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Museum of London Integrating collections data to build sustainable online resources UK Museums and the Web 2011 Alex Bromley Rhiannon Looseley Matthew Rose

Integrating collections data to build sustainable online resources

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Alex Bromley ,Rhiannon Looseley, Matthew Rose Museum of London UKMW11 Imperial War Museum, London

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Page 1: Integrating collections data to build sustainable online resources

Museum of LondonIntegrating collections data to build sustainable online resourcesUK Museums and the Web 2011

Alex BromleyRhiannon LooseleyMatthew Rose

Page 2: Integrating collections data to build sustainable online resources

Museum began putting its collections online around 2001.

Initially to accompany exhibitions but gradually this increased to large scale digitisation projects such as Ceramics and Glass and Exploring 20th century London.

By 2009 the Museum had a large number of collections records available largely on a project-by-project basis in the form of microsites (self-contained pages on the website driven by their own dataset)

History of collections online at Museum of London

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• Microsites:

• located in different areas of our website and had their own searching, browsing and navigation mechanisms

• difficult to update

• different schemas

• Departments created their own web resources, using re-created or duplicated sets of collections data.

• No automated way of providing records to third parties, e.g. Culture Grid

• Project driven workflow for digitisation

• Project driven copyright clearance procedures

• Collections-related data (Text and images) outside MIMSY XG was scattered, duplicated and unstructured

Common Issues

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Result

• Inefficiency in use of museum resources• Confusing user experience• No real understanding of what we had online and what level of

quality the data was at• Unable to fully exploit digital opportunities• In-house resources were not connected, leading to different

data being recorded about the same object

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• Create a new technical infrastructure to support the ongoing and incremental sharing and delivery of collections information online including a new dedicated area of the Museum of London website

• Single Collections Online delivery system that will both meet our immediate goals and give us a long term infrastructure that can be developed over time and adapted to meet the business needs of the Museum.

• Users will be able to search across all of the Museum’s on-line collections and will be offered a choice of browse, navigation and search tools designed for differing needs.

• Create a repository that collates object and contextual information from various sources to provide a set of collections information for both internal and online use.

• Creation of the repository will be accompanied by sustainable and efficient working practices that support the ongoing digitisation of collections information by integrating digitisation into core business processes such as acquisition and exhibitions.

• The project is committed to ensuring that these resources are reusable, interoperable and user-focussed.

Collections Online Delivery System: Project Vision

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Requirements for the CDS

• Central, quality assured core information set created to agreed and layered standards, e.g. Core, Extended 1, Extended 2

• Single repository for collections data• Reliable extraction routine from MIMSY XG• Ability to ‘augment’ collections data and re-purpose for different

contexts• Ability to ingest non-MIMSY collections-related data and re-use

for different contexts• Linked data functionality• Create an infrastructure that is robust, modular, flexible, that can

be delivered incrementally and can be adapted over time

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Progress since 2009

• Advocacy of project to senior management - ‘making the case’• IT Strategy, Requirements document and development project• Delivery of a collections information integration module (CIIM)

(Feb 2010)• Gallery kiosks in Galleries of Modern London (May 2010)

using new infrastructure• Collections online in a re-launched Museum website (April

2011)• First attempt to use CIIM for a cross-departmental project,

Picturebank (April 2011)

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Today’s presentations

• The first project to work with us and test the new system was the Picturebank, initiated by the Learning dept.

• Rhiannon Looseley – background to Picturebank, issues and methodology

• Matthew Rose – data standards, quality assurance, workflow and collaboration

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Picturebank background

• Redevelopment of Pocket Histories and Picturebank:– www.museumoflondon.org.uk/pockethistories– www.museumoflondon.org.uk/picturebank

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New Picturebank

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New Picturebank

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New Picturebank

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Previous Picturebank

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Previous Picturebank

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Objects exported into the CIIM

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Add data to each group

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Add data to each object

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Finished record

Leather restraining belt, made about 1840, used by Suffragettes around 1908

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Matthew Rose, Documentation Assistant Worked on Collections Online and Picturebank

Developing, Processing and Uploading Content to Picturebank

PlanningDeveloping

Core ContentAdditional Procedures

Contextualisingthe data

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Time allocated for reflection on aims and aspirations

Key themes of sustainability and integration through using the CIIM

Defining my role – ‘Bridging the gap’

Project Meetings advocated staff collaboration

- Key questions: Why are we doing this? Is the resource satisfying a need of potential users? Will it compete with existing external resources (Wiki etc)? Is this intended for long-term support? Where will it sit next to other MoL online resources (e.g. Collections Online)?

PlanningDeveloping

Core ContentAdditional Procedures

Contextualisingthe data

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Adopting existing procedures and practices

Basic Workflow emerged

Mimsy XG CIIM

Picturebank

Next step – building the core Picturebank information in Mimsy XG

Collections Online

PlanningDeveloping

Core ContentAdditional Procedures

Contextualisingthe data

(Collections delivery system)

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PlanningDeveloping

Core ContentAdditional Procedures

Contextualisingthe data

Previous approach – bespoke data standards

Current approach – using Mimsy XG data standards

- Developed to meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders, particularly for exporting records to the CIIM.

- Potential for multiple online records for the same object with differing data available.

Developing Picturebank core content - Upgrading/Reusing records

- Records not already online would need new or amended data according to data standards.

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- Image quality checking- Copyright assessment- Data Quality Assurance

Once upgraded, the completed record is passed through the following procedures

Outcome – a set of detailed quality assured records that can be reused in multiple contexts

Benefits of this framework- Ensures data consistency- Tried and tested- Minimum training – maximum ‘buy-in’

PlanningDeveloping

Core ContentAdditional Procedures

Contextualisingthe data

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Benefits of using the CIIM for record contextualisation

Contextualising the records for the Picturebank resource

- Record augmentation- Data transformation

- Core Mimsy XG data untouched- Multiple contextualisation schemas available- Live automated link between Mimsy XG and CIIM

PlanningDeveloping

Core ContentAdditional Procedures

Contextualisingthe data

Completed records uploaded to CIIM

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Actionable lessons

• Take time to build the foundations properly (technical infrastructure, data standard, procedures etc)

• Be prepared to work collaboratively and accommodate different working practices

• Seek integration with tried and tested policies and procedures• Copyright – ensure that any rights clearance covers all possible

uses to avoid duplication of effort• Employ a minimum data standard that suits both internal and

external users • Future sustainability is key: look to re-purpose and re-use

resources