This message has been cross-posted to cidoc-l consdist asis-l caah arlis-l heritage, image-l 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] ******** 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 -end-