August 18, 1997
CIMI ANNOUNCES A PROJECT TO STUDY INTEGRATED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN MUSEUMS
Summary
Details follow on an opportunity for museums, art galleries, historical
societies or sites and cultural heritage organizations to take part in a
eight month Consortium for the Interchange of Museum Information (CIMI)
case study starting September/97 to analyze how museums manage and use
their collections and other digital information resources.
This is a part of CIMI's continuing exploration of the application of
standards for interchange needs and its monitoring of information
management issues for working in the electronic medium. This study will
specifically target information policy, the use of structured information
(SGML, markup, databases) and practises for information management.
Organizations interested in taking part should contact Margaretta Sander,
[log in to unmask] by Sept. 12, 1997.
RESPONSE DEADLINE: SEPT. 12
**********************************************************
Dear Colleague,
The CIMI Consortium is pleased to announce its new research project, "Case
Study of Integrated Information Management". This project will examine how
museums turn information into specific products such as web publications,
hard copy brochures, wall labels, calendar of events or exhibition
catalogues and reuse core information (eg. collections information) in a
variety of applications. In order to help museums understand the
relationships among all the information types and to articulate an
information strategy that reflects efficient information production, CIMI
is developing "Guidelines for Information Access" which will be provided to
participants in draft form.
The Guidelines provide descriptions for a range of typical goals or
expectations for information management such as interchange,
interoperability, longevity and flexibility for repurposing. Each of the
goals is described in terms of their advantages and disadvantages for:
*content creation such as word processing or database format;
*content conversion such as keystroking, scanning, value
-added(formatting,metadata, etc);
*content repository/management such as flat or structured files, databases;
and content delivery such as analog, fixed digital media, online.
A selected group of six institutions will work with CIMI consultants to
examine, in their own institution, how content is often published or used
in more than one format. The study will first gain an overview of
institutional information management goals; inventory information resources
and formats; identify processes and tools used in information production;
and review staff responsibilities to projects. The study will use the
Guidelines to focus the museums on examining the goals, resources,
processes and staff required to produce two projects selected by the museum
for the study.
Following the work at the individual institutions, the project participants
will meet together to share information and discoveries and to discuss the
feasibility of working on another project.
For more information on CIMI see www.cimi.org/cimi
CASE STUDY PROJECT GOALS
*Identify range of strategies and practises museums use for
managing and using digital information
*Identify successful strategies that support desired outcomes
*Identify obstacles and suggest improvements to less successful
practises
CIMI SEEKS RESPONSES FROM INTERESTED PARTIES WHO MEET SOME OR ALL OF THE
FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
*Have been thinking about how information is managed and used in
the organization and how to manage and use it more efficiently;
*Publish digital material in a variety of formats, eg: Web, CD ROM,
databases, on-line services, books, etc. using repurposing and other
techniques to reuse information for different projects;
* Have an interest in examining their processes for producing
content and disseminating the content in a variety of forms and comparing
that to how others do similar activities;
* Use some degree of structured management of information eg: text
databases, markup;
*Are interested in sharing results of the study with others to
improve information management practises in museums;
*Have or are interested in developing an information policy or
management plan
PARTICIPANTS WILL:
*Provide information about information management goals; resources
and formats; processes and tools used in information production; and staff
responsibilities to projects using a methodology developed by CIMI;
*Analyze the information with a CIMI consultant and appropriate
institutional staff;
*Attend at least one project group meeting to analyze work and
share experiences and findings
PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE:
*An in-depth review of their information management practises and
an opportunity to work with other museums with similar needs and interests
*A stipend of $1000 as a contribution to expenses of participation;
*Access to high-level expertise in integrated information management;
*An opportunity to avoid the potential risk of added costs and
generation of less content for web material;
*The possibility of participation in a grant-funded implementation
project directed by CIMI.
PARTICIPANTS ARE REQUIRED TO:
*Submit a simple report of time and expenses for participating in
the project;
*Contribute to a written assessment of the experience as part of
the project documentation;
*Be or join the CIMI Consortium as a participating member
If this describes you, please send an expression of interest to Margaretta
Sander [log in to unmask] by September 12.
CIMI will select up to 6 participants who will help shape the way museums
manage their information and who will participate in the creation of the
CIMI Information Reference Model.
We encourage you to copy and/or pass this announcement on to appropriate
colleagues in your organization or elsewhere.
We look forward to hearing from you by September 5, 1997.
John Perkins Margaretta Sander
CIMI Project Director Project Manager
[log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]
voice: 902-826-2824 voice: 902-826-2224
fax: 902-826-1337
Margaretta Sander
RR1 252 Viewmount Dr.
Tantallon, N.S. B0J 3J0 Canada
voice: 902-826-2224 fax: 902-826-1337
|
