Title: Metadata Repository Project:
1 Stewarding Potential
Jane E. Sledge Associate Director Museum Assets
and Operations National Museum of the American
Indian
2Once upon a time I thought of museum information
systems in simple terms
COMPUTER RECORDS
CATALOGUE CARDS
INVENTORY CONTROL
DIGITAL IMAGE
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT
MUSEUM INFORMATION SYSTEM
WRONG !
3Museum Record Keeping Systems
- More than finding aids for objects
- Evolving designed to steward knowledge
- Present ambiguous, uncertain, and often incorrect
information - Do not represent the single voice of authority,
but present many points of view and different
opinions repositories for conversations over time
4The museum should follow the paths of the
elders, bring to life deeply human events, and
have access to hidden treasures in daily life.
(Rene Rivard, 1984)
Landscapes
Residents
Sites
Landscapes
Residents
Sites
Heritage
Architecture
Nature
Heritage
Architecture
Nature
Identity
Collective Memories
Collective Memories
Identity
Cultural Patrimony
Elders
Elders
Cultural Patrimony
Visitors
Visitors
Traditions
Traditions
5The importance of preserving context
6Marty De Montanõs Story Of The Backwards Blouse
7Menomini Blouse
8Backwards Blouse
9The Proof !
10What were they thinking?Catalogue Card
027535.000
11Indians were imitating Europeans
Edwardian Pigeon Blouse (Front) c. 1905
12Indian blouses predate Edwardian waists.
In the 1970s and 1980s fewer researchers used
images. Digital images are a recent invention.
Josephte Ourné c. 1840 by Joseph Légaré
D-Mouche-Kee-Kee-Awh by George Winter
13Potawatomi WaistRegistration Information
Tracking System
14Potawatomi WaistCollections Information System
15Potawatomi WaistCollections Information System
16Potawatomi Blouse (Front)
17Potawatomi Blouse (Back)
18Potawatomi WaistCollections Information System
19Reference Web Site
http//www.kansasheritage.org/PBP/art/blouse.html
20Reference Web Site (Continued)
21Potawatomi
- The Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie or
Pottawatomi) are a Native American people of the
upper Mississippi River region. They
traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a
member of the Algonquian family. In the
Potawatomi language, they generally call
themselves Bodéwadmi, a name which means "keepers
of the fire" and which was applied to them by
their Anishinaabe cousins however, they
originally called themselves Neshnabé, which is a
cognate of the word Anishinaabe. - The Potawatomi were part of a long term alliance
with the Ojibwe and Ottawa, called the Council of
Three Fires. In the Council of Three Fires,
Potawatomi were considered the "youngest
Brother".
www.Wikipedia.com
22Community-Based Discussions2000-2001
- Large-scale collaborative projects for Indigenous
communities were seen as controlling, grandiose,
and empire-building - Projects need to be local enable Indigenous
self-representation and give ownership and
control to Native communities be of Native
authorship or show the primacy of native voice - Native peoples require access to institutional
resources for their own purposes
23Tools for Collaboration
24Spiral of Knowledge
Internal Researchers
Collections Management System Digital Asset
Management System
Native Americans Researchers
Publications Exhibits Web
Meta Data Repository
Web Interactive Exhibits
Meta Data Repository
Foundation Applications CIS - DAM
Technical Infrastructure
25Museum Without Walls(André Malraux,1967)
- In answer to the appeal of the real
museumswhich echoed that of real creators the
art that invokes and governs this vast
resurrection is not an art that can be easily
defined it is our own, and it is difficult for
the fish to envisage the outer aspect of his
aquarium.