A vast amount of work globally is going into making collections accessible utilizing technologies that can digitize, and circulate knowledge via informational networks. Libraries, Archives, Museums, and other traditional institutions of knowledge and information are at the forefront of these initiatives. The overwhelming response to the challenge of linking disparate collections via the process of digitization has been to standardize systems of classification and description. These processes of standardization are motivated by the need to catalogue ever-growing digital collections to enable users to access them more efficiently and uncover connections between objects. However, a key question has emerged: Are the representations placed around these knowledge objects by museums, etc. created from a deep knowledge of the context, cultural use, and meaning of the objects to which they refer? Scholars of standardization themselves acknowledge that with the goal of rapid retrieval, the meaning and description of the object may in turn be sacrificed. In practice, what has emerged has been a discontinuity between the efficiency-driven priorities of the public institution and the diverse contexts from which these objects of knowledge were produced. In this sense, knowledge that is developed and circulated within a localized and culturally-specific environment is decontextualized into an information system that maintains ad-hoc externally-imposed standards devoid of contextual meaning. This proposal, a collaboration between Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan and the University of Cambridge's Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology (via senior personnel and Assistant Director, Dr. Robin Boast, is (1) to begin to analyze and articulate the differences between ad-hoc external standards versus localized culturally contextualized articulations of knowledge, and (2) the design, deployment, and evaluation of an information system that can accommodate multiple local interpretations of objects without sacrificing the interoperability of data within the system. It involves a 3 year effort with two global indigenous communities that have already opened their doors to collaboration with the PI/Museum that build on previous partnerships. These are: The Zuni Community of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico (USA), and another community in the process of being determined. Several possibilities are being discussed and will be finalized within the next three months. This research therefore extends significant work conducted in standards development, digital libraries, and social studies of science, particularly focused on ontologies and classifications that are culturally and discursively differentiated. The contributions and broader impacts of this proposal will be: (a) The detailed and methodical inquiry into the differing representations/ontologies of digital objects held within local, indigenous communities relative to their representation in existing digital museum standard-systems, (b) An understanding of the impact digital objects and their re-circulation hold on their originating communities. These impacts will be understood and described via a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods that include survey-administered social network analyses, field notes, participant observation, and interviews. (c) An understanding of how digital collections can maintain contextual authenticity while remaining interoperable. (d) Develop a new methodology by which public institutions can maintain digital collections in a manner that consults source communities, as well as other diverse knowledge communities. (e) An integration of this research into new research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.
