Ela Majocha

Toby Burrows

ARC Network for Early European Research

University of Western Australia

Building e-Research InfrastructuresBuilding e-Research Infrastructuresfor Collaboration in Humanities for Collaboration in Humanities

Research Networks Research Networks

ActivitiesActivities

Symposia International conferences Co-sponsored events Collaborative Grant Programs Postgraduate/ECR Digital agenda

NEER’s Digital StrategyNEER’s Digital Strategy

“The full use of innovative digital technologies, both to facilitate and promote communication between researchers and to develop and provide shared research resources.”

(ARC Research Network application, 2004)

Digital Initiatives: Shared Digital Initiatives: Shared ResourcesResources

Commercial databases: ProQuest (EEBO), Brepols (5 databases)

Skills and training: Brepols internships Electronic publication: Parergon / Project Muse Heritage collections: Europa Inventa Research repository: PioNEER

PioNEERPioNEER

DigiTool software Hosted by UWA Library Available later in 2007

PioNEERPioNEER

NEER’s digital repository of research outputs Links to institutional repositories Self-archiving

Representative and retrospective Beyond “publications” – other types of outputs

and data

Digital Initiatives:Digital Initiatives:CommunicationCommunication

Web site: http://www.neer.arts.uwa.edu.au/

Newsletters, e-mail lists

Collaborative working tools and workspaces: Confluence http://confluence.arts.uwa.edu.au/

NEER ConfluenceNEER Confluence

Web-based collaborative software Commercial Wiki product (Atlassian)

Communication, discussion, annotation, collaborative writing

News and blogs Personal spaces & group spaces Searchable

Further information

• NEER Web site http://www.neer.arts.uwa.edu.au/• Confluence http://confluence.arts.uwa.edu.au/

• Ela Majocha elzbieta.majocha@uwa.edu.au• Toby Burrows tburrows@library.uwa.edu.au

Thanks to

Europa InventaEuropa Inventa Envisaged in the original NEER application to the ARC A gateway to all Early European items in Australian

collections Main focus would be on unique items and those with

specific associations Link from descriptive catalogue records to digitized

images held on the servers of the holding institutions, rather than storing copies of images centrally

The possibility of commissioning some digitization work in these institutions was also envisaged

Some basic questionsSome basic questions

How many Early European manuscripts, artworks, etc. are there in Australian collections?

Where are they held? Where are they listed and described? Have they been digitized? Have they been studied? What has been written about them?

Some (preliminary) answersSome (preliminary) answers How many? 250 manuscripts in Sinclair catalogue, 200 paintings in

NGV and 300 in NLA. Thousands of items overall. Where? All types of cultural institutions: galleries, museums, libraries;

large and small. Listings? Library catalogues, gallery & museum databases, printed

catalogues (Sinclair, Manion & Vines) Digitized? Some, but proportion unknown. Studied and written about? Yes, but scattered.

Functional desiderataFunctional desiderata

Browse by subject, name, type of object, holding institution, place of origin (and by combinations of these characteristics)

Search the database and browse the results using various facets Link to more detailed descriptions Link to works about the objects Link to digitized versions Add information about the objects

Processes for buildingProcesses for building

Import catalogue records from libraries, galleries, museums, archives Normalize these records into a consistent structure Apply a consistent “names and concepts” framework Make the database available for searching and browsing Make the database available for annotation by researchers Augment and enrich the records with links to more detailed descriptions

and to secondary works

Scope of the serviceScope of the service Which forms of material should be included?

Focus initially is on unique objects (especially artworks, manuscripts) Could expand later to cover incunabula, early printed books, early

printed maps, prints and engravings

What date range should be covered? The initial cut-off date is 1800 Could expand later to cover 1801-1850

Any limits on the geographical origin of material? Focus on material relating to or produced in Western Europe

Current statusCurrent status

Record formats and standards: CDWA Lite for artworks, MODS for textual materials

Artworks database has been set up Gathering records from gallery/museum/library

catalogues (in a variety of formats) About to set up database for manuscripts and texts

(collaboration with IVRLA)

Next stepsNext steps

Export records in XML Load to software environment based on MuseumFinland Develop and apply ontologies for describing Early European

objects, concepts, places and events Establish framework for contributors to annotate and expand “People of Early Europe” service? A service for Europe?