m&h show 2011 - collections in the cloud
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Zoe Hill of Vernon Systems about making use of the Cloud to manage and share Collections information.TRANSCRIPT
Collections in the Cloud
Zoë Hill, Vernon Systems
Museums and Heritage ShowThursday 12th May 2011London
Developers of collection management systems since 1985Staff in New Zealand, UK, and South Africa
Focused on collections management software
Cloud computing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bstrong/295094074//
Internet based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like electricity.
eHive: collections management in the cloud
Multiple servers in large scale data centre
Software installed and ready to use immediately
Scalable infrastructure
Colo4 Data Centre
World’s first Software as a Service CMS
600 museums worldwide
Collections management and online access to collections
Each contributor has their own login to create and edit object records and upload images.
Object cataloguingAcquisition trackingReporting
Communities• Geographical region• Theme
Publishing to the web too hard
Existing software too complex
http://www.flickr.com/photos/collinmel/1450793951/
A solution to common problems faced by small museums
Run by volunteers who may want to contribute from home
Limited IT resources & budget
Small volunteer run organisationArchives, heritage objects, photographsLooking to replace existing image databaseNeeded to reduce costs
East Hendred Museum on eHiveImages and data converted in July 2009
eHive forum and help
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/2496308570/
Copyright issues
Less control of where your data ends up
eHive - 3rd party search “opt-out” option
eHive supports Creative Commons licences + other categories
Current development
Programming interfaces for integration with other websites and products
Wordpress plugins to enable eHive users to build their own museum websites
Support for Open Archives Initiative harvesting protocol for Culture Grid
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodomut/3666801153/
eHive and Wordpress
Build your own museum website
100 million sites built in Wordpress
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koenvereeken/2088902012/
Add generic Wordpress widgets for contact forms, Flickr image feeds, embedded videos etc
Embed collection info from eHive
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13942060@N00/87656563/
Key points for the DCGP
Website is essential for data collection and publication
Using eHive helped improve functionality and appearance
Old website that needed to be replaced
No content management system (CMS), so background & project pages have remained static
Built in 2001
Hard to navigate between the 3 different sections of the original website
Collection content needed to be preserved
Decision to move to eHive
• Update the website - add new caches and publications• Fresh look• New functionality – tagging, commenting, contact
form• Price - very competitive and good value• Vernon Systems understands museums collections
new website
Finding ways to tell your collection’s stories
A community can bring together collection items relating to a certain theme.
Communities
Wordpress site using eHive’s community function
Objects contributed by any institution to form a global community of rugby related items
Museum and collection info driven by eHive
Represents 400 museums
Collection records and images from 70 museums
A community can span a geographical region to bring museums together
What’s an API and what’s it doing to my museum data?
Application Programmable InterfaceThe way two websites or applications talk to each otherData created in one place can be repurposed
eHive
Collection records
3rd party website
Collection records redisplayed with different presentationAPI – “the
telephone line”
APIRESTfulReturns JSON objects
Object, Account and Community API calls:- Get record by id or keyword search- Get recent, interesting or popular records- Get tagsObject specific API calls- Put (add) tags- Get/Put (add) comments
e.g. http://ehive.com/api/v1/objects?query=picasso
OAUTH – allow access to content in eHive
One OAUTH key per app or site
Wordpress site for your museum
3rd party application
Regional website which harvests your data
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtinalamb/61688141/
Getting data in and out
Bulk import via XML or spreadsheet Export in text, Excel, PDF and XML formats
eHive pricing
Why use cloud based software?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2363672007/
Hardware & software managed for you
Fewer compatibility issues
Access from anywhere with a web connection
eHive in the cloud
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bstrong/295094074//
Simplifies public access
Automatic backups (to another city!)
Smaller ongoing costs, no initial purchase cost
Find out more
vernonsystems.comehive.com@VernonSys@ehive