Hello Jay and all,
During the course of planning an improved collections information system,
the UCLA Hammer Museum--working with Diane Zorich and with funding from the
Getty Grant Program--engaged Tassos Petrou, a Ph.D. student in the UCLA
Department of Information Studies, to administer and evaluate a survey of
the Museum's known and potential users. Information was collected about how
users search for information about works of art, the resources used in their
research, and which attributes of an online information system were most
desirable. The value of greater contextualization of objects and the
addition of quality digital images were the two most frequent suggestions
made by survey respondents.
I'll jump in here and add my 2 cents' worth. Clients of the museum image archive I manage are really not that interested in a web-interfaced database of our 250,000-work collection. They are indeed interested in context. Actually, I would say they are interested in context first, context second, and context third. At present, the context-engine we use to help them consists of three human brains, and phone calls to consult with other (curatorial) human brains. What intrigues me is to what extent do we expect even the most sophisticated search engines and the most extensive key-wording imaginable to replicate the intuitive brilliance of the experienced human mind? Interfacing data for public access is a relatively easy technological task. But making data relevant (and exciting) is what museums are supposed to be about.
Amalyah Keshet
Director of Image Resources & Copyright Management
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem www.imj.org.il
Board of Directors, the Museum Computer Network www.mcn.edu
The survey results were integrated into the---
Museum's requirements statements for the new system and continue to be
considered as the Museum plans public access to its collections information.
Guenter mentioned the MOAC project in an earlier response re: online
catalogues. This year, MOAC partners also prepared a grant proposal to
conduct a formal user evaluation of the MOAC online resource. Evaluation
will help partners assess and improve efforts to create and deliver
resources online. In the course of preparing the proposal, we too looked
for user studies and found few published in the area of online museum
catalogs.** MOAC partners will disseminate information about the formal
user evaluation of its online resource... we hope the proposal receives
funding.
***Sources of possible interest:
*The Digital Image Management Program, School of Library and Information
Science at the University of North Texas [Samantha Hastings], is
investigating the informational needs of virtual museum visitors and use of
museum websites (e.g., as sources of information about exhibitions,
collections and special events). [See First Monday, February 2002 issue]
*See Sara Shatford Layne's 1997 dissertation (UCLA Dept. of Information
Studies) "Modeling relevance in art history: Identifying attributes that
determine the relevance of art works, images, and primary text to art
history research."
*Lynne Teather (Museum Studies Program, University of Toronto) has/is
examining use of online museum content.
I am very interested in reports on user studies and would like to learn of
new information and sources turned up in your investigations.
Layna
Layna White
Collections Information Manager
Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts
UCLA Hammer Museum
Co-chair, MCN Standards & Controlled Vocabulary SIG
310-443-7078
[email protected]
www.hammer.ucla.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Pattison [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 11:00 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Online Catalogues & User Surveys
Dear MCN Members,
At the Cincinnati Art Museum, we are currently developing a searchable
online catalogue of works from our permanent collection. In planning this
project, we are seeking any studies that have surveyed end users regarding
the varieties of content they would like to see in an online museum
catalogue. Have any museums conducted such a study? We would be grateful
for any data, whether formal or informal, that might guide our content
choices. Thank you.
Best regards,
Jay Pattison
Jay Brennan Pattison
Associate Registrar
Cincinnati Art Museum
phone: 513.639.2909
fax: 513.639.2987
[email protected]
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