Art through the_information_age

Iris Finkel • M-LEAD Presentation • March 17, 2011

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1960s“Sometime in 1980 a scholar will enter a major museum, seat himself at a computer terminal in the research room, and ask to review all art works depicting say, sailing vessels. He will want to see bas-reliefs and sculptures, as well as drawings and paintings. He will expect to see works from all significant collections around the world, including works currently in storage in the museum, and those out in traveling exhibitions.”

William Paisley (1968)“Computers and their potential applications in Museums:A Conference Sponsored by The Metropolitan of Art Supported by a Grant by the IBM Corporation, April 15, 16, 17 1968”, New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Computers and Their Potential Application in Museums

Documentary ApplicationsThe Analysis of Museum Systems

Stylistic AnalysisThe Museum Computer and the Analysis of Artist Content

Visual ApplicationsComputer Methods for the Processing, Classifying and Matching of Profiles

and Other Irregular Curves

Computerized Museum NetworksThe Value of a Computerized Data Bank as an Adjunct to a Museum

Card Catalogue

New Approaches in Museum EducationThe Future of the Museum as a Learning Environment

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“I would remind us all that Vannevar Bush, one of our most brilliant scientists, called his latest book, Science Is Not Enough. Well, I might advance the observation that today the humanities are not enough either, but that together with science, perhaps they would be enough.”

Thomas P. F. Hoving (1968)From speech entitled “Museums, Computers, and the Future” given by at the dinner marking the close of the conference

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1960s

Museum Computer NetworkGeneral Retrieval and Information Processor for theHumanities Oriented Studies (GRIPHOS)

SmithsonianSElf GEnerating Master (SELGEM)

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A typical IBM mainframe of the late 1960s

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1957: The first digitally scanned image and the movie, Desk Set

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1970s

Standards• Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging

• ICONCLASS on computers

Art Bibliographies Modern on Dialog

Canadian National Inventory Programme

(Now Canadian Heritage Information Network)

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In Museum Vol. XXX No. 2, 1978

“Noemi said to me ‘The first problem they had when the computer arrived was the subjective nature of the catalogue.’ So it could be said that this drawing shows an inspired poet about to explain that he has before him an object in the shape of a vase, the size of a cup, slightly broken, with a handle on the left side.”

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1980s

Getty Trust• Art History Information Program:

- Art and Architecture Thesaurus

- Conference: Automatic Processing of

Art History Data and Documents

• Museum Prototype Project

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“The field of art and architecture is ultimately concerned with objects and therefore primarily visual. But along with image access, objects are enriched by their accompanying research, both descriptive and interpretive. Different document formats should not hamper access. The information should still flow in spite of the physical properties that house it-whether book, periodical, or object catalog. To make this integration possible, complementary data fields are needed to allow access to both image and text.”

Patricia Barnett (1988) An Art Information System:From Integration to Interpretation, Library Trends, Vol 37, No. 2, Fall 1988, pp. 194-205

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Pre-digital art history essentials

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1990s

• Art Information Task Force

• IMAGE

• Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO)

• Journal & Auction databases

• World Wide Web

• Museums and the Web

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Images of newly-discovered Paleolithic cave paintings are showcased on a website (early 1995)

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The Frick Collectionhome page, 1998

Virtual Tour !

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Brooklyn Museum of Art home page, 1997

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2000 - • ARTstor

• Europeana

• SmartHistory

• Hathi Trust• Standards: CDWA, CCO (Getty Research Institute) VRA Core

• Web 2.0

• Collaborative efforts (LAMs) to capture cultural heritage

• Steve Museum Tagging Project

• Museum 2.0

• Digital Learning Objects

• Open Access Publications

• Google Art Project

Kodak retires Kodachrome color film (2009)

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Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy Google Art Project

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Digitized lantern slide on Brooklyn Museum website

Checking slide collection for image in ARTstor Zabar Art Library, Hunter College Libraries

Where are slides today?

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Metadata

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What if?

the semantic web model were applied to art information?

images, reference, e-books, open access journals, digital learning objects, audio lectures, video, social networks…

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“Working over the years at the intersection of art history, education and the new technologies, I find that I continually sail up to the brink, with visions of what lies just beyond the horizon, wishing for the skills and technology to take me there.”

Cohen, K., (1997) The Niña, the Pinta and the Internet, The Art Bulletin, V 79, June 1997, pp. 187-191

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Acknowledgements

Deirdre Lawrence, Jennifer Chisnell, Sandy WallaceLibraries and Archives, Brooklyn Museum

Steven Kowalik Zabar Art Library, Hunter College Libraries

Loisann Dowd WhiteResearch Library, Getty Research Institute

Deborah WytheDigital Collections, Brooklyn Museum

Thank you!