DC2008 Keynote: access to art museums on-line: a role for social tagging and folksonomy
1. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
access to art museums on-line:
a role for social tagging and
folksonomy?
J. Trant
Archives & Museum Informatics
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
2. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
access to collections
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
3. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
From: J. P. xxxxxx@xxxxxx.com
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 11:24:43 -0700
To: timeline@metmuseum.org
Subject: Looking for a painting
Please help:
I have been looking on and off for years for this painting. The painting is of a
very well dressed renaissance man standing in a room (a library) in front of him
on a table is a large hour glass. The painting has very rich colors. I have talked
to a lot of people and they have said they have seen this painting but can't
remember its name or the name of the artist.
Could you please use your resources to find this painting?
Reference Questions
c.f. Catechism Project, Janney & Sledge
4. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
Possibly the desired painting
Ian Morrison’s “things we just happen to have in our head” method
6. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
What “J. P.” knows What a Met curator knows
Portrait of a Man, ca. 1520–25
painting Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino)
Renaissance (Italian, Brescian, born about 1498, died 1554)
Oil on canvas; 34 1/4 x 32 in. (87 x 81.3 cm)
standing Rogers Fund, 1928 (28.79)
man Provenance: Maffei, Brescia (by 1760, as quot;Ritratto d'uomo con
very well dressed carta in mano, ed Orologio, di Callisto da Lodiquot;); by descent to
contessa Beatrice Erizzo Maffei Fenaroli Avogadro, Palazzo
library Fenaroli, Brescia (by 1853–at least 1857, as by Moretto); her
daughter, contessa Maria Livia Fenaroli Avogadro, later marchesa
hourglass Fassati, Brescia (in 1862); her son, marchese Ippolito Fassati,
Milan (by 1878–at least 1912); [Elia Volpi, Florence, by 1915–16;
table sold to Knoedler]; [Knoedler, New York, 1916–28; sold to MMA]
rich colors
What they both know ...
7. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
robe
Renaissance
scholar
scroll
time
trees
from MMA proof of concept
8. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
bangs
robe
beard
border
Renaissance
cape
scholar
contemplation
elbow
scroll
hourglass
time
landscape
trees
learned
man
mountain
moustache
nobleman
painting
portrait
ring volunteer supplied tags
robe might help
Renaissance from MMA proof of concept
9. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
What questions do visitors ask of museums?
10. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
How do users search on-line collections?
11. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
shark
How do users search on-line collections?
12. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
shark
Text
How do users search on-line collections?
13. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
shark
Text
?
only
one shark
How do users search on-line collections?
14. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
CDWA
Describing works of art
15. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
label text
curatorial
analysis
CDWA
Describing works of art
16. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
≠sharks!
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
17. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
mis-match between
vocabulary of visitor
and the museum
18. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
19. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
...not searching
for quot;museumquot;
content; they
were searching
for quot;calligraphyquot;
content.
C. Alexander, et al., Beyond Launch: Museum Videos on YouTube,
Museums and the Web 2008
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/hart/hart.html
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
20. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Access to Collections
there’s no such thing as
“museum content”
discovery is institution agnostic
21. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
research question
Can social tagging and folksonomy
improve online access to art
collections?
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
22. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
gilded
animal
bejeweled
antler
rearing
deer
Artist
woman (Nationality, Dates)
Title, Date
Medium
action Dimensions
hunting
Ownership
Notes museum
...
luxury
documents
dog
bow
horse
object
leaping
huntress
users tag J. Trant, Jan 28, 2008
based on Wyman et al. 2006, Fig.2
a model of tagging
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
23. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
An Experiment Called Steve.Museum
24. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
Users Tag Works of Art
25. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
evening dress
balloon sleeves
black
bracelet
cape
elegant
red
Users Tag Works of Art
26. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Users Tag Works of Art @ MMA
27. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
evening dress
strap
elegant
black
Users Tag Works of Art @ MMA
28. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
users folksonomy vocabulary sources
who assigns what kinds of terms
are terms found in...
how many terms? are assigned?
Art and
Architecture
Thesaurus
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 museum
(AAT)
records Union List
of Artists
Names
how does users' terms (ULAN)
tagging differ? assigned 2
searches of
art image
databases
works of art
J. Trant, February 2008
are terms applicable to
based on Trant 2006
Research Process
29. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions
users folksonomy vocabulary sources
who assigns what kinds of terms
are terms found in...
how many terms? are assigned?
Art and
Architecture
Thesaurus
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 museum
(AAT)
records Union List
of Artists
Names
how does users' terms (ULAN)
tagging differ? assigned 2
searches of
art image
databases
works of art
J. Trant, February 2008
are terms applicable to
based on Trant 2006
Research Process
30. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
the experiment
and our findings
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
31. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
users folksonomy vocabulary sources
who assigns what kinds of terms
are terms found in...
how many terms? are assigned?
Art and
Architecture
Thesaurus
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 museum
(AAT)
records Union List
of Artists
Names
how does users' terms (ULAN)
tagging differ? assigned 2
searches of
art image
databases
works of art
J. Trant, February 2008
are terms applicable to
based on Trant 2006
What was tagged?
32. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
users folksonomy vocabulary sources
who assigns what kinds of terms
are terms found in...
how many terms? are assigned?
Art and
Architecture
Thesaurus
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 museum
(AAT)
records Union List
of Artists
Names
how does users' terms (ULAN)
tagging differ? assigned 2
searches of
art image
databases
works of art
J. Trant, February 2008
are terms applicable to
based on Trant 2006
What was tagged?
33. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Works by Institution
[all works]
The Metropolitan Museum of
Art Boston Museum of Fine Arts
14% 13%
Cleveland Museum of Art
Tate Modern 7%
3%
Skirball Denver Art Museum
1%
9%
Indianapolis Museum of Art
13%
San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art
9%
Rubin Los Angeles County Museum
6% Minneapolis Institute of Arts of Art
14% 11%
Characterizing Tagging: Works Tagged
Same MMA 251 in both sets
34. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Works by Institution
[all works]
1,784 works
The Metropolitan Museum of
Art
14%
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
13%
Cleveland Museum of Art
Tate Modern 7%
3%
Skirball Denver Art Museum
11 museums
1%
9%
Indianapolis Museum of Art
13%
San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art
9%
Rubin Los Angeles County Museum
6% Minneapolis Institute of Arts of Art
14% 11%
Characterizing Tagging: Works Tagged
Same MMA 251 in both sets
35. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Characterizing Tagging: Works Tagged
36. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
range of
media
Characterizing Tagging: Works Tagged
37. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
users folksonomy
who assigns what kinds of terms
how many terms? are assigned?
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1
how does users' terms
tagging differ? assigned 2
Tags per work
# of tags # of taggers # tags per tagger
total distinct total total tags distinct tags
high low average std. dev. high low average std. dev.
all works
work 1
work 2
work 3
Study Terms Assigned
38. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
users folksonomy
who assigns what kinds of terms
how many terms? are assigned?
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 descriptive statistics
• tagger velocity
how does users' terms
assigned 2
• tag variation
tagging differ?
Tags per work
# of tags # of taggers # tags per tagger
total distinct total total tags distinct tags
high low average std. dev. high low average std. dev.
all works
work 1
work 2
work 3
Study Terms Assigned
39. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institution Tagger Single-Institution Tagger
# of # of # of # of
# of tags # of tags
works users works users
total distinct total total distinct total
1,784 36,981 11,944 1,621 251 56,399 21,557 690
Characterizing Tagging: Basic Descriptive Statistics
40. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institution Tagger Single-Institution Tagger
# of # of # of # of
# of tags # of tags
works users works users
total distinct total total distinct total
1,784 36,981 11,944 1,621 251 56,399 21,557 690
22 tags / 82 tags /
Characterizing Tagging: Basic Descriptive Statistics
user user
41. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger
Unregistered Users
Registered Users
Characterizing Tagging: Compare Registered | Unregistered
42. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger
Unregistered Users
Registered Users
registered users
tag more
Characterizing Tagging: Compare Registered | Unregistered
43. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Sessions per Registered User
6% 6%
4 or more sessions
4 or more sessions
6%
3 sessions 3 sessions
6%
20%
2 sessions
20%
2 sessions
68%
1 session
68%
1 session
Characterizing Tagging: Sessions per Registered User
unregistered users only come once by definition
44. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Tags per Work, Average by Object Type
number of tags per object type divided by number of works of that object type
highlighted values for samples of fewer than 10 works
40
35
Average Tags / Work
Linear (Average Tags / Work)
33.4
30
25 27.1 27.0
25.1
23.4 23.7
20 22.2 21.6
20.7 20.1
15
16.4 16.0
14.5
13.4
10
5
1.5
0
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Characterizing Tagging: Tags Per Work by Object Type
45. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Tags per Work, Average by Object Type
number of tags per object type divided by number of works of that object type
highlighted values for samples of fewer than 10 works
40
35
Average Tags / Work
Linear (Average Tags / Work)
33.4
30
25 27.1 27.0
25.1
23.4 23.7
20 22.2 21.6
20.7 20.1
15
16.4 16.0
14.5
13.4
10
some works
5
1.5
0
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Characterizing Tagging: Tags Per Work by Object Type
46. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
16%
redundant
84%
novel
Characterizing Tagging: Vocabulary Stabilization?
47. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Tagging
16%
redundant
84%
novel
36,981 11,944
tags distinct
Characterizing Tagging: Vocabulary Stabilization?
48. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Are tags new terms?
http://conference.archimuse.com/jtrants
49. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
research questions:
social tagging and folksonomy analysis
users folksonomy vocabulary sources
who assigns what kinds of terms
are terms found in...
how many terms? are assigned?
Art and
Architecture
Thesaurus
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 museum
(AAT)
records Union List
of Artists
Names
how does users' terms (ULAN)
tagging differ? assigned 2
searches of
art image
databases
works of art
J. Trant, February 2008
are terms applicable to
based on Trant 2006
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
50. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
research questions:
social tagging and folksonomy analysis
users folksonomy vocabulary sources
who assigns what kinds of terms
are terms found in...
how many terms? are assigned?
Art and
Architecture
Thesaurus
terms
tag works of art
assigned 1 museum
(AAT)
records Union List
of Artists
Names
how does users' terms (ULAN)
tagging differ? assigned 2
searches of
art image
databases
works of art
J. Trant, February 2008
are terms applicable to
based on Trant 2006
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
51. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Museum Documentation: Catalogue Records On-line
54. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Museum
New Tags
Tags ? Documentation
Redundant
tags
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
55. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
14%
yes
86%
unmatched
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
56. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
57. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
sculpture
photograph
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
58. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
59. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
mask
portrait
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
60. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Terms Not Found in
Multi-institutional Tagger:Documentation Found in Museum Documentation
Museum Terms Not
200
150
Times Assigned
100
50
0
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gn
om
si
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ic
da
zo
J. Trant created from
September 18, 2008 Term termsMuseumDocumentation.xls:musdocNULL-freq
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
61. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Terms Not Found in
Multi-institutional Tagger:Documentation Found in Museum Documentation
Museum Terms Not
200
150
31,949 terms
Times Assigned
100
50
86% not found
0
an
s
gn
om
si
w
ic
da
zo
J. Trant created from
September 18, 2008 Term termsMuseumDocumentation.xls:musdocNULL-freq
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?
62. j trant: social tagging and folksonomy
Research Questions: Museum Documentation
Multi-institutional Tagger: Terms Not Found inTerms Not Found in Museum Documentation
Multi-Institutional Tagger: Museum Documentation
[terms assigned more than 50 times, by occurrence]
200
150
Times Assigned
100
50
0
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J. Trant
Do user tags differ from museum documentation?