EVA/Minerva 2014

XIth Annual International Conference

Van Leer Jerusalem Institute November 2014

Practitioners & specialists: the role of CIDOC in

establishing effective communicationNicholas Crofts, Chair ICOM CIDOC

Introduction

• Nicholas Crofts• Chair of ICOM CIDOC

• MA Philosophy

• PhD Cultural Informatics

• Working in the field since 1985

• Ontology administrator IOC

• Assistant Professor MTTU

Overview

• What CIDOC is

• Our mixed audience

• What we’re doing to get them to talk to each other

What is CIDOC?

• Comité International pour la Documentation

• “A neutral, international forum for the discussion of all issues relating to information management in museums”

• 1 of ICOM's 31 International Committees

• Founded in 1950

• Members in >60 countries

• Voluntary, not for profit

• Free for ICOM members

Our focus

• What’s in a name?– Documentation of collections

– Collections of documents

Information management

Governance

• ICOM – a French association 1901

• ICOM Statutes, CIDOC by laws

• CIDOC board:– Chair– Vice Chair– Secretary– Editor– 4 ordinary members– Ex officio chairs of working groups

Finances

• Annual ICOM Subsidy – core + number of members +

performance

• CIDOC Bursary Fund

• Subsidies Getty Foundation

• “Franchised” financial liability

Impact on membership

• Motivated & available

• Access to funding

• Predominantly European

• Divided into two groups…

CIDOC’s Publics

10

Practioners

Specialists

CIDOC

Divergent “domains of discourse”

• Practical concerns... Theoretical

• Technophobe... Technophile

• Conservative... Innovation

• Museums...Research

• ICOM members... Not ICOM members

Common misunderstandings

• Rich mass of museum data waiting to be published...

• … museums don’t want to publish it• Museum meta data is poor quality• Why do we need new technology?• Technology is ephemeral, information is

perennial

What’s at stake?

• Innovation :– Saving time and money

– Providing better services

– Protecting our heritage

– Getting people involved

So what is CIDOC doing?

• Creating a network

• Encouraging communication

• Providing training

• Supporting the profession

Principles of Museum documentation

• collections without adequate documentation cannot be considered to be true museum collections

– they cannot be adequately safeguarded and cared for

– the museum cannot demonstrate legal accountability

– their value for research and interpretation is greatly reduced

CIDOC Principles of Documentation, ICOM Rio 2013

16

CIDOC Conference

• Helsinki, Rio de Janeiro, Dresden, New Delhi, Milan• Balanced programme • Bursaries

Working groups

1. Archaeological Sites2. Conceptual Reference Model SIG3. Co-reference4. Data Harvesting and Interchange5. Digital preservation6. Documentation Standards7. Information Centres8. Museum process implementation9. Research Environments10.Intangible Cultural Heritage

Committee culture

Publications

• CIDOC Fact Sheets:– Registration step by step– Labelling and marking objects– Recommendations for identity photographs

• International Guidelines for Museum Object Information

• Statement of principles of museum documentation• The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (ISO

21127)• Annual newsletter since 1989• Bilingual French & English and low-bandwidth

analysis implementation

impactDomain of discourse

Conceptualisation

Technical system

Information systems : theory

maintenance

CIDOC CRM ontology

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E53 PlaceE52 Time Span

P7 took place at (witnessed)is time span of (has time span)

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0,n

0,nE7 Activity

P14 performed (carried out by) P125 used specific objectE70 Thing

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E77 Persistent ItemE39 Actor E5 EventP11 had participant P12 was present at

CIDOC training programme

• With Museum of Texas Tech University

• Modular - allows flexibility

• For newcomers & experienced staff

• International perspective

• Tutors from CIDOC and MTTU faculty

• Annual:– 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Texas

– 2013, 2014 São Paolo

– 2015 ...

CIDOC training in Brazil

Conclusion

• CIDOC

• Networking

• Accessible documentation

• Training

Thank You

• Contact details:

– Email:- nicholas@crofts.ch

– CIDOC web site:- cidoc.icom.museum

• I would like to thank:

– Millie and Susan Hazan

– EVA / Minerva 2014