Designing for Information Objects: the LAM Information Ecosystem | Design for Context | DC, MD, VA

Museums, libraries and archives hold physical objects that people interact with every day. Their mission includes managing these objects in trust for use by future generations. Digital Humanities adds an important dimension of responsibility. Just as there is a physical object, there is an “Information Object” that people use, and authoritative institutions curate that information for now and the future. This talk is about designing the Information Object, and the role of shareable, structured information.

One unique aspect of the Information Object is that it is not a single thing. It is a jigsaw puzzle which, when completed, represents physical objects. The institution becomes a gateway to an ecosystem of scholarly insights, history, perspectives, and related objects that complete the picture. Curating the information may be perceived as a burden (which we need to make easier!), but it is also a significant opportunity to reinforce the value and authority of institutions that enhance the information ecosystem.

What is the designer’s role? Project teams need a vision to see clearly how it is possible to weave rich, structured data into current sites and applications. Designers bridge the worlds of technologists and curators/archivists/educators. But to do so effectively, designers need to understand what is possible and make it an active part of their design thinking.

We believe passionately that the Information Object is important. Our projects increasingly have a strong emphasis on linked data and semantic web structured metadata. In the now, we are able to improve the search and browse experience, and also serve different types of web users more effectively - from casual viewers to scholars/students to preservationists. For the future, we help establish foundations for information relationships that help the ecosystem grow and preserves the overall Information Object.

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Duane Degler

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The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Collections Website

In this demonstration of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's collection browse website, launched as a beta in September 2019, Duane Degler and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's Rana Chan discuss the project background, linked data architecture approach, and the O'Keeffe team's thoughts on the future. This webinar was presented to the Museum interest group of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) community.
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No Static: IA for Dynamic Information Environments

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Linked Collections and an Enhancement Ecosystem

In their ARLIS/NA poster, Duane Degler and Kate Blanch offer key steps in the theory and practice of managing collection data as linked data, a framework that supports ongoing enhancement of digital resources, and ways to discuss your approach toward digital scholarship.
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In this AAM session, Duane Degler, David Newbury (Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh), and Robert Sanderson (The J. Paul Getty Trust) discuss a range of topics related to the role of open-source software in museum projects.
User Experience Design Considerations for Multi-Museum Online Collaborations

In this MCN2016 session, Duane Degler and Lesley Humphreys share human-centered user experience considerations and requirements that pertain specifically to the challenges faced by collaborations among multiple collections, sites, and institutions.
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Intelligent Understanding of Content Use

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Building Bridges with Taxonomy: Enabling Semantic Integration

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Creating Personal Profiles Across Time and Distance

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Structure and Metadata: Shortening The On-Ramp To Linked Data

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Emerging Tastes: Considering How Preferences Evolve

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Blowing Up the Book: Design Challenges for Online Cultural Heritage Information

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Design Concepts and Lessons from Linked Data for Digital Humanities

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Dynamic IA: External & Internal Contexts for Reframing

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Design Meets Data (Linked, Open, Heterogeneous)

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Enhancement Ecosystems: Enriching Structured Content with User Tagging and Annotation

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IA 2.0: An Open Conversation about Context, Mobility and Semantics

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UI Design for Semantic Web: From Idea to Experience

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Layered, Adaptive Results: Interaction Concepts for Large, Heterogeneous Data Sets

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User Interfaces for the Semantic Web

This is a tangible guided tour of innovative semantic web applications and user interfaces, as well as interesting interfaces that ask the questions: “What is being adopted from current Internet — and Rich Internet — apps and sites? What new design concepts might be possible now or in the future?” The presentation begins to open up opportunities, issues, and implications for people who will be users of the “linked web of data.” And we continue to ask one of our favorite questions: How can it be made easier and more useful?
Preliminary Analysis of Users and Tasks for the Semantic Web

This position paper raises the importance of understanding the users of the Semantic Web and the tasks that will bring them to the Semantic Web. It proposes a high-level framework for categorizing those users and tasks, and provides implications to be considered in end-user interaction design.
Policy Content at SSA: Using XML and Semantic Metadata

A new content management and delivery system has been growing over the past years at SSA. From a content perspective, users have been asking for “simple answers, with all supporting information, relevant to my situation.” From an organizational perspective, the role of content is increasingly seen as integrated with transactional systems in order to sustain quality service delivery in an increasingly complex business environment. From a technology perspective, the use of emerging tools based on XML and semantic technologies provides opportunities for simpler systems that control content maintenance more effectively, improve integration, provide easier content access, and allow migration as systems evolve over time. This case study shows the application and discusses design considerations.
Maintaining Ontology Implementations: The Value of Listening

It's hard to argue against the concepts of self-describing data, contextual interfaces, and richer metadata for content that eventually will make up the Semantic Web. However, it is easy to imagine semantic environments suffering from the same challenges that many content management system implementations and the Web itself suffer from: the preoccupation with data could easily leave us drowning in it. This paper focuses on approaches being explored to promote feedback and user involvement for the maintenance of semantic representations, to ensure they remain useful and current.
The Usability Imperative Inherent in the Semantic Web

A tremendous amount of hope — and hype — has been attached to Tim Berners-Lee's concept of the Semantic Web, where machine-readable “meaning” enriches the promise of the web. Creating a positive, successful, trust-worthy experience for users is crucial to its success. What does that mean? What is imperative for it to become the “next generation” web? Most importantly, why must the usability community play a leading role to shape the Semantic Web in a positive, user-centered way? This paper addresses these questions and more.

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