Semantic interoperability among museum collections: the case for image and sound museums

Abstract

Interoperability among information systems presupposes using standards and protocols that facilitate data exchange among museums. From this stance, this article aims to look at how similar museums describe information in their archives and how they communicate with each other. Descriptions of historical photographs in image and sound museums were analysed using metadata from their catalogues, and results have shown that there is only a limited amount of metadata shared among these institutions. Research has also highlighted denominative and conceptual ambiguities that hinder both information sharing and retrieval among said institutions, as well as user access to information. The paper concludes that there is a need for interoperable forms of managing and documenting museum collections, which will then increase ability to preserve and perpetuate human knowledge.