Building a Shared Digital Collection: A Case Study

Building a Shared Digital CollectionA Case Study

Emily PfotenhauerProgram Manager, Wisconsin Heritage OnlineKnitting Heritage Museum: A Work In Progress

November 9, 2012Madison, Wisconsin

1,171 objects 55 collectionshttp://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/wda

http://www.digitalforsyth.org/photos/12827

Mineral Point Historical Society

Developing a collaborative digital collection

• Define parameters• Locate materials• Digital imaging• Metadata• Build and maintain

relationships with partners, public

Defining collection parameters

• Revisit often• Remain flexible

Marathon County Historical Society

Locating materials• Fieldwork• Formal partnerships• Crowdsourcing

Quilt Index quiltindex.org

History Pin historypin.com

Object photography

• Determine balance of quality v. quantity

Metadata = information about stuff

Controlled vocabularies

Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurushttp://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/

Structured, standardized metadata makes stuff . . .

• Searchable and sortable• Interoperable and shareable

http://dp.la

• Understandable in new ways– Maps, charts, timelines

• Viewshare• Google Fusion tables• Timeline JS

Partner relations• Share the credit• Be generous with

links

flickr.com/photos/wisconsindecarts

wisconsinobject.wordpress.com

Broadcastwe do they consume

The broadcast idiom is the traditional 20th century way museums accomplish our

jobs in society

“Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts”Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy

Smithsonian Institution

Participation is how most people live online now

• We share our “status,” our opinions, our “likes,” our ratings, our photos, our videos

• We “curate” and share collections and lists • We join virtual groups and circles and play

games with strangers• We carry around our apps with us everywhere

Kate Theimer, archivesnext.com

Edson, “Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts”

We assume this is usin the middle,

the official museum running the show

museum

Edson, “Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts”

Hundreds, thousand, millions of connections between people with

expertise, perspective, abilities, passion, curiosity…

But these connections are the most important, the most powerful for

generating big outcomes

Edson, “Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts”

museum

Maybe the most powerfulplace for us is here

Edson, “Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts”

Thank you!

Emily Pfotenhauerepfotenhauer@wils.wisc.eduTwitter: @epfoten