Developing a Digital Archive: Mexican Masks

  • April 12, 2023
  • 1:00 PM - 2:30 CST
  • Mundelein 419
  • Dr. Elizabeth Hopwood, ehopwood@luc.edu
  • $0
  • Open to the public.
  • https://www.luc.edu/ctsdh/
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  • Details

    A museum object is normally understood to be the physical, material object plus the information about the object. The latter is usually encapsulated in catalogue technologies and is often the primary driver of meaning in the museum context. Museum catalogues set parameters of value for museum objects; they tell us what information is important and worth keeping.
    In recent years, anthropologists, information scientists and digital humanists have called attention to the ways in which metadata standards and similar descriptive practices both increase discoverability and position objects within interpretive domains. This presentation of a work-in-progress will consider how one category of museum objects, Mexican masks held in the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, are (re)created in digital records. The focus will be on the development of a separate digital archive using Omeka C dedicated to increasing accessibility to these objects while considering the social and institutional dynamics of meaning-making.
    Please register for this event by using this link: https://tinyurl.com/MexicanMasks