IST-Data Services Blog

The Media Vault Program brought together users of its first generation services Friday afternoon, September 11, to share updates, gather feedback on functional requirements for a “generation 2” service and plan for a larger community workshop.  Following closely on the heels of last week’s workshop of access, preservation and digital [...]

Media Vault Program gathers providers of access, preservation, and digital curation services Who’s protecting our data? Can institutions such as UC Berkeley ensure “the cumulative record of the past and the well-tended, authentic, and readily accessible data of the present” on which scholarship is built?1 What is at risk if [...]

We are pleased to share our latest findings from our Interim Report.  Below is the Executive Summary. To read the report in its entirety, please visit the wiki or download the pdf here. Executive Summary of Findings “Scholarship is built on the cumulative record of the past and the well-tended, authentic, and readily accessible data [...]

Collections Trust, the organization behind Spectrum, has released version 3.2 of the UK Museum Documentation Standard.  According to an announcement dated September 8, 2009, from Gordon McKenna (International Development Manager for Collections Trust),

The new version has been updated to include further support for Revisiting Collections, an innovative methodology to help museums create services and exhibitions for diverse audiences. Other changes in the new edition include the revision of the Sources of Help and Advice sections, which include updated links to websites and publications providing further information on aspects of Collections Management.

The Revisiting Collections methodology is worth looking at more closely.  According to the web site

http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/increase_access/revisiting_collections/

Revisiting Collections … supports museums and archives to open up their collections for scrutiny by community groups and external experts and to reveal and capture histories hitherto hidden or ignored. A key strength of Revisiting Collections is that it provides a framework for embedding these new voices and their perspectives on objects and records directly within a museum or archive service’s catalogues and finding aids: ensuring that they become part of the story about the collections that is recorded and made accessible to all.

Collections Trust then has taken on the challenge of how to incorporate community (and other) annotations into the collection management system in a way that honors the contributor while protecting the information record of the museum.  The Revisiting Collections site includes toolkits and guides for museums and archives to use in their own efforts to explore bringing in such content.  While Spectrum is a documentation standard and not a specification for a collection management system, it is very refreshing to see an organization like this provide practical advice and tangible tools for the kinds of problems that museums, archives and libraries are facing on the ground today.

Every month, OKAPI Spotlight features Open Knowledge news at UC Berkeley and around the world. To contribute, email Lizzy Ha. To receive more frequent updates, join our email listserv . On Campus Campus Celebrates Constitution Day September 17, 2009 Online Archive: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/constitutionday/welcome.html . “Technology, Democracy, and the Law” September 17, 2:00 – 4:30 pm, Bancroft Hotel, 2680 Bancroft Way http://www.law.berkeley.edu/1952.htm . In [...]

The CollectionSpace September 2009 status report has been posted on the project wiki.

Each month, we highlight news relating to digital scholarship, access and preservation at Berkeley and around the world. To contribute, email Lizzy Ha. On Campus 5 Major Research Universities Endorse Open-Access Journals By Ben Terris http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Five-Major-Research/8042/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en UC Berkeley, along with Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and MIT, ’signed a compact agreeing to the “timely establishment” of mechanisms for providing [...]

We are pleased to announce the public launch of the Townsend Humanities Lab. The Townsend Humanities Lab provides humanities scholars with a rich set of tools for interdisciplinary research and collaboration. OKAPI Program Manager Noah Wittman worked for two semesters with the Townsend Center as an advisor and media architect, helping conceptualize, gather requirements, and develop [...]