About this Site
Who is this Site for?
How to use this Site
How to use the Tutorial
About this Site
Networked environments, such as the Web, present opportunities
and challenges for the art, architecture, and material culture
community -- Opportunities to share their rich information
resources more widely, to educate, and to seek new audiences
-- Challenges to preserve the invaluable points of view represented
by unique collections and reflected by divergent documentation
practices in museums, libraries, archives, and image collections.
Vocabularies provide the intellectual bridge across these
communities, and together with other data standards, improve
access when used in documentation and retrieval.
To assist you in utilizing vocabularies effectively, this
site will:
- demonstrate the benefits of using vocabularies.
- teach you how to improve access to your cultural
heritage information through the use of vocabularies.
- guide you in making informed decisions about the
application of vocabularies in both your local and networked
environments.
- introduce you to the Getty Vocabularies, the Art
& Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), the Union List of Artist
Names (ULAN), and the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
(TGN).
Who is this Site for?
Practitioners (catalogers, archivists, librarians, visual
resources specialists, collection managers, registrars)
will find that the Tutorial provides a helpful overview of
documentation practice across different communities and that
the chapter, Improving Access is particularly relevant. Resources
supplies links to Tools for applying vocabularies in every-day
practice.
Students in professional programs such as archival
studies, museum studies, library and information science,
and material culture management will find that the Tutorial
provides a step-by step introduction to vocabularies, full
of examples and demonstrations. The acronym list, glossary,
and reading list are handy tools included in Resources.
Administrators of art and material culture collections
will want to start with a View from the Top, a special message
from David Green, Executive Director of NINCH. Green makes
the case for adding value to collections through the use of
vocabularies.
Educators in professional programs such as archival
studies, museum studies, library and information science,
and material culture management, can use the Tutorial as a
self-guided course text. The Resources section includes bibliographies,
web guides, manuals, and other sources for further study.
Researchers and scholars (e.g., art historians, curators,
architectural historians) can explore the use of vocabularies
by looking at examples in Improving Access, and by using the
Resources section to find suggestions for further reading.
How to use this Site
Introduction to Vocabularies: A Guide to Enhancing Access
to Art and Material Culture Information is designed to
provide you with a basic understanding of the benefits of
using vocabularies in cultural heritage information contexts.
The site's nucleus is the Tutorial, which is essentially
a six-chapter study guide on the topic of vocabularies. Presenting
the topic in the context of the related issues of documentation,
standards, and access, the discussions emphasize how theory
converts into practice by means of numerous examples and illustrations.
The Tutorial's six chapters can be used in sequence or
in the order of your specific interest. Take a look at the
Tutorial's Table of Contents and it will give you an idea
of the subject coverage of this site.
The Resources, Tutorial Examples, and View from the Top sections
support and enhance the Tutorial by supplying links, demonstrations,
examples, and summaries.
In using Introduction To Vocabularies, you can:
- Read an executive summary of the benefits of vocabularies,
in View from the Top.
- Pursue the advanced study of vocabularies, standards,
and documentation practice through selected readings.
- Contact us with questions, comments, and suggested additions
for this site, at vocab@getty.edu.
- Find out about tools that help you to use vocabularies
and apply standards in documentation practice.
- Visit web sites that show the use of the Getty vocabularies
in art and material culture resources
How to Use the Tutorial
The Tutorial is a self-guided introduction to the topic of
vocabularies and related issues - documentation, standards,
and access. The best way to approach the Tutorial is to progress
through Chapters 1-5, which will give you a theoretical background
to the subject. This should take about 25 minutes. Next, proceed
to Chapter 6, which is a compendium of projects on the Web
that demonstrate the practical application of the material
covered in Chapters 1-5. This chapter could take any amount
of time and can be referred to independently of the others.
- What is Art and Material Culture Information and Why
is it Important?
Defines art, architecture, and material culture information,
why it is important and summarizes types of cultural heritage
resources, noting the significance of context, interpretation,
and analysis.
- Documentation: Analyzing and Recording Information
Compares different approaches to documentation and traditions
of information handling. Explains how diverse points of
view affect access in databases.
- Standards: What Role do they Play?
Explains how the use of documentation standards will improve
the quality and consistency of your information, improve
compatibility with other databases, and protect the long-term
value of your data.
- What, Why, and How of Vocabularies
Explains what a vocabulary is and how it can be used as
a knowledge base. Defines different types of vocabularies
and discusses the role of authority work.
- The Getty Vocabularies: An Introduction
Introduces the Getty Information Institute vocabularies:
The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), the Union List
of Artist Names (ULAN), and the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic
Names (TGN).
- Improving Access using Vocabularies: Theory into Practice
shows how vocabularies can applied as search assistants,
browsing tools, and documentation authorities. Points to
examples of current practice.
View examples to accompany chapters 1-5 in the Tutorial Examples.
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