Selected Cultural Heritage Publications, Talks, and Interviews
Following are selected papers and articles I have written or to which I have contributed. Also included are interviews and a video. All refer to the value of documentation and vocabulary standards and linking cultural heritage data around the globe. Papers, Articles, Interviews, Videos“Creating a Digital Cultural Heritage Ecosystem: Global Documentation Standards and Linked Open Data,” Eleanor Fink, EuroMed Conference, November 2018The paper covers the role of documentation, early history of the Getty Vocabularies, beginnings of Object ID, Concept of the Virtual Database, Linked Open Data and the American Art Collaborative “A major challenge for museums is that senior management does not always recognize documentation as a long-term infrastructure commitment. Rather than financially commit to a digital strategic plan that includes updating technology, improving documentation practices, adhering to international standards, hiring additional staff with technical expertise and improving staff skills, museum leaders tend to prefer budgets for “shiny” technology projects that draw audiences and please trustees. These executives are missing the big picture – namely that the data points used within an institution when developed according to international standards and good practices can allow data to be shared and enable a museum’s objects and/or artifacts to be connected with related data about them as part a larger network of museum and non-museum data throughout the world. In contrast, to begin research today, you must know where to look or which institution has works by a given artist or school.Connecting data would allow us more easily to grasp and make associations about the lifework of an artist, the scope of a particular style, or the details of a historic period. It could drive new kinds of entry points for audiences, new types of exhibition storytelling, and new possibilities for creative inquiry”https://eleanorfink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Creating-a-Digital-Cultural-Heritage-Ecosystem-revised-June-2020-x.pdf“American Art Collaborative Linked Open Data Initiative: Overview and Recommendations for Good Practices,” Eleanor Fink, Smithsonian Institution, January 2018Covers the history of AAC, Its mission, work plan, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for good practices. It also includes an extensive FAQ to help organizations better understand LOD, as well as plan and manage its implementation:https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/106410/OverviewandRecommendationsAccessible.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=yVoices Interview marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Museum Computer Network, 2017: https://mcn.edu/mcn50-voices-eleanor-e-fink-dara-lohnes-davies/“Beyond the Hyperlink: Linked Open Data Creates New Opportunities,” Eleanor Fink, Museum (American Alliance of Museums), Jul/Aug. 2015: https://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=263069&article_id=2036527&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5“How Linked Open Data Can Help in Locating Stolen or Looted Cultural Property,” Eleanor E. Fink, Pedro Szekely, and Craig A. Knoblock, EuroMed, November 2014, SpringerLink: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13695-0_22#:~:text=Documentation%20is%20an%20essential%20and,in%20a%20court%20of%20law.&text=Through%20an%20advancement%20of%20the,on%20cultural%20heritage%20becomes%20possible“Linked Open Data: The Internet and Museums”, Eleanor Fink, American Art Review, June 2014“Linked Open Data: Interview with Eleanor Fink,” Visual Resources: an international journal on images and their uses, Volume 30, Issue 2, 2014: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01973762.2014.908101“Connecting the Smithsonian American Art Museum to the Linked Data Cloud ” Pedro Szekely, Craig A. Knoblock, Fengyu Yang, Xuming Zhu, Eleanor E. Fink, Rachel Allen, and Georgina Goodlander, 2013, SpringerLink:https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-38288-8_40“Art Clouds: Reminiscences and Prospects for the Future” Talk by Eleanor Fink at Princeton University Digital World of Art History, July 13, 2012: https://ima.princeton.edu/the-digital-world-of-art-history/”The Getty Information Institute: A Retrospective,” Eleanor Fink, D-Lib Magazine, 1999, http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march99/fink/03fink.html“Sharing Cultural Entitlements in the Digital Age: Are we Building a Garden of Eden or a Patch of Weeds,” Keynote talk by Eleanor Fink, Museums and the Web Conference, Los Angeles, 1997: https://www.archimuse.com/mw97/speak/fink.htm “The Virtual Database: Art Information on the Networks,” J. Paul Getty Trust, 1994, Video is about the concept of being able to seamlessly search across the universe of art information, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IuavP0M7HThcYydGAEpzxGKebmGSyKwU/view?usp=sharing. (Note: there is a 10-second black screen at the beginning)