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Order from Chaos : Development and Implementation of NMAI's Culture Thesaurus

Order from Chaos : Development and Implementation of NMAI's Culture Thesaurus. Ann McMullen, Curator, National Museum of the American Indian North American EMu User Group meeting, New York City, 10/16/2007. About NMAI….

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Order from Chaos : Development and Implementation of NMAI's Culture Thesaurus

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  1. Order from Chaos: Development and Implementation of NMAI's Culture Thesaurus Ann McMullen, Curator, National Museum of the American Indian North American EMu User Group meeting, New York City, 10/16/2007

  2. About NMAI… • NMAI is the 16th museum of the Smithsonian Institution, established by an act of Congress in 1989. • It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. • Core collections are those of New York’s former Museum of the American Indian, founded in 1916 and transferred to SI in 1989

  3. Locations… • The George Gustav Heye Center (GGHC) in New York City, opened in 1994, offers exhibits and other public programs. • The Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Maryland, opened in 1999, and home to the collections and its supporting staff and programs. • The Museum on the National Mall in Washington DC, opened in 2004, hosts a variety of exhibits and public programs.

  4. Collections… • Object collections: 266,000 object records, 825,000 items (ethnology 43%; archaeology: 55%; modern and contemporary arts: 2%) • Photo Archives: 324,000 images • Paper Archives: 1522 linear feet • Media Archives: 12,000 items

  5. Legacy systems and workflows… • 1999–2006: Maintained home-grown standalone databases for each collection, plus a separate system for conservation • Few data standards enforced within each system, and none across databases • Lack of centralized system and standards led to idiosyncratic workarounds

  6. Ramp up and EMu implementation… • May – June 2003: formed Project Team and Plan; high level requirements • July 2004: selected KE EMu • Project hiatus due to museum opening • October 2004 – January 2005: began design • April 2005: restarted with new project manager • April – October 2005: restarted design • October 2005 – May 2006: Development/Testing • May 2006: Final data migration • August 2006: officially “live”

  7. Special considerations… • Maintain immediate access to and searchability of legacy data for culture fields • Allow for attributions and differences of opinion • Differentiate “Culture of Manufacture” from “Culture of Collection” • Allow culture searches by specific reservations or indigenous communities • Use tribal names designated or preferred by communities themselves as well as synonyms • Search by language family, linguistic sub-group, or region for sets of tribal collections

  8. Building the Culture thesaurus… • Initial migration included objects, photo archives, verbatim catalog card data, and an object-based exhibit interactive media program • Object and Photo databases included two-term hierarchy for general and more specific terms: “Sioux” and “Oglala” • Compiled list for those data sets: total 6623 unique terms

  9. Unique values…

  10. Sources… • http://www.ethnologue.com/ • Handbook of North American Indians (Smithsonian Institution Press) • Many, many other websites, maps, and books

  11. Hierarchy… Continent: North America Culture Area: Plains Sub Culture Area: Central Plains Culture: Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux) Sub-culture: Hunkpapa Lakota (Hunkpapa Sioux) Community: Hunkpapa Lakota [Standing Rock] Unpreferred synonym: Standing River Sioux Language: Siouan/Siouan Proper/Central/Mississippi Valley/Dakota

  12. Caveats… • Think about your data and how you want it to work • Know how the Thesaurus module works before you start (and understand it better than we did) • From Help • “Use”: “The term that should be used in preference to the current term - attaches to another record from the Thesaurus module” • “Used for”: “A list of other terms for which this term is the preferred term, i.e. the opposite relationship from that described above”

  13. Thesaurus module advantages… • Can handle straight hierarchies or multi-level hierarchies • Can use #+[term] for tree searches • Can also use thesaurus functions to find valid terms within tree and search that set even if your structure isn’t perfect • Can use drag-and-drop to reposition terms within hierarchy

  14. Acknowledgments… • DucPhong Nguyen, CIS Project Manager • Pat Nietfeld, Collections Manager • Kara Lewis, Collections Information Program Manager • NMAI curators • Chris Fincham and Brad Lickman, KE • Sandy Crab and Buster (feline supervisors)

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