Collections Exposure Use Cases

Owned by Megan Forbes
Last updated: Apr 20, 2011Version comment
4 min read

Museum of the Moving Image

MMI currently makes a portion of its collection available online to the public. Currently, the public facing site is a stripped down version of the staff CMS but lacking all editing controls, administrative controls, and editing history. The only pages used from the CMS are the search results and artifact description pages. These pages are built from php templates. The code base for the public facing site is the same as the staff version so the two integrate very well. Read access to artifact information, images, and relationship details are accessed directly from the same database as they are written to from the staff version.

Moving Image needs to be able to:

  • Note which cataloging records can be made available on the public site
  • Note which fields should be made available to the public
  • Note which media records attached to the cataloging record should also be made available
  • Create groups of objects that may have specific added information (e.g. the silent era or all licensed merchandise)

The Cleveland Museum of Art

CMS Demonstration Scenarios

1) Role: Museum Educator

Assumptions: Relatively new to the museum, some familiarity with systems but has never used a collections information system before

Scenario: Creating a new tour for permanent collection

Scenario: Marcie has been approached by a local college professor who teaches a material culture class. The teacher would like to bring a group of college students in to look at how ivory has been used by cultures of different time periods. Marcie searches the collections information system first using the keyword ivory (she doesn't know that she can use the materials field) and retrieves a screen of small images associated with accession numbers. From this screen she hopes to be able to pick and choose the items she wants and the information she wants (basic information, label copy, information about artists, and any general information about techniques) and drop all of that, with individual pictures, into a report she can print out and use as the base document for further research and how can she export the report to text. How will she accomplish this task?

2) Role: Assistant Marketing Manager

Assumptions: Some familiarity with using internal systems uses this system semi-regularly

Scenario: Wants to create a weekly "object of the week" feature that will appear on the web site, in a newsletter to educators, and as a vodcast.

The publications manager has recently been charged with bringing some continuity to the museums general out-reach to visitors. Toward that end he has decided to take advantage of the collections information system to use works in the collection which have suitable interpretive text to create a weekly feature on the museum's web site, to drop into an e-newsletter, and to create (and ultimately store) a vodcast. How does he use the system to produce the all three items, and once the third item (the vodcast) is produced, how is it catalogued and stored in the system?

3) Role: Lifelong Learning System Developer

Assumptions: This individual works for a company that has been hired by the Cleveland Museum of Art to build interactives for the museum's Life Long Learning Center. The individual understands systems, though hasn't worked with this particular system before

Scenario: Needs to build a bridge system that will pull core tombstone data from collections information system and integrate that information into custom-developed interactives for the lifelong learning center.

Vendor X has been given the contract to assist the museum's education department in developing robust interactives for the Museum's Life Long Learning Center. These interactives will feature objects in the permanent collection and focus on how the objects can be viewed to provide the general museum visitor with more information on targeted areas of understanding, collecting, preservation, and exhibition. Even though the bulk of the content and interfaces for these interactives are to be custom-developed, the director of the museum has mandated that core information for these systems must be pulled from the collections information system. How will Vendor X need to proceed to build the bridge?

4. Role: Curatorial Assistant/Curator/Head of Education/Curator/Museum Editor/Curator

Assumptions: Varying levels of familiarity with system from daily use to almost never
Scenario: New labels for Decorative Arts Cases in 17th Century Gallery

New curator has decided to re-install decorative arts cases in 17th century gallery and has requested that his curatorial assistant produce a paper report with all current label copy and any past label copy that might exist in the system for the objects. She does this, grumbling slightly at the paper part. Curator reviews the hard copy and makes changes which the curatorial assistant than inputs. Curator requests that this label copy is reviewed by education prior to being sent back to curatorial and before being sent to the museum editor. How can this work flow be facilitated without constant recourse to paper?

5. Role: Curator of Ancient Art/Head of Publications/Education

Assumptions: Varying levels of familiarity with system from daily use to almost never

Scenario: Fulfill requirements of a grant

The museum has been given monies to produce a series of projects related to the Egyptian Collection including: a print publication of all Theban objects in the collection; an online and editable version of the print publication that will allow scholars from all over the world to publish their opinions of the objects. How might your system deal with these different types of information intended for various types of publications?

6. Role: Education Department/Outside User (Primarily teachers)

Assumptions: Education department has a lot of legacy research and information on the Egyptian collection. Visitors to the museum and the web are overwhelmingly interested in this information.

Scenario: Education would like to produce a series of educational modules about Egyptian art and life which may be loosely associated with any number of objects. They would then like to work with curatorial to make sure the modules are associated with the appropriate objects. That done the goal would be to allow visitors to the museum's web site to pick and choose the bits of information they want to create their own lesson plans. How can your system be used to help accomplish these goals?