OpenCollection Web-Based Collection Cataloguing and Access Software
I wish we had something like this in our museum - I have a feeling the work being done on the Bio Hall specimen inventory would go much more smoothly...
I remember that, back in the day, some people were nervous about setting up information systems that were web-based for fear of people hacking in and mucking things up. I don't even know if this still a concern, but since accurate records are so vital to museum collections, I wonder how many institutions would opt for this vehicle?
I also wonder if perhaps this system isn't too advanced for many museum collections managers/registrars/etc. Not to imply that most museum people are stodgy old fogies who can't keep up with technology, but...
My Evidence: Who’s the Authority Here?
I wish Galileo was alive and did have a blog...
I love the idea of being able to create personal knowledge maps - the idea of being metareflective on what we think/believe/understand is very intriguing.
This project brings up interesting questions on the idea of authority, something that a lot of people define museums as having.
I agree with Mack that it would be interesting to incorporate categories into the project that weren't necessarily "hard science" based, especially since the Exploratorium touts itself as being "the museum of science, art and human perception."
This sounds great on paper; I wish it was up and running so I could experience it.
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There's a certain amount of technology-phobia to take into account, but OpenCollection doesn't look more complicated to me than Specify or ANCS+ (or ARGUS, probably)--I've yet to see a really simple, intuitive collections database program anyway. It's the all-online part that makes me a bit leery--web connections aren't that reliable at every institution.
OpenCollection is web-based, but that doesn't mean it needs to be accessible to the world or requires a live internet connection. One of the primary motivations for developing a web-based system was that such a system would be compatible with any machine capable of running a relatively recent web-browser. If your device runs FireFox (or Safari or a version of IE released in the past 5 years), it should work with OpenCollection.
Of course, the universal access that comes with running an OpenCollection system on the live internet is attractive to many users, especially those with distributed cataloguing teams. However, if you want to lock down your system to just your organization install it on a web server on your internal network, behind a firewall. Or, if you want a personal system install it on your laptop and configure it to answer requests from your machine only.
"Web-based" is not the same as "online." OpenCollection is web-based. The online part is up to you.
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