Week 3 discussion notes

Week 3, 11 September 2007
Inventories and Documentation of Collections and the Virtual Museum
ICOM ch.3*
Spectrum (MDA standards) *
Marty, “Museum Informatics”, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science *
Marty and Jones, Museum Informatics, Chapters 3,4,6,10,11and 20 *


Museum informatics?

Reasons for information collection around items:
1. Establish legal ownership of items
2. Reduce damage by creating information surrogates
3. Collections information contextualise objects

Methods
1. Unique numbers for all items
2. Consistency
3. Flexibility
4. Inventory control

5 standards from ICOM – history and differences

Relationship to libraries

Core components

ICOM p. 39

Create a list on the board of information objects and interventions in museums and talk about the implementation of each.
- collections (the objects themselves as information resources)
- inventory
- research library
- image collection
- contextual research information
- collections database
- exhibits
- educational materials and programs
- books in the gift shop
- websites
- in museum kiosks
- marketing materials

Explore the idea of an information surrogate. (Paul story re: safe information) and burden on objects through access and research (Marty 22)

Explore the idea of a virtual museum.

Personalisation technologies (Marty 66)

Chapter 4 “Representing Museum Knowledge”
27 – museum knowledge representation supports museum missions.

“information management is the central role of the museum”

object v. process v. action data models


Chapter 10, “A World of Interactive Exhibits”
110 – talks about difference between data nad interpretation. Is this possible.

Virtual museum – sort this out

Shift form objects ot ideas in museums (like new museology – what do we think about this?)

Ch. 11 “Bluring boundaries for museum visitors”

Museums are paces for the social conduct of information


Chapter 20 “future of museums in the information age”
“techno-skeptical museum leaders”

Underlying meta-question from readings
By calling objects information resources do we diminish the role of the object in the museum?