Strategic Issues for Sharing Information in Museums John Perkins “Sharing the Knowledge” International CIDOC CRM Symposium Washington, DC March 26-27, 2003

The Consortium for the Interchange of Museum Information Solutions to digital information management, access, and use through standards and international collaboration

Impedance on Open Access to Information LawTechnology Norms Market Information Adapted from Lessig, L. Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Basic Books, 1999 and Tom Moritz, American Museum of Natural History, March, 2003

Museum constraints on open access to information ©, IPR, DRMInteroperability Business models, Organizational capability Open Information Audience, Applications,Services

Some Strategic Responses

Audiences, Services, Applications What do we need to know about public need to design services to appeal to the widest possible audience? What services are needed? What applications are needed to support the services?

Audience Collect& expose User Studies Needs and Evaluations Develop frameworks, metrics and tools Mine across studies Non-Users “option values”

Services Mental models of services –Library, exhibition, exploration Hybrid Spaces Mediated Experience

Applications Applications and interfaces for both the production and delivery of services Personalization Communications Sense-making

BeforeDuringAfter Networked server channeled to devices Orientation Registration Background Engagement Information Context Experience Engagement Reflection Analysis Extension Engagement Adapted from CIMI Handscape Project and Robert Semper, Exploratorium, March 2003 “Sharing Information” Digital Device Paradigm

Law Copyright, Fair use, public access, first sale Privacy Digital Rights Management

Digital solutions are driven by commercial purveyors of multimedia content Middleware for authentication, authorization, tracking

Technology High-level frameworks Interoperability Persistent, Recombinant Digital Repositories

High-level Frameworks -IMS

Interoperability Is about providing services people want Based on “recombinant potential” –Bringing together and combining –Deconstructing resources

Recombinant Potential Can I… –Add to a repository –Extract from a repository –Fuse metadata from different sources –Embed an interactive service in an exhibition –Navigate various databases –cite a resource and link to it –Assemble resources into a new package –…etc

Recombinant Repositories Persistent open digital object repository Subject portal or online catalog Alerting service Image or other format- based service LMS authoring tools Format/collection specific presentation tools Educ. discovery service Higher level services? Adapted from Dan Greenstein, CDL, IMLS Workshop Presentation, March 2003

Persistent Open Digital Repositories Need.. Service models Metadata models Content package models Ontologies Tools/Infrastructure

Business Models & Organizational Capability Organizational capability Paying for it Management support

Capability Needs Standards & Good Practice Content Management Web Services

Drawing it all together Multiplicity of effort Community efforts to lead & serve –Horizon scanning –Research –Capacity Building

CIMI Consortium