The Role of Digital Art History: Report by Samuel H. Kress Foundation
A colleague just pointed me in the direction of a new report out on Art History’s transition (or lack thereof) to digital, written by Diane M. Zorich, for the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Her report seeks to gain a deeper understanding of why art historians feel such “ambivalence” toward digital art history. Zorich covers the limiting infrastructure of these domains to the impacts that the “new” digital publishing model is having against the age old, “publish or perish” model. This change to digital is one that Art Historians have been very reluctant to embrace (in some cases even hostile). Digital is just a “trend” afterall, right?
Content Technologies: DAM, CMS and Collections Management Systems – What’s the big dif?
Every time I exchange some educational dialog with someone, it necessitates in me the need to blog. It’s clear there is a TON of confusion out there regarding different tools involved in management of digital/physical collections (i.e. content technologies). Dear museums and archives at the end of the day you’re not that much different than that advertising agency. Yes, some of your collection needs are more complicated (longer asset lifecycles etc). At the end of the day though, you all need to use many of the same technologies, tools and best practices appropriately to get the job done and taking shortcuts (using the wrong solution for the need) and not clearly understanding those technologies is costly. I think about 90% of those working with cultural institution collections don’t really understand the difference between a digital asset management system (DAM) and a collections management system or even what a content management… Read More »
Professional Silos: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel!
Call it a rant, I call it a blog “posting”. Lately, I have become acutely aware that there exists a major hurdle to digital project success (specifically digital asset management) that we who work in institutions need to be aware of. I recently had a colleague return from an Archives Conference abroad that focused on Digital Asset Management and to put it lightly her mind was blown. She’s not an archivist, she’s not a digital asset manager, but she is an administrative assistant in a cultural institution. Her reactions to what she learned further confirmed some of my own feelings I had after recently speaking at both a Digital Asset Management conference and an Archives conference. Which is that, technology has changed our work environments and roles more than most people are aware. It is no longer acceptable to operate in a silo and remain unaware of how other professions… Read More »
Just so there’s no confusing fact with fiction when watching “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”…
This was recently posted to the Museum Securities Network Mailing-list re-posted from the Times Online UK, so I’ve decided to post it yet again for you guys to read: Secrets of the crystal skulls are lost in the mists of forgery With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull about to erupt across our cinema screens, attention has once again been directed towards the real crystal skulls that have intrigued scholars for years. Some are tiny, only an inch or so high, while others, like the Aztec skull in the British Museum, are lifesized and often anatomically detailed. Contrary to the belief held by many New Age devotees, something that will doubtless be enhanced by this summer’s movie, none of the skulls appears to be ancient. Research by Dr Jane Walsh, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, has shown that not only were modern tools used to shape… Read More »
About me:
Metadata and Taxonomies are my thing. I spend an awful lot of time drinking coffee and having existential dilemmas on how to categorize what the hell I do for a living.
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What I’m Reading Now
- The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013 December 15, 2011 (author unknown)
- Book Deals: Blogging team Blondie and Brownie got... December 14, 2011 Amanda Kludt
- Twitter hits the big time with its new Art Deco headquarters (pics) December 8, 2011 Jolie O'Dell
- Apparently The Internet Is A Complete Waste Of Time December 2, 2011 Jon Mitchell
- Startups Are Hard. So Work More, Cry Less, And Quit All The Whining November 28, 2011 (author unknown)
- Man With 15 Kids by 13 Different Women Isn't Done Making Babies Yet [Uk] November 27, 2011 Lauri Apple