[MCN-L] Fwd: folksonomy article
http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/beneath_the_metadata_a_reply.html -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Leming Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 1:02 PM To: 'Museum Computer Network Listserv' Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Fwd: folksonomy article Along those lines... I have always found that filtering the log of a website for "search" transactions is an invaluable and interesting tool for assessing the content the site is delivering. Particularly useful are reasonable searches that returned no results for they are an indicator of content gaps. I think that folksonomies can be useful to formal classification structures in a similar way. For example, asking the residents of Philadelphia to pitch in on building the set of micro-neighborhoods (The Brickyard, The Valley, etc) within the standard (and beloved!) set (Germantown, Old City, Northern Liberties, ...) might add a vibrant layer to the structure of an oral history site. I think we all agree that we are grateful for the formal structures and the intellectual heavy lifting they represent. I expect we also all agree that they reflect their time and their architects and that they need to evolve. My suggestion - let the Classifiers and the Folksonomers sit down at a Tavern twice a year and work it out. Bob Leming Rock River Star -Original Message- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Perian Sully Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 11:28 AM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Fwd: folksonomy article Well said. As Mal Booth replied, folksonomy can "scare some people." I think that kind of gets to the crux of the matter, seeing as the library and archives people (and a lot of museums, too!) have done such a fantastic job of classifying everything, and now here's this upstart way of thinking about naming stuff which threatens to undermine that tidy order! Given the shifting nature of language, it would seem to me that folksonomy would assist classification systems - identifying terminologies which are outmoded and outdated. After all, isn't the whole point to help people find and identify stuff? How can they do that if they don't know the words something is classified under? Thus, getting to that hybrid model Nick was suggesting, folksonomy is certainly an aid and not a hindrance. Perian Sully Collection Database and Records Administrator Judah L. Magnes Museum Berkeley, CA >> "Nick Poole" 20/11/2006 4:39 am >>> >> > Jeanette et al, > > I was really interested in the post around the 'Beneath the Metadata' > article. > > I actually think the article has some pretty deep flaws. First of all, > it is not entirely clear why you would apply these philosophical > constructs to Folksonomy in the first place and secondly I don't think > it helps to further the understanding of what Folksonomy and > 'traditional' cataloguing are and how they might work together. > > The article essentially says that classification is about absolutes - > this horse is white, that box is empty - whereas Folksonomy is about > subjectivity and relativism. It goes on to compare classification with > propositional logic and states that Folksonomy by its nature gives > rise to logical contradiction. It strikes me that this misses a > significant part of the real value of the approach. > > In her article, Elaine Peterson says that when we catalogue, we are > asking the question 'What is it?'. I couldn't disagree more. What we > are really asking is 'What are we going to call this thing (and things > relevantly similar to it)?'. In this sense, 'traditional' > classification is an act of collective relativism, and is equally > subject to the flaws of subjectivity as Folksonomy. > > I have no doubt that the wave around Folksonomy will eventually pass, > and I very much hope that what will be left is an enriched approach to > professional classification. > > There is considerable strength in a hybrid approach which retains the > intellectual rigour of ontological standardisation but which equally > recognises the additional potential value of large-scale subjective > term-attribution. For example, would it not validate our professional > beliefs if the subjective interpretations of tens of thousands of > people translated up into patterns of meaning which confirmed them? > And similarly, if they don't, wouldn't there be considerable value in > asking why not? > > > Finally, whatever the linguistic consistency or validity of > folksonomic thesauri, we must never underestimate the importance of > letting people in. > The act of tagging is only partly to do with classification. It is an > affirmative act which says 'I want to be involved' and for that alone, > it is of tremendous value. > > Nick Poole > Director > Museum Documentation Association > > > > > > > Nick Poole > Director > MDA > > The Spectrum Building, The
[MCN-L] Clarifying Interpolating vs. Scaling
Hi - A lot of good info has gone out today regarding this. A good consideration is to deliver images ready for press. This will push you toward files that are 8000 pixels for a full page illustration. Maybe 6000 for a half page image. Mid range cameras and scanners may have trouble creating images that large. Also you *may* want to capture your files as 16-bit RGB tif, 600 dpi. Everything for press gets delivered at 300 dpi CMYK 8-bit however. Master files are great but- I am also always a fan of capturing files for a certain use. A photo project (such as Julie's) may be printed in duotone for example, so the workflow should be pointed at that. Or a web project can fly thru a production cycle if jpegs are all that are needed. JEFF Jeffrey Evans Digital Imaging Specialist Princeton University Art Museum 609.258.8579 > Just to be clear, interpolating is not the same as scaling. > Wanting a 5x7 photo or document to be 200% its size when scanning > is scaling. Having a completed 5x7 scan at 300ppi and then making > the file larger is interpolating. > > Mike Rippy > IMA Photographer > mrippy at ima.museum > (317)920-2662 ext.191 > > IMA > 4000 Michigan Road > Indianapolis, IN, USA 46208-3326 > www.ima.museum > ___ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] Clarifying Interpolating vs. Scaling
Just to be clear, interpolating is not the same as scaling. Wanting a 5x7 photo or document to be 200% its size when scanning is scaling. Having a completed 5x7 scan at 300ppi and then making the file larger is interpolating. Mike Rippy IMA Photographer mrippy at ima.museum (317)920-2662 ext.191 IMA 4000 Michigan Road Indianapolis, IN, USA 46208-3326 www.ima.museum
[MCN-L] rSIG? A Proposal for a Research SIG
Hi Richard, Sorry for the very slow response to your on-list proposal for a Research SIG. As you'll know from our conference chat, I am definitely up for this and thanks for putting it forward. As you suggest, it's probably a good idea to take a fairly loose approach to what constitutes research; aside from anything else, it's going to take a little time for the group to find an identity and settle on a shared set of concerns and it would be a shame to deter people that might otherwise be interested. On the one hand, I'll want to be able to share with others going through the process of academic research in the digital/digitised heritage sphere (small though this ball may be); on the other, I'm of course interested in the sort of research that focusses on specific solutions to informatic problems for museums, although these may well have more of an applied than academic bent. But doubtless there's plenty of overlap between the two so it could be hard to try to disentangle them anyway. That being said, I'm pretty much invisible in the forums to which I am already subscribed so I can imagine that my involvement with such a SIG might focus mainly around face to face meetings at conferences. In other words, I'm not volunteering to chair, I'm afraid! But, despite the warm welcome the Taiwan SIG gave me and others at their meeting at the conference, I'm not currently involved in any SIGs so I don't really have a clear idea of how they operate or what they offer. Cheers, Jeremy Jeremy Ottevanger Web Developer, Museum Systems Team Museum of London Group 46 Eagle Wharf Road London. N1 7ED Tel: 020 7410 2207 Fax: 020 7600 1058 Email: jottevanger at museumoflondon.org.uk www.museumoflondon.org.uk Visit Belonging: Voices of London's Refugees - a new thought-provoking free exhibition Glamour, grandeur, sleaze, disease - discover a great city in the making at the Museum of London Register for regular Museum updates with enews at museumoflondon.org.uk
[MCN-L] mcn-l Digest, Vol 9, Issue 2 (I am away until November 29)
I am away until November 29 and I will reply when I return. If necessary, for outgoing loans you can contact Rachel Waldron at rwal at loc.gov or Patrick Shepler at pshe at loc.gov, for traveling exhibits Seth De Matties at sede at loc.gov, or if this is an emergency, call our main office at 202-707-5223. Thank you.
[MCN-L] Question about Scanning Negatives
Julie, Whether you "scale up" or increase resolution (ppi or "dpi") you will be increasing the amount of pixels being created. The one thing you want to focus on when scanning is the pixel dimensions. Everything else will be determined from those dimensions. ppi or dpi is applied to the origianl pixel dimensions. Scalling up the image 200% increases the pixel dimensions. No matter what controls you use while scanning, pixel dimensions determine what your final output will be. If its a 5x7 image you will scan and you want to print it at 200% of its origianl size at 300ppi, the pixel dimensions will be 3000pixels x 4200pixesl, allowing you to create a 10x14 @ 300ppi print from the original scan without having to interpolate the image up. With the same scan you can print an image at 5x7 @ 600ppi or 3x5 @ 1000ppi. Of course you would probably resize the image down for printing at those dimensions 5x7 @ 300ppi and 3x5 @ 300ppi. Depending on the purpose of your larger print, if it were to be a poster, you can go larger still by interpolating your original file to produce even larger images. Of course as you interpolate up you begin to loose quality, but you can judge at what point you have reached your limit. No matter how you scan the image, if its going to be larger than the original it will loose some qualities the original has at its 5x7 size. Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me. Mike Rippy IMA Photographer mrippy at ima.museum (317)920-2662 ext.191 IMA 4000 Michigan Road Indianapolis, IN, USA 46208-3326 www.ima.museum >>> jgrob at uh.edu 11/21/2006 4:32 PM >>> Hello, We are about to begin scanning a large group of early 20th century negatives. They are about 3.5" square. We will be creating master TIFFs of course, but we would like to be able to print larger than 3.5" images. Is it better to scale up and scan them at something like 200%, or to increase the resolution from 600 dpi to a higher dpi? Thanks in advance, Julie Grob Julie Grob Digital Projects and Instruction Librarian Special Collections 114 University Libraries University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-2000 (713) 743-9744 jgrob at uh.edu ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
[MCN-L] Thanks for Scanning Responses
Hello MCN'ers, Thanks for all of the helpful responses about scanning negatives. My main concern was that my technician's recommendation to "scale up" might not be the best way to go for a master image, and I thank Richard Urban especially for his clear explanation about that. I thought you all seemed like a helpful bunch in Pasadena, and I can see now that I was right! Julie Julie Grob Digital Projects and Instruction Librarian Special Collections 114 University Libraries University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-2000 (713) 743-9744 jgrob at uh.edu
[MCN-L] rSIG? A Proposal for a Research SIG
At 08:05 AM 11/22/2006, you wrote: >Hi Richard, > >Sorry for the very slow response to your on-list proposal for a Research >SIG. As you'll know from our conference chat, I am definitely up for >this and thanks for putting it forward. I am afraid you have mistaken me for someone else. I was at no conference in the last 2 years and remember no chat about a Research SIG. Sorry. >As you suggest, it's probably a good idea to take a fairly loose >approach to what constitutes research; aside from anything else, it's >going to take a little time for the group to find an identity and settle >on a shared set of concerns and it would be a shame to deter people that >might otherwise be interested. On the one hand, I'll want to be able to >share with others going through the process of academic research in the >digital/digitised heritage sphere (small though this ball may be); on >the other, I'm of course interested in the sort of research that >focusses on specific solutions to informatic problems for museums, >although these may well have more of an applied than academic bent. But >doubtless there's plenty of overlap between the two so it could be hard >to try to disentangle them anyway. > >That being said, I'm pretty much invisible in the forums to which I am >already subscribed so I can imagine that my involvement with such a SIG >might focus mainly around face to face meetings at conferences. In other >words, I'm not volunteering to chair, I'm afraid! But, despite the warm >welcome the Taiwan SIG gave me and others at their meeting at the >conference, I'm not currently involved in any SIGs so I don't really >have a clear idea of how they operate or what they offer. > >Cheers, Jeremy > > >Jeremy Ottevanger >Web Developer, Museum Systems Team >Museum of London Group >46 Eagle Wharf Road >London. N1 7ED >Tel: 020 7410 2207 >Fax: 020 7600 1058 >Email: jottevanger at museumoflondon.org.uk >www.museumoflondon.org.uk > >Visit Belonging: Voices of London's Refugees - a new >thought-provoking free exhibition > >Glamour, grandeur, sleaze, disease - discover a great city in the >making at the Museum of London > >Register for regular Museum updates with enews at museumoflondon.org.uk >___ >You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum >Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > >To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > >To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: >http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l Sincerely Richard Schaffer, Registrar U.A. Museum of Art P.O. Box 210002 1031 N. Olive Tucson AZ 85721 reschaff at u.arizona.edu (520) 621-7567 The opinions or statements expressed herein are my own and should not be taken as a position opinion, or endorsement by The University of Arizona.
