Great points from all so far - and a really interesting question.
I expect people will weigh in and suggest we prioritise only a few assets or collection highlights, but one of the things we always forget when going down that route, is that what we value today is not always what people will value or find curious tomorrow. We can't expect our current cultural values about what to digitise [especially when they're often politically inspired] to be shared by those who may re-use, recreate or re-present our current holdings in future. In essence, we're now gatekeepers, and I think we need to be imaginative, flexible and very broad-minded about what we wholesale, digitise and expose for the use of others in the future.
JP
Jon Pratty
Relationship Manager, Digital and Creative Economies
Arts Council England
+441273 763037
07872419194
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Joseph Padfield
Sent: 11 August 2010 12:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 'I Don't Know Much About Art But I Know What's Online'
Hi Mia,
Well the I find the two quotes interesting:
Although quite specialist, duplicating the play of light across the
surface on an object has been "an electronically duplicable experience"
for quite a while now, using a digital camera, a light, a tape measure
and a computer. Though better results are possible with better
equipment :-) See, http://www.c-h-i.org/technology/ptm/ptm.html or for
a slightly older project: http://cima.ng-london.org.uk/ptm/
The issue of making an entire collection available online is just a
question of time and resources. I am sure many museums would like to
make more or all of their collection available online if they had the
time and money required to do it.
Now the author states that he has not "come across an outfit, small or
large, whose goal was to make their entire collection, or even a
substantial majority of it, available online". It seems unfortunate
that he has not taken the time to check if his statement holds true for
the few institutions actually highlighted in the article. I can not
comment about the others but "The National Gallery, London" has had high
resolution images of basically all its own paintings online for a while
now (we are restricted when it comes to long term loans). We even put
them all together on one page to test some software we where working
with, (http://cima.ng-london.org.uk/collection/). A link which does
appears on the first page of a simple google search for "national
gallery london collection"
Joe
On 11/08/10 11:25, Ridge Mia wrote:
> But does the author really know what's online?
>
> This article
> (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/i_dont_know_much_about_art_but_i_k
> now_whats_online.php or http://bit.ly/9SHeoY) on the ReadWriteWeb
> website starts:
>
> "No one can have a "museum experience" without stepping foot in a
> museum. Let's just get that out of the way. It doesn't matter how
> digitally precise your online version of "The Forge of Vulcan" is,
> tilting your head to draw the light across the raised ridges of paint is
> not an electronically duplicable experience. That doesn't mean digital
> art collections don't have great value. After all, art books do."
>
> And concludes:
>
> "No Stand Outs
> The collections of museums are making their way online, if for no other
> reason than they serve as a kind of advertisement. I have yet, however,
> to come across an outfit, small or large, whose goal was to make their
> entire collection, or even a substantial majority of it, available
> online. The few that tried did not hit the trifecta of navigational
> ease, resolution and information that would make it the most useful. Do
> you know of one I missed? Please point us to it in the comments."
>
> Does that sound like a fair and reasonable summary of the state of
> online museum collections to you?
>
> Cheers, Mia
>
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--
Joseph Padfield, [log in to unmask],
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 2553 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 3897 Conservation Scientist, Scientific Department, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN
http://cima.ng-london.org.uk
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