Class Participation (10%)

Class participation is required for everyone. This means you need to engage in the class discussion at least once, in class, each week. You can do this very easily by asking or answering questions in the text chat, but please note that participation means making a meaningful contribution to an ongoing discussion; simply attending class does not count as participation.

You have two free passes for the semester -- no explanation needed -- and of course you won't be penalized for a legitimate, excused absence (just drop me an email explaining what is happening, before class if possible). Each day of non-participation (beyond the two free passes and excused absences) will subtract a point from your class participation grade.

Individual Project 1: Digital Objects (20%)

Assignment due Sunday, October 6. Please submit your assignment to Canvas.

This is an individual assignment that builds upon our readings and in-class discussions, and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of how museums are using information technologies to connect visitors with museum artifacts in and out of the museum.

To complete this assignment, you'll use an open-source, web-publishing platform called Omeka (you'll get a login for our Omeka server in class) to create object records, including images, for five cultural or natural objects of your choice from your own personal collections.

You will catalogue those objects using museum metadata standards. By default, Omeka uses the Dublin Core data structure standard (why?), but you should consider how you can use data content standards like Cataloging Cultural Objects, and data value standards like the Getty Vocabularies to guide your content creation process.

When you have finished creating your five records on our class Omeka server, write and submit a paper to the class Canvas site covering the following points, in this order, using subheadings to separate each point:

  1. Provide a link to your five Omeka records (which should be grouped into a collection or appropriately tagged with your name or other identifying information).
  2. Describe the five objects you selected for this assignment, and identify the metadata standards you used to guide the process of documenting these objects, explaining why and how you used those standards while creating your records.
  3. Discuss any difficulties you encountered, decisions you had to make, or questions you had to answer while completing this assignment, and explain how you arrived at your solutions to these problems.
  4. Drawing upon your experiences completing this assignment, explain what have you learned about the best practices museum professionals should employ when creating digital records for museum artifacts?

Submit your assignment to Canvas under the "Individual Project 1" assignment. Make sure your submission includes the name and number of the course, the instructor's name, YOUR NAME, the name of the assignment, and the date submitted. Length: minimum 1000 words.

Project Prompts for Project 1 (2 @ 5% each)

Due Sunday, Sept. 15, and Sept. 22. Please post to the appropriate Project Prompt Discussion in Canvas.

To help prepare you for your individual projects, each project has two project prompts; answering these prompts will help ensure that you are on track to complete your assignments on time. Here are the project prompts for Individual Project 1 (Digital Objects):

  1. Project Prompt 1a. Due September 15. What (five) objects have you chosen to document in Omeka? What do you think will be the most challenging thing about describing these objects using the Dublin Core metadata standard?
  2. Project Prompt 1b. Due September 22. What additional metadata standards (i.e., beyond the Dublin Core) are you using to guide your data entry in Omeka? Are you using data content standards (such as Cataloging Cultural Objects) to determine what information goes in which Dublin Core element? Are you using data value standards (such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings) to standardize your data entry through controlled vocabularies?

To complete each Project Prompt, post your answers to the above questions to the correct discussion forum on Canvas. Please include links and/or screenshots as necessary so that we can better understand what you are doing and/or follow-up to learn more about your ideas! Length: minimum 50 words.

Individual Project 2: Digital Systems (20%)

Assignment due Sunday, November 3. Please submit your assignment to Canvas.

This is an individual assignment that builds upon our readings and in-class discussions, and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of how museums are providing opportunities for individuals to interact with their collections through information systems.

To complete this assignment, you'll use an open-source, collections management system called CollectionSpace (you'll get a login for the server in class) to create museum collections management records, including images, for a single cultural or natural object of your choice from your own personal collections (this can be one of the same objects you used in the previous assignment, or a new object altogether).

You will first create a new "Primary Record" for your selected object in CollectionSpace (please make a new record from scratch, making sure your name and the name and number of this course are clearly marked in this record), then create Related Records -- e.g., an Acquisition Record, a Condition Check Record, a Media Handling Record, a Loan Out Record, an Object Exit Record -- that simulate the process of accessioning a new object into a museum, filling out condition reports, uploading images, sending the object out on loan, and finally deaccessioning the object -- following appropriate collections management procedures (such as Spectrum) at each step along the way.

When you have finished creating your records on the CollectionSpace server, write and submit a paper to the class Canvas site covering the following points, in this order, using subheadings to separate each point:

  1. Provide a link to your object's "Primary Record" in CollectionSpace (which should include your name or other identifying information).
  2. Describe the object you selected for this assignment, and identify the standards or best practices you used to guide the process of creating the collections management records for this object, explaining why and how you used those guidelines.
  3. Discuss any difficulties you encountered, decisions you had to make, or questions you had to answer while completing this assignment, and explain how you arrived at your solutions to these problems.
  4. Drawing upon your experiences completing this assignment, explain what have you learned about the best practices museum professionals should employ when working with collections management systems?

Submit your assignment to Canvas under the "Individual Project 2" assignment. Make sure your submission includes the name and number of the course, the instructor's name, YOUR NAME, the name of the assignment, and the date submitted. Length: minimum 1000 words.

Project Prompts for Project 2 (2 @ 5% each)

Due Sunday, Oct. 13, and Oct. 20. Please post to the appropriate Project Prompt Discussion in Canvas.

To help prepare you for your individual projects, each project has two project prompts; answering these prompts will help ensure that you are on track to complete your assignments on time. Here are the project prompts for Individual Project 2 (Digital Systems):

  1. Project Prompt 2a. Due October 13. What (single) object have you chosen to document in CollectionSpace? What steps in the (hypothetical) lifecycle of this object are hoping to document in CollectionSpace?
  2. Project Prompt 2b. Due October 20. What do you think will be most challenging thing about documenting your object's (hypothetical) lifecycle in CollectionSpace? What standards or best practices are you using to guide the process of creating collections management records for your object?

To complete each Project Prompt, post your answers to the above questions to the correct discussion forum on Canvas. Please include links and/or screenshots as necessary so that we can better understand what you are doing and/or follow-up to learn more about your ideas! Length: minimum 50 words.

Individual Project 3: Digital Knowledge (20%)

Assignment due Sunday, December 8. Please submit your assignment to Canvas.

This is an individual assignment that builds upon our readings and in-class discussions, and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of how museums are encouraging users of all types to become active participants in the co-creation of new knowledge centered around museum information resources.

To complete this assignment, you'll select a publicly available crowdsourcing application either developed or made available by a museum that encourages you to add your knowledge to a set of information records, and then contribute your knowledge to five information resources (broadly defined, as appropriate to your application) as instructed by the system you have selected.

The specific details of your contributions will naturally vary depending on the application you have selected, but your goal should be to contribute sufficient information to this resource for you to develop a good understanding of how your selected crowdsourcing application works, how your contributions will be used (in theory at least), and why the users of this system would want to contribute their knowledge to this resource.

When you have completed your contributions to your selected museum crowdsourcing application, write and submit a paper to the class Canvas site covering the following points, in this order, using subheadings to separate each point:

  1. Provide a link to your contributions (if it's not possible to link directly to your contributions, please include screenshots showing your work).
  2. Describe the contributions you made to this crowdsourcing application, and identify any resources you used to guide your data entry process, explaining why and how you used those resources while contributing your knowledge.
  3. Discuss any difficulties you encountered, decisions you had to make, or questions you had to answer while completing this assignment, and explain how you arrived at your solutions to these problems.
  4. Drawing upon your experiences completing this assignment, explain what have you learned about the best practices museum professionals should employ when involving museum visitors in the co-creation of digital knowledge?

Submit your assignment to Canvas under the "Individual Project 3" assignment. Make sure your submission includes the name and number of the course, the instructor's name, YOUR NAME, the name of the assignment, and the date submitted. Length: minimum 1000 words.

Project Prompts for Project 3 (2 @ 5% each)

Due Sunday, Nov. 10, and Nov. 24. Please post to the appropriate Project Prompt Discussion in Canvas.

To help prepare you for your individual projects, each project has two project prompts; answering these prompts will help ensure that you are on track to complete your assignments on time. Here are the project prompts for Individual Project 3 (Digital Knowledge):

  1. Project Prompt 3a. Due November 10. What publicly available crowdsourcing application have you selected for this assignment? What interests you about this application? Why has this organization turned to crowdsourcing for this particular application?
  2. Project Prompt 3b. Due November 24. What guidelines are available for you to consult about the process of contributing to this crowdsourcing application? What challenges do you think you will encounter as you follow these guidelines? How useful do you think your contributions will be for the organization running this application?

To complete each Project Prompt, post your answers to the above questions to the correct discussion forum on Canvas. Please include links and/or screenshots as necessary so that we can better understand what you are doing and/or follow-up to learn more about your ideas! Length: minimum 50 words.

Notes on Individual Project Assignments

Submissions are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (EDT or EST, as appropriate) on the dates indicated above. Late assignments will not receive full credit. If you have extenuating circumstances, please let me know ASAP.

When the papers are marked, points will be assigned based on the assumption that you have carefully followed, read, and understood the assignment descriptions. Please do not hesitate to ask for clarifications!

Written Assignments should be submitted to Canvas as an individual file (PDF preferred), and please make sure your surname is part of the filename.

All submissions must include a title page or section with your name, the name and number of the course, the instructor's name, the name of the assignment, and the date submitted.

You are required to use headings and/or subheadings to make the organization of your paper clear to the reader. The main headings in your paper must correspond to the main sections of the assignment descriptions, listed above. Subdivide each section to reflect its content as necessary.

Papers must be demonstrably spell-checked, grammar-checked, and proofread for nonsense; failure to do so will result in a lower grade.