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CIMI - Consortium for the Computer Interchange of Museum Information
 
 
MUSEUM COMPUTER NETWORK AWARDED TIIAP GRANT FOR CIMI
 
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown today announced funding of more than
$24 million under the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure
assistance Program (TIIAP).
 
The Museum Computer Network (MCN) was one of two recipients in the Arts &
Culture category, receiving an award of $158,150 to support Cultural
Heritage Information Online (CHIO), a project of the Consortium for
Computer Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI) to create a multimedia
resource about folk art collections.  The project will create a database of
multimedia folk art available to Internet users.  This demonstration
project will create standards and formats for representing information such
as text, images, and publications and create a model for other information
providers in the cultural heritage sector.
 
Maxwell Anderson,  Chair of the Association of Art Museum Directors,
commented  "CHIO represents a concerted effort to prepare for the
interactive future of U.S. museums, and this important grant is a first
step in the large-scale interconnection of institutions, artworks, and
audiences."
 
CIMI's aim in undertaking this project is to tackle the need for standards,
so that valuable cultural hertiage information can truly be shared
electronically with a large number of people far into the future.  CIMI
argued in its application that if standards are not implemented by the
museum community now, "while museums are in the relatively early stages of
information automation, the electronic doors to many of these museums may
be closed to the public and the rich contents hidden from view."
 
As a result of several years of research and consultation, CIMI has chosen
standards for both structuring digital information and for retrieving it.
The standard CHIO will apply for structuring information is SGML (Standard
Generalized Markup Language).  The standard to be used for information
retrieval is ANSI Z39.50, which provides a standard way for a searcher to
submit a query electronically and have the resultant data passed from where
it resides back to the searcher.
 
Project CHIO will demonstrate access to text, images, and publications on
digital networks.  By carefully documenting the experience, and by using
publications and workshops to disseminate the knowledge and skills gained
by participants in the project, CHIO will also create a model for other
information providers to follow in their efforts at entering the
information highway.
 
For information about CIMI please contact:
        John Perkins, CIMI Project Manager
        16 Schooner Dr., RR1
        Boutiliers Point, Nova Scotia, Canada, B0J 1G0
        Tel: 902-826-2824  Fax: 902-826-1337
        E-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
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About The CIMI Consortium
 
The CIMI Consortium is a group of 15 museums, corporations and museum
organizations who have agreed to work cooperatively to solve problems
relating to the interchange of museum information. CIMI is working to
coordinate technical and professional standards development and encourage
standards-based software and network services. CIMI is committed to:
 * assisting museums in making information available on digital networks
such as the Internet;
 * supporting museums' work on standard ways of describing objects and
images so they can be accessible to many museums and the public;
 * allowing museums to undertake automation projects today while adopting
new technology as it emerges, thereby protecting investments made in
creating digital databases;
 * undertaking projects beyond the means of any single member institution;
 * building a bridge between museums (those who understand the content or
information) and technology (those who provide information services).
 
The members of the CIMI Consortium are:
Museum Computer Network(MCN)
Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN)
Research Libraries Group Inc (RLG)
Getty Art History Information Program (AHIP)
The Smithsonian Institution/National Museum of American Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington
University of California Berkeley, Museum Informatics Project
The University of California Division of Library Automation,
RAMA Consortium (consisting of the Ashmolean, the Museon, the Musee
d'Orsay, the Prado, the Pergamon, the Goulandris Foundation of Cycladic
Art, the Museo Archeologico Nacional, and the Uffizi)
Eastman Kodak Company
Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Continuum Productions Corporation
The Museum Documentation Association
The Victoria and Albert Museum
 
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