Hi all, We have XG and we have found that by creating fields that say "physical description" and another called "contextual description" has reduced a lot of the problems we were having with people getting to their "happy place" when it came to who can write what on an object record (and who can change it!). Curators work mainly in the contextual fields and our registration staff work in the "Physical description" fields, as this suits their purposes much better. It also allows us to keep information on how an object has been described by different areas of the museum. Our DB team work very closely with all staff who use our database (we call it MICA) to ensure they understand the importance of maintaining correct standards.
Am happy to share much more detailed info with listers (including screen shots etc), just email me at emma.jones at awm.gov.au . Every catalogue (or object) record must be approved by a senior curator in the relevant curatorial section before it can be released to the web, public etc. In this way, each curatorial section is responsible for the checking of accuracy etc. Our DB team do a regular review of all records created and if we find what seem to be errors (spelling mistakes, incorrect conflict terms etc), we place them in a group and "send" them back to the relevant curatorial area with a request to re-check. Our view is that the curators are responsible for the content of the records they create - without taking this approach we found that people felt that no one had ownership of them, which meant when it came to cleanup, it just didn't happen. We have also created a number of Cystal reports and attached them to MICA which curatorial staff can run to easily find any records created within a time frame so they can go back and check. Maggie, if you have XG, why don't you try archiving old information in the description flexi fields? It's a little more robust than the notes field when to comes to keeping the information. Below is an example (not the complete list) of the types of descriptions we can have in a description flexi field Blog text Catalogue caption Catalogue description Catalogue summary Condition on arrival Conservation description Contextual description Exhibition label Exhibition relevance Graphic Panel Caption Obverse Original caption Previous caption Production information Research notes Reverse Verso description Cheers Emma Jones Manager, Collection Information and Access Australian War Memorial -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of mcn-l-requ...@mcn.edu Sent: Friday, 25 June 2010 5:00 AM To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Subject: mcn-l Digest, Vol 58, Issue 22 Send mcn-l mailing list submissions to mcn-l at mcn.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to mcn-l-request at mcn.edu You can reach the person managing the list at mcn-l-owner at mcn.edu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of mcn-l digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Database access for curators? (Robert Mason) 2. Collection APIs (Steward, Jeff) 3. Re: Database access for curators? (Gabriela Zoller) 4. Re: Database access for curators? (Chuck Patch) 5. Re: Database access for curators? (Maggie Hanson) 6. (no subject) (Ann Go) 7. Re: Database access for curators? (Perian Sully) 8. Bad news for the public domain (Perian Sully) 9. NDF 2010 Conference: International Keynote Speakers Confirmed (Adrian Kingston) 10. Personalised visitor services at your institution? (Aur?lie Henry) 11. Re: Database access for curators? (Richard Light) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:35:16 -0400 From: "Robert Mason" <r...@rom.on.ca> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? To: "Museum Computer Network Listserv" <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <4C2229B5.6BCF.0070.1 at rom.on.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII I'd be interested to know what "approval" is needed by db staff to "check" the "corrections" of the curatorial staff. It is the curatorial staff that are experts on the collection, not necessarily the db staff. M. _____________________________________________ Dr. Robert B. J. Mason (E-mail: robert.mason at rom.on.ca; fax (416) 586-5877) Dept of World Cultures, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6, CANADA Associate Professor, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, 4 Bancroft Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1C1, CANADA web: http://www.utoronto.ca/nmc/mason/mason.html >>> Perian Sully <perian at emphatic.org> 6/23/2010 1:35 PM >>> Hi Maggie: I don't know if Mimsy has workflow capabilities, but some systems allow you to be notified of changes or let you see/approve the changes before they become live. Barring that, I've also instructed my curators to place the original information into a notes field before they delete it entirely (but I also have backups to refer to, in a worst case scenario). ~Perian _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:44:09 -0400 From: "Steward, Jeff" <jeff_stew...@harvard.edu> Subject: [MCN-L] Collection APIs To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <1792577DCB731446AA4D874F1342736E2D49A968 at FASXCH02.fasmail.priv> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello MCN, I have a few questions on the topic of APIs. I'm interested in hearing from those of you who have taken the plunge and developed an API to your collection data or other museum specific information. Thus far I know the Brooklyn Museum, Museum of London, and the V&A have APIs and that the Powerhouse Museum provides their collection data for download. Does anyone else out there provides programmatic access to their data? For those of you with an API, do you publicize it in any way? Does your API get used? Do any of you have private APIs to your data for internal use? For those of you who thought about building an API but haven't, what stopped you from doing so? Thanks, Jeff Steward Architect for Applications Development 617-495-0785 jeff_steward at harvard.edu<mailto:jeff_steward at harvard.edu> Harvard Art Museum 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 www.harvardartmuseum.org<http://www.harvardartmuseum.org> ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:48:26 -0400 From: "Gabriela Zoller" <gzol...@albrightknox.org> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? To: "Museum Computer Network Listserv" <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <378F1A23A5BDA849AEFEAD70072D1D71023E5FB6 at akag4.albrightknox.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" "Checking the corrections of the curatorial staff" might refer to making sure that the information they enter is properly formatted / uses controlled vocabulary terms, etc. -- not checking the veracity of the information itself, but making sure it is formatted consistently with database standards. -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu]On Behalf Of Robert Mason Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 3:35 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? I'd be interested to know what "approval" is needed by db staff to "check" the "corrections" of the curatorial staff. It is the curatorial staff that are experts on the collection, not necessarily the db staff. M. _____________________________________________ Dr. Robert B. J. Mason (E-mail: robert.mason at rom.on.ca; fax (416) 586-5877) Dept of World Cultures, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6, CANADA Associate Professor, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, 4 Bancroft Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1C1, CANADA web: http://www.utoronto.ca/nmc/mason/mason.html >>> Perian Sully <perian at emphatic.org> 6/23/2010 1:35 PM >>> Hi Maggie: I don't know if Mimsy has workflow capabilities, but some systems allow you to be notified of changes or let you see/approve the changes before they become live. Barring that, I've also instructed my curators to place the original information into a notes field before they delete it entirely (but I also have backups to refer to, in a worst case scenario). ~Perian _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:55:59 -0400 From: Chuck Patch <chuck.pa...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <AANLkTinLKSeKD-D3izNzc-W8AQOnElAybfkHw2-fsqLA at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Exactly. To torture an analogy - English and history professors are content experts but they don't catalog the books in the library - not even the ones they write. Trained catalogers apply the correct retrieval vocabularies and follow standardized rules for the formation of bibliographic information, which allows other people following the same rules to find them, organize them (as in putting them into bibliographies, citations, etc.) On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Gabriela Zoller <gzoller at albrightknox.org> wrote: > "Checking the corrections of the curatorial staff" might refer to making sure > that the information they enter is properly formatted / uses controlled > vocabulary terms, etc. -- not checking the veracity of the information > itself, but making sure it is formatted consistently with database standards. -- Chuck Patch Museum Information Management Consulting 403 Edgevale Rd Baltimore MD 21210 410-366-3613 ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:59:35 -0700 From: "Maggie Hanson" <maggie.han...@pam.org> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? To: "Museum Computer Network Listserv" <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <2FABC7BA0842404CB616A629770907040277A4F5 at exchange.pam.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thanks, Gabriela. This is a concern as well as the fact that "corrections" in many instances included deleting prior information, which may be needed and useful for records in departments like the registrar even if the information is not necessarily (or any longer) correct. -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Gabriela Zoller Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 12:48 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? "Checking the corrections of the curatorial staff" might refer to making sure that the information they enter is properly formatted / uses controlled vocabulary terms, etc. -- not checking the veracity of the information itself, but making sure it is formatted consistently with database standards. -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu]On Behalf Of Robert Mason Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 3:35 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? I'd be interested to know what "approval" is needed by db staff to "check" the "corrections" of the curatorial staff. It is the curatorial staff that are experts on the collection, not necessarily the db staff. M. _____________________________________________ Dr. Robert B. J. Mason (E-mail: robert.mason at rom.on.ca; fax (416) 586-5877) Dept of World Cultures, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C6, CANADA Associate Professor, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, 4 Bancroft Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1C1, CANADA web: http://www.utoronto.ca/nmc/mason/mason.html >>> Perian Sully <perian at emphatic.org> 6/23/2010 1:35 PM >>> Hi Maggie: I don't know if Mimsy has workflow capabilities, but some systems allow you to be notified of changes or let you see/approve the changes before they become live. Barring that, I've also instructed my curators to place the original information into a notes field before they delete it entirely (but I also have backups to refer to, in a worst case scenario). ~Perian _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:59:48 -0400 From: "Ann Go" <a...@mcny.org> Subject: [MCN-L] (no subject) To: <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <7CFEC2CB-8CBC-4650-9DA1-A410C7A33B1C at mcny.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Ann Sent from my tiny virtual keyboard. ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:50:22 -0700 From: Perian Sully <per...@emphatic.org> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <AANLkTikv88IgCKH20tsDA1YIfZHyEjcEfuQ98qeeYhWg at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Chuck, Gabriela, and Maggie have it correct. One would hope that the db staff worked with the curators in advance, to determine the correct terminology terms! However, I can tell you that no one applies terms consistently, so having that final approval by the information manager is critical. Likewise, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten into discussions with curators who want to delete the description field (used by registration for identification purposes) in favor of a more contextual, historical "curated" description. I have had to go into backups to restore the identifying description and re-incorporate it. These days, I'm in favor of a curator's description (or history, or curator's notes) field that the curators can use, in addition to a physical description field for the registration staff. On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 12:59 PM, Maggie Hanson <maggie.hanson at pam.org>wrote: > Thanks, Gabriela. This is a concern as well as the fact that > "corrections" in many instances included deleting prior information, > which may be needed and useful for records in departments like the > registrar even if the information is not necessarily (or any longer) > correct. > > ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:06:16 -0700 From: Perian Sully <per...@emphatic.org> Subject: [MCN-L] Bad news for the public domain To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <AANLkTimQKixUxTkm7y9jQBCP3cyan833tlhBSLxmUj5u at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Yikes... Court Says It's Okay To Remove Content From The Public Domain And Put It Back Under Copyright http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100621/2320049908.shtml >From the article: "...last year, a district court made a very important ruling on what appeared to be a minor part of copyright law. The "Golan" case<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090403/1619494384.shtml>asked a simple question: once something is officially in the public domain, can Congress pull it out and put it back under copyright? The situation came about because of (yet another) trade agreement that pulled certain foreign works out of the public domain. A district court had initially said that this move did not violate the law, but the appeals court sent it back, saying that the lower court had not analyzed the First Amendment issue, and whether this was a case where the inherent conflict between the First Amendment and copyright law went too far to the side of copyright by violating the "traditional contours of copyright law." Getting a second crack at this, the district court got it right -- and was the first court to point out that massively expanded copyright law can, in fact, violate the First Amendment. But, of course, it couldn't last. On Monday, the appeals court reversed the lower court's ruling<http://courtlistener.com/ca10/09-1234/>and said there's no problem with the First Amendment because copyright law "addresses a substantial or important governmental interest."" If I read this right, because the ruling is less about international trade agreements and more about First Amendment issues, this undermines the sanctity of public domain in the United States, regardless of origin. And since it's likely to go to the Supreme Court, AND the Roberts Court has been notoriously pro-corporate, I'm not feeling terribly secure about the fate of public domain. Anyone else have other perspectives about this? ~Perian ------------------------------ Message: 9 Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:02:42 +1200 From: "Adrian Kingston" <adri...@tepapa.govt.nz> Subject: [MCN-L] NDF 2010 Conference: International Keynote Speakers Confirmed To: <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <04DFC5171C7D2D468F6F75102136D81324F221AD at whakaahu.boh.tepapa.govt.nz> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Apologies for cross posting. National Digital Forum 2010 Conference Linking data, linking people Monday 18 - Tuesday 19 October 2010 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE SPEAKERS CONFIRMED We're delighted to confirm Michael Edson and Nick Poole as the international keynote speakers: MICHAEL EDSON Director of Web and New Media Strategy, Smithsonian Institution Michael has worked on numerous award-winning projects and has been involved in practically every aspect of technology and New Media for museums. Read more. NICK POOLE CEO, Collections Trust Nick advises Governments, funders and cultural agencies throughout the world on issues relating to the new Digital Economy, including standards, IPR, social media and emerging business models. He has published and lectured worldwide, and is currently the Chair of the UK branch of the International Council of Museums. Read more. REGISTER TODAY The financial year is coming to a close on 30 June for Government. Check to see if your department has any reserve funds to allow you to register today! Register now: https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/index.php?eventid=12560&; PRE and POST CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES DigitalNZ and National Services Te Paerangi are holding events around the NDF Conference. We encourage you to support these events too! 2nd Annual DigitalNZ Get Together 11:00am - 3:00pm, Sunday 17 October Level 1, National Library of NZ, 77 Thorndon Quay Contact: gathering at digitalnz.org You're invited to Digital BarCamp 9.30am and 3.30pm, Wednesday 20 October Venue: TBC Contact: luciep at tepapa.govt.nz Conference enquiries or further Information Visit the NDF website (http://ndf.natlib.govt.nz/about/2010-conference.htm) for full conference details and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the conference organisers: Paardekooper and Associates Conference organisers of NDF 2010 P: +64 4 562 8259 F: +64 4 562 8269 E: ndf at paardekooper.co.nz W: http://ndf.natlib.govt.nz/about/2010-conference.htm +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Visit the Te Papa website http://www.tepapa.govt.nz The email message together with the accompanying attachments may be CONFIDENTIAL. If you have received this message in error, please notify mail at tepapa.govt.nz immediately and delete the original message. The views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be views of Te Papa. Te Papa employs strict virus checking measures and accepts no liability for any loss caused either directly or indirectly by a virus arising from the use of this message or any attached file. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Message: 10 Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:26:16 +0200 From: Aur?lie Henry <aureli.he...@gmail.com> Subject: [MCN-L] Personalised visitor services at your institution? To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Message-ID: <1B973B93-4F59-48A5-BD87-9079F2379951 at gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Hello MCN, We would like to draw your attention to an online survey we are leading into museum's perceptions and use of personalised visitor services. See: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2C8WMTL The concept of harnessing the potential of digital media to deliver more personalised visitor services is not new, but neither is it commonplace in cultural institutions today. Within this conceptual-practical balance, the aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the use, challenges and future of personalised visitor services in museums around the world. We're hopeful the findings will be of interest and value to the community and we'll be publishing them online later towards the end of the summer. And as an incentive, respondents will be able to enter into a prize draw for 200 ? / US$250 of Amazon vouchers. The survey is only 15 questions long and should only take 10 minutes of your time. The survey is online at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2C8WMTL We hope you chose to participate, and look forward to sharing the results! Enjoy the rest of your day, Aur?lie Henry & Loic Tallon. survey at pocket-proof.com ------------------------------ Message: 11 Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:56:31 +0100 From: Richard Light <rich...@light.demon.co.uk> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Database access for curators? To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <mcn-l at mcn.edu> Message-ID: <y+Xuloc$X1IMFw$I at light.demon.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=us-ascii;format=flowed In message <AANLkTikv88IgCKH20tsDA1YIfZHyEjcEfuQ98qeeYhWg at mail.gmail.com>, Perian Sully <perian at emphatic.org> writes > >Likewise, I can't tell you how many times I've gotten into discussions with >curators who want to delete the description field (used by registration for >identification purposes) in favor of a more contextual, historical "curated" >description. I have had to go into backups to restore the identifying >description and re-incorporate it. These days, I'm in favor of a curator's >description (or history, or curator's notes) field that the curators can >use, in addition to a physical description field for the registration staff. Interesting how experience varies on this issue. I'm not sure whether it's a North America/U.K. difference, or simply one between larger museums who can afford to have IT staff to argue with the curators, and the sort of smaller museums I tend to deal with. Anyway, I agree that there is a distinction to be made between an identifying description, and one designed to bring out an object's cultural and/or historical significance. The latter is presumably destined for consumption by the public, and it would clearly be more helpful to include it, for example, in a summary record on your web site. In our Modes data structure we have gone a step further, and provided a repeatable Commentary element, each with a defined Audience. This allows multiple semi-structured descriptions of an object, each targeted at a specific sector of the public. This helps address the perennial problem of how museums can generate interesting web pages directly from the information held within their collections management system. Richard -- Richard Light ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ mcn-l mailing list mcn-l at mcn.edu http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l End of mcn-l Digest, Vol 58, Issue 22 ************************************* ********************************************************************************************* AWM DISCLAIMER: This message may contain confidential information and is intended only for its recipient(s). If you have received this email by error, please delete this e-mail from your system and notify the sender immediately. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure. E-mail information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late, be incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message. *********************************************************************************************
