[ISEA2022] Paper: Tabea Lurk & Jürgen Enge — Accessing and Displaying the Archive

Abstract

Second Summit on New Media Art Archiving
June 11, MACBA – Convent dels Àngels. Long paper.

Keywords: archive, accessibility, digital curation, FAIR, infrastructure

The presentation considers two types of accessibility: Whereas the first focuses on individualized access, presenting an info-screen system for the exhibition context, the second eases findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of museum’s collections through a FAIR-Service.

The pressure to open archives and cultural collections is increasing. Not only the Open- GLAM movement (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) demands easy access to freely usable sources. Civil society and even in-house interests (e.g., communication during the pandemic) point to a considerable need for action. This paper therefore considers two types of accessibility: individualized access for humans and ways of (automated) access for machines.

For interpersonal communication a curation tool for the exhibition context is presented that can be used quickly and is easily deliverable to different online and offline places. The automation aspect is structured according to the so-called FAIR-Principles. Here, too, a digital service is described that makes it easier for those archives and collections to become FAIR (Finable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and capable of (information) dialogues that would otherwise have to retrofit the existing systems. https://github.com/je4

  • Tabea Lurk (DE) hold a PhD in art history & media theory and a master in library & information science. Since August 2015 she has headed the media library of the HGK (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Basel) FHNW (Academy of Art and Design). From 2006-2015 she worked as a lecturer for digital preservation at the Academy of the Arts (BUA) BFH Bern. Between 2008 and 2015 she headed the ArtLab (BUA) which functioned as an interface between the humanities and natural sciences. In 2012 she established the Master of Advances Studies (MAS) in Preservation of Digital Art and Cultural Heritage. Main areas of work: Access to digital information; information literacy; data management in the context of art, design and artistic research; digital archiving.
  • Jürgen Enge (CH) is a computer scientist and head of the IT department at Basel University Library. Previously, he worked at the Academy of Art and Design FHNW Basel, the University of Applied Sciences and Art in Hildesheim, Holzminden und Göttingen (HAWK), the Zurich Univery of Art, Bern University of the Arts, University of Deign (HfG) and Center for Art and Media at Karlsruhe. He has always been interested in the interplay between art, technology and society. He has built extensive and specialized data management and archiving systems. In addition, he has developed countless websites and digital tools that enable (automatized) indexing, sustainability and FAIR access and preservation of cultural digital sources and data. The services described above originate from him. Main areas of work: digital archiving; data & system development; digital communication; information infrastructures.