Cooper-Hewitt case study


Screenshots

A data visualization of Cooper-Hewitt collections created by Bart Davis.

 

 

Contacts

(where can people find out more?)

 

Project URLs

Follow their progress at: http://labs.cooperhewitt.org 

Machine-readable data link: https://github.com/cooperhewitt/collection 

Documentation: http://www.cooperhewitt.org/collections/data 

License: http://www.cooperhewitt.org/collections/data

Data usage guidelines: https://github.com/cooperhewitt/collection/wiki/Date-Usage-Guidelines 

Sandpit: (is there somewhere you can test out queries?)

Press release: http://labs.cooperhewitt.org/2012/releasing-collection-github/ 

 

What's available?

How many records? Over 120,000 objects

Includes metadata? Yes

Includes data? No

Includes digital surrogates? No

(List licenses if different from default)

 

Data interface type(s) and format(s)

Download from github

 

Ontologies, vocabularies

 

Licence(s)

Creative Commons Zero (CC0) dedication 'in order to reduce any uncertainty about the "legitimate uses" of this dataset'.

 

Project summary

Date started:

Date launched: February 2012

Reason/motivation: "Cooper-Hewitt is committed to making its collection data available for public access. To date, we have made public approximately 60% of the documented collection available online. Whilst we have a web interface for searching the collection, we are now also making the dataset available for free public download. By being able to see "everything" at once, new connections and understandings may emerge." Source: http://www.cooperhewitt.org/collections/data

"With the growing Digital Humanities field, there is increasing value in scholars being able to ‘see’ a collection at a macro, zoomed out level – something which just isn’t possible with search interfaces. Likewise the release of such data under liberal licenses or to the public domain brings closer a future in which cross-institutional discovery is the norm.

Philosophically, too, the public release of collection metadata asserts, clearly, that such metadata is the raw material on which interpretation through exhibitions, catalogues, public programmes, and experiences are built. On its own, unrefined, it is of minimal ‘value’ except as a tool for discovery. It also helps remind us that collection metadata is not the collection itself." Source: http://labs.cooperhewitt.org/2012/releasing-collection-github/ 

Partners/funders/provocateurs, etc:

Linked from relevant main site sections? Not from collections pages but yes from other pages.

Designed for use internally? (are they drinking their own champagne and building a service they will use for internal or partnership projects?)

 

Reception, comments, things made with it