Designing for Information Objects in LAM (Libraries, Archives, Museums)

Duane Degler [email protected]

Na6onal Gallery of Art www.nga.gov

Neal B. Johnson n-‐[email protected]

www.designforcontext.com

Designing for Informa.on Objects The Library, Archive & Museum (LAM) Informa:on Ecosystem for Now and for the Future

EDUI 2013 5th November 2013, Richmond, VA

Design for Informa6on Object: Now and Future | edUi | November 5, 2013 | © Degler, Johnson 2 Na6onal Gallery of Art

The Informa.on Object

Physical object A thing held in trust by an ins6tu6on

•  Work of art, book, ar6fact, archival record

Informa.on object The aggregate set of informa6on in the ins6tu6on that illustrates, describes, interprets, or references a physical object

•  Digital images •  Descrip6ve & structural metadata •  Interpre6ve material (finding aid, monograph, annotated bibliography)

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.144298.html

Images

Structured Data

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance

Interpre6ve Informa6on


Informa.on Object richness

Informa6on Objects can…

n  Aggregate around the physical object to provide meaningful context

n  Provide an experience that can be independent of the physical object

Images

Structured Data

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance



Why “Now” and “Future” ?

•  LAMs hold the physical object and key informa6on objects in trust for society . . . in perpetuity

•  Future will bring inevitable and o_en unpredictable changes in both informa6on and interpreta6ons

•  We don’t know to what uses something will be put . . . We only know it is significant, and must be available


The value of Linked Open Data

Subject Object Predicate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:P._Bodart_Portrait_of_Henric_Ter_Brugghen.jpg http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/bagpipe.htm

painted

played


LAM Informa.on Ecosystem

http://www.hendrickbrugghen.org http://www.khm.at/en/ http://www.louvre.fr/en http://www.hermitagemuseum.org http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300074512 http://www.hendrickbrugghen.org/Woman-Playing-the-Lute-1624-26.html http://www.cambridge.org/sg/academic/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/western-art/golden-age-dutch-painting-historical-perspective http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8513.html https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/explore-the-collection/timeline-dutch-history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Slag_bij_Nieuwpoort.jpg

Cultural Ins.tu.ons Holding or exhibi.ng Art Objects

Search & Aggrega.on Federated access to DH informa.on

Cultural Educa.on Conduc.ng & promo.ng scholarship

Vocabulary Standardized discovery

Historical & Social Sites Access to broader contexts


Design for Informa6on Object: Now and Future | edUi | November 5, 2013 | © Degler, Johnson 7 Na6onal Gallery of Art Design for Informa6on Object: Now and Future | edUi | November 5, 2013 | © Degler, Johnson 7 Na6onal Gallery of Art

LAM Informa6on Ecosystem

The Essen6al Aspects of LAM


LAM mission commonali.es

•  Collect •  Preserve •  Provide Access (promote discovery)

•  Review, borrow, exhibit

•  Describe/Interpret (provide context) •  Metadata catalogues

•  Finding aids

•  Annotated Bibliographies

•  Monographs, exhibi6on catalogues, wall labels, conserva6on reports, imaging, biographies, etc.

•  Relate like things to one another


LAM informa.on cura.on

Descrip.ve Essay v5.0

Physical Object Restora:on

Physical Object ReaFribu:on

Physical Object Acquisi:on

Ar.st Bio, Descrip.ve

Essay

Descrip:ve Metadata

Interpre:ve Texts

Images

Indexing

<.tle> <ar.stName>

Conserva.on Exam Report

<term1> <term2>

<.tle2> <medium>

Conserva.on Treatment Report

<term3>

<ar.stName2> <medium2>

Descrip.ve Essay v2.0

<term4> <term2>


LAM shared user requirements

•  Serendipity •  Discover relevant informa6on objects (have that serendipitous, “A-‐ha!” moment)

through search/browse

•  Extend use •  Take away informa6on objects relevant to my interest

•  Conveniently re-‐use informa6on in my own work products

•  Persistence •  Conveniently link/reference my work and source informa6on objects

•  Trust that informa6on objects to which I link/reference will remain available

•  Sustainability •  Flexibility in design and data modeling to adapt to future capabili6es and topics

•  Scalability

•  Comfortably adapt to ever-‐growing collec6ons and different working styles across ins6tu6ons


The Holding Ins6tu6on

Presen6ng the Informa6on Object


Prac.cal solu.ons

We have had the opportunity to design two suppor6ng systems •  Dutch 17th Century Pain.ngs Online Scholarly Catalogue

•  Public-‐facing resource – art historians as primary users

•  Geiy Founda6on-‐funded project •  Consor6um of nine ins6tu6ons each scoping/solving the problem in their own way

•  Conserva.onSpace •  Internal system with poten6al for external use – conservators as users

•  Mellon Founda6on-‐funded project

•  Consor6um of seven ins6tu6ons


OSCI: It begins with the public web page of a work of art


The basic public Informa.on Object

Image

Structured Data tombstone

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance

Data Caretaker

Curator

Metadata store

DAM

Provenance


Incorporate Systema.c Catalog content

Goals •  Integrate with online art object collec6on record •  Each object is part of a collec6on •  Support scholarly use alongside general public use of the Informa6on Object •  Insure it scales as different collec6ons are added

Flexible modes for viewing informa6on objects in context •  Scalable panes •  Deeper reading mode •  Informa6on object selec6on/compare


Online Edi.on of the Systema.c Catalogue (SysCat)

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Integrate with exis.ng online Informa.on Object Lightweight catalogue

“container” & targeted search

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Focus: Flexibility in informa.on presenta.on

Deeper reading mode

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Convenience: Suppor.ng informa.on availability

In-‐context access to references and notes

Available in-‐line or

alongside text, to suit the user

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


User control: Analyzing available informa.on

Comparing mul6ple images, including reference images and analysis images

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Controlled vocabulary •  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐

•  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ •  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐

•  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ •  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐

The public and scholarly Informa.on Object

Images

Structured Data

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance

Data Caretaker

Curator

Metadata store

DAM

Provenance

Historic references




Elabora6ng the Informa6on Object


Conservator

Lab notes / Reports

Controlled vocabulary •  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐

•  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ •  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐

•  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ •  -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐

Conserva.on informa.on

Images

Structured Data

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance / History

Data Caretaker

Curator

Metadata store

DAM

Provenance

Historic references



Conserva.onSpace

Conserva6on Task collects associated informa6on objects

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Conserva.onSpace Cultural informa6on object presented in

context of conserva6on-‐related

informa6on

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Conserva.onSpace

Conserva6on “treatment report” informa6on allowing user-‐controlled templates and re-‐use of exis6ng data

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es



Persis6ng the Informa6on Object


Precision: Specific versions referenced

Other ac6ons (share, favorite or print) capture the general,

most current URL

Auto-‐generated cita6on URL

includes version

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Precision: Specific points of reference

Images

Structured Data

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance


Ver 2

007

Ver 1

989

Ver 1

963

Art Historian

<hFp://museum/object/version>

•  Tracking specific versions of descrip6ve/interpre6ve informa6on is cri6cal to sustaining integrity and trust

•  Permalinks provide resilience


Accessing versions

Older or newer versions of the informa6on

object are easily available

Permalink in cita6on (as found in 3rd party reference) opens older version of the SysCat

informa6on object

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


The LAM Informa6on Ecosystem

Rela6ng to the Informa6on Object


Capture and use assets in other work products

EXAM

PLE ONLY: D

esign wire

fram

es


Holding Ins6tu6on External par6es

External, linked material extends the Informa.on Object

Images

Structured Data

Narra6ve Descrip6on

Provenance


Ver 2

007

Ver 1

989

Ver 1

923

Elabora.on ar.cle

Alterna.ve analysis

Historical narra.ve

Updated vocabulary

New images

Commercial deriva.ves

Reinterpret artwork

Alterna.ve afribu.on

New work found

Duane Degler [email protected]

Na6onal Gallery of Art www.nga.gov

Neal B. Johnson n-‐[email protected]

www.designforcontext.com

Designing for Informa.on Objects The Library, Archive & Museum (LAM) Informa:on Ecosystem for Now and for the Future

EDUI 2013 5th November 2013, Richmond, VA

Education

Designing for Information Objects in LAM (Libraries, Archives, Museums)