BROWSE BY:
- Collections Management (247)
- Intellectual Property (96)
- Digitization (94)
- Digital Preservation (56)
- Web and Tech Guidelines (116)
CHIN’s Professional Exchange
The Canadian museum reference for technologies, enabling heritage professionals to excel.
Young Professionals
The major technological shift necessitates the development of a broad skill set.
This feature highlights today’s museum environment and the technological proficiencies required by heritage professionals in the 21st century.
Reciprocal Research Network
Reciprocal Research Network
An online collaborative research tool for Northwest Coast Artifacts featuring objects from 18 different Partner Institutions.
Digital Cultural Collections in an Age of Reuse and Remixes
Digital Cultural Collections in an Age of Reuse and Remixes
This paper explores the circumstances under which cultural institutions (CI) should seek to control non-commercial reuse of digital cultural works. It describes the results of a 2008 survey of CI professionals at U.S. archives, libraries and museums which gathered data on motivations to control access to and use of digital collections, factors discouraging control, and levels of concern associated with different types of unauthorized reuse. The analysis presents three general themes that explain many of the CI motivations for control: "controlling descriptions and representations"; "legal risks and complexities"; and, "getting credit: fiscal and social costs and revenue." This paper argues that CI should develop a multiplicity of access and use regulations that acknowledge the varying sensitivity of collections and the varying level of risk associated with different types of reuses. It concludes by offering a set of examples of collections employing varying levels of reuse control (from none to complete) to serve as heuristics.
Technologies Employed to Control Access to or Use of Digital Cultural Collections: Controlled Online Collections
Technologies Employed to Control Access to or Use of Digital Cultural Collections: Controlled Online Collections
This article describes the results of a survey investigating the use of technological protection measure (TPM) tools to control patron access to or use of digital cultural materials made accessible by U.S. archives, libraries and museums. Libraries reported using a broader range of systems than archives or museums including repository software, streaming media servers, digital library software and courseware. In terms of controlling access to collections, most respondents reported using IP range restrictions and network-ID based authorization systems. Some reported restricting access to approved terminals or individual user registration systems. In terms of controlling use of collection items, respondents reported reliance on resolution limits, clips and thumbnails, and visible watermarking. A lower percentage reported use of click-through license agreements. Few institutions reported using new technologies to control access or use such as pop-ups, disabling right click copy and save functionality, invisible watermarks, viewers or cross-institutional authentication s
Curators in Context
Curators in Context
31 Canadian visual art curators talk about curating.
ICOM Canada
ICOM Canada
ICOM Canada is ICOM's national committee representing canadian museums and encouraging their influence on an international level.
The 3D Thule Whalebone House Project: Virtual Museum of Canada Experimental Lab Project Report
0 commentsThe 3D Thule Whalebone House Project: Virtual Museum of Canada Experimental Lab Project Report
Lessons learned from 3D Adobe Flash project. 3D online experience of 1,000-year-old Arctic houses: an Inuvialuit sod house and a Thule-era whalebone structure, preserving access to Inuit intangible cultural heritage.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) On Canadian Museum Websites
0 commentsThe Impact of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) On Canadian Museum Websites
SEO case studies with three Canadian museums: the Musée Marguerite-Bourgeoys (MMB), the Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum (WDHM) and the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG).
OMA Video Production How-To Guide | First Steps to Digital Storytelling in Museums
0 commentsOMA Video Production How-To Guide | First Steps to Digital Storytelling in Museums
A How-to guide for museums on the production and publication of video.
Lesley Ellen Harris Speaks about Developing a Digital Licensing Strategy
0 commentsLesley Ellen Harris Speaks about Developing a Digital Licensing Strategy
Lesley Ellen Harris, author of a A Canadian Museum's Guide to Developing a Licensing Strategy, gives insight on this topic in an interview with CHIN.
Jennifer Carter speaks about the Museum Knowledge Workers for the 21st Century project
0 commentsJennifer Carter speaks about the Museum Knowledge Workers for the 21st Century project
Jennifer Carter from the University of Toronto speaks about the Museum Knowledge Workers for the 21st Century project - the scope, methodology, and findings of the project are discussed in an interview with CHIN.
2010 Horizon Report
2010 Horizon Report
The seventh in the NMC's series of annual reports on key emerging technologies that are likely to impact teaching, learning, research or creative expression in higher education.
Social Media Governance Policies
Social Media Governance Policies
This site provides links to the policies of several organizations regarding their use of social media.
Tip Sheet on Writing Effective Communications
0 commentsTip Sheet on Writing Effective Communications
Learn principles on writing effective communications (journalistic style) that will help you optimize your Web page’s central idea. Discover simple tips to write powerful texts.
Tip Sheet on Video Content Creation
0 commentsTip Sheet on Video Content Creation
Learn how to create videos (storyboard, production and content plans, formats, etc.) and how to use video platforms as part of your site and as a marketing channel.
The Mystery of the '1940s Time Traveller' | The Changing Face of Online Brand Monitoring
0 commentsThe Mystery of the '1940s Time Traveller' | The Changing Face of Online Brand Monitoring
A case study from virtualmuseum.ca which looks at museum issues related to brand monitoring, viral marketing, Social Web, copyright, and conversational capital.
A Canadian Museum's Guide to Developing a Digital Licensing Agreement Strategy
0 commentsA Canadian Museum's Guide to Developing a Digital Licensing Agreement Strategy
This second edition addresses the important questions museums face in developing a licensing strategy for digital content.
Augmented Reality and Wonderment in exhibit design and museums
Augmented Reality and Wonderment in exhibit design and museums
Interview with Canadian artist and researcher Helen Papagiannis on Augmented Reality and Wonderment in exhibit design and museums. Helen's TEDx talk discussing her recent exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre is also embedded in the interview and available to watch here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScLgtkVTHDc
DOCAM Technological Timeline
DOCAM Technological Timeline
The DOCAM Technological Timeline "is designed to show, in clear and graphic form, the ways in which art history and the history of technological invention run alongside each other". Although it is not an exhaustive history of technology used to produce artworks, it illustrates the "complex relationship between the history of technology and the development of media-based art forms".
Although the timeline itself is available only in English, presentations about the timeline are available in English (http://www.docam.ca/en/technological-timeline.html) and in French (http://www.docam.ca/fr/timeline-des-technologies.html).
Variable Media Network
Variable Media Network
The Variable Media Network has many different institutional and individual contributors that have developed tools, methods, and standards for the preservation of conceptual, minimalist and video art. Major partners include the Guggenheim Museum and the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. Available in English and French.
DOCAM Conservation Guide
DOCAM Conservation Guide
The DOCAM Conservation Guide provides some tools and principles for the preservation and conservation of time-based media artworks and technology-based artworks. It was prepared by the Conservation and Preservation Committee of DOCAM.
Provides "observations and approaches based on particular examples", as well as "practical methods of implementing preservation and curatorial measures for these works, whose major weaknesses are related to their risk of obsolescence and the limitations of their use". Based on case studies of specific works at the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Canadian Centre for Architecture.
Available in English and French.
DOCAM Documentation Model
DOCAM Documentation Model
The DOCAM Documentation Model provides a framework for organizing the documentation relating to a media artwork. Documentation throughout the lifecycle of the artwork is supported, including "the work's documents, producers, lifecycle steps, successive iterations, and components", as well as the links among these elements. Available in English and French.
DOCAM Glossaurus
DOCAM Glossaurus
The DOCAM Glossaurus is a bilingual glossary of terms used in documentation, preservation, technologies, and practices used with new media art. The glossary is arranged as a facetted thesaurus; the five main facets include: Activities, Agents, Art Practices, Components, and Manifestation & Reception. Available in English and French.
Lightweight Information Describing Objects (LIDO) XML Schema
Lightweight Information Describing Objects (LIDO) XML Schema
LIDO (Lightweight Information Describing Objects):
- Is an XML harvesting schema intended to transfer data from museum collections databases to data aggregations (such as Artefacts Canada) and for sharing museum data on the web
- Can represent the full range of descriptive information about museum objects
- Can be used for museum data of many disciplines (e.g. art, cultural, natural science)
- Can be used in multilingual data aggregations
- Is the result of an international collaboration based upon CDWA Lite and museumdat schemas
- Is compliant with CIDOC CRM and aligned with SPECTRUM.
Some collections management software systems are able to export LIDO records, enabling easier interchange. LIDO was announced in late 2010. It is available in English only.
CHIN Guide to Museum Standards
0 commentsCHIN Guide to Museum Standards
This guide explains why museum documentation standards are important, describes the main types of data standards and how they are used in Canadian museums, and provides access to the standards.
Core Standards for Canadian Museums
0 commentsCore Standards for Canadian Museums
Information on standards commonly used by Canadian museums and recommended by CHIN. Includes Canadian museum standards for metadata, terminology and classification, and cataloguing rules.
Caitlin Fisher Talks About New and Emerging Technologies
0 commentsCaitlin Fisher Talks About New and Emerging Technologies
Caitlin Fisher discusses the work of the York University Augmented Reality Lab's museum projects, RFID, GPS, 3-D, telepresence, augmented reality, and other new and emerging technologies.
Digital Photography and Digitization of Museum Collections
0 commentsDigital Photography and Digitization of Museum Collections
Digital Photography Course providing highly detailed information about every stage of digital photography and scanning of cultural artefacts.
Inter-Active Terminology for Europe (IATE)
Inter-Active Terminology for Europe (IATE)
From the Web site: "Eurodicautom is the European Commissions multilingual term bank."
David Green speaks about intellectual property
0 commentsDavid Green speaks about intellectual property
David Green, author of A Museum Guide to Digital Rights Management, gives insight on issues surrounding intellectual property.
Liste des sujets représentés (à partir du Thésaurus iconographique Garnier), Direction des musées de France
Liste des sujets représentés (à partir du Thésaurus iconographique Garnier), Direction des musées de France
Comprehensive thesaurus for controlled headings for subjects represented in works of art. Includes divisions for themes, nature, body and material life, psychological and moral life, society and social life, political and administrative life, armament and military life, agriculture and hunting/fishing, industry and commerce, transport and communication, intellectual and scientific life, arts, religious life, imagination, ornament, geographic subjects, biblical, Buddhist, and Taoist subjects, mythological subjects, groups (e.g. national, cultural), period, and fictional characters. Members of the CHIN Standards Working group on the "subject/image" field have expressed their continuing satisfaction with the performance of the Garnier iconographic thesaurus, on which this version is based. Available in French only.
Benchmarks in Collection Care for Museums, Archives, and Libraries: A Self-assessment Checklist
Benchmarks in Collection Care for Museums, Archives, and Libraries: A Self-assessment Checklist
This handbook was developed by Resource, the council for museums, libraries and archives in the U.K. It is a self-assessment checklist to help libraries, archives, and museums identify best practices in stewardship of their collections, to help them determine where improvements are needed, and to assist them in measuring progress. Available in English only.
CDWA-Lite XML Schema
CDWA-Lite XML Schema
CDWA Lite is an XML schema to describe a format for core records for works of art and material culture. CDWA Lite is based on the Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA), a metadata standard developed by the Art Information Task Force (AITF).
CDWA Lite records are intended for contribution to union catalogs and other repositories using the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) harvesting protocol.
Because of its focus on 'core' records, CDWA deals with only a subset of the data elements contained in CIDOC CRM, and is much simpler. CDWA Lite has 22 elements; 9 of these are required.
In 2010, Lightweight Information Describing Objects (LIDO) was created by harmonizing the CDWA Lite and museumdat schemas.
Available in English only.
Documenting Your Collections - Info-Muse Network Documentation Guide
Documenting Your Collections - Info-Muse Network Documentation Guide
The Info-Muse Network documentation system is based on museum practices in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. It was developed in close collaboration with various bodies and museums in Quebec and the rest of Canada, and with many experts from the different scientific validation committees for the tools designed by the Network. The standards proposed by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) since the 1970s served as the starting point for developing the system, meaning that it is in line with the main national and international standards for documenting museum collections.
RSLP Standard for Collection-level Description
RSLP Standard for Collection-level Description
The Research Support Libraries Programme in the UK has developed a standard to enable consistent and machine-readable collection description. This standard is based on Dublin Core, but has additional elements which enable more complete description of museum collections. In addition to the RSLP Collection Description Schema, the RSLP site also offers a Web-based collection description tool (which provides the metadata in RDF) and a set of data entry guidelines. This tool can be used to describe museum collections at a general level (not object-by-object). Available in English only.
Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD) Schema
Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD) Schema
ABCD - Access to Biological Collections Data - Schema is a "common data specification for biological collection units, including living and preserved specimens, along with field observations". It is intended to support the "exchange and integration of detailed primary collection and observation data".
ABCD provides a standardized set of element names and their definition for scientists and curators to use in recording both specimen-specific and collection-specific data.
The standard is both comprehensive and general. It contains a wide range of data elements that could be used in a collection database, but a single museum would only use a fraction of the elements that met the needs of their discipline and practices.
"The elements and concepts that are used provide as much compatibility as is possible with other standards in the field of biological collection data.... The data specification is cast as an XML schema". Available in English only.
Canadiana Authorities
Canadiana Authorities
The Canadiana Authorities contain over 660,000 name, title and name/title authority records, representing standardized entries for Canadian authors/artists/creators or institutions. These authority records provide standardized access to personal names (such as artists and other creators), corporate body names and titles used in cataloguing by libraries and museums. Users can search the database by keyword, creator or institution name, or title. Available in French and English.
Le thésaurus de la désignation, (oeuvres architecturales et mobilières), Direction des musées de France
Le thésaurus de la désignation, (oeuvres architecturales et mobilières), Direction des musées de France
(Translation) "A hierarchical thesaurus of 1135 terms used for the designation of architectural works and of 2529 terms used for the designation of furnishings. Browse Edifices or Mobilier, hierarchically or alphabetically. Available in French only. Available at http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/inventai/patrimoine/ (select "vocabularies").
CHIN Guide to Museum Standards
CHIN Guide to Museum Standards
This guide contains basic information on why museum documentation standards are important, describes the main types of standards and how they are used in Canadian museums, and provides users with access to the standards. Users can learn about standards at a basic level, or find detailed information as required.
Includes standards that are required or recommended by CHIN for Artefacts Canada contribution, as well as other standards that are commonly used by Canadian museums. This Guide includes standards for metadata, vocabulary and classification, data content, data exchange, and museum procedures. It includes standards from a wide variety of disciplines (e.g. Art & Visual Resources; History & Ethnology; Education) and includes both general standards (e.g. Dublin Core) and highly specialized standards (e.g. the ICOM Costume Classification).
The following sections are included:
Introduction
Metadata (Data Structure Standards)
Vocabulary (Data Value Standards)
Cataloguing Rules (Data Content Standards)
Interchange (Data Format Standards)
Procedural Standards
Available in English and French.
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)
Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)
FRBR is a conceptual model that relates the tasks undertaken by users of bibliographic records (retrieval and access) to the units of information required to support these functions. There has been some attempt to harmonize FRBR with the CIDOC CRM (Conceptual Reference Model) which deals with cultural heritage information; a draft harmonized model called FRBRoo (FRBR-Object-Oriented) is the result. Available in English only.
Vocabulaire Techniques - Matériaux, Direction des Musées de France
Vocabulaire Techniques - Matériaux, Direction des Musées de France
Hierarchical vocabulary for techniques, arranged by the type of material associated with each technique. For example, technique bois/ivoire, métal, textile, etc. Available in French only.
Standards News
Standards News
This resource provides news on museum documentation standards developments, both within Canada and internationally, that impact Canadian museum practice. Includes information on newly developed standards, updated standards, current standards projects, and application of standards within the museum context.
Several "Standards Working Groups", made up of museum professionals and volunteers from across Canada, work with CHIN on standards-related topics such as classification and naming of objects, geographic data standards, and data content standards. Updates on their projects can also be found within this resource. Available in English and French.
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus
From the Web site: "The Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus is a bilingual thesaurus consisting of terminology which represents all the fields treated in information resources of the Government of Canada. It contains 4760 terms in English, including 2166 preferred terms, and 4821 terms in French, including 2167 preferred terms. All fields of knowledge are represented in the thesaurus, to varying degrees. Because of the great variety of subjects covered by the thesaurus, its terminology is rather general. By design, it does not include specialized terminology used in specific and limited disciplines.
The tool is primarily intended for content managers, librarians, indexers and metadata developers in federal departments and agencies who must select controlled subject terms to index Government of Canada Web resources". Available in English and French.
Museumdat XML Schema
Museumdat XML Schema
Museumdat is an XML schema to describe cultural heritage records. It can be described as a CIDOC CRM -Compliant version of CDWA-Lite. CDWA-Lite elements are re-arranged in a way that makes them compliant with CIDOC-CRM, so that it makes use of both the event-oriented, multi-disciplinary approach of CIDOC CRM, and the relative simplicity and "core" elements offered by CDWA-Lite.
In 2010, Lightweight Information Describing Objects (LIDO) was created by harmonizing the CDWA Lite and museumdat schemas.
Available in English and German only
Cataloguing Cultural Objects (CCO) A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images
Cataloguing Cultural Objects (CCO) A Guide to Describing Cultural Works and Their Images
CCO is a data content standard which is designed for catalouging works of art, cultural artifacts, and their visual surrogates; cataloguing original objects may require some additional, specialized guidelines. CCO helps control the choice of terms, and defines order, syntax, and form for data values for cataloguing cultural objects. It can be used in the development of in-house cataloguing rules. The primary emphasis of CCO is on desciptive metadata; it excludes administrative and technical metadata. Controlled vocabularies and thesauri are recommended.
CCO is a "manual for describing, documenting, and cataloging cultural works and their visual surrogates. The primary focus of CCO is art and architecture, including but not limited to paintings, sculpture, prints, manuscripts, photographs, built works, installations, and other visual media. CCO also covers many other types of cultural works, including archaeological sites, artifacts, and functional objects from the realm of material culture."
CHIN's "CCO Assessment Working Group" (one of CHIN's Standards Working Groups) completed a project in 2008 to assess the CCO for use in Canadian museums. After examining the implications of using CCO within their own institutions, developing a set of sample records, and completing a test using CCO rules to catalogue a new collection, they have recommended CCO for use within Canadian museums with humanities collections. CHIN is currently enhancing the CHIN Humanities Data Dictionary with the addition of CCO rules; this will be available in both French and English. See the Standards Research at CHIN section for more information.
CCO is a project of the Visual Resources Association (VRA). Key selections of the CCO are available online at http://www.vrafoundation.org/ccoweb/cco/index.html
Full publication available for purchase.
Available in English only.
CHIN Natural Sciences Data Dictionary
CHIN Natural Sciences Data Dictionary
The CHIN Data Dictionaries contain a description of database fields for museum collection management and documentation. They can be used by a wide range of museums to help them to identify their institution's information needs and standardize their documentation.
The Natural Sciences Data Dictionary consists of 544 fields for collections in botany, earth sciences, palaeontology, invertebrate zoology, ichthyology, herpetology, ornithology, and mammalogy.
Each data field in the CHIN Data Dictionaries is described by a field label, a mnemonic, a name, a definition, entry rules, related fields, a data type, examples, a discipline, and a source. The CHIN Data Dictionaries are used:
- as a guideline for Canadian institutions that contribute collections data to CHIN's Artefacts Canada and Virtual Museum of Canada Image Gallery
- as guidelines for institutions developing or modifying a collections management system
- to help cataloguers record information consistently, or to help users of collections databases with search strategies.
The CHIN Data Dictionaries are not a data structure for use in a collections management system, but they can be used as the basis for such a structure. They can be used by a wide range of museums to help them to identify their institution's information needs and standardize their documentation. They include fields for describing objects, specimens, and archaeological sites, as well as fields for collections management. CHIN's Data Dictionaries have been used by Canadian museums since the 1970s and are still used by many museums for contributing to Artefacts Canada and the Virtual Museum of Canada, to design collections management systems, and to standardize cataloguing. Available in English and in French.
Comment gérer vos collections ? Le guide de gestion du Réseau Info-Muse - Deuxième édition
Comment gérer vos collections ? Le guide de gestion du Réseau Info-Muse - Deuxième édition
This guide developed by the Réseau Info-Muse of the Société des musées québécois (SMQ) includes a description of museum processes such as acquisition, loans in and out, and deaccessioning, and the fields required to document these processes. Includes fields for documentation of photographic reproductions, digital images, and rights. Available in French only. This document is currently out of print, but it may be available through a library or bookstore.
Nomenclature 3.0 for Museum Cataloging. Third Edition of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects
Nomenclature 3.0 for Museum Cataloging. Third Edition of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects
Nomenclature 3.0 is the Third Edition of Robert G. Chenhall's System for Classifying Man-Made Objects. Nomenclature is a function-based classification system and vocabulary for man-made objects in museum collections. Many Canadian museums use the original Nomenclature (1978) or the Revised Nomenclature (1988) to assist with vocabulary control for object naming and classification (e.g. CHIN fields Object Name, Object Type, Category, Subcategory, etc). Nomenclature is the basis for the Parks Canada Classification System, as well as the Objects Facet of the Getty's Art & Architecture Thesaurus and the Info-Muse Classification System for ethnology, history, and historical archaeology museums. The CHIN Object Naming/Classification Standards Working Group provided input to this new edition - responses to a questionnaire, submission of supplemental term lists, and final review.
MDA Waterways Object Name Thesaurus
MDA Waterways Object Name Thesaurus
Hierarchical vocabulary for describing objects which relate to inland waterways (canals and rivers but not coastal areas). Developed by a working group of the MDA for the inland waterways of the British Isles, but will have a broader application.
Includes vocabulary for:
- Components (e.g. oar, gaff, mast, bulkhead)
- Craft Type (by function, construction, etc.)
- Costume
- Tools and Equipment
- Containers
Includes alphabetical list and glossary.
Available in English only.
MARC21 (MAchine Readable Cataloguing)
MARC21 (MAchine Readable Cataloguing)
MARC is a metadata standard for describing library resources. It specifies a number of formats for cataloging and exchanging bibliographic information in electronic form. It is widely used by libraries to describe books and periodicals, but also sometimes used for images and archival collections. Many libraries have used AACR to guide their data entry within MARC. French version available from Library and Archives Canada.
US Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative: Standards
US Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative: Standards
This initiative is a collaboration between US federal agencies to "define common guidelines, methods, and practices to digitize historical content in a sustainable manner". The initiative includes the "Federal Agencies Still Image Digitization Working Group" (which will deal with image content such as books, manuscripts, maps, and photographic prints and negatives), as well as the "Federal Agencies Audio-Visual Working Group" (which will deal with sound, video, and motion picture film). Available in English only.
