Novel application of computational approaches in addressing problematic terminology and descriptions within V&A Museum catalogues
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Engineering Science
Abstract
"Novel application of computational approaches in addressing problematic terminology and descriptions within V&A Museum catalogues" investigates the application of computational methods in addressing problematic terminology and descriptions within Victoria & Albert Museum catalogues. It applies and extends existing methods from the fields of computational linguistics and information science to identify, analyse, and structure insights about terminology use and description within museum catalogue data. The project takes place in the context of work at the V&A in which descriptions within collections need to be better understood and addressed, with the aim of assisting computationally in the detection of problematic terminology and descriptions. It is supported by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Oxford, with expertise from the Departments of Linguistics and Engineering, and the Oxford e-Research Centre.
The study will survey existing (digital and non-digital) approaches and practice from across the museum sector, proposing a coherent conceptual information framework within which the above tasks can be expressed as requirements, and matched to the affordances of computational algorithms. This framework will also provide the basis for exchange of terminology and description analyses between collections and institutions, so that analysis of one catalogue can bootstrap or inform understanding of another. Finally, this project will develop digital tools and methods which can computationally assist in the detection, and potentially correction, of problematic terminology and descriptions within catalogue data.
Being able to exchange and compare research and data between different catalogues and institutions will be a key consideration for future digital practice, which this project will explore. However, before embarking on this work in practice, it is essential to gain a better understanding of how algorithmic application varies across different catalogues and collections, since otherwise any structured data risks being misleadingly reductive. By characterising the information structures for different catalogues and collections, the study has the potential to propose a superset for use by Linked Art. Similarly, this improved understanding of how applied computational linguistics is affected by the characteristics of the dataset will inform the use of comparator data from elsewhere.
The appropriate computational linguistics methods anticipated for this project are mature and well-understood; therefore, innovation in these is not intended to be a primary outcome. Rather, the research contribution is the application of these methods and the implications for practice. This will be the principal contribution of the project: to propose solutions bringing digital innovations to catalogues as they really are.
The intellectual focus of the study will be in identifying and developing future digital practice to incorporate computational linguistics methods within the institution, particularly in cataloging. Colonial ideology is often embedded in museums in ways that make it very difficult to detect using computational tools and methods: this project aims to discover the limits of these boundaries and seeks to ask which issues can be detected and corrected using computational approaches and which require detailed manual work.
This project falls within the AHRC Linguistics - Lexicon research area.
The study will survey existing (digital and non-digital) approaches and practice from across the museum sector, proposing a coherent conceptual information framework within which the above tasks can be expressed as requirements, and matched to the affordances of computational algorithms. This framework will also provide the basis for exchange of terminology and description analyses between collections and institutions, so that analysis of one catalogue can bootstrap or inform understanding of another. Finally, this project will develop digital tools and methods which can computationally assist in the detection, and potentially correction, of problematic terminology and descriptions within catalogue data.
Being able to exchange and compare research and data between different catalogues and institutions will be a key consideration for future digital practice, which this project will explore. However, before embarking on this work in practice, it is essential to gain a better understanding of how algorithmic application varies across different catalogues and collections, since otherwise any structured data risks being misleadingly reductive. By characterising the information structures for different catalogues and collections, the study has the potential to propose a superset for use by Linked Art. Similarly, this improved understanding of how applied computational linguistics is affected by the characteristics of the dataset will inform the use of comparator data from elsewhere.
The appropriate computational linguistics methods anticipated for this project are mature and well-understood; therefore, innovation in these is not intended to be a primary outcome. Rather, the research contribution is the application of these methods and the implications for practice. This will be the principal contribution of the project: to propose solutions bringing digital innovations to catalogues as they really are.
The intellectual focus of the study will be in identifying and developing future digital practice to incorporate computational linguistics methods within the institution, particularly in cataloging. Colonial ideology is often embedded in museums in ways that make it very difficult to detect using computational tools and methods: this project aims to discover the limits of these boundaries and seeks to ask which issues can be detected and corrected using computational approaches and which require detailed manual work.
This project falls within the AHRC Linguistics - Lexicon research area.
People |
ORCID iD |
| David De Roure (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Erin Canning (Student) |