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).