Brian, Jon et al,
This idea of 'atoms' of publication which are aggregated and disaggregated
in different ways to suit different user requirements is a really
interesting one for me.
When I sit down to write something, I usually have a pretty good idea of who
I'm writing it for, the format in which it will be read, the context in
which it will appear. This tacit understanding of physical and conceptual
context is pretty essential if the thing I'm writing is going to end up
making sense.
Similarly, when museums are writing content for KS3 Romans, there is a whole
set of editorial assumptions which contribute to the 'voice' in which the
content is written.
If that information is atomised and fed into a completely different context,
all of those editorial and contextual assumptions go right out of the
window.
That's ok if it's a library catalogue because the information is pretty
narrative-free. It's a set of more or less factual bites of data about a set
of resources. This kind of information is 'ruggedised' by merit of its
simplicity and already atomised by its nature. It's a different matter if
it's a set of freetext descriptions of how a collection illustrates the
relationship between the German Workers Party and the Communists in the rise
of National Socialism in the 20s.
I completely agree with Jon that the challenge will be to associate granular
'authority' metadata with chunks of knowledge, but it is going to be equally
important to ensure that we preserve the integrity of the original context
and narrative.
Nick
Nick Poole
Director
MDA
The Spectrum Building, The Michael Young Centre,
Purbeck Road, Cambridge, CB2 2PD
Telephone: 01223 415 760
http://www.mda.org.uk
http://www.collectionsforall.org.uk
The revised edition of SPECTRUM, the UK museum documentation standard, is
now available. Download it for free at:
http://www.mda.org.uk/spectrum.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon
Pratty
Sent: 02 February 2006 15:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Electronic Museum news - Feb 2006
Brian
It may have been Lorcan, but it's also been one of the key phrases we've
used about RSS for the last three three years - we're taking content out to
meet the user, rather than trying to attract the user towards the content.
As you say, Brian, this all sounds simple, but if you think about the
implications of it, we're now getting into a situation where we are
publishing 'particles' of content to be discovered in search engines. This
calls for new kinds of marketing techniques. Yes, we need to consider how to
brand the content in this new digital environment. We need to signify it as
coming from an accredited museum or gallery source; it needs to stand out in
a Google search as being trustworthy and 'official'.
So the challenge for all cultural publishers, as I see it, in this Web 2.0
era, is to find ways to imprint on published objects at the tiniest, lowest
level, metadata clues to things like institutional identity, museological
values and agreed semantic connective terms or tags.
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
-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Kelly [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 February 2006 13:35
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Electronic Museum news - Feb 2006
On Wed, 1 Feb 2006 16:01:24 -0000, Jon Pratty <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>Brian, Nick, Mike et al.
...
>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
Hi Jon
I like the title "The Inside Out Web Museum". Was in Lorcan Dempsey who
talked about "the library going to the user rather than the user going to
the Library" in a Web 2.0 world (soory I can't find the reference). Anyway
your article seems to have some similarlites with that thought.
>Worrying about whether certain technologies are 'stable' is important.
But let's not forget that Web 2.0 isn't just about technnologies - it's a
descriptive term (just as terms such as "Blairite" or "Thatcherite" aren't
formal definitions, but may help to provide a shared understanding).
So as regards the hype over 'mashups', let;'s not get too worried about
whether the technologies are mature - let's remember that the Library world
has been working on combining catlogues for many years and has a great deal
of experiences in both the technocal aspects and the social/human aspects
"But I'll lose my library's branding").
Brian
>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
>
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