cultural-heritage-informatics | Academic

Decoding CHIN Data Standards

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I would like to preface that this post will be of the raw paradata notes I took as I was progressing through researching the CHIN data standards. It was rather difficult to navigate through to the correct sections from their website (they could work on their hyperlinks) but I managed to find the Archeological/Historical sections. This is unedited, and there will be another devlog with more polished thoughts coming.

Cataloguing Museum Code from CHIN Cataloguing Rules As with library cataloguing rules such as AACRII or RDA, museums use cataloguing rules to determine how data are entered in fields. Cataloguing rules dictate the order, syntax, and format the museum uses to record data – word order, punctuation, how to record vague or unknown data, diacritics, rules for recording titles, names of people, places, and organizations, capitalization, date formats, and many other directives that make for consistent documentation. Examples of cataloguing rules used by museums include: the cataloguing rules within the CHIN Humanities Data Dictionary Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO), (available in English only) is the first comprehensive set of cataloguing rules for museums.

https://www.canada.ca/en/heritage-information-network/services/collections-documentation-standards/chin-guide-museum-standards/core-standards-canadian-museums.html#a1a

Confusing as we’re going through the Getty guide… Considering material is a hugely important aspect of the CTSM collection - do we consider these organic materials, building materials or multiple materials?

Should we organise this data as though it’s a museum collection, considering we are digitally publishing it? How do we want to organise our API? And if so, do we consider it a History or Archaeology collection? https://www.musees.qc.ca/fr/professionnel/guidesel/doccoll/en/ethno-art-techno/an.htm https://www.musees.qc.ca/fr/professionnel/guidesel/doccoll/en/archaeology/an.htm

The CHIN site proves hard to navigate. While trying to find the Data Dictionaries you end up at a blurb page that contains no direct hyperlink just kidding all (check the sidebar)

Below I have begun to lay out a guide for our metadata, and the terminology we should use in the organization of our dataset

Archeological Context (ACO) = Do we modify current data naming for this? Or add it as unique field? https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1176&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=ARCHAEOLOGICAL+SITE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+AUX+SITES+ARCH%C3%89OLOGIQUES&pID=1&pID1=1

Site Province (ZPR) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1493&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=ARCHAEOLOGICAL+SITE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+AUX+SITES+ARCH%C3%89OLOGIQUES&pID=1&pID1=1

Cultural Context (CUC) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1367&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=DESCRIPTIVE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+%C3%80+LA+DESCRIPTION+DE+L%27OBJET&pID=1&pID1=1

Description (DE) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1362&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=DESCRIPTIVE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+%C3%80+LA+DESCRIPTION+DE+L%27OBJET&pID=1&pID1=1

History of Use (HU) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1368&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=DESCRIPTIVE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+%C3%80+LA+DESCRIPTION+DE+L%27OBJET&pID=1&pID1=1

Inscription (NTRLT) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1624&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=DESCRIPTIVE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+%C3%80+LA+DESCRIPTION+DE+L%27OBJET&pID=1&pID1=1

Material (MA) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1030&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=DESCRIPTIVE+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+%C3%80+LA+DESCRIPTION+DE+L%27OBJET&pID=1&pID1=1

Accession Number (AN) = https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/ddrcip-chindd/field_detailler_terme-term_field_detail.app?rID=1042&dd=sh-hs&fID=2&ac=false&lang=en&qlang=en&fl=GR&tne=REGISTRATION+FIELDS&tnf=ZONES+RELATIVES+%C3%80+L%27ENREGISTREMENT+DE+L%27OBJET&pID=1&pID1=1

In summary, it seemed more about taxonomy in terms of abbreviations, than it assisted with necessarily what is important to document it, and the ‘how to’ document correctly. Considering we are dwindling to the end of this project, Emilee has suggested that we may leave our data as it is and go from there.

APIs

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This devlog is just a log of my thinking regarding what we're discussing in class this week/this week's readings

Looking at the use of code in back-end development to show the complexity as websites gather information from multiple APIs and push it into the front-end development. Exploring how much code goes into a basic website, vs our github websites. We learned how to use inspector to manipulate the front-end code and how to hack this website data. When we are loading a website, we are loading up a copy of that website, so you're not hacking the original website and manipulating it. Human-centered views are one-directional, which brings us to idea of APIs.

APIs = lego block to extract data onto our own computers or websites. If there is no API you have to write scraper code to take information from non-API websites. Woof.

The API makes a machine view and a human view. An API is how to get your data onto the internet, distinct from the web, so that someone else can use your data and combine with something else.

So instead of creating a static webpage with information, we are trying to create something that can be easily mined/queried/etc.

The Leaflet API is incredibly cool, and likely very helpful if we chose to utilize in conjunction with the API we are trying to build out of the CTSM markers. I still need to struggle through comprehending how to build an API, but seeing in class today how many ways we can manipulate the data from this is super exciting. After the readings this week, and Professor Graham's presentation I understand what we are trying to produce for the HeritageJam.

The reading that was particularly helpful was the one on Art + Data Day. The introduction of concepts like rotho_team_selfie expanded my mind as far as how we can actually manipulate the data we have. It also opened my thought process to how helpful this is for research, as there are few other ways that you could mine data on how people interact with artwork, which is a very interesting line of inquiry into emotional history or art history. See annotations here: https://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/art-data-building-the-sfmoma-collection-api/#annotations:W2tECFwsEeqFj4ejQMrlng

In the Spirit of Tech

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

As we progress through this course, and begin to actually apply our new knowledge of tech and computer language to our archive work, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the more ‘techy’ side of what I've figured out when working with Github as far as troubleshooting goes.

As a fairly basic Mac user, this course has definitely been a steep learning curve, as I've been trying to grasp the new technologies introduced by Professor Graham. While the first couple devlogs were especially hard, I did find some online resources that really helped for working backwards, in addition to the help of some lovely classmates.

The teamwork aspect of this course has been incredibly helpful for troubleshooting. When my first two devlogs wouldn't upload, I was able to figure out one of the preliminary issues with Chloe and Elise. The errors procured on this site are definitely a matter of attention to detail, and one of the first mistakes I made was forgetting the ‘.md’ in my devlog titles. Having additional eyes to assist with editing/troubleshooting really helps in this matter, as when you're frustrated and trying to figure out solutions, it's very helpful to have extra eyes searching for the missing links.

The joys of using Academic-Kickstart, as I came to know, is that there is an existing original codescript (or whatever you would call it) for the format. When doing my devlogs, I kept coming across what seemed to me to be nonsensical errors on Netlify, like: 5:43:40 PM: Error: Error building site: “/opt/build/repo/content/post/2020-01-23-CMHVisit.md:21:1”: failed to unmarshal YAML: yaml: line 21: could not find expected ‘:', which were incredibly frustrating. As I worked through issues like this I utilized the regular code on the Academic Kickstart github, linked here: https://github.com/sourcethemes/academic-kickstart

Through this troubleshooting, I figured out that the spacing before my final dash line on the devlog was incorrect. This is an error that I wouldn't have been able to figure out without working backwards, as when I googled the line error from Netlify, I was unable to come up with satisfactory answers. The online community of github has, however, come in handy on other previous error lines, and at least the conversations give an idea of what direction to go, even if some of the language used is beyond my current comprehension level.

As we move into the digitization of these archives I look forward to continue collaborating with my peers, and using the online resources I've found to be able to think around errors in this uphill battle with foreign tech haha. Integrating images is my next goal!

Canada Science and Technology Museum Visit

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

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!

Canadian Museum of Nature - Aylmer Visit

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Museum of Nature trip brought information to my attention that I had never considered having interest in. I can't say I would be thrilled to jump into a career in these new avenues of interest, but I do have some thoughts about it.

The cleaning of animal bones, and how that happens, whether it is before or after an acquisition, is something that never entered into my consideration of a natural history museum. After today that was different. I now know about hot composting, dermestids (and their inconsistent appetites), and the process of boiling bones. These are things that never entered the scape of my nightmares, but I am sure they will make an appearance now. However, despite my personal qualms with these processes, it does open one's mind about the roles available at museums, and the grittier aspects of them previously unrevealed.

Another intrigue that was presented, is that the museum is much like any other office setting. While at first that broke the illusion, gone are the notions of a fantastical space in which everything runs smoothly, it did make me realize how useful office and administrative experience is in a museum setting. The siloing of information is something that was a familiar issue in my previous workplaces, and its good to know that that is experience I can bring and build on in the History field. I also got to feel good about my aversion to shorthand.

The final tangent that this visit brought to me is the consideration of the scent of a museum. I have always neglected considering the olfactory aspect of an exhibit and of working with artefacts. When confronted with bones, there was no choice but to think of it. I find it odd that this had not previously come to mind, as it's the first thing I think of when considering paper archives, but somehow I didn't factor it into more pungent materials. Should we be playing more with this in museum settings? Is this a way to harness curiousity? What if there was a way for us to smell and taste the past? How can we make exhibits more all-encompassing and immersive?

PS: Very excited to have finally figured out how to make these devlogs post. It has been quite the troubleshooting journey.

Canadian Museum of History Visit

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Our visit today to the Resource Center, and our tour of some of the museum's collections was incredibly illuminating regarding the complexity of the issue of digitizing, and making accessible, an immense amount of data. We were incredibly lucky to be given transparent thoughts on the problems the museum is facing directly from its resource center staff. With an upcoming digital transformation on the way, and the daily conundrum of assisting, and sourcing material for, researchers, it's clear that this issue is on the forefront of the resource center's members. While we hear huge numbers being thrown around by museum's regarding the size of their collections, and we hear about the storage of collections, it is an entirely different beast to actually visually taking in the massive amount of objects in a storage room. It was fascinating to learn about all of the different coding systems that operate within the museums, and their inability to always speak to each other. The issue of legacy data, and paper ledgers (which predate the previous database) are factors I hadn't considered. Despite recently working on a digital transformation in my Coop, I hadn't made that connection about the universal issue of data management until hearing about the museum's own problems. I was particularly struck by Tanya's comment about accessibility being so much more than digitization, but rather about how databases speak to users, and how to transform the user-end experience to open the museum's collections up to audiences outside of their current demographic. The language use is profound. The language used is sometimes problematic (settler names for Indigenous objects). The language used is sometimes too technical, and leaves out certain demographics as a result. The language used determines how the database can serve those in both official languages. The language creates more metadata that needs to be properly stored and associated with objects.

I was overwhelmed by all the work there is to be done, and also by all the work they have managed to do. I certainly won't be judgemental or gruff when perusing a museum or gallery's website again.

Is it possible to ever manage all of this data? How are we able to create an accessible pathway with such a ginormous amount of data and objects available to view? How do we prevent archives/objects/artworks from getting lost in the mix?