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The Getty Information Institute
A. DEMONSTRABLE PROJECTS
Methodologies, Tools, and
Guidelines:
Categories for the Description of Works of Art
Reasons: By providing guidelines for content, independent
from software and hardware, the Categories serve as a model to which
existing art information systems can be mapped and as a basis on
which new systems can be developed. Such guidelines contribute to the
integrity and longevity of information transmitted across networks
and eventually moved to new systems. Compatible structures also
provide researchers with consistent, reliable access to information
stored in a variety of systems in geographically dispersed places.
The Centro de Documentación de Bienes Patrimoniales of Chile
has developed a documentation system using these categories for the
collections in all of the Chilean state museums. This data model may
serve as the basis for a network of museum information in the
Spanish-speaking world.
A Guide to the Description of Architectural Drawings
Reasons: The Architectural Drawings Advisory Group, the
Foundation for Documents of Architecture, and the Information
Institute produced this guide to key issues in documenting
architectural drawings and records. Developed in cooperation with
major architectural collections around the world, the Guide provides
both a general introduction to principles of documentation for
architectural materials and an advanced set of guidelines applicable
to both manual and automated systems.
Introduction to Imaging
Reasons: Introduction to Imaging is designed to help
curators, librarians, collection managers, administrators, scholars,
and students understand the basic technology and processes involved
in creating an image database depicting works typically found in
museums. It also identifies the issues that arise in this process and
outlines the points at which choices must be made. Areas of
particular concern include the integration of an image database with
other information resources and museum activities, and the
interchange of visual information among computerized systems.
Protecting Cultural Objects in the Global Information Society
Reasons: Protecting Cultural Objects is an international
collaborative project establishing consensus on a minimum standard
for the identification and protection of cultural objects to combat
illicit trade. This international collaboration among key communities
in the public and private sectors agreed on what constitutes an
adequate, and standardized, description of an object. Consultations
and worldwide surveys of over 1,000 organizations in 84 countries
produced Object ID, a set of essential categories required to
identify an object.
Object ID
Reasons: There is widespread agreement that documentation
is crucial to the protection of cultural objects, for stolen objects
that have not been photographed and adequately described are rarely
recoverable by their rightful owners. Unfortunately, very few objects
have been documented to a level that can materially assist in their
recovery in the event of theft. Even for objects that have been so
documented, the information collected is extremely variable. It is
important, therefore, that efforts be made to increase public
awareness of the need to make adequate, standardized descriptions of
objects.
Protecting Cultural Objects: Conservation Specialists Working
Group
Reasons: A mutual desire to determine how information about
the physical characteristics of an object can contribute to its
identification led to a collaboration between the Getty Information
Institute and the Getty Conservation Institute. August 1994, the two
institutes organized a Conservation Specialists Working Group that
met in Washington, D.C., to examine the ways in which physical
characteristics could be recorded for identification. The
participants agreed on the need for the proposed standard, which they
believed should include both written and visual information. A
category called Distinguishing Features emerged as a key
recommendation of the meeting. Its purpose is to record information
about an object's physical characteristics that could help to
identify it (e.g., damage, repairs, or manufacturing defects).
Meta-data Standards: Introduction to Metadata
Reasons: The need for classification and organization is
crucial for cultural heritage materials as it is for networked
electronic resources in general. As professional communities,
repositories and computer systems, come together to make the
information age a reality, it is essential that we understand the
critical roles that different types of metadata can play in the
development of effective, authoritative, flexible, scalable, and
robust cultural heritage and information systems.
Documenting the Cultural Heritage
Reasons: This publication presents three internationally
agreed standards for the documentation of cultural heritage: The Core
Data Index to Historic Buildings and Monuments of the Architectural
Heritage, the International Core Data Standard for Archaeological
Sites and Monuments, and the recently agreed core data standard for
identifying cultural objects * Object ID. These standards are
indispensable, for purposes of identification, protection,
interpretation, and physical preservation of movable objects,
historic buildings, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes.
Research and Access Tools
The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA)
Reasons: BHA indexes and abstracts all writing on Western
art, regardless of the country or language of its publication,
offering access to more than 2,000 journals, as well as books,
exhibition catalogues, conference proceedings, and bibliographies.
The BHA database, a collaborative publication of the Getty
Information Institute and the Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, currently contains some 144,000 records, to which
approximately 24,000 records are added annually.
The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Reasons: The Avery Index, the only comprehensive American
index to the current literature of architecture and design, produced
at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia
University since 1934, now surveys more than 700 US and foreign
journals, 75 percent of which are not indexed in any other source. It
covers not only the international scholarly and popular periodical
literature, but also the publications of professional associations,
US state and regional periodicals, and the major serial publications
in architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America, and
Australia. The Avery Index is an essential source for both researcher
and practitioner.
The Getty Provenance Index
Reasons: The Provenance Documentation Collaborative is an
international effort overseen by the Getty Provenance Index
consisting of institutions that dedicate the time of a staff member
to the projects described below. Data collected from these
institutions is regularly merged into the Provenance databases which
now have over 500,000 records, and in turn the contributing
institutions periodically receive updates of the databases on compact
disc and eventually via the Internet.
Vocabularies
Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
Reasons: The Art & Architecture Thesaurus is a
controlled vocabulary that is used to improve access to cultural
heritage information in the global networked environment.
Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
Reasons: The ULAN is used as an authority file or data
value standard in the documentation (cataloging, indexing, and
description) of cultural heritage information. Building on consensus
among its contributing projects and upon ranking according to
scholarly usage, the ULAN establishes an "entry form" or heading that
can be used as a collective device or point of reference for all of
the associated data relating to a particular artist or architect,
including variant names, biographical information, and bibliographic
citations.
Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
Reasons: The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is a
structured vocabulary developed primarily for the field of art
history, but with the potential for wide applications in related
disciplines such as archeology, history and geography. The TGN is the
only available geographical resource that is both hierarchical and
global in scope. The TGN contains nearly 1 million place names
representing approximately 900,000 places.
a.k.a.
Reasons: "a.k.a." combines the inclusive nature of the
World Wide Web, and the carefully constructed intellectual links and
relationships inherent in the Getty vocabulary tools, to provide
access to what amounts to a "virtual database" of information. Thanks
to this "knowledge navigator," made more efficient because of the
years of scholarly work and intellectual integration represented by
the Getty vocabulary resources, any Internet user can almost
instantaneously access a vast amount of cultural heritage information
that would take days or even months of work (and in many cases
worldwide travel) to find using traditional research tools.
The International Terminology Working Group (ITWG)
Reasons: The International Terminology Working Group, an
informal association of cultural heritage information professionals
from several countries, originally grew out of the Thesaurus Artis
Universalis (TAU) committee of the Comité International de
l'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA). Members of this group have met, usually
once a year in Europe, to report on their various projects and
activities in the field of cultural heritage terminology. At the
general meeting of the International Terminology Working Group held
at the University of Amsterdam in September 1996 on the occasion of
the twenty-ninth CIHA conference, members of the group reported on
terminology projects under way in Canada, England, France, Germany,
Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. Although most
of these projects have taken the AAT as their point of departure,[2]
other sources, such as ICONCLASS, [3] or an institution's own
collections (as at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London), are
also being used. The Vertaalbureau UvA Vertalers of the University of
Amsterdam, which hosted the meeting, reported on the first initiative
to translate the AAT in its entirety, a joint project of the
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD) and the
Rijksdienst voor de Monumentenzorg. All AAT descriptors and guide
terms (totaling approximately 30,000 terms) have been matched with
Dutch equivalents, and approximately 17,000 scope notes or
definitions have been translated. Next steps include quality-checking
of the work done to date (including review by subject specialists),
development of mechanisms for updating, and decisions about release
formats.[4]
A collaborative project to find Spanish-language equivalents to
the terms in the AAT was begun by the Getty Information institute and
the Chilean Ministry of Education, Centro de Documentación de
Bienes Patrimoniales (Santiago) in the Spring of 1997. To date, the
Visual Works (Obras Visuales) hierarchy has been translated. Another
important project on which the International Terminology Working
Group members received an update at the Amsterdam meeting was the
Multilingual Lexicon of Religious Objects.This collaborative
demonstration project involving four partner countries--Canada,
France, Italy, and the United States--has resulted in a specialized
multilingual lexicon of terms, definitions, and images relating to a
particular group of objects in the field of cultural heritage. The
lexicon of some 500 records in three languages, accompanied by
definitions, images, and an audio pronunciation guide, will be
released on CD-ROM (by the Italian Ministry of Culture's Istituto
Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione), print (by the French
Ministry of Culture's Inventaire Général), on the World
Wide Web (by the Canadian Heritage Information Network), and will
eventually be incorporated into the AAT by the Getty Information
Institute.
Advocacy
Research Agenda for Networked Cultural Heritage
Reasons: The Getty Art History Information Program (AHIP),
with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Coalition for
Networked Information, worked with scholars throughout the country to
write a white paper entitled "Humanities and Arts on the Information
Highways: A Profile," the early drafts of which were influential in
shaping the Administration's Information Infrastructure Task Force
Committee on Applications and Technology report The Information
Infrastructure: Reaching Society's Goals, especially the critical
chapters on "Arts, Humanities and Culture on the NII." The final
version of the white paper, issued in September 1994, was a major
part of the public comment on the Administration's plan and the
fullest articulation of the state of humanities computing at that
time.
Humanities and Arts on Information Highways: A Profile
Reasons: Humanities and Arts on the Information Highways: A
National Initiative has been formed to address the urgent need for
the humanities and arts to gain a voice in the planning and
development of the National Information Infrastructure, the
much-publicized plan for a national telecommunications system. The
initial sponsors of the National Initiative -- the Getty Art History
Information Program (AHIP), the Coalition for Networked Information
(CNI) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) -- are
joining with other stakeholders to confront the issues and
responsibilities connected with bringing the nation's cultural
heritage into the digital environment.
White Paper from White House Economic Council
Reasons: Contribution to a paper by the National Economic
Council from the Getty Information Institute, an operating program of
the J. Paul Getty Trust - May 12, 1994. In a multi cultural society,
knowing about, understanding, and respecting the multiple cultural
heritages of fellow citizens is the basis for community. Every
community creates art; the world of manmade objects constitutes our
culturally based material landscape.
Education and Cultural Heritage: Solid Partners for the NII
Reasons: Contribution to a paper by the National Economic Council
from the Getty Art History Information Program, an operating program
of the J. Paul Getty Trust May 12, 1994. Electronic networks are a
key to entirely new modes of communication among people and new
methods of access to information. Networks offer the potential for
the American people to know themselves and each other better through
a rich exchange of information and ideas, for the arts and heritage
communities to exhibit collections and provide public services, for
children in schools and individuals in the home to experience their
culture in myriad facets of their choice, and for the production and
enjoyment of creative works in new types of space.
Museum Educational Site Licensing Project (MESL)
Reasons: The Museum Educational Site Licensing (MESL)
project brings representative U.S. museums, colleges, and
universities together to define the terms and conditions for
educational use of museums' digital images and information on
campus-wide networks. During this two-year experiment (launched in
1995 by the Getty Information Institute--then the Getty Art History
Information Program--in conjunction with MUSE Educational Media) a
select group of educational and collecting institutions are
collaborating in good faith to study the capture, distribution, and
educational use of museums' digital images and their associated
texts. The project has also provided a vehicle for exploring and
promoting the educational benefits of digital access to museum
collections through campus networks.
Education
Internet Forum
Reasons: The Internet Forum is an exhibition for
conferences and events that utilizes Internet-linked computers to
demonstrate examples of cultural heritage Web sites.
Vocabulary / Standards Workshops
Reasons: At a variety of national and international venues,
the Institute provides workshops and other training opportunities to
introduce cultural heritage professionals to the usefulness of
standards and structured vocabularies in creating art documentation.
Points of View Project
Reasons: The Points of View project examined the needs and
expectations of those who use cultural heritage information. One of
the project's primary research areas set out to distinguish different
points of view. Rather than assigning a questioner to a predefined
audience segment (i.e., kindergarten to grade 12, scholar, or general
public), the Points of View project attempted to examine what use the
questioner planned to make of the information received from cultural
heritage information systems.
Online Communities
Los Angeles Culture Net
Reasons: The initiative, which explores how digital
technology can help to define and serve communities through
collaborative participation, makes arts and cultural information
available over the Internet.
Faces of LA
Reasons: Materials on this site illustrate the places,
monuments, events, culture, and history of the people of Southern
California -- whether authentic or idealized, historical or
contemporary. A demonstration project of the Los Angeles Culture Net,
"Faces of L.A."explores the cultural and educational benefits of
digital access to cultural resources through networks.
International
International Terminology Working Group
Reasons: The International Terminology Working Group, an
informal association of cultural heritage information professionals
from several countries, originally grew out of the Thesaurus Artis
Universalis (TAU) committee of the Comité International de
l'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA). For more details on the genesis of this
group, see Guidelines for Forming Language Equivalents: A Model Based
on the Art & Architecture Thesaurus, a document released by the
International Terminology Working Group in September 1996.
Guidelines for Forming Language Equivalents
Reasons: This document describes and supports the work of
the International Terminology Working Group, the task of which is to
provide equivalents in several languages to the terminology in the
Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT). Although the aim of the
present document is to provide guidelines for forming equivalents
between the AAT and existing controlled vocabularies in other
languages, the principles outlined here may be useful to others
seeking to link vocabularies in different languages. The guidelines
are based on "residencies" (group working meetings of about a week in
length) held at the AAT offices in Williamstown and elsewhere, and on
national and international standards for thesaurus construction].
Further information about AAT methodology can be found in the Guide
to Indexing and Cataloging with the Art & Architecture Thesaurus
and the AAT Editorial Manual.
G7 Multimedia Access to World Cultural Heritage
Reasons: The pilot projects aim at demonstrating the
potential of the Information Society and stimulate its deployment.
The projects will be initially undertaken by the G7 partners but are
meant to be open. The participation of other partners, including
international organizations, is encouraged. The work undertaken in
the G7 pilot projects thus far has been based on joint deliberations
and consensus on Theme Areas identified to be of common international
interest for the Information Society. These selected themes were then
rendered into more concrete project proposals through formal and
informal discussions and meetings. Further refinement of the
proposals and studies of implementation scenarios are still required
for all the projects considered.
European Commission Initiatives
Reasons: The Getty Information Institute tracks the activities of
the three Directorate-Generals of the European Commission having
interest in automating cultural heritage information: DG III, DG X,
DG XIII. The European Commission has developed a framework for
cooperation to accelerate the development of cultural heritage
multimedia products called The Memorandum of Understanding concerning
Multimedia access to Europe's cultural heritage. The Getty
Information Institute is a signatory to the Memorandum.
Census of Art and Architecture Known to the Renaissance
Reasons: A research database, the Census focuses on ancient
monuments recorded in Renaissance sketchbooks, drawings, guidebooks,
treatises, and various additional sources. The database includes
information about changing locations and ownership of antiquities
during the Renaissance and the condition and preservation history of
antique monuments. The Census contains approximately 45,000 records
and 25,000 associated images, with extensive cross-references linking
records to one another, to related documents, and to images
associated with them.
Conferences
Time & Bits
Reasons: The Time and Bits: Managing Digital Continuity meeting
held at he Getty Center on Feb 8-10 produced some remarkable insights
into the future uses of digital technologies and their impact on the
documentation of cultural heritage. Participants included: Stweart
Brand, Doug Carlston, Brian Eno, Danny Hilis, Brewster Kahle, Kevin
Kelly, Paul Saffo, Jaron Lanier, Bruce Sterling, John Heilemann,
Peter Lyman, Howard Besser, Margaret MacLean, Ben Davis.
Communicating Culture Conference, October 22-23, 1998
Reasons: To explore the myriad collaborative possibilities
that are emerging for business, industry, government, cultural and
educational institutions, the Getty Information Institute will
convene a ground-breaking international conference entitled
Communicating Culture. This first-ever meeting of world cultural
leaders and those who are developing cutting-edge technology will
provide a forum to explore the intersection of technology and culture
and envision bold outcomes for the future.
B. VISION STATEMENTS
Sharing
Cultural Entitlements in the Digital Age: Are We Building a Garden of
Eden or a Patch of Weeds? by Eleanor Fink
The
Subject of Subjects: by Eleanor Fink
Subsidizing
End User Access to Research Databases, by Joseph Busch
Preservation and Access in a Digital World, by Ben Davis
Teacher of the Future, by Ben Davis
Cultural
Heritage Online: Building the Digital Future, by Eleanor Fink
Book Publishing: The Web, CD-ROM and Other Digital Dreams,
by Richard Kinney
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