Sebastian,
This sounds really interesting, and raises some of the questions
we've been discussing within the context of developing STEVE (and
that I'm exploring in my PhD research @ the University of Toronto.)
When do you decide that you have a 'critical mass of descriptors'?
it's true, that only having a few terms to search on isn't very
functional, but is it demotivating to users if they put in terms but
then can't see the effect of their work?
What kind of response have you had?
jt
At 5:04 PM +1100 11/22/05, Chan, Sebastian wrote:
On the subject of STEVE, we are doing a similar prototype trial here at
the Powerhouse Museum with our Electronic Swatchbook project
(http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/electronicswatchbook)
The swatchbook has a lot of high resolution public domain (in Aust)
fabric swatches available for download. Unfortunately, as they come from
a series of physical fabric swatchbooks they have been catalogued by the
Museum as three separate books. Each book contains numerous swatches,
all of which are unlabelled.
We have, since the launch, been inviting users to describe the swatches.
As these descriptions are added by users of the site they go into a
database as search terms alongside the particular swatch record. Once we
have a critical mass of descriptors then we will turn on searching which
will enable searching by colour and pattern etc.
We are now looking at adding similar folksonomy tools to other
collection-based projects.
Sebastian Chan
Manager, Web Services
Powerhouse Museum
street - 500 Harris St Ultimo, NSW Australia
postal - PO Box K346, Haymarket, NSW 1238
tel - 61 2 9217 0109
fax - 61 2 9217 0689
e - [email protected]
w - www.powerhousemuseum.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Morgan [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, 18 November 2005 2:20
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: subject & keyword searching in CMS and DAMS
This looks like a great place to plug "social tagging," (an
approach to "folksonomy," i.e., using popular terminology for subject
categorization) like what STEVE (http://steve.museum) promises.
Folksonomies are a way to address the reality that Museum and
Library professionals often use subject categorizations that
don't reflect the terms most people use when searching
online. STEVE is an open-source tool for enabling social
tagging of museum object images to create folksonomies.
Alongside the folksonomies, I still think it's worthwhile for
museums to make their internal subject terms more public.
Exposing the insides of the Museum in a demystifying,
educational way is a great community-minded thing to do.
Deborah Wythe wrote:
> This doesn't make a lot of sense to me--why would museums >not<
> publish subject terms in their web/public versions of the catalog?
> Isn't the purpose of creating subjects/keywords to make the
> collections more accessible --to everyone, not just inhouse users?
> Museum staff are likely to be looking for a specific object
and have
> key data--title or accession numbers--but members of the public
> (including picture researchers who might buy our images!)
may want to
> ask a system: "show me all the cats."
>
> Deborah
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "JanaH" <[email protected]>
> Reply-To: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: subject & keyword searching in CMS and DAMS
> Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 16:04:12 -0600
>
> Deborah,
>
> Museums don't always publish their subject cataloging to
their websites.
> Usually only select fields are exported from the collection
management
> system, and for several reasons, the subject fields don't
make the cut.
> I think you'll find that the depth of information stored in
collection
> management systems isn't really reflected in museum websites. So I
> guess what I'm saying is that just because you don't see it
on the Web
> doesn't mean someone isn't recording that information.
>
> That said, I think most of us probably use a vocabulary
based on the
> Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), with local terms
added where
> necessary. We don't use LCSH because they are usually too
> conceptual/vague for our needs, but maybe someone else will
weigh in
> on that?
>
>
> Jana Hill
> Collection Database Coordinator
> Amon Carter Museum
> 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd.
> Fort Worth, Texas 76107
> 817-989-5173
> 817-989-5179 fax
>
> All opinions are my own and not those of my employer.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Deborah Wythe [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 2:12 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: subject & keyword searching in CMS and DAMS
>
> I'm curious to know if your museum assigns formal subject headings
> and/or keywords to works of art in their collections management or
> digital asset management systems. A little poking around on the Web
> seems to indicate it's not too common -- artist name,
title, medium,
> collection, maybe a general category, yes, but something
approaching
> the depth of the subject headings used in library
catalogs--maybe no?
>
> If you do assign subject headings, which authorities are
used -- LCSH?
> AAT?
>
> Thanks,
> Deborah
>
> Deborah Wythe
> Brooklyn Museum
> Head, Digital Collections and Services 200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn,
> NY 11238
> tel: 718 501 6311
> fax: 718 501 6125
> email: [email protected]
>
>
>
>
>
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