Hi Giv,
Thanks for the clarification and suggestions. I guess I was thinking in
terms of a collection object itself rather than the overall NMOLP
offering. I.e. an object's details get aggregated using OpenSearch
/before/ all the other NMOLP services take place.
Regards,
-Tristan.
On 19/8/08 11:53, Giv Parvaneh wrote:
>
> Hi Tristan,
>
> As the Technical Manager of the National Museums Online Learning
> Project I though it would be good to first clarify what exactly we are
> doing and hopefully answer your question at the same time.
>
> NMOLP is NOT just aggregating collection search results. We are using
> two separate web applications to allow users to first search for
> collection objects across 9 national museums then use these objects to
> create their own narratives. Artists for example are able to describe
> how certain collections have inspired their work by hand-picking and
> grouping objects. These notebooks can then be shared publicly and other
> users can comment on them. Plus we are developing various web 2.0-esque
> features such as tagging, finding popular items, linking friends etc.
> This project is not intended to expose the objects as a way of enriching
> their content (a la Powerhouse's OPAC) but as a way of locating relevant
> objects quickly to be used within different application. We are also
> using our federated search tool inside WebQuests to create educational
> activities for students. So online education would be an obvious use
> case here.
>
> It is also worth mentioning that the federated search engine is doing
> more than aggregating results from partner APIs. It is also
> intelligently ranking and returning objects based on relevance across
> all 9 museums. So the federated search engine itself could potentially
> have its own API to be used in different applications.
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> Giv Parvaneh
> Technical Manager
> National Museums Online Learning Project
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Tel: 020 7942 2819
>
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 19/08/2008 11:11:50 >>>
>>>>
>
> We are discussing the merit of adding an open API to the Online
> Collection part of one of our museum client's sites, and I am wondering
>
> if anyone can think of possible reasons to do this beyond "it just
> feels
> right"?
>
> Off the top of my head, systems that access an API can do various
> things:
>
> - aggregate information
> - provide alternative representations
> - provide alternative interfaces
> - syndicate information
> - other (please state)
>
> Of these, some examples I can think of are:
>
> - aggregators: e.g. National Museums Online Learning Project[1],
> ArtStor
> and others via OAI-PMH[2]
> - other representations: e.g. mashups (which?), creating tag clouds,
> etc.
> - alternative interfaces: e.g. more accessible versions, desktop
> application versions, iphone/mobile versions
> - syndicating information: blog 'widgets' (which?), ArtShare Facebook
> app.[3]
>
> However, all of these are fairly generic or fairly sparse! Can anybody
>
> think of other concrete examples of how information is being
> re-purposed
> from cultural institutions? Or, any ways in which an API could be used
>
> that I have missed from the list above?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Tristan.
>
> [1] http://www.vam.ac.uk/about_va/online_learning/index.html
> [2] http://www.openarchives.org/pmh/
> [3] http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=7723691927&ref=pr
>
>
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