Date post: | 18-Dec-2014 |
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Online Scholarly Catalogues at the Art Institute of Chicago
Liz Neely & Sam Quigley The Art Institute of Chicago
The “OSCI” Project
Initiated and Funded
by the Getty Foundation
• Getty Foundation initiated to explore possibilities of presenting collection research digitally.
• A consortium of nine museums • Exploring sustainable and replicable models • Assess how digital publishing might impact
institutional structures
Online Scholarly Catalogue Initiative
Re-envisioning the Scholarly Catalogue Art Institute’s Goal: To embrace the appropriate capabilities of the web without leaving behind the weight and authority naturally ascribed to the book format
Includes fully footnoted and edited
Technical Notes
Provenance
References
Exhibi6on History
Curatorial Entry
In addi0on to
Large color plates
Technical images
Compara6ve illustra6ons
Details
Our “Gold Standard”
Requirements of the Scholarly Audience Art Institute’s Goal: To specifically target the needs of a scholarly audience.
• It needed to be an authoritative, permanent, and citable reference and maintain the high standards of our previously published print collection catalogues.
“It is our hope that this innovative online platform you experience here will make the important curatorial and conservation research that is part of every museum’s mission more broadly accessible and illuminating.”
Douglas Druick Director’s Forward Monet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago OSCI Catalogue
Features
Implementation: Authoring the
Online Scholarly Catalogue
High-Resolution Imaging
Multilayer Imaging Tool
Image Registration
Object Photography Art movement scheduled with Collection Manager, Imaging
and Conservation
Imaging captures hi-rez natural light and UV, stitches tiles,
masks background
Image uploaded to IIP
Details defined for publication
Conservation captures technical images and examines artwork
Conservation registers technical image layers against hi-rez natural
light photography
Conservation/curatorial annotate layers
Final technical layers uploaded and annotations converted to SVG for
publication
Other Illustrations
Publications procures rights and images, as they do for print
publications
Digital Information uploads images minding rights
restrictions
Comparative Illustrations
Pull URI from JSTOR or Scan original and OCR for
search and upload
Source, scan and upload
Archival Documents
Archival Images
Why Expend So Much Effort?
“It’s like seeing detective work,
but everyone has the same clues.”
Douglas Druick, in NYTimes article by
Carol Vogel 11/17/2011
Audience Response
Launch Strategy • Target audience – Scholars • Listservs rolled out over the first few
weeks • Soft launch, minimal press
• Launched just before MCN in Atlanta (11/11/11)
Stats - Analytics • 3,875 visits (as of January 31, 2012)
• 76 different museums and other cultural institutions
• 117 universities
Stats - Analytics • Readers spent on average over 12
minutes on the site (by browser)
• Geographically wide demographics
• 47 states and 53 countries
Stats - Qualitative • 96 survey respondents, 11 individual emails
• Curators, conservators, technologists, publishing professionals, librarians and archivists, and general museum-goers
• Regardless of discipline—majority view the conservation imagery as the most innovative aspect of the catalogues
• Respondents have been largely (64.9%) scholars—our intended audience.
Stats – Qualitative J • Nearly 90% of respondents said that the
catalogues were either ‘very easy’ or ‘somewhat easy’ to navigate.
• More than half (57.8%) indicated that there were not any aspects of the catalogues that they had difficulty accessing.
• Appreciated the hi-rez luxurious imagery, innovative technology, and conceptual envisioning of a new collection catalogue.
Stats - Qualitative L • Four main categories of criticism clearly
emerged:
– Browser compatibility (16%), icons (14%), navigation (12%), and speed (3%).
• Obvious and easy to resolve issues are currently being addressed through our continued collaboration with the IMA Lab to improve the reader experience.
Scholars Embracing Digital Publication • 95% of respondents involved in
scholarly research said that they would reference and cite the catalogues as they would a printed publication.
• 100% of respondents who identified themselves as academics said that they would find such a publication a valuable addition to a colleague’s tenure portfolio.
Moving Forward
• Take cues from print and editorial models • Shape and support the author’s vision • Critically examine the use of media • Push the author to promote clarity • Bend and compromise, listen and hone
author’s intent
Have a formative impact on the publication!
The Technologists Role
• Are we properly staffed and organized to accomplish the highly collaborative nature of these projects?
• How will OSCI coexist with our print publishing schedules and priorities?
• How do we structure expectations of digital editorial workflows and schedules?
Outstanding Questions
• What are the business models by which we can offer our catalogues to the public online? • How do we stay current in the rapidly evolving digital publication environment?
Outstanding Questions
Scholarly Research and Publishing Ecosystem
To incorporate these scholarly tools into our
collection management system, CITI, and make it an active, propelling agent, as well as
a repository of the continuous scholarly process.
The Dream…
Scholarly catalogues: publications.artic.edu Liz Neely Sam Quigley [email protected] [email protected] @lili_czarina
Thank you!