Dear all,
Nick Poole has asked me to forward this message to the llist. Apparently his
attempt to send it got bounced. (Change ot email ???)
I should point out that the views he expresses are his own, etc. etc.
Regards
Nick C.
From: Nick Poole
Sent: 25 April 2008 11:39
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: RE: [Crm-sig] Issue: CRM compatibility
Dear Nick,
Many thanks to you and to Ed for opening up this discussion, which provides
me with an excellent opportunity to respond on behalf of the Collections Trust
(the erstwhile MDA!).
Firstly, a little background to our recent changes. The change of name
betokens a significant expansion, both of our UK and international remit. In
the UK, we have been mandated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
and Department for Culture to coordinate all operational work in the areas of
Collections, Digital Futures and Copyright for museums, archives and libraries.
Among other initiatives, we have been funded to work on:
· The harmonisation of standards between museums, archives and
libraries
· Providing a vision for the future development of infomatics (not
quite the right word, but you get the gist) standards
· Developing a service-oriented, integrated technical infrastructure
to aggregate and serve up structured cultural content
· Providing an SKOS/web-services based Cultural Terminology Server
for museums, archives and libraries
Part of this work has already involved developing a future vision for the
evolution of SPECTRUM (from a standard to a standards framework) better to meet
the changing needs of a new generation of practitioners, new types of
mixed-media collection and different modes of use. It is worth noting that we
continue to engage actively with FISH, EH and a number of other national
partners (including, increasingly across the library and archive domains) on
these issues.
We have also inherited from the MLA the responsibility for a number of
European programmes including:
· The EDLocal and ATHENA projects
· Liaison with Europeana
· The development of a trans-national partnership for Collections
Mobility & international loans
· Development of MICHAEL
All of which means that the development of international standards, and as
part of this our partnership with the various Collections Management and other
software providers, is now more important than ever.
In this context, we have a strong interest in the next stages of the
development of the CRM and to a lesser degree museumDAT. We believe that there
is potential in both the proposed approaches (automated validation as a
meta-standard and direct validation of compliant systems), as well as Eds
excellent suggestion regarding the validation of data standards, but that there
is considerable work to be done in bringing this to reality more work than
either CIDOC or the CRM-SIG can undertake as unconstituted organisations, even
with project funding.
I would therefore like to put a proposal to the SIG that we meet with you to
discuss the possibility of the Collections Trust providing an infrastructure
and capacity through which a real compliance/validation programme for the CRM
can be implemented.
I know that this proposal is not without political implications, but equally
assuming we can get past these it is not without merit. If we can establish
a constructive partnership between the Collections Trust and CIDOC as the
coordinating body for the CRM we can match vision to operation and, I believe,
make significant advances towards the widespread adoption of/interoperation
with the CRM.
Both Gordon and I would welcome an opportunity to discuss this proposal in
detail and assess whether it is feasible. Is there a forthcoming meeting which
either one or both of us could attend to discuss?
Yours sincerely,
Nick
Nick Poole
Chief Executive
Collections Trust
www.collectionstrust.org.uk
www.collectionslink.org.uk
www.cuturalpropertyadvice.gov.uk
Tel: 01223 316028
Fax: 01223 364658
Until the end of April 2008, the Collections Trust's legal trading name is:
MDA (Europe) Ltd
Company Registration No: 1300565
Reg. Office: 22 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1JP.
The Collections Trust believes that everybody, everywhere should have the
right to access and benefit from cultural collections. Our aim is to develop
programmes and standards which help connect people and culture.
The Collections Trust was launched from its predecessor body, the MDA, in
March 2008.
nicholas crofts consulting
cultural information management
gestion de l'information culturelle
av. miremont 23c
ch-1206 genève
+41 22 557 90 92
[email protected]
www.crofts.ch
Don't miss CIDOC 2008 www.cidoc2008.gr
---------------------------------
Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
A Smarter Email.
