Steve.museum
Encyclopedia
The steve.museum project is a collaborative effort to improve public access
to and engagement with US art museum collections. To do so, it is exploring the possibilities of user-generated descriptions of works of art, also known as folksonomy
. Currently,project staff comprises a group of volunteers, mostly from art museums, including the Guggenheim Museum
, the Cleveland Museum of Art
, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, as well as Archives & Museum Informatics
.
Folksonomy
is a relatively new phenomenon whereby web-users tag content for the purposes of later retrieval. It allows the public to introduce new search-terms, in the form of tags
, to the formal library catalog
that art and cataloging professionals themselves might not have included. It also allows curators and other museum professionals to see what the public sees in works of art. These terms will enrich the catalog and increase the likelihood that searchers of all levels will find what they are looking for. In the end, it is hoped that museum collections will be fully searchable by keywords rather than just by name or artist. Early results from the project found that a number of tags were applied often, while others were applied just once per work of art.
The project received a $1 million grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Services
, from which the Indianapolis Museum of Art
is working to apply folksonomy to its collection, and is one of a number of related projects currently working to make art more accessible and to find its role in the digital age.
Public Access
Public Access is a 1993 American drama film directed by Bryan Singer in his feature film debut. Singer also wrote the screenplay with Christopher McQuarrie and Michael Feit Dougan. The film was shot in 18 days for US$250,000. It was screened at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, where it was...
to and engagement with US art museum collections. To do so, it is exploring the possibilities of user-generated descriptions of works of art, also known as folksonomy
Folksonomy
A folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging...
. Currently,project staff comprises a group of volunteers, mostly from art museums, including the Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, the Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, as well as Archives & Museum Informatics
Archives & Museum Informatics
Archives & Museum Informatics is a company based in Toronto, Canada , that organizes conferences, and undertakes consulting, publishing and training in the field of cultural heritage, especially for museums....
.
Folksonomy
Folksonomy
A folksonomy is a system of classification derived from the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content; this practice is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging...
is a relatively new phenomenon whereby web-users tag content for the purposes of later retrieval. It allows the public to introduce new search-terms, in the form of tags
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
, to the formal library catalog
Library catalog
A library catalog is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations...
that art and cataloging professionals themselves might not have included. It also allows curators and other museum professionals to see what the public sees in works of art. These terms will enrich the catalog and increase the likelihood that searchers of all levels will find what they are looking for. In the end, it is hoped that museum collections will be fully searchable by keywords rather than just by name or artist. Early results from the project found that a number of tags were applied often, while others were applied just once per work of art.
The project received a $1 million grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Services
Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the mission to "create strong libraries and museums that connect...
, from which the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
is working to apply folksonomy to its collection, and is one of a number of related projects currently working to make art more accessible and to find its role in the digital age.
See also
- Collaborative tagging
- Folk taxonomyFolk taxonomyA folk taxonomy is a vernacular naming system, and can be contrasted with scientific taxonomy. Folk biological classification is the way peoples describe and organize their natural surroundings/the world around them, typically making generous use of form taxa like "shrubs", "bugs", "ducks",...
- Freetag
- Social bookmarkingSocial bookmarkingSocial bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
- Museum informaticsMuseum informaticsMuseum informatics is an interdisciplinary field of study in the area of museum studies, relating to the use of information science and information technology.It refers to the theory and application of informatics by museums.- Overview :...