User-centred collection metadata: from images as information to facilitating socio-affective connections
| Date | 02 September 2024 |
| Pages | 1626-1644 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2024-0031 |
| Published date | 02 September 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Cassandra Kist,Maria Economou |
User-centred collection
metadata: from images
as information to facilitating
socio-affective connections
Cassandra Kist
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow, UK, and
Maria Economou
Department of Information Studies, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK and
The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Abstract
Purpose –As museums and other memory institutions continue to invest considerably in mass-digitising
collections and participating in large search portals, it is essential to understand existing and potential
users, their motivations and search needs to inform collections’documentatio n. In this article, we discuss
insights from a co llaborative project with National Museums Scotland, set up to enhance the findability of
collection images and inform documentation practices by understanding the collections users and their
search terms.
Design/methodology/approach–The researchinvolved interviews with National Museums Scotland staff,
users and non-users of the Museums’Search our Collections portal encompassing a concept mapping and card
sort activity; online surveys and content analysis of user search queries.
Findings –The project revealed that participants are interested in searching the online collections by terms
often not represented incollections metadata, including terms related to identity (their own but also others’) and
social context (e.g. through seasonal and social events); emotional and sensory interests (e.g. visual
characteristics) and narrative themes (e.g. on under-represented histories).
Originality/value –Based on the findings, we further theorise the semantic gap in online museum collection
metadata. To bridge this gap and cater to how users search, we argue for a paradigm shift in documentation
practices: suggesting practitioners shouldnot only view collection images as information but also tap into their
rich potential for enabling social and affective connections.
Keywords Collection images, Semantic gap, User research, Online catalogues, Image tagging,
National Museums Scotland, Cultural heritage, Museum documentation
Paper type Research paper
JD
80,6
1626
We would like to thank the following for sharing their time, expertise and advice: all the National
Museums Scotland staff, especially the Collections Data and Digitisation Team, as well as external
workshop, survey and interview participants who generously gave their time and offered us valuable
insights; Our colleagues at The Hunterian, the College of Arts, and the Research and Innovation Services
at the University of Glasgow for supporting us throughout the project, providing us with feedback and
advice, pointing us to relevant literature and sharing their personal experiences and advice on methods.
Funding: This project received funding from the University of Glasgow’s Global Knowledge
Exchange Fund (GKEF) with contribution from National Museums Scotland.
Disclosure: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
Data availability statement: The authors confirm that some of the anonymised data supporting the
findings of this study are available within the article. Unprocessed data are not shared publicly as the
participants did not give written consent for this. Aggregated and anonymised data from the surveys,
user queries and participant interviews are available at the University of Glasgow Enlighten research
data depository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5525/gla.researchdata.1490.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 9 February 2024
Revised 5 June 2024
Accepted 10 June 2024
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 80 No. 6, 2024
pp. 1626-1644
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-02-2024-0031
Introduction
While museum exhibitions have, over the last few decades, shifted away from taxonomic
categorisations to storytelling centred around themes and participatory opportunities, the
way online collections are displayed and can be interacted with has lagged (Gil-Fuentetaja
and Economou, 2019). Some practitioners have criticised the fact that collections online still
represent catalogue/database card files, suggesting that museums must relinquish this
format to embrace 3D, interactivity and more immersive/emotional experiences that support
users’meaning making (Newbury and Brennan, 2021). Cultural heritage institutions have
struggled to cater to audiences of online collections and tend to have less confidence in the
quality of collection pages compared to other digital museum offerings (One Further, 2022).
This lack of confidence may be underpinned by uncertainty regarding who collection
webpages are intended for (Bailey-Ross, 2021;Newbury and Brennan, 2021), a conflict
between the quantity of collections online and the quality of digitisations (especially with
stretched staff time) (Martin, 2021) and the ambiguity of the resulting use/value for different
publics (Hopes, 2014).
A key challenge regarding the use and access of online collections is the “semantic gap”,
which is frequently highlightedin studies of museum searchportals. The “semanticgap”refers
to the disconnect created by expert terminologies, values and practices of museum staff
applying metadata [1] which might serve institutional needs but not necessarily those of end
users outside the museum (Dahlgren, 2022;Klavans et al., 2014). This is a central challenge
addressed throughout our project with National Museums Scotland (the Museums) on which
this paper is based. We report hereon some of the findings of ourcollaborative project which
aimedto illuminate thetypes of terms onlineaudiences useto search and use thisunderstanding
to inform documentation practices, improving access and use of collectionimages.
Through this research, we reveal some of the terms online audiences are interested in
searching the collections by, which suggest that the online collections harbour potential for
enabling social and affective forms of engagement. However, this seems to be untapped
primarily because of a disconnect between these user terms and the metadata and
information management practices of staff in cultural heritage institutions. The latter
predominantly focus on images as information, which refers to documentation practices that
strive for objectivity, accurateness, specificity and efficiency (Dahlgren, 2022). In contrast,
our findings suggest that a perception of collection images as not only information, but as
enabling users’emotional and social connections is essential. Building on these findings, we
argue that cultural organisations should widen their documentation practices to include
sensory and affective terms, those related to social identity and cultural contexts, and broader
themes that can support narrative threads. This shift in documentation practices would
support the increasing efforts of cultural heritage institutions to sustain user engagement and
participation with digitised collections in ways that are socially and emotionally meaningful.
Addressing the semantic gap with National Museums Scotland
During this project (2022–2023), 2023 National Museums Scotland were undergoing
significant changes aiming to increase both their media production and access to online
collections through images and 3D digitisations. Previous research, reported in Chowdhury
et al. (2022), revealed limited access to the online collections through the Museums’main
collections portal ‘Search Our Collections (SoC): less than 2% of online collections were
accessed by anyone; online collections users tended to be new and not returning; and there
was a gap between the terms applied by staff to the collection metadata and those used by
users to search the collections. In response, the Museums have been undertaking research,
including the project we report on here, but also a staff-led project on investigating the
usability of different collection search portals.
Journal of
Documentation
1627
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