections search project in a museum. (Trant, Jennifer, David Bearman, Ed.).Museums and the Web.

Cosmic Collections: creating a big bang

biblio — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:10:45 +0000

Ridge, M. (2010). Cosmic Collections: creating a big bang. (Trant, Jennifer, David Bearman, Ed.).Museums and the Web.

Common Ground: A community-curated meetup. A case study.

biblio — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:10:44 +0000

Bray, P., & Donahue R. (2010). Common Ground: A community-curated meetup. A case study.. (Trant, Jennifer, David Bearman, Ed.).Museums and the Web.