Classifying art has always been a challenge. Museum collections are mostly indexed in individual databases. This prohibits collaboration and comprehensive searching. The Smithsonian Museum of American Art (SAAM) hopes to change that. It has launched the American Art Collaborative (ACC), a consortium of 14 museums across the country that will connect some of these databases. This interesting information came from DATAVERSITY in their article, “Smithsonian Launches Linked Open Data Art Collection, the American Art Collaborative.”
SAAM director Elizabeth Broun said, “The project has been described as a database, but it’s actually much more like a web. Current data from museum collections will be placed in the cloud and tagged with Linked Open Data (LOD) — something that’s already prevalent in the scientific world, but less so in the cultural sphere.”
We know that indexing against a strong, standards-based taxonomy can ensure comprehensive search results. Access Innovations is one of a very small number of companies able to help its clients generate ISO/ANSI/NISO compliant taxonomies to produce comprehensive results.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
