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New Zealand digital initiatives to create and share cultural content
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Discovering New Zealand Museums
New Zealand digital initiatives to create and share cultural content
Paul Rowe, Vernon Systems
Museums Association ConferenceLondon, Oct 6th 2009
We are here
Only 4 million people
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vtveen/1062621164/
... but a lot of digital initiatives
National Digital ForumCoalition of museums, archives,
art galleries, libraries and government
DigitalNZCollaborative initiative led by
the National Library of NZ
The Internet is a big place
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djmccrady/806040268
226 million websites (Sep 2009 Netcraft Web Server Survey)
It can be hard to find what you’re looking for
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnny9s/2894855314
What you’re looking for isn’t always there
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/958035425
Filters help you get the layer you’re interested in
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magslhalliday/4298869/
• Launched Sep 2008• Represents 400 museums• Collection records and images from 60
museums (many volunteer run)
Website administered by:National Services Te Paerangi,
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The team on the Our Space map at Te Papa
www.nationalservices.tepapa.govt.nz
How they help
He Rauemi Resource Guides
0508 freephone helpline
NZMuseums allows you to find our treasures
To talk about them
...and help others find them
How did the website come about?
Redevelopment of an older directory site
Vernon Systems were the successful tender for the new site
New site to be based on eHive
• Focal point for all New Zealand museums
• Desired content was not in digital form
• Most contributors had very limited resources
DigitalNZ: the digital life cycle
DigitalNZ helping with bottlenecks
• Online guides through Make It Digital• Helpdesk for all aspects of digital lifecycle• Aggregated data for whole cultural sector• Forum to propose & vote for digital projects
2006: NZMuseums focus groups
• Volunteers are key - keep in simple
• Keep costs low• It should be possible to
contribute without the Internet
• Outline benefits and address concerns
2003: 85% wanted to contribute
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mic_n_2_sugars/564570276/
Benefits for small museums• Reduces barriers to achieving a web
presence
• Unified approach across New Zealand
• Entry point into simple collections management
• Minimal funds and expertise required
• Show it to the world!
Motueka Museum
Getting museums onboard
• Electronic newsletters• Museum Development Officers in the field• Training workshops
Online forum – avoid answering the same question many times
Spreadsheet for data contributors
• Could be used without an internet connection• Stepping stone between existing systems and eHive
eHive collection management system
Within eHive, each contributor has their own login to create and edit content and upload images
www.ehive.com
Each contributor has their own directory page
eHive web admin for collections management functions
Don’t reinvent the wheelUsed Open Source software
What’s an API and what’s it doing to my museum data?
• Application Programmable Interface• The way two websites or applications talk to each other• Data created in one place can be repurposed• Share your stories
Website 1
Collection Records
. . . . .
Website 2
Collection Records Redisplayed with different presentation
. . . . .
API – “the telephone line”
Integration with NZLive
• National cultural events website• Data shared with NZMuseums through RSS
feeds for each museum
• Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Harvesting Metadata – OAI-PHM
• Create filters of information• DigitalNZ’s preferred method is OAI-PHM• OAI-PHM is in the Europeana roadmap
Data Harvesting
Sharing data
• Copyright issues• Less control of where your data ends up• eHive - 3rd party search “opt-out” option • Creative Commons licences
– Copyright holders only
• Other categories– No rights reserved, custom rights statements, all rights reserved
Summary
• If the content isn’t on the web, expect handholding
• Need filters for different audiences• APIs allow you to share your stories• Data harvesting can build a new view of data
from scattered sources• Need to indicate the rights associated with
records/images to allow legal re-use
