1 On Digital Archives for sharing cultural resources KUBO, Masatoshi Professor, Research Center for...

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On Digital Archives for sharing cultural resources

KUBO, Masatoshi

Professor, Research Center for Cultural Resources,

National Museum of Ethnology (NME)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

2006/01/23　[email protected]

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The general functions of the National Museum of Ethnology (NME)(1) Ethnological and anthropological research(2) Collection, conservation of ethnographical materials and information(3) Public Exhibition

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Storage for Artifacts about 260,000 artifacts

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Storage for Audio Visual Materials

Original Negative Film in Special Cool Room with 12-degree C.

Movable Shelves in Room with 18-degree C.

about 70,000 materials

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Exhibit Hall 10,000 artifacts are exhibited in about 10,000 m2

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Question about Ethnographical Materials Management

1) Is it a true assumption that the ethnographical materials described or collected by a researcher is objective?

2) Could the relation between the described-side and describing-side be viewed with symmetry? The latter is sometimes dominant over the former in political, economic, and even cultural phases.

3) Are the ethnographical materials collected and described by the dominant side sometimes exclusively possessed by that side, not to mention "cultural deprivation"?

Answer to above question seems to(1) renaming of ethnographical materials(2) introduction of forum-type collaboration

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Renaming “Ethnographical Materials” to “Cultural Resources”

Term “ethnography” implies that materials are viewed from describing-side only.

On the other hand;

Term “cultural resources” implies 1) They are primarily owned by site people 2) They are resources for understanding own culture as well as other culture 3) They are also a kind of “global commons” 　　　　　　　　－ toward “treasury of human wisdom”

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Resources visible or easy to become visible

- visible products from cultural heritage to daily necessities-documents of tangible and intangible cultural heritage represented by text, image, moving image, sound, etc.- secondary documents- tertiary documents

Invisibleembodied resources

- knowledge- skill- technique- know-how

Invisiblesystem-like resources- human-network- organization- institution-concept of intellectual properties etc.

Coverage of “Cultural Resources”

TCH (Tangible Cultural Heritage)

instruments, objects, artifacts, cultural spaces

- oral traditions and expressions- performing arts- social practices, rituals, festive events - knowledge and practices - traditional craftsmanship

Immovable CH sites, landscape, etc.

ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage)

In Context of UNESCO

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Key Points about Cultural Resources

- Cultural resources are alive and inherently changeful, should not be taken as frozen.- Cultural resources covers not only outstanding masterpieces, but also everything relating to daily and ordinary life.- The concept of “authenticity” should be excluded. Every cultural group has the rights to revive, modify, recreate, merge existing resources, if it provides them with a sense of identity and continuity.- Ownership of the resources must be respected. When managing them, owners must be involved as equal- partners, based on predefined “codes of ethics”.

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Key Issue forManaging Cultural Resources

(1) Needs of literacy in cultural resources management(2) Needs of archivists specializing in each specific area(3) Sustainable conservation and use of cultural resources One solution is digitizing, but eternal “data migration” will be necessary to follow up the rapid change of both data format and storage media.(4) Balance between protection of various rights of resources and sharing of them. * pro-patent vs. public-domain * consideration on non-Western concept of rights “culturally defined intellectual properties”(5) Balance between cost and performance * “true multi media”

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Key Issue forCulturally Defined Intellectual Properties

(1) collective rights, custodianship(2) specific profile rights; ex. Australian Aboriginal culture prohibits exposing faces of the

deceased person

(3) access to sacred/secret cultural resources; access must be limited, with the consent of relevant cultural

owners

(4) problem of “repatriation”

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Discussion On “Commons”

Western World

pro-patentpro-IP (Intellectual

Properties)

anti-patent, anti-IP movements

“commons” ex. creative commons

Non-Western World

pro-patent, pro-IP for claiming rights, identity, etc.

culturally defined intellectual properties

ex. “cultural moral rights”

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About Repatriation

Probable Solutions;

(1) Where cultural ownership can be established, and those institutions can demonstrate their ability to preserve and maintain the items, the resource must be repatriated.

(2) Where preservation and maintenance of resources at the owner society is difficult, ownership and information or copy is repatriated, while original resources themselves will be maintained at the proper institutes or museums.

Based on the negotiation, information can be shared between owner and keeper organization.

Virtual Repatriation

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Establishing forum for sharing cultural resources among

cultural owners, researchers and users including web/museum visitors, that has the following effects:

(1) Shift from exclusive control by specialists to sharing and joint works

(2) Change of research ethics

(3) Upgrading information through sharing

(4) Cultural restoration at the sites

(5) Shift from construction of intellectual databases to discovery of human wisdom

(6) The effects of fusion of the humanities and natural sciences

Proposal: Introduction of Forum-Type Collaboration in the Cultural Resources

Management

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Investigation　＆ Collection of Materials

Conservation and Keeping

Documentation & Computerization

Put to Public Use

Put to Academic Use

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Social and International Collaboration

Headwaters Upper Stream Mid Stream Lower Stream

Flow of Cultural Resources Management

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Flow of Cultural Resources Management and Forum-Type Collaboration

Activity

StageItem

Investigation and Collection

Research Advanced Research

Fieldwork Joint research Collection Symposium Film-shootingJoint research and collection

with institutes or researchers at the siteJoint research and information collection

with domestic and foreign museums

Lecture Exhibition Event for publicPublishing including

electronic formSeminarPublic performanceOpening website

Field-notes Archival documents Images and photosMoving images

Papers for research workshop

Records of research workshop

Records of discussion

DocumentsGenerated

Survey of research areaCatalogues of related

books and documents Data collectionDatabase Directory of researchers

Block copyMultimedia contentsVideo films Database Teaching and learning

materials

Member ofForum onthe Internet

Researcher Researcher at the site Local informant

Joint researchcollaborator Researcher in related field

Registered member (Read/Write)

The general public (Read Only Member) Persons engaged

in educationPersons engaged

in publishing

Put toPublic Use

Technical support Finances and

personnel managementLiaison CoordinationManagement of

intellectual properties Management of moral rightsand rights of publicity Direction and

production of contents

Headwaters Upper Stream Lower StreamMid Stream

Role of ResearchCenter andInformationCenter

Flow of Cultural Resources Management

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Examples of forum-type database/archives project we were/are concerned

(1) Collaboration of Japanese museums and art galleries

(2) Making and sharing of ethnographical videos between NME and museums in Southeast Asia

(3) MEF (Multimedia Educational Forum) with school teachers in Osaka Prefecture

(4) Creation of cultural macro-micro time-space map: for investigating Eco-History of Southeast Asia

(5) Museum-network for sharing ethnological archival collection between Laos and Japan

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Concept of MEF (Multimedia Educational Forum)

• MEF is a NPO composed of high-school teachers, researchers, computer venders, etc. in Osaka Prefecture.• Registered member can upload digital teaching materials to the forum, namely digital archives.• School teachers can download any set of digital materials to form their own “digital teaching contents.”• Experiences are shared through this forum.• MEF acts as a consultant on Intellectual Properties of digital materials.• MEF also supports to form and expand human-network among school teachers.

MEF

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Proposal: Establishing worldwide forum collaboration for sharing cultural resources

Local museums, institutions, etc.

Hub information center databases/archives services clearinghouse services supporting services

Regional forum

Regional forum

Regional forum

Global forum

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Requirements for the database/archives

that enables forum-type collaboration

(1) Mechanism for harvesting or cross-search among various types of databases/archives

(2) Mechanism for registered member to add to or modify existing information

(3) Ensuring individual rights and responsibility(4) Protection of intellectual properties including culturally defined ones.

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Centralized passive clearinghouseWeb Browseror IR-client

Database2-1

Clearinghouse

Institute-2

①

① Offer common indices and part of data records ② Retrieval of candidate data ③ Retrieval of detailed information

①

Database2-2

Database1-1

Database1-2

②②

③③

Client-Side

Server-Side

Web Browseror IR-client

Institute-1

Directory of Indices andPart of data records

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Centralized active clearinghouseWeb Browseror IR-client

Harvesting Engine

Database2-1

Clearinghouse

Institute-2

①

① Harvest data items for constructing directory ② Retrieval of data records

①

Database2-2

Database1-1

Database1-2

②②Client-Side

Server-Side


Institute-1

Search Engine

Indices and part of data

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Decentralized Cross-search System


Database2-1

Institute-2

Cross-search Gate Way

Client-Side

Server-Side


Metadata representation

Server for standard protocol

Database2-2



Database1-1

Institute-1

Cross-search Gate Way



Database1-2



Accessing by standard protocol

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Experimental decentralized cross-search system conducted by

National Institute of Japanese Literature

Participating Institutes National Institute of Japanese Literature National Museum of Japanese History Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University International Research Center for Japanese Studies National Institute of Informatics National Museum of Ethnology

Present Activity* Study of effectiveness of Z39.50* Feasibility study of protocol other than Z39.50 like OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) * Study of constructing thesaurus; for terms, place-names, era-names, etc.

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System Configuration of MARS (Multi Archives Retrieval System)

Attribute/Valuepair using XML

Metadata (such asDublin Core)representationusing XML

Z39.50 Server

Z39.50 MappingFunction

Z39.50Client

Application Logic

Z39.50 Server

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Client

Application Logic

HTTP Server

Web BrowserWeb Browser

Web Browser

attribute set

Z39.50 Server

attribute set

Z39.50 Server

attribute set

Z39.50 Server

attribute set

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Server

Z39.50Server

Z39.50 - Web Gateway

Z39.50 Gateway withNME’sRecommendation

SubDatabase-1










SubDatabase-2 SubDatabase-3 SubDatabase-4

CIMI Profile

Z39.50Client

HTTP Server

Application Logic

HTTP Server

Application Logic

HTTP Server

Application Logic

HTTP Server

Application Logic

Z39.50Server

Z39.50 Client

Web Browser Web Browser

FromOther Institutions

FromOther Institutions

Cross-Search Interface

Simple-Search Interface

MARS (Multi Archives Retrieval System)

Z39.50Client

Application Logic

Z39.50 Server

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Client

Z39.50Client

Z39.50 – Cross Search Gateway

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