What next?

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Frankie Roberto

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Jun 24, 2008, 5:34:01 AM6/24/08
to Mashed Museum
I guess most of the people on this group went to the Mashed Museum day
last week in Leicester, but for those who didn't (or those with short
memories), here are some links to blog posts summarising what went on:

http://www.finds.org.uk/wordpress/index.php/514
http://openobjects.blogspot.com/
http://www.frankieroberto.com/weblog/871
http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/2008/05/27/museum-mash/

(anyone else who blogged it that I missed?)

I thought I'd pose the question of 'what next?'

Here's some of my ideas:

* We could start actually publicising our APIs and providing
documentation on our websites. (I've made a start at
http://api.sciencemuseum.org.uk/documentation/ and Jeremy has done
some too at http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/MuseumofLondon/food/rest.aspx)

* More work on the wiki/document to present the case for including
APIs to decision makers (should we set ourselves a target date for
publication?)

* Investigate Freebase some more. I played with this at the Mashed
Museum day, as was pretty impressed. It could provide a way for
museums to easily make some of their data (eg exhibitions info)
available in an API form without having to do much development.

Anything else?

Frankie Roberto

Ridge, Mia

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Jun 24, 2008, 6:05:32 AM6/24/08
to mashed...@googlegroups.com
Frankie Roberto wrote:

> I thought I'd pose the question of 'what next?'

...


> * More work on the wiki/document to present the case for
> including APIs to decision makers (should we set ourselves a
> target date for
> publication?)

My gut feeling is that we need to address the institutional issues,
including making a case for APIs and for 'letting go' of our data
(especially if it's actually been created for publication).

At two different events recently, someone has asked if all this means
'the death of the curator'. I think that's an important perception, and
one we should acknowledge. Perhaps some kind of 'outreach' project for
curators, educators and documentation staff is needed in parallel with
the geek work?

cheers, Mia


Mia Ridge
Database Developer, Museum Systems Team
Museum of London Group
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London. N1 7ED
Tel: 020 7410 2205 / 020 7814 5723
Fax: 020 7600 1058
Email: mri...@museumoflondon.org.uk
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