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NEW CATEGDRIZATiaN FDR A VIRTUAL ON-LINE POSTER MUSEUM
Helena Barbosa
Departamento de Comunİcaçâo e Arte da Universidade de
Aveiro, Portugal
helenab@ca.ua.pt
Anna Calvera
DİVİSİÖ de Clencies Humanes I Socials,
Facultat de Belles Arts, Universltat de Barcelona, Spain
acalvera@telefonica.net
Vasco Branco
Departamento de Comunİcaçâo e Arte da Universidade de
Aveiro, Portugal
vab@ca.ua.pt
Abstract
The University of Aveiro Is at present developing a project
involving the construction of a virtual on-line poster museum,
containing around 40,000 artifacts.
Given the large number of posters In existence, and the
great diversity of representations, this paper describes the
development of the project and the reasons behind the
creation of "key topics," which function as gateways to other
related Information on the web - metadata. It also presents
the proposed key topics, considered as a tool that allows the
visitor access to contents, not only from the perspective of
traditional classifications and catalogue, but also from the
point of view of design.
The categorization of topics Is essential to establish a particular
order In the collection, and is a way of orienting the visitor.
The exhibition is therefore no longer imposed by the museum
but rather is constructed according to the visitor's own choice,
allowing each visitor to effectively curate their own exhibition.
It also proposes a new concept, relative to the access to and
availability of contents, taking as a basis the creation of a
classification system with particular characteristics that could
serve as a reference for other virtual on-line poster museums.
1. Introduction:
Creating a taxonomy (the word comes from the Greek taxis ~
order + nomos - law) Involves establishing rules and order by
means of a system that sets up species, groups, families and
genres of subjects. A taxonomy can help In the classification
of posters by setting up divisions, linked by topic, subject and
graphic content. However, It is a complex task, since any single
poster may deal with a number of different subjects, therefore
allowing it to be categorized In a number of different ways.
Given the large number of artefacts, It will be necessary to
specify the criteria used In the creation and Implementation of
the taxonomy. There are four processes involved: orientation,
cataloguing, Indexing and classification itself.
Orientation is based upon an indexed lexicon that is organized
hierarchically, thereby enabling a prioritization of terms, from
the generic to the specific. The poster thesaurus of the Library
of Congress (which provides an exhaustive list of interrelated