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Hi, Re: "We need technology (like RSS) that gets our stuff right there into the new arena of search engines" For interested readers, it's probably worth reading about OAI-PMH and RDF/SPARQL (we wrote about these on Electronic Museum: http://www.electronicmuseum.org.uk/em/blog/index.asp?displaymode=archive &blogname=2005_11_15_archive.asp), which are some of the technologies behind the CIE and Knowledge Web that Jon mentions. In particular, OAI is of interest to museums because many Collections Management Systems will already support it, and it's already being used to aggregate object data (http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/discover/). RDF is really only for masochists at this point, but it's the most interesting technology in terms of flexibility and longevity. In fact, I'm working on a secret personal project (damn, not so secret any more!) to aggregate a wide variety of content (objects, news, calendar events, contacts) from multiple museums into a single 'portal', using RDF technology. It's interesting stuff, if you have the time... Thanks, Dan -----Original Message----- From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon Pratty Sent: 01 February 2006 16:01 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Electronic Museum news - Feb 2006 Brian, Nick, Mike et al. Firstly - congratulations for a great thread of thinking, calmly explained. This is why the MCG is such an interesting forum. Working as we do (at 24 Hour Museum) with a number of Web 2.0 tools like RSS, we're always looking into the future and trying to predict what will be the useful, longer lasting technologies that we should concentrate on. I think we should look outwards at other sectors to see how they approach issues like Web 2.0 and the semantic web. Look at the medical profession - they're already producing ideas for semantic standards. I'm producing a paper for Museums and the Web (yes, I know it's late!) about some of the ideas raised in this thread. Have a look here: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2006/abstracts/prg_300000787.html You might notice that I don't mention Web 2.0 at all in the abstract - that's because I see the next wave of web development as being about the new trends in audience behaviour. Audiences are dwelling in search engine-land. Many, many web enquiries now start as Google enquiries. The Web 2.0 challenge, as I see it, is to use new technologies like RSS and particularly tagging, to get cultural info quickly and transparently into Googleland. That's what we're working towards at 24 HM, particularly with this idea I call the 'inside out' web museum, where we'd be publishing clusters of cultural web objects directly into the search engine environment via RSS. We're going for that Google audience, using working, stable, simple, already standardised means like RSS 2.0. We have looked at ways to use Ajax, Flash and combinations of the two, as well as Konfabulator-style Widgets (now taken over by Yahoo) to deliver cultural content directly to desktops. This is stuff we can do here and now, and it's actually quite orthodox in other mass media publishing circles. Serence (serence.com, who make a fab feedreader called Klipfolio) have even made an RSS/Ajax based desktop Bingo playing application - now that's a great example of using Web 2.0 to develop new audiences! Worrying about whether certain technologies are 'stable' is important. Nick Poole, as ever, is right. What we don't need is super duper flashy new technology, we just need the means to get our museum and gallery content out there in front of the public. We need technology that's simple, so all museums everywhere can use it. We need technology (like RSS) that gets our stuff right there into the new arena of search engines. Paul Miller's work at the CIE (with the Mori report into web behaviour) has also been a big influence on my thinking at 24 HM. For the future, what seems to me to be a fruitful direction, is work on structured searching, maybe though collaborative working with the big searchers, certainly through a standards based approach. The work done by the ADS, funded by CIE, in York led by William Kilbride, was an interesting essay in the direction of structured search. MLA's notion of a Knowledge Web is central to our thinking too, though I think we're actually part of the way there already with 24 HM technology. I'd be pleased to correspond with anyone else who has views about how this all might develop. Jon Pratty Editor 24 Hour Museum 01273 820052 07739 287392 [log in to unmask] The National Virtual Museum Britain's Best Museum and Gallery website - Web User Magazine Best Educational Website, New Statesman New Media Awards, 2005 ************************************************** For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk ************************************************** ************************************************** For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk **************************************************