4 Adrian Kingston MCN Taiwan

8/7/2019 4 Adrian Kingston MCN Taiwan

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Standards & efficient content creation: providing

access to Te Papas collections & knowledge

Adrian Kingston

Acting Manager Collections Information Services

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa



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Introduction

Background

Collections

Problems

Changes

Thesauri

Conceptual framework

Results

Still to do


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Background


Wellington, New Zealand

National Museum (established 1865)

National Art Gallery (established 1913)

Merged in 1992, under the Museum of New Zealand Te

Papa Tongarewa Act

New building opened 14 February 1998


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Te Papa Tongarewa image


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Collections

Humanities Collections

Art

Photography

New Zealand History

Tonga Mori

Pacific Cultures

InternationalHistory

Archives


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Collections

Natural Environment Collections

Plants

Birds

Molluscs and marine invertebrates

Fish

Insects

Crustacea

Marine Mammals

Land Mammals

Reptiles


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Wellington Harbour, 1894, James NairnOil on panelGift of Miss Mary Newton, 1939


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Milford Sound, 1883, Burton BrothersBlack and white gelatin glass negative


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Mere pounamu (greenstone hand club), Unknown makerkawakawa, inanga, muka


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Cloak, Unknown maker, Circa 1870wool, plant fibreGift of Te Aia Mataiapo, 1872


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Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris)


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land snail (Allodiscus kakano B. Marshall & Barker, 2008; holotype)collected by Alan Beu, 1957


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Single crape fern (Leptopteris hymenophylloides (A.Rich.) C.Presl)

Collected by Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, 1769


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The issues: 2005

Collections Information System needed replacement

Information and media being managed in multiple ways,

places

Lack of consistent documentation standards

Very few digital images of our collection objects

No access to our collections on the web

Many traditional barriers in place of releasing content,

and some misunderstanding of the internet


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Centralising information

Implemented new Collections Information System (KE

Emu)

Designed to manage allcollection related information

and processes, in a single system

All collection related media managed (both digital and

analogue), with long-term access and preservation inmind

Rights and licences managed in Collections Information

System, not externally

Where possible, consistent description across

collections

Looking for existing content stored elsewhere that could

be added and reused

The ability for curators to records stories related to the

collections and objects


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Digital imaging

Issue:

Have a small imaging team (four staff)

Have a large collection (three hundred thousand humanities

objects, up to two million specimens)

Their high quality images can be time intensive, and usually

require moving the objects to the studio

Solution:

Now have a system where staff could add and appropriately

manage the images, including security and rights management

Imaging team trained the Collection Managers and some

curators

Basic lighting setups in most collection stores

Invested in good, but easy to use equipment

Imaging is now part of audit and acquisition processes

13,500 images taken by collections staff in 2010 (in addition to

19,000 images taken by the Imaging Team same year)

Quality of images has increased since beginning, most are now

usable for most purposes


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Staff digital imaging


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Information standards

Previous system very free text, meant no consistent

descriptors

New system deliberately implemented with lots of

controlled vocabulary fields; lookups, drop downs and

thesauri

Initially not popular with staff, felt it was too complicatedand restrictive

Training, tools and systems put in place to help

streamline data entry


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Thesaurus

We use:

Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic names (TGN)

Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials, Subjects(TGMI)

Because:

It already existed and being used all over the world Provides hierarchical browsing, alternates and used for

terms, scope notes, and lots of other content we didnt have tocreate

However:

Thesaurus management in CIS not perfect, took developmentwork with us and the vendor

Put much effort into migrating and normalising existing data asstarting point

Has taken five years of cataloguing to get content to therichness it currently has, but 100 years of backlog cataloguingstill to expand on, so a long way to go


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Local thesauri

Mori and Pacific terms not covered well in AAT

Sometimes the western understanding of a concept is

different to that under Mtauranga Mori (Mori

knowledge)

Need to catalogue in English and indigenous languages

for appropriate description and ease of access andunderstanding

Can insert new terms into existing AAT structure

Can contribute back to AAT, possibly improving the

description of Tonga Mori (treasures) in collections

around the world


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Local thesaurus terms

Mori specific

Nephrite (AAT), bowenite (AAT)

Pounamu

Kawakawa

Inanga

Kahurangi

Tangiwai

New Zealand English specific

Bach, Crib

alternates for Vacation houses


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My mothers bach at Piha, 1930s, Eric Lee-Johnson

Gelatin Silver Print

Purchased 1997 with New Zealand Lottery GrantsB

oard funds


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New conceptual framework

Semantic relationships, meaningful relationshipsbetween objects, artworks, specimens, people, places,terms, topics, taxonomy

Addition of relationship types, i.e., howis a concept,person or place related to an object: e.g. depicts,influenced, refers to

Previously hidden relationships are now visible, andbrowseable

Cataloguing for access, not just collections management

Significant conceptual change, but is now part of normalcataloguing processes

All managed through the Collections Information System

Based on CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model

ISO 21127:2006

www.cidoc-crm.org


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Collection objects

Topics

The 1885

Industrial

ExhibitionOn the afternoon of

Saturday 1 August, 1885,in a huge building on the

corner ofWellingtons

Lambton Quay and Stout

Street, the Governor

General opened the New

Zealand Industrial

Exhibition. The 655

GovernmentBuildingsGovernment Buildings,

completed in 1876, cost

39,000. They represented

the change from provincialgovernment to central

government in NewZealand. The size of the

structure meant that, for thefirst time, g overnment

ministers

Made by

Refers to

Refers to

Refers to

Worked at

Died at

Born at

Depicts

Collected at

Refers to

Made at

Depicts

Refers to

Wellington Brian Brake

Sir Julius Vogel

People &

organisations

Alexander Turnbull


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Sir Julius

Vogel

Refers to

AlexanderTurnbull

Workedat

Died at

Born at

Made byDepicts

Collected atRefers

to

Made at

Depicts

Refers to

GovernmentBuildings

GovernmentBuildings,completed in 1876,cost 39,000. Theyrepresented thechange fromprovincial

Refers to

Wellington

Carte de visite -Portraits forpeople

The carte de visite(calling-card photo)was the first type ofphotographproduced on paper

DepictsRefers to

Depicts

Biography ofJulius Vogel

He was born inLondon to AlbertVogel and PhoebeIsaac.His parentsseparated when hewas six, and Juliuswas brought up by

Refersto

Died at Auckland

BrianBrake Depicts

Made by

Made by

Pablo Picasso

Depicts

India

Made atMade by

Made at

Made at

Made at

Is type ofBaskets

Is type of

Is type of

Is type of

Is type of

The PlaySchooltoys

Blah bl;ah blah blahblah blah blah blahblah

Refers to

James Bragge Made by

Made by Refers to

BeardsDepicts

Hair

Narrower

Born atDied at

Albumenprints

Refers to

Refers to

Refers to

Refers to

Type of

Made by1895 IndustrialExhibition

On the afternoon ofSaturday 1 August,1885, in a hugebuilding on thecorner ofWellingtonsLambtonQuay and

Died at

Refers to


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Results

Example: Captain JamesCook(person)

A search for cook gives results for Cook Islands,

Mount Cook, cooking utensils, and many objects that

are some how related to the word cook

But now you can find the actual person Captain James

Cook You can then see the objects, places and stories related

to him, and howthey relate


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Results

Example: Christchurch (place)

Uses the Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Allows for additional rich content supplied by the Getty

Research Institute

Allows geographic browsing

Takes advantage of semantic relationships


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Partnerships

Collections Online is a great base for exploring and

learning about Te Papas collections, however

Te Papa doesnt hold all knowledge

New Zealand is too small for institutions to be competing

with each other

Partnerships make our collections available from otherplaces, and also allow the public to find information from

across institutions

New Zealand Virtual Herbarium

Getty Research Institute, others coming up

DigitalNZ

Te Papa contributes metadata

Collections Online searches the DigitalNZ repository


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DigitalNZ example


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Results

200,000 objects available

85,000 images

Increased awareness of importance and opportunities in

digital access internally

Virtual visit numbers rival physical visits to the museum,

which is good (as Te Papa is the most visited museumin Australasia), but needs to be better

People are sharing links, and blogging, so shows a

degree of satisfaction


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In progress

Usability/Redesign (we know, its kind of ugly)

Mapping further mapping of the collections (e.g. for

understanding species distribution, but also seeing

where an artist worked over their career)

Allowing re-use of images and data (depending on

copyright and indigenous rights, but as open aspossible)


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Still to do

API for external access to our collections data

Other tools to help people blog and share our collections

Allow other people to do the work, we concentrate on

providing access to the best content we can, that is

where our strength is

Mobile access, other forms of access? Ongoing enhancements to functionality

Ongoing improvement of the information


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Summary

Long path, but good framework in place now

Used standards to ensure consistent description, which

enables consistent and meaningful retrieval and

understanding

Cataloguing for access, not just Collections

Management Use of thesauri and other tools to make efficient and

meaningful links between collections and knowledge

Make it business as usual, not a separate project or

process

Provide access to as much of the collections as possible

Provide access to our research and knowledge as well

the collections


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@adriankingston

@tepapacolonline

[email protected]

www.collections.tepapa.govt.nz

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4 Adrian Kingston MCN Taiwan