Categories
API Collection databases

More on museum datasets, un-comprehensive-ness, data mining

(Another short response post) Thus far we’ve not had much luck with museum datasets. Sure, some of us have made our own internal lives easier by developing APIs for our collection datasets, or generated some good PR by releasing them without restrictions. In a few cases enthusiasts have made mobile apps for us, or made […]

Categories
Developer tools Interactive Media Interviews Mobile User experience

Interview with Rob Manson on Layar, streetARt and the AR Dev Camp

A little while back at the beginning of June we hosted the Sydney AR Dev Camp. Organised by Rob Manson and Alex Young, the AR Dev Camp was aimed at exposing local Sydney developers to some of the recent developments in augmented reality. A free event sponsored by Layar and the Powerhouse, it filled the […]

Categories
Conferences and event reports

Upcoming talks & workshops for Qtr 1 2011

I’ve got a bunch of talks and workshops coming up in the coming months on a range of topics. I hope you can join me for some of them. February 1-4 ALIA 2011 Information Online Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour This year I’m really excited to be doing one of the keynotes at the bi-annual […]

Categories
open content Web 2.0

Downloading, mashing and remixing our collection metadata

As you may know, we released our collection metadata a little while back as a downloadable archive. It is linked from both the NSW Government as well as the Federal Government‘s Data Catalogues. This has enabled it to be used in the current Mashup Australia contest and related Hack Day events and for the forthcoming […]

Categories
Geotagging & mapping Mobile

Augmented reality update – using Powerhouse geocoded photographs on your iPhone 3GS with BuildAR and Layar

So you read about MOB’s implementation of the Powerhouse historical images in Layar for the Android phones . . . well, Layar is now available for the iPhone! You’ll need a 3GS as it uses the compass for orientation but the Layar application is free from the App Store. Once you’ve installed Layar on your […]

Categories
Geotagging & mapping Mobile

Maps are all around us

I was reading Michael Chabon’s piece on childhood last week and one section popped out of the screen – It captured perfectly the mental maps of their worlds that children endlessly revise and refine. Childhood is a branch of cartography. Walking my daughter to school we tiptoe “past the wizard’s house” at the top of […]

Categories
open content

The (Australian) Govt 2.0 Taskforce – introduction and initial thoughts

Well the cat is out of the bag and I’m one of the fifteen members of the Government 2.0 Taskforce! And I’m excited by the possibilities. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it down to Canberra for the launch at Publicsphere2 but I “watched it live on Twitter“. So what is the Taskforce doing? Its work falls […]

Categories
Social media Social networking

Engaging audiences with exhibitions in early development – Signs and the 1980s

Much like other museums we’ve started in earnest committing to engaging collaborators in exhibitions from the earliest stages possible. Our next two big(-ish) exhibitions are using different methods to collate, curate, and select content and ideas. Our upcoming exhibition on Signs which will open around the time of Sydney Design 09 in August has just […]

Categories
Metadata open content Web 2.0

DigitalNZ – API access to New Zealand collections launches

One of the best things I saw at the National Digital Forum in Auckland last week was DigitalNZ. Being a Kiwi myself, I am immensely proud that New Zealand has leapt forward and produced a federated collection product that aggregates and then allows access through a web interface and an open API. That it has […]

Categories
AV Related Digitisation Web 2.0

Video archives in YouTube? – National Library of Scotland

Lorcan Dempsey pointed to this rather excellent presentation titled ‘There’s No Place Like Home?’ from Ann Cameron at the National Library of Scotland. In it she describes way that the NLS has been uploading archival video materials to YouTube and highlights some of the issues around Copyright, and metadata that have emerged from the project. […]