Palais Liechtenstein. © C.Stadler/Bwag
Digitizing Cultural Heritage: LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections
A collection that wants to be experienced
To ensure that the collections reach the broadest possible audience, each individual object has been carefully photographed and digitally tagged with metadata: The result is a rich collection of not only physical works but also digital assets with an overall size of more than 15 terabytes. LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections has succeeded in efficiently combining the art collection with a digital archive, and Content Platform ensures that the growing treasure trove of digital images of the original works of art is safely stored and can be efficiently maintained.
The next level of Metadata Management
Previously, on the Picturepark On-Premises Server, the metadata from MuseumPlus was recorded in simple text fields on the assets. In contrast, the new Content Platform opens up a new dimension: The information from MuseumPlus is now managed in controlled lists, with the list items containing all linked information and being assigned to the multimedia content in Content Platform as a single Smart Tag during tagging. The great advantage of the lists is that the information only has to be changed once in the list and then all assets tagged with it are automatically updated. Changes to the relevant information in a collection are also adopted in real-time in the Content Platform when changes are made in MuseumPlus via the connector.
READ MORE: Metadata Management - What it is and why it matters
The lists in Content Platform also offer the opportunity to collect extensive information about items in the collection, restoration measures, artists and much more in one central location. Individual entries in a list, such as the data record of a work of art, can be intelligently linked to other entries from the same or other lists. This creates powerful semantic relationships in the Content Platform, which further enrich and contextualize the media data and thus ensure better search results.
— “The lists can be configured flexibly and allow an exact adaptation to the data model of the collection management system, which in Content Platform can be supplemented with any other dimensions.”
Content Platform then suggests terms based on these semantic relationships. For example, a user can search for "Flemish artists" and receive relevant hits on media files that have never been directly tagged with this term. In a similar way, locations are associated with country, region and city - all without the need to manually update each asset with complete location data. The search suggestions when entering data make research easier and show possible contextual terms and filter criteria.
Content workflows and File Naming Conventions (FNC)
Artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning offers new possibilities and a variety of use cases, such as the classification and enrichment of information. The AI metadata tagging in Content Platform is not only suitable for simple stock images, but also for complex scenes such as those shown in the paintings of the Princely Collections.
Nevertheless, the Princely Collections were faced with the question: What options are there to process existing content automatically?
The Princely Collections use a file naming convention. In cooperation with the Content Platform team of consultants, this convention was optimized and stored in Content Platform in the form of a regular expression. Based on clear information patterns, the built-in Content Platform Business Rule Engine can automatically perform various tasks.
Keywording was automated for the Princely Collections: by dragging and dropping a file with a filename such as GE00001_G01B01_PR_6803.tif, which is automatically linked to the corresponding list element in Content Platform and the associated work information. Even more: The filename convention can read out additional information such as the front or rear view or quality and processing levels and tag them accordingly.
Special thanks go to the LIECHTENSTEIN team for working with us on this case study. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna. On the website of the Princely Collections, it is possible to learn more about the high-profile art, for information on guided tours and events in the Princely Palace in Vienna visit the website of Palais Liechtenstein.
Image credits: © LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna; © Bwag/CC-BY-SA-4.0
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