The conceptualization of archival materials held in museums A pilot study (original) (raw)
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The Museum as Information Space: Metadata and Documentation
Although museums vary in nature and may have been founded for all sorts of reasons, central to all museum institutions are the collected objects. These objects are information carriers organized in a catalogue system. In this chapter, the museum will be conceived as an information space, consisting of an information system related to different methods of reasoning. We will highlight the new possibilities offered by digital technology and the changes brought by the way in which visitors come into contact with objects. Our central claim is that the visitor moved from being onsite within the museum's information space to being outside the museum in the online information space of the Internet. This has fundamental implications for the institutional role of museums, our understanding of metadata and the methods of documentation. The onsite museum institution will, eventually, not be able to function as an institutional entity on the Internet, for in this new information space, objects, collections and museums, all function as independent components in a vast universe of data, side by side at everyone's disposal at anytime. Potentially, users can access cultural heritage anytime, anywhere and anyhow.
Content Analysis of Museum Documentation in a Transdisciplinary Perspective
Workshop on Language Technology for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, and Humanities, 2009
In many cases, museum documentation consists of semi-structured data records with free text fields, which usually refer to contents of other fields, in the same data record, as well as in others. Most of these references comprise of person and place names, as well as time specifications. It is, therefore, important to recognize those in the first place. We report on techniques and results of partial parsing in an ongoing project, using a large database on German goldsmith art. The texts are encoded according to the TEI guidelines and expanded by structured descriptions of named entities and time specifications. These are building blocks for event descriptions, at which the next step is aiming. The identification of named entities allows the data to be linked with various resources within the domain of cultural heritage and beyond. For the latter case, we refer to a biological database and present a solution in a transdisciplinary perspective by means of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM).
Critical Histories of Museum Catalogues
This article introduces a special issue on the topic of museum documentation and knowledge production. The articles in this issue address the history of museum catalogues and position the documentation of material culture as a historical epistemological practice. Each article examines how cataloguing practices have evolved over time and how the categorization or classification of ethnographic material culture often depends on specific individuals or preexisting scientific standards. This issue engages critically with emergent discussions concerning the formalization of knowledge about ethnographic material culture as it emerged in the nineteenth century. These articles also contribute to theoretical discussions that consider the material practices of knowledge production and the affective relations that shape this information. As a whole, this issue gives unique insights into how museums have documented material culture through time and provides a way of thinking about how we might engage with such historical practices that still impact much of our present work.
Content analysis of museum documentation with a transdisciplinary perspective
Proceedings of the EACL 2009 Workshop on Language Technology and Resources for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education - LaTeCH-SHELT&R '09, 2009
In many cases, museum documentation consists of semi-structured data records with free text fields, which usually refer to contents of other fields, in the same data record, as well as in others. Most of these references comprise of person and place names, as well as time specifications. It is, therefore, important to recognize those in the first place. We report on techniques and results of partial parsing in an ongoing project, using a large database on German goldsmith art. The texts are encoded according to the TEI guidelines and expanded by structured descriptions of named entities and time specifications. These are building blocks for event descriptions, at which the next step is aiming. The identification of named entities allows the data to be linked with various resources within the domain of cultural heritage and beyond. For the latter case, we refer to a biological database and present a solution in a transdisciplinary perspective by means of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM).
Starting from Scratch: How to Create a Museum Archives
Introduction Perhaps you have read David Gracy's article on museum archives ("Two Peas in a Pod: Archives for Museums," Museline, Spring 2001) and become convinced that your institution would benefit from a formal archives program. You may have already been gathering historical documents and photographs but are unsure how to identify, store, organize, preserve, and manage these materials. Maybe your museum has an upcoming anniversary to celebrate, or you may simply be interested in increasing efficiency within your organization by providing better access to information. Space can be an issue for many museums, and it is cost-prohibitive to store non-essential records. In the age of eBay and Antiques Roadshow, safeguarding valuable photographs, artifacts, and documents is another significant issue. This article, written for the non-archivist, will provide the nuts and bolts for starting an archives program in your museum. Defining "Archives" The term "archives" can be used in three different ways. Archives are: 1) the records, regardless of format, created or received by a person or organization during the conduct of affairs and preserved because they contain information of continuing value. Within a museum, the term "archives" refers specifically to the noncurrent records of the institution, or those records required less than once every two to three months by staff to do their jobs, that document the growth, activities, and accomplishments of the museum; 2) the building or part of a building where archival materials are located (archival repository); 3) the agency or program responsible for selecting, acquiring, preserving, and making available archival materials. What Do Museum Archivists Do? The museum archivist evaluates institutional records (and special collections, if applicable) for permanent value, provides guidelines for staff weeding and retention of files, serves as the museum's source for information regarding its history, preserves archival materials for ongoing use, and ensures legal compliance regarding institutional records (financial, personnel, and certain other types of records are required by law to be kept for a certain period of time). In this way, the museum archivist will often wear many hats, including those of historian, special collections curator, and records manager. The museum archivist also appraises, arranges, describes, preserves, and makes accessible the permanent records of an institution or individual by performing the following duties: protecting and storing institutional records, organizing records according to standard archival practices, creating guides to the records for access, providing reference services to staff and the public, and conducting oral histories as needed. The archivist seeks to identify all records kept in the museum, determine whether records are current or not, increase security of original, valuable records by placing them in the archives, consolidate and organize records for access, preserve records for future use, create a plan for disaster response for archival materials, and promote the museum's archival resources to staff and the public. Archival and Non-Archival Records The archivist is trained to appraise records for their short-term or long-term value. Only records with long-term value are considered archival. Archival records are kept permanently in the Archives for future research needs. Items with short-term value are non-archival and are not kept in the Archives. Examples of archival records generated by museum staff include: policies and procedures; meeting minutes; department head correspondence; exhibition and event documentation; files of friends groups; photographs; audio/video materials; legal papers (including contracts, deeds of gift, wills and bequests, loan agreements, and invoices or other proof of ownership of objects in the museum's permanent collection); museum printed material such as brochures and catalogues; press releases; and architectural and building records.
As cultural institutions libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) share the mission to organize information objects, artifacts, and data for user access and enlightenment. While (LAMs) may follow different metadata standards and procedures to manage their collections and each type of institution has unique information organization and service concerns, digital technologies have enabled them to create, organize, preserve, and provide access to digital collections for global audience. Increasingly LAMs are converging in their information organization and management effort (LAM entries in Hangingtogether.org;, and the cultural silos created by libraries, archives, and museums are being integrated or rendered transparent for users . The proposed panel is designed to examine the convergence of information organization practices of libraries, archives, and museums; explore collaboration opportunities; and discuss the implications of LAM information organization practices for educating information professionals for these cultural heritage institutions.