Presentation in the lecture series 'New Horizons' at C2DH at the University of Luxembourg, April 25, 2019

1. THE ART OF
INFORMATION
& DATA
IN DIGITAL
CULTURAL
HERITAGE
Saskia Scheltjens
Head Research Services
@saschel - slideshare.net/saschel
Lecture Series – New Horizons
University of Luxembourg, 25/4/2019
*MetadataDressbyAndreaWallace,nomineeoftheRijksstudioAward2017

2. National Museum of Art and History
ByJohnLewisMarshall

3. +1 mio objects
+2 mio visitors on-site
State funded since 1800
Partial privatization in 1995
Build in 1885 by Pierre Cuypers
Closure & Renovation (2003-
2013)
614 FTE staff
SOME FACTS & FIGURES *annual report 2017

4. We
• collect,
• keep,
• manage,
• conserve,
• restore,
• research,
• prepare,
• present,
• publish, and
• share
data and information about
art and historical objects
for the public
HISTORICAL FOCUS ON COLLECTIONS

5. COLLECTION AS INTERACTION
*PhotobyGijsbertvernderWal

6. DATAFICATION
ByJohnLewisMarshall

7. INFORMATION AGE
TheInformationAge–1:RiseoftheNetwork
SocietybyManuellCastells(1996/2009)

8. Academia >
Cultural
Heritage
Civil
Society
Government
Industry
Carayannis & Campbell (2009)
SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT

9. ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES

10. New department of
Research Services
Centralisation of
all collection
information ánd data
(analog & digital)
to support
innovative research
+/- 35 people
LAM-IFICATION

11. ‘DIGITAL = COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY’
Related departments
1. IT : digital systems & infrastructure, IT security
2. Communication & Marketing : digital marketing, website, social
media
4. Collections Management : metadata creation, digitization
5. Curatorial departments : metadata creation, digital knowledge
production & - dissemination
4. Conservation & Restoration: data science for technical art history
4. Public & Education : digital learning

12. Lorem Ipsum
Inaugural lecture by prof. dr. Erma Hermens about Technical Art History
University of Amsterdam - April 17, 2019

13. TAKE AWAY
Information and data
make the interdisciplinarity en multiplicity
of current & future research possible

14. TAKE AWAY
Information and data
are like GLUE
not acknowledging their role
hinders innovation & professionalisation

15. HISTORICAL EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE
on collecting, ordering en presentation
of cultural heritage
and the role of (collection) information
and - data within an institution

16. ENCYCLOPEDIC COLLECTIONS (1500-1800)
Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities, from Museum
Wormianum, 1655 – Inv. nr SIL21-07-001
Cabinet of curiosities of the
Strahov Cloister in Prague, 2019

17. ENCYCLOPEDIC COLLECTIONS (1500-1800)
First treatise on
museums
Samuel Quiccheberg
( 1529-1567)
Inscriptiones, 1565
Samuel Quiccheberg by
Hans Muelich, ca. 1556

18. Bibliotheek en rariteitenkabinet van de groothertog van Toscane by Jan Luyken, 1689
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.142772
ENCYCLOPEDIC COLLECTIONS (1500-1800)

19. INFORMATION SOURCES
• Inventories
• Visitor reports
• Gallery paintings
• ‘Galeriewerke’
The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest by Willem van Haecht
(1628) Rubenshuis, inv. nr RH.S.171
ENCYCLOPEDIC COLLECTIONS (1500-1800)

20. ENCYCLOPEDIC COLLECTIONS (1500-1800)
C.Perrault,DeSchatkamerderVryeKonsten,publishedby
PieterSchenk(I)(1693)Inv.Nr.BI-1904-39-3
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.582550

21. SPECIALISED COLLECTIONS (1800 - )
Motivation
Nation building
Ordering principles
Linnaeus – Winckelmann –
Darwin
Presentation
National > disciplines > style
periods > chronological
Growing devide between
storage & exhibition space
Debedreigdezwaan,JanAsselijn,ca.1650
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.5829

22. SPECIALISED COLLECTIONS (1800 - )
AexhibitionroomintheTrippenhuisbyGerritLamberts,1838
Stadsarchief,GemeenteAmsterdam

23. SPECIALISED COLLECTIONS (1800 - )

24. SPECIALISED COLLECTIONS (1800 - )
Eregalerij.Foto:ErikSmits

25. ‘A PLACE FOR ART AND SCIENCE’

26. ‘A PLACE FOR ART AND SCIENCE’

27. ‘A PLACE FOR ART AND SCIENCE’
Cartouche in the library
Motto by J. Verdam about the relation between art & research

28. Reading Room (Cuypers Library Hall), 1928 Study Room (Prints & Drawings), 1928
LIBRARY = DOMAIN OF CONNOISSEURS

29. Marjorie Bottenheim (1898-1983), de facto head of the
Rijksmuseum Research Library from 1934 until 1961
PROFESSIONALISATION
Else Van der Vossen-Delbück (1923- ),
first official head of the Rijksmuseum
Research Library from 1962-1988

30. Toegang tot het informatie-
centrum, Rijksmuseum, 1973
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/R
M0001.HARCHIEF.10419
EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS 1970’s
Exhibition space with information panels and visitors, 1976
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.HARCHIEF.15389

31. AUTOMATION & REGISTRATION
1980 – First computer enters the Rijksmuseum
1989 – Library is the first department with a modem &
terminal. Start first library system (TinLib)
1990 - Collection registration in first collection
management systems (Quixis – 1990; Adlib 1998-)
- Launch of local Online Public Access Catalog of the
library in MS-DOS

32. Head of the Rijksmuseum Research Library Geert-Jan Koot with first modem & terminal ,1989

33. Student-researcher (!) Taco Dibbits with the first library OPAC in the public reading room, 1990

34. AUTOMATION & REGISTRATION
1995-1999 – ARIA project, first digital collection
information for the public on CD-ROM and local terminals
1999 - First Rijksmuseum website
2002 - First online Library OPAC
2004 – Second Rijksmuseum website, including collection
data from ARIA ánd Adlib

35. MUSEUM RENOVATION 2003-2013

36. 2008- Start of new Collection Management department
PK Online & VOILA projects: 2D digitization of the
complete collection in combination with registration
MASS REGISTRATION & DIGITIZATION

37. SCALING UP – NETWORK POWER
2003-2011
Discussions with curators & director of collections about
opening up the collections online
Library starts opening up library data via Z39.50 and SRU
data exchange protocols
Implementation first DAM system (MediaBin)
Co-operation with universities in NWO/CATCH projects
re early semantic heritage data research (VU, CWI)

38. DATA SERVICES

39. NWO/CATCH projects (2004-2009)

40. Long renovation/restoration
Closed between 2003-2012
Re-opening of the museum in 2013

41. AND IN THE MEANTIME …

42. OPEN DATA : WHY
Regaining control
by sharing

43. SCALING UP – NETWORK POWER
Open collection data (CC-BY 2011 / CC0 2013)
Object Collection
Open API’s -> portals like Europeana (2013),
Geheugen van Nederland (2014), Google Arts
(2016), …
Library
SRU -> AdamNet (2003); Virtuele Katalog
Kunstgeschichte (2004); WORLDCAT (2012);
International Art Discovery Group Catalogue (2014)

44. http://rijksmuseum.github.io/ (documentation)
https://github.com/Rijksmuseum (code)

45. 2012
First PID server for open collection data (handle system)
Open Cultuur Data hackathon
Release of 111.000 images with a CC-BY licence
Launch of a new website and a new collection discovery
interface Rijksstudio (all build by Q42 and Fabrique)
Development of first ever digital strategy, linked to the
website but also linked to mission & values of the museum
SCALING UP – NETWORK POWER

46. First ever digital strategy in the museum
• Public first, technology second
• Mobile first
• Focus on the visual
• Content needs to be shared
• Everyone is a maker
Link to mission & core values
Closely connected to 3rd website redesign
Developed in co-operation with Fabrique and Q42
DIGITAL STRATEGY (2012)

49. 664.774 art works – 469.668 Rijksstudios (25/4/2019)

51. single immediate download (when you have a Rijksstudio account)
Focus on direct engagement

52. ‘Hidden’ object data / under the fold

53. SCALING UP – NETWORK POWER
2013
Release of public collection data & images under CC0
Launch of the first API with the OAI-PMH protocol
2016
Launch of a live API (JSON), instigated by a request from
Google Arts & Culture (GA&C)
2018-2019
Minor redesign of Rijksstudio, launch of digital products
like the Rijksmuseum app, SnapGuide, You Tube channels

54. COMMERCIAL RE-USE

55. RE-USE BY BROADER PUBLIC

56. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/vogelen
Numerous
successful
public crowd-
sourcing events
& hackathons
CIVIL RE-USE

57. https://datahub.io/nl/dataset/rijksmuseu
m
http://accurator.nl
COMMIT SealincMedia
Project (2015-2016)
+ first tests with triple
store RMA (Chris
Dijkshoorn)
ACADEMIC RE-USE

58. Datasource for
all kinds of different
academic research
ChrisDijkshoorn,LoraAroyo,…
http://www.accurator.nl/#IntroThomas Mensink and Jan van Gemert,
https://staff.fnwi.uva.nl/t.e.j.mensink/uva12/rijks
ACADEMIC RE-USE

59. Datasource for
academic education
EDUCATIONAL RE-USE
Rijksdata Challenge
Information Science Ba1 – olv Victor de Boer (VU)

60. MOBILE DISCOVERY INTERFACE COLLECTIE (2018) incl. wayfinding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPvVzt-jQwM
OPEN DATA LONGTAIL

61. COLLECTION
CONNECTION
CONVERSION
CORE NEW DIGITAL STRATEGY (2019)

62. • Research Data Management & Infrastructure
• Extending Open Collection Data policy
• Opening of - 24/4/2019
• Further development of Rijksstudio
• Review of Social Media policy
NEAR FUTURE

64. EARLY ‘COLLECTION AS DATA’

65. Floor Koeleman (C2DH)
RMA data visualization project (2017)
EARLY ‘COLLECTION AS DATA’

66. • Rise of Technical Art History
• Growing collaboration with Digital Humanities
• Growing body of applied research in AI, data
visualization, distributed search, IoT,
distributed infrastructure
• Growing consensus re interdisciplinary
heritage data modeling
OPPORTUNITIES

67. Copyright Andrew Tallon / Vassar College
3D model of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, 2015

68. The challenge in cultural heritage
today is how information and data
are activated within
a network or digital ecosystem
to connect people with art
TAKE AWAY

69. THANK YOU
Parts of this presentation are based upon
work of and talks with
This presentation uses images & fonts with an open license, except otherwise indicated by an *
Taco Dibbits
Rosemie Callewaert
Nanet Beumer
Loic Tallon
Chris Dijkshoorn
Rob Hendriks
Maarten Kuiper
Lora Aroyo
Trilce Navarrete
Peter Gorgels