Digital Objects: Carissa’s Travel Museum

1. Which items did you add and how do they relate to each other? Make sure you provide a link to each item.
   • Brazilian Tribal Necklace: https://lis5590.create.fsu.edu/exhibits/admin/item/63
   • Irish Lace Claddagh: https://lis5590.create.fsu.edu/exhibits/admin/item/166
   • Mexican Amate Paper Painting: https://lis5590.create.fsu.edu/exhibits/admin/item/167
   • Guamanian Resin and Driftwood Tabletop Tray: https://lis5590.create.fsu.edu/exhibits/admin/item/168
   • Colombian House Facade Wall Hanging: https://lis5590.create.fsu.edu/exhibits/admin/item/169

I chose these five items because they are some of my favorite mementos that I have gathered throughout my travels.  I love to travel and have been very lucky to see a variety of exotic places. My go-to souvenirs are local handmade works of art to display in my home.  These five items are all among the collection displayed in my personal library.

2. What metadata fields did you use to describe your items? 

The DublinCore metadata fields I used were as follows:

Class (Physical Object for all)

Title

Description

Date Accepted (representing date acquired, month & year)

Medium

Source (location acquired)

Provenance (shop/market where item was purchased)

3. Why did you choose these metadata fields? What function does that piece of metadata serve? What information do you want your audience to take from that piece of information?

I chose those metadata fields because they seemed the most applicable and meaningful of the pulldown options available.  The combination of these fields gives a comprehensive picture of when and where the item was acquired, what it looks like, what it is composed of, and when it joined my collection.

4. Address any challenges you faced in describing or selecting these objects. Are there other ways these objects could have been described? What would the impact of that difference be?

I had a couple challenges with describing the objects given the metadata field options.  None of the options seemed directly related to identifying a location or date of acquisition, so I had to use the fields I felt most closely related.  The pulldown options also did not include information about where/how the item is currently housed, which I feel would be important identifiers for museum artifact-type records.

5. Discuss the implications of digital exhibits within the larger context of museums. This is a very broad category, so here is a non-exhaustive list of things you may consider covering:
   • What new types of audience interaction could exhibits like these facilitate?
   • What challenges do you see in implementing digital exhibits for museums?
   • How do you see museums collaborating in light of these new technologies?

Digital exhibits are a potentially powerful element within the larger context of museums if the museum invests the resources to establish the metadata records purposefully and meaningfully.  These records simplify access to digital information across collections for researchers and the public.  This is achieved by facilitating access to information about a museum’s collection to those who cannot visit, and providing additional details and context to those who do visit.  They provide a whole new mechanism for performing historical research.  Viewers can identify relationships among objects beyond the museum display design through targeted searches of metadata.  Museums can also leverage these data records to elaborate on the historical significance of each item beyond the information on physical display.   

However, building meaningful metadata records for each object can be a significant challenge.  Creating these records is time-consuming, and the use/application of each field must be applied consistently across the entire museum’s collection for relationships and context to be discernible from the records alone.  This can especially be difficult if multiple individuals are developing the metadata records or if they are developed over a long span of time – a probable scenario for most museums.  

Collaboration among museums, libraries, archives, digital artists, app developers, and Information Technology is a powerful mechanism for enhancing exhibit quality and patron experience.  Inter-museum collaboration using metadata information systems can provide insights for developing and improving data management tools and for sharing details on each other’s collections.  They can also use online records to create collaborative featured topical exhibits that blend artifacts physically located in multiple museums, allowing for greater creativity and content variety.  

Reference: http://repository.ifla.org/bitstream/123456789/599/1/ifla-professional-reports-nr-108-en.pdf