Dream big, make it happen!
I agree with David Lewias that Flickr can be a great system for this
kind of thing. Many museums are using it in this way. The Powerhouse
Museum in Sydney has had some great luck with people in the Flickr
community identifying and providing more information about artifacts
via photos the institution has posted (see this example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/3229542853/)
.
But it's not all luck. If your institution doesn't have a big "name"
on its own, you can't expect knowledgeable people to just discover
your images. The way to use Flickr effectively is to tag your images
clearly for searchability and reach out to groups of people whose
affinity makes them a natural fit for your content. A quick search
reveals several Flickr groups related to Oaxacan/Mexican textiles and
crafts. Let those people know you need their help.
As for your own portal, it's definitely doable but can be expensive.
If you want to go in this direction, I recommend you get in touch with
David Klevan at the US Holocaust Museum and talk about their Children
of the Lodz Ghetto project (http://online.ushmm.org/lodzchildren/),
which invites people to do simple database-based research on names.
The portal took a lot of resources to design, and even more
importantly, it takes a good amount of staff time to shepherd and
operate. The nice thing about using a third party community site like
Flickr is that you don't have to design the tools or establish the
community ethics--those are already dictated by that community.
Finally, you can never go too far in rewarding people for their
contributions, thanking them, and cheerleading them to continue. As in
all participatory endeavors in life, social encouragement is probably
the single greatest factor that transforms an occasional or first-time
participant into an enthusiastic, committed member of the team.
Nina
Nina Simon
Museum 2.0 - www.museumtwo.com
831.331.5460
[log in to unmask]
1040 Mystery Spot Road
Santa Cruz, CA 95065
skype, twitter, flickr, facebook: ninaksimon
On Feb 15, 2011, at 6:36 AM, Dan Bartlett wrote:
> Hello All:
>
>
>
> The Logan museum has a collection of over 300 objects, extensive
> field notes (hundreds of pages in 5 very thick binders) and
> (eventually we hope) up to 3000 images. These are the life’s work of
> an avocational anthropologist. She collected textiles, mostly from
> across Oaxaca, between 1949 and the mid-1990s. We have been
> discussing how to process this collection into a unified, indexed
> whole. All of the collection objects have been photographed and each
> page of the notebooks has been scanned. We would like to create an
> index linking specific pages in the notebooks to specific objects in
> the collection. It would allow researchers to search for a village
> name (for example) and get back results relating that village to
> specific objects and notebook pages. The index would eventually be
> launched on line using our existing collections management software.
>
>
> One idea is to create a web portal and use the power of social
> networking to allow people interested in Oaxacan textiles do the
> indexing for us. We would post the materials on line, create a
> portal and forms for linking key words and specific objects to
> notebook pages, and manage the online indexing by engaging with
> affinity groups and interested individuals in an environment that
> allows participants and museum staff to work together in a social
> and collaborative online environment.
>
>
> My question is whether anyone knows of similar indexing projects
> done either in-person and in-house, or by way of social networks on
> line. In either case what were the strengths and weaknesses of the
> approach? What advice on setting up the systems can you give? Are we
> crazy to even consider this? And thanks to Nina Simon for the
> inspiration (or insanity, whichever it is).
>
>
> Dan
> --
> Dan Bartlett
> Curator of Exhibits and Education
> Instructor of Museum Studies
> Logan Museum of Anthropology
> Beloit College
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