network detroit 9/25/15

24
Developing and Redeveloping Digital Collections Data at The Henry Ford Ellice Engdahl, Digital Collections & Content Manager Network Detroit September 25, 2015

Upload: ellice-engdahl

Post on 22-Jan-2018

435 views

Category:

Government & Nonprofit


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Developing and Redeveloping

Digital Collections Data at

The Henry FordEllice Engdahl, Digital Collections & Content Manager

Network Detroit

September 25, 2015

Page 2: Network Detroit 9/25/15

• ~250,000 objects

• ~25 million archival

documents and

photographs

• Historic audio and

video

• 246 objects on loan to

70 institutions

• ~21,000 artifacts on

display in Museum and

Village (~5-10% of non-

archives collection)

• More than 30 distinct

collections storage

areas totaling nearly

200,000 sq. ft.Eye Portrait, circa 1800 (61.151.40)

Our Collections:

“The Bottomless Pit of

Wonderfulness”

Page 3: Network Detroit 9/25/15

pre-2010: “Random

Acts of Digitization”

2010: THF announces

intent to digitize all

collections holdings

2011: THF begins

using EMu as its

collections

management system

and repository of

record for digital

collections data and

image metadata

2010-2015: Artifacts

online grow from 300

to 43,000+

Factory Workers Testing Newly Manufactured Toasters, circa 2000 (2008.122.188)

Collections Digitization at THF

Page 4: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Next Stop: Digital Transformation

FROM

TO

Page 5: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Collections Access User Types/User Goals

User types

• Students

• Educators

• Researchers

• Campus visitors

• Enthusiasts

High-level User goals

• Understand what the archive/THF is

• Find artifacts

• Use & share artifact records

• Order (images, etc.)

School's Out Target Game, 1902-1914 (00.4.5224)

Page 6: Network Detroit 9/25/15

New Requirement: Archival Collection

Records

• Display archival

collection-level

records within

THF’s digital

collections

• Associate

individual items

with their

collection

• Cross-search

archival

collections

records with

individual artifact

recordsPhoto Archivist Win Sears and Co-Worker in the Ford Archives at Fair Lane,

Dearborn, Michigan, 1952-1957 (P.O.6193)

Page 7: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Why?

• Make our

collections

cross-

searchable

• Provide context

for individual

archival items

already

digitized

• Allow users to

understand

what items from

a collection

have and have

not yet been

digitized

Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan, circa 1921 (37.102.136)

Page 8: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #1: Define

search & display for

collection records

• Determine what fields will be

used within our collections

management system, incl. those

that overlap with individual item

records

• Identify useful fields to include in

basic and advanced searches

• Decide metadata fields to identify

collection level records and

finding aid PDFs

Jigsaw Puzzle of Manhattan Island, New York, circa

1932 (41.214.1593)

Page 9: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #2: Create

plan to populate

collections records

• Determine which collections

have finding aids, and which of

these we have or have not

digitized material from

• Determine which collections

without finding aids we’ve

digitized material from

• Finalize number of collections

records to be created for launch

• Integrate creation and

publishing of collection records

into archival workflowsProvidence and Worcester Canal Boat

Company Schedule from Newspaper, Rhode

Island, 1829 (82.129.190)

Page 10: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #3: Draw the line on scope

• Defer desired

requirement

to display

digitized

collections

within a

functional

finding aid

hierarchy

• Defer desired

requirement

to create and

search

transcriptions

for documents

Draftsmen Working in the Lofting Division for B-24 Assembly, Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942 (P.189.17502)

Page 11: Network Detroit 9/25/15

New Requirement:

Online Image

Delivery & Image

Zoom

• Allow users to zoom into high-

res artifact imagery details

• Automate previously manual

delivery of high-resolution

collections images

• Revise service fee structure and

licensing policies

Advertising Poster, "Mother Needs a Ford, Buy It Now," circa

1925 (69.114.2.2)

Page 12: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Why?

Actors inside Logan County Courthouse, Greenfield Village, 1983

(EI.1929.880)

• Institutional revenue

funds the deployment of

our digital repository

and content

• We want to make our

collections as

accessible as possible

• Rights are complex and

we are not lawyers

• Free up additional

digitization bandwidth

through automation and

less rights-checking

Page 13: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge

#1: Using

High-Res

Images

Online for

the First

Time

• Standardize & resolve issues with storage for master image files

• Populate collections management system records for images with

filepaths to network storage location of master image files

• Create mechanisms for access, selection, FTP of files

Handmade Tape Recording Featuring Live Performance of Jim Croce, 1976-1977

(96.12.10)

Page 14: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #2:

Guidelines for Online

Delivery of Images

• Move away from misapplied

Creative Commons statements

on individual artifacts to general

policies encouraging legal use

• Develop brief, simple guidelines

for staff to determine when

images can be downloaded

• Populate download status of

images within collections

management system

Star Wars Action Figure, Stormtrooper, 1978-1985

(2000.84.2)

Page 15: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #3: Automate

Manual Image Delivery • Develop new

workflows to

minimize staff

time delivering

image files &

processing

payments

• Create basic

metadata

standards in

order to get

new records

online quickly

for online order

fulfillment

Starwood Hotel Card Key, 2010 (2011.88.1)

Page 16: Network Detroit 9/25/15

New Requirement: Enhance Online

Artifact Data• Create &

display links

to related

content &

artifacts

• Display

and/or search

“new” fields

from

collections

mgmt. system

• Make

collections

mgmt. system

changes in

conjunction

with website

changesFirst Ford Model T Production Card, September 27, 1908 (64.167.641.2)

Page 17: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Why?

• Share as much as we can of

what we know about our

collection

• Help users find out more from

us (or others)

• Make our data as granular as

possible to enable internal and

external future use

World War II Poster, "Keep Your Machinery in the Fight,

Share with Neighbors," 1943 (94.5.2)

Page 18: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #1:

Previously Internal

Data Becomes Public

• Clean up data (measurement

notes, technique, color,

inscriptions)

• Review our cataloging practices

and vocabularies with an eye

toward users

• Ensure internal consistency in

the fields and terms used

Computer Perfection Game, 1979-1985 (99.224.1)

Page 19: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #2:

Populate New Fields

• Move titles of works from

general subject field to title-

specific subject field

• Move names of events from

general subject field to

event-specific subject field

• Time switchover to avoid

duplication

Racing Poster, Race Cars at Le Mans, "24 Heures du

Mans," 1966 (89.1.1734.120)

Page 20: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Challenge #3: Develop Rules & Delivery

Strategies

• Related

content

delivered

dually—via

algorithms in

website CMS

or through

collections

mgmt. system

• Related

objects

populated

within

collections

mgmt. systemHenry Ford Posing with Painting by C. Bennett Linder, circa 1930 (P.O.6684)

Page 21: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Oh, and…• Define fields to be included in simple search

• Define fields to be included in advanced search

• Implement ability to shift default image from first

sequential image for archival material

• Migrate 800+ oral history video clips to digital

collections

• Determine how to handle objects with large

numbers of multimedia

• Add “Other Names” as searchable (but not

display) field

• Upgrade our collections management system to

lengthen fields, remove empty tags from XML

output, change format of multimedia credit field

• Support geotagging data (for future app

development)

• Release constraint requiring creation of

duplicate multimedia records when attached to

more than one catalog record

• Discuss (and reject) idea of “short title” field

• Develop plan, formats, metadata, data structure

to support 360-degree artifact views, both

internal & external

• Rethink existing “set” concept & consider

delivery mechanism

• Capture collections-related metadata &

narratives from existing microsites before

they sunset, & digitize as many of these

objects as possible

• Develop or modify systems & processes to

support delivery of data via daily XML export

from our collections management system &

FTP for automated loading into indexing tool

• Modify existing or create new workflows for

approving & tracking harvested records,

deleting records, error handling

• Develop most useful possible requirements

for supporting date searching, given

limitations of our existing data (e.g. formats,

ranges, “circa” dates, unknown dates, subject

vs. creation date, etc.)

• Clean up miscellaneous video formats (WMV

vs. MP4)

• Locate and reload videos that cannot be

reprocessed/optimized through 3rd-party

video platform

Page 22: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Lessons Learned

• Until you use any piece

of data, you cannot be

sure how consistent

you’ve been with it

• Your data is never

“done”

• It’s a challenge to find a

balance between

planning for future needs

and the number of hours

in the day

• Building a system is a

related but distinct task

from populating that

systemStudents in a Classroom at Henry Ford Institute of Agricultural

Engineering, England, 1939 (P.188.26304)

Page 23: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Sneak Peek

Page 24: Network Detroit 9/25/15

Thank you!

Ellice EngdahlDigital Collections & Content Manager, The Henry Ford

@ErisuEEE