What a difference 10 years makes | But where to from here?
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A look back at 10 years of managing digital collection information, and systems, at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
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What a difference 10 years makes | But where to from here?
- 1. What a difference 10 years makes But where to from here? Adrian Kingston Digital Collections Senior Analyst Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa @adriankingston @tepapacolonline Global EMu User Conference 15-17 Oct 2014 Washington, DC
- 2. Introduction: Te Papa • 1865 - Colonial Museum founded • 1907 - Renamed Dominion Museum • 1972 - National Museum • 1936 - National Art Gallery opened • 1992 - National Museum and National Art Gallery Merged • 1998 - Te Papa opened • 1.3 million visitors a year
- 3. Introduction: Te Papa + While not huge by international standards (2-3 million objects) we’re pretty diverse. + Art – Zoology + DNA analysis to repatriation of human remains + We are a team of three who work across the organisation + 120 users
- 4. Wellington Harbour, 1894, James Nairn Oil on panel Gift of Miss Mary Newton, 1939
- 5. Milford Sound, 1883, Burton Brothers Black and white gelatin glass negative
- 6. Mere pounamu (greenstone hand club), Unknown maker kawakawa, inanga, muka
- 7. Cloak, Unknown maker, Circa 1870 wool, plant fibre Gift of Te Aia Mataiapo, 1872
- 9. land snail (Allodiscus kakano B. Marshall & Barker, 2008; holotype) collected by Alan Beu, 1957
- 10. Single crape fern (Leptopteris hymenophylloides (A.Rich.) C.Presl) Collected by Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, 1769
- 11. The beginning
- 12. 200 5
- 13. What we had • A mess • A single Collection Management System, but obsolete, inadequate • Poor data standards • Fragmented processes • Paper based, isolated processes • No digital media management • “Private” data sets
- 14. The plan • Implemented KE EMu • Wanted all collection related information and processes in a single system • All collection related media managed, with long-term access and preservation in mind • Digital collection items managed appropriately • Rights and licences managed in EMu • Where possible, consistent description across collections
- 15. Why centralise? • No more lost/duplicated/out-of-synch data (well, less) • No data silos • Transparency & accountability • Improved standards, processes • Consistent collection management • Consistent collection information management • About collections, not format • Strong but simple content framework • Single focus for data preservation • One system to support, and sustain • One system to train in, learn to use • Efficient content creation, access & publication • Creates appropriate ownership of content creation
- 16. What does our EMu do: the usual, objects Describe and manage physical Collections • Art • Photography • Archives • NZ History • Pacific Cultures • Taonga Maori • Entomology • Marine mammals • Land Mammals • Birds • Fish • Insects • Plants • Etc
- 17. People Places Controlled Vocabulary Physical objects Physical objects Physical objects Taxon
- 18. What does it do: the usual, processes Manage and record collection processes • Acquisition • Deaccession • Lending & borrowing • Storage • Movements • Conservation • Damage • Tissue sampling • Authority control • Provenance • Taxonomic identification • Collection events • Species distribution • Record arguments
- 19. Deaccession Loans Conservation People Places Controlled Vocabulary Locations Acquisition Receipts, reports, agreements Physical objects Physical objects Physical objects Taxon
- 20. But wait, there’s more
- 22. Rights management & licencing
- 23. Born digital collections & digitised collections
- 24. Repatriation of koiwi tangata (human remains)
- 25. Simple framework & process for publishing online
- 26. Props Crates, forms, frames Collections Online Exhibition sites Ourspace Deaccession Loans Conservation Physical objects Physical objects Physical objects Digital Preservation CIDOC CRM People Places Controlled Vocabulary Locations Digital Media Acquisition Movements Receipts, reports, agreements Alcohol Management Taxon Exhibition management On floor interactives OAI-PMH Conceptual objects Indigenous description Publications Repatriation Narratives DDigigitiatal lo obbjejecctsts Rights management Research Digital objects *NOT EVEN REMOTELY TO SCALE, OR TO BE CONSIDERED ACCURATE OR USEFUL
- 27. Whoa. That looks complicated. And kinda boring.
- 28. Lets do more!
- 29. 200 8
- 30. New conceptual framework • Making EMu a Collection Information System, not just a Collection Management System • Manages semantic, meaningful relationships across records from all modules • Based on ISO 21127:2006 CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model • Addition of relationship types, i.e., how is a concept, person or place related to an object: e.g. “depicts”, “influenced”, “refers to” • Previously hidden relationships are now visible, and browseable • Significant conceptual change, but is now part of normal cataloguing processes
- 31. Cataloguing for access, not just collections management
- 32. It isn’t just for us, it’s for them. Whoever they are.
- 33. Collections Online • We’ve had collections available online now for a number of years, all data and media coming from EMu • 500,000 collection items 12,000 people, 5000 places, subjects etc • Ability to browse through related items, people, taxonomy, subjects etc, because that structure and data exists in EMu • *NEW* Responsive website • Highlighted problems with being able to show such rich data on all types of device • More to do
- 34. • Co screen shots
- 35. Narratives • Museums aren’t just a repository of objects, we’re a generator of knowledge, stories etc. • Our stories and theirs • Research and stories are managed in relation to the other information × Online, the more we use it, the more we want it to do × Very template driven × Not very flexible in terms of layout × Need to learn from other forms of tech × Their stories - need ingest from web
- 37. Thesaurus We use: • Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus • Getty Thesaurus of Geographic names • Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials, Subjects Because: • They already exist and used all over the world • Excellent partnerships, we are on the GRI ITWG • Provides hierarchical browsing, “alternates” and “used for” terms, scope notes, and lots of other content we didn’t have to create However: • Thesaurus management in EMu not perfect, took development, needs a lot more • Has taken six years of cataloguing to get content to the richness it currently has, but a long way to go
- 38. Local thesauri • Māori and Pacific terms not covered well in AAT, yet • Sometimes the western understanding of a concept is different to that under Mātauranga Māori • Need to catalogue in English and indigenous languages for appropriate description, and make access and understanding easier • Hope to contribute back to AAT, improving the description of Tāonga Māori in collections around the world • Need systems to exchange data between EMu and the GRI
- 39. • Maori term page, pounamu
- 40. Exhibitions • All in-house exhibitions have branded Minisites delivered from EMu • Some on floor interactives delivered via EMu • Exhibition development and management using exhibition items • Now working on text and label development in EMu
- 41. • Add arts te papa screen shot
- 43. Getting out there • Collections Online is a great base for exploring and learning about Te Papa’s collections, however • Te Papa doesn’t hold all knowledge • Partnerships make our collections available from other places, and also allow the public to find information from across institutions • Not all are directly connected to EMu, but all content comes from there • We track what’s been used where in EMu • We link to other sources as much as possible
- 44. 201 3
- 45. Adkin diary transcription • Crowdsourcing diary transcriptions • Using existing tech as much as possible as no budget • Just testing the waters • Using narratives, collections online, Google Docs and Forms. • Need to look at crowdsourcing, or student sourcing for image preparation • It’s a hack, but we’ve got a lot of transcription done
- 47. If you love something, let it free • Open access image release • 30,000 high resolution images available via No Known Copyright Restrictions or CC BY-NC-ND • Downloadable content identified via Rights module info • Images accessed via Imu • Strict security • Up to 45,000 images available now • 6000 downloads in 4 months
- 48. “Images of what our cities used to be like are always useful in the discussions about urban form and current change”
- 49. “Great image! Will probably put it on a canvas bag for myself. Thank you!”
- 50. “To send to my boss. She loves cats.”
- 51. “Sharing image on facebook with a friend who likes penguins”
- 52. “Background image for twitter profile”
- 53. “Kia ora! I might use it in a presentation in Kopenhagen on Polynesian Voyaging this year and possibly in my dissertation/an article as well. Great to have access to historic images like this online!!!”
- 54. “Show it to my editor in chief. If she agrees we will ask for the licence to use it in our general interest magazine.”
- 56. “This will be used to create tasteful photo art”
- 57. “will use for a gif :)”
- 58. “Favourite tree, and I like herbarium collections”
- 59. “I am a composition instructor at Kent State University (in Ohio/USA)-I use multi-modality constantly & find images such as these layer a depth not often found elsewhere. Further, my courses are always centered around social issues-and thus, history, from many perspectives, comes into play.”
- 60. “Lecture at Tate Britain”
- 61. “Article in monthly Member journal about addition of Trans- Tasman cable 1 & 2 to the IPENZ Engineering Heritage Register”
- 62. “I'm writing about tongan tapa, I'm an Auckland university student and would like to use this image to illustrate my academic project online. Thanks”
- 63. “to use in creating 3D objects for virtual art collection”
- 64. “Comparison with other Nassaria species and figuring in publication of new species from New Caledonia for comparative reasons.”
- 65. “Not sure”
- 66. TODAY
- 67. Sector changes • Museums increasingly acknowledging importance of opening up & letting go, sharing authority, encouraging re-use • Alignment of content creation processes, multiple channels • New forms of publishing • Linked data • New forms of collecting • Changing perspectives on what a collection is • Stories more important than ever • Need to be available where people are, on whatever device they want • All great stuff, but it means there is more to manage • Our team is actually smaller, but we are doing more
- 68. New-ish things we’re looking at (and would like help with)
- 69. Digital Asset Management & Preservation • Museums have to work with software designed for other sectors • Preservation not yet a big consideration for DAMS • Digital collection items should be managed by the collection system • In some cases digitised collections may become collection items Basic DAM functionality, item description Single authoritative source, clear relationships Object info is kept on object, image info kept with image Repositories, layers of access Conservation module for preservation actions etc × Open Archival Information System OAIS model- SIPs, AIPs & DIPs × Integrated tools for fixity, format validation and analysis × More efficient workflows × The dreaded “non-collection” media
- 70. Collecting Intangible Heritage • No longer just about collecting static, physical objects • Similar issues with “collecting contemporary” • Most will probably be digital • Games, ideas, dance, language, stories, rituals… “Conceptual” description model in place Not separate systems for separate formats Rights management includes indigenous rights Digital description and management Similar to born digital art works? Similar to analogue media? × Is lacking existing process, rather than tech × Future representation?
- 71. User generated/contributed content • Co-created, user generated, user contributed, I see it as a spectrum • Comments, downloads, stories, dis/likes, new works, images, video • Could be used to collect low- or high-tech interaction • Users expect to interact more, shouldn’t we put effort into preserving that? × Ingest from web × User expectation and museum literacy × Our expectation, what is useful/important?
- 72. Object “use” • Already record that collections have been used in exhibitions, loans etc., but what about all the other uses? • Need to surface this to management, but I think more importantly, to the rest of staff, particularly curators • Digital life of an object, more significant than physical? What does the system need next? • All interaction with a collection item • Likes, comments, tweets, stories, experiences • Reuse of items • Google analytics, Addthis, social media tools • Tracking downloads and use of images • Need to pull it all together, and keep a history • Use as targets, need to change how/what we measure to be useful
- 73. Record “Quality” • We need smarter ways of seeing the collection as a whole, and looking for patterns • Automated measure of record quality based on smart indicators • Accessibility as a measure, e.g. rights cleared? • Put it right up front, in front of the staff, and the public • Would allow us to plan digitisation programmes, at risk items, help with auditing • Compare against Object use
- 74. Facebook The intertubes Wikimedia Arts Te Papa Arts Te Papa Arts Te Papa Arts Te Papa Arts Te Papa Minisite The intertubes Props Crates, forms, frames Exhibition sites Ourspace Deaccession Loans Conservation PPhhysyisciacal lo obbjejectcsts Physical objects Digital Preservation CIDOC CRM People Places Controlled Vocabulary Locations Digital Media Acquisition Movements Receipts, reports, agreements Alcohol Management Taxon Exhibition management On floor interactives OAI-PMH Conceptual objects Indigenous description Publications Repatriation Narratives DDigigitiatal ol obbjejectcsts Rights management Research Digital objects *NOT EVEN REMOTELY TO SCALE, OR TO BE CONSIDERED ACCURATE OR USEFUL Twitter Wikipedia Te Papa App Ingress Apps Field Notes Reddit Google form Google Sheets Analytics Collections Online Google Analytics AAddddTThhisis
- 76. So • We’ve done a lot, and it’s been great • But there are a lot of hacks, and workarounds, particularly as budgets have decreased • We are constantly having to defend EMu limitations against increased digital expectations • We’ve pushed EMu a lot • We’re starting to get worried about complexity and sustainability • We have a very large mobile project coming up which is going to push us even further
- 77. Technology, society and public expectation is changing faster than the organisation, staff, and EMu
- 78. Are we expecting too much from a single system?
- 79. Dunno.