Canada Science and Technology Museum Visit

I have been anticipating visiting CSTM as we have made our weekly museum visits. I was so excited to finally get to see all of the interesting data and objects that we are going to be able to work with. Finally getting to the more hands on part of this course is amazing.

We learned about issues that the museum are having, which are similar to CMN and CMH. However, CSTM appears to have a technological advantage on the other two institutions. They have open data available on their site, but as one of the archivists pointed out, it has to be updated regularly, presenting the issue of stale data. Like the other two museums they also have the issue of siloed information.

We also discussed the issue of search terms and search engines, which is an issue that the CMH mentioned facing. Accessibility of information beyond uploading data to the internet. How do we manage search terminology so that people of academic and non-academic backgrounds alike can enjoy, appreciate and access the information? Keeping the terms specific enough, but not so specific as they have for their image bank. How can we actually motivate people to play/interact with this information? They spoke about a program that they have in which people can openly contribute to adding historical information to objects or items in the archive. However, this information has to be evaluated by someone. That becomes an issue of funding. In short, the challenges the museums face are endless.

On the note of the project, the material we get to work with is enormously interesting. The mixture of physical objects, and their incredible provenance information is a great combination. The relationship these markers have with the land is so momentous to Canadian history that it is hard to wrap my mind around it. The contradiction of the artificiality of their importance and the simultaneous absolute authority they present encapsulates the core tension of Canada: land and ownership. These objects are so loaded, and the history behind them so rich.

I'm still unsure how much work we're going to be able to get completed, given the timeline of the course, but I am very eager to get cracking and get as much done as possible. I think this course is very worthwhile, and I have gotten more insight into actual tactical issues and the careers available in these institutions than I had before. I'm excited to be part of the pilot, so that we can shape this course with feedback to make it more efficient and effective for future years.

Learning how to input, and upload, and create metadata, here we come!