Infrastructuring Digitization of Ephemeral Cultural Heritage at the Gallen-Kallela Museum Finland

Authors: Samir Bhowmik, James Reilly, Lily Diaz and Agusti Pellicer, Aalto University

Ephemeral heritage collections are valuable to preserve by digitization, but not always deemed valuable enough for investments in digital infrastructure. Archival digitization infrastructure that traditionally has been located in the back office of museums, archives and cultural institutions has not necessarily been aimed at digitizing small-sized printed ephemera. Digitization devices, components and operations have been tied up with proprietary hardware, software and a plethora of formats. Thus, digitization infrastructure is often seen as an expensive undertaking with investments in multiple software licenses, a perpetual upgrading of digital infrastructure and training of personnel. Especially, digitization of ephemera requires not only similar infrastructure in place as for traditional archival heritage but also corresponding human resources and budgets to maintain and propagate ephemeral collections over a long period of time. This study presents an alternative approach to infrastructuring digitization in cultural heritage museums directed towards ephemeral heritage. The infrastructure we present here was customized and built from open-source hardware and software and sustained by community participation to digitize ephemeral heritage. It consists of an open-source robotic scanning system that can inexpensively fabricated and assembled without resorting to large-scale industrial machines, an open-source digital archive and collections management system to house the digitized ephemera and a versatile community participative system to gather and digitize heritage. Our infrastructure was tested and evaluated at the Gallen-Kallela Museum, a nationally significant art museum in Espoo, Finland dedicated to Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

Keywords: Digitization, archiving, ephemera, digital cultural heritage Continue reading DigGLAM Final Paper: Infrastructuring Digitization of Ephemeral Cultural Heritage at Gallen-Kallela Museum Finland →

The digGLAM project was presented at the National Board of Antiquities #Teemapäivät 2014 Conference held in Cirko, Suvilahti, 11-12 September. Following is the transcript (Finnish):

hei, Minä olen arkkitehti Samir Bhowmik, tohtorikoulutettava Aalto Yliopiston Medialabrassa.  Tutkin miten tuotetaan museoille yhteisöllisiä kokemuksia digitaalisen median avulla. Tämä on ensimmäinen esitelmäni suomen kielellä. ja Onneksi tämä kestä vain viisi minuuttia! Aikaisemmin, suunnittelin  pop-up museo installaation Hakaniementorille joka käsitteli kuudentoista perheen esineitä ja energian-kulutusta. Tällä hetkellä työstän New Yorkin designmuseon kanssa yhteisöllista projektia. Continue reading National Board of Antiquities #Teemapäivät 2014 Conference: digGLAM @ Gallen-Kallela Museum Finland →

It’s time to wrap up our project – thank you everyone who took part in digGLAM by joining us at the Theme Days at Gallen-Kallela Museum, helping us organize the events or just following the process!

During the past six months we put together the online archive Haloo Akseli and held three community theme days in collaboration with Gallen-Kallela Museum. In the three theme days we got 329 visitors, 33 participators in workshops, and 18 visitor items were digitized.

The archive Haloo Akseli will continue in Gallen-Kallela Museum’s use. It will be used both as a databank to house pieces of information linked to Akseli Gallen-Kallela and his contacts, and as a tool for building social encounters between the museum and its audience.

In May, digGLAM was presented at Renewable Futures Conference in Riga, Latvia. The final presentation of the project will be given at Aalto University Demo Day on Tuesday 27 May at Miestentie 3, Espoo – welcome!

Thanks to everyone who joined us in celebrating Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s birthday! For those who missed it: go to Haloo Akseli! and see all the beautiful portraits made during the day!

Welcome to celebrate Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s 149th birthday at Gallen-Kallela Museum on Saturday April 26th!

Join the Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/658097147590008/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=1

Tervetuloa juhlimaan Akseli Gallen-Kallelan 149-vuotissyntymäpäivää koko perheen voimin! Juhlan kunniaksi Tarvaspään ateljeessa maalataan ja piirretään muotokuvia Akselista ja tämän taiteilijatovereista – vieraaksi saapuu myös digitointirobotti, jonka avustuksella muotokuvat lisätään mukaan Haloo Akseli! –verkkoarkistoon.

Helmikuun alussa avautui Gallen-Kallelan Museon ja Aalto-yliopiston Medialaboratorion yhteistyönä syntynyt digitaalinen puhelinmuistio, verkkoarkisto Haloo Akseli. Akselin syntymäpäivillä jatketaan arkistoaineiston kartuttamista historiallisen materiaalin lisäksi nykypäivän muotokuvilla Akselista ja tämän tuttavapiiristä. Päivän aikana päästään myös tuunaamaan valokuvia sekä tutustumaan Tarvaspään salaisuuksiin opastetulla kierroksella.

Akselin syntymäpäivän kunniaksi ilmainen sisäänpääsy!

Hyvää syntymäpäivää, Akseli! – tapahtumapäivä perheille
Gallen-Kallelan Museossa lauantaina 26.4.2014 klo 11–16

klo 11 – 15 Menneitä muotokuvia robottien aikakaudella – piirrä oma versiosi Akselin ystävästä ja anna robotin taltioida se
klo 12 – 16 Taiteilijan jalanjäljissä – Uudenmaan kuvataidejärjestöt ry:n jäsenet tekevät taidetta ympäri Tarvaspäätä
klo 12 – 15.30 Suureksi, uudeksi – valokuvasuurennosten tuunaamista
klo 13 Tarvaspään salaisuudet – opastettu kierros perheille
klo 15 Tarvaspään salaisuudet – opastettu kierros perheille

Gallen-Kallelan Museo
Gallen-Kallelan tie 27, Espoo
Sijainti kartalla: www.gallen-kallela.fi/kartta.html
Puh. (09) 849 2340

Members of our interesting panel discussion on Sunday at Haloo Akseli – Tarvaspää Calling! Theme Day are now confirmed! We will be hearing the thoughts of:

Sanna Marttila,
Digital Designer and Researcher, Board member of Open Knowledge Finland ry, Contact person of avoinGLAM.

Andrew Paterson,
a Scottish artist-organiser, cultural producer, educator and researcher based in Helsinki. Outreach & Education Coordinator of Pixelache.

Tove Ørsted,
Coordinator of Digitizing services at Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland.

The discussion will be moderated by Samir Bhowmik, researcher at Aalto University Medialab.

Haloo Akseli – Tarvaspää Calling! Theme Day
Sunday March 9th at 11-17
Gallen-Kallela Museum,Gallen-Kallelan tie 27, Espoo.

Welcome!

Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s digital phonebook Haloo Akseli! opened to the public in February. In Gallen-Kallela Museum’s & Medialab’s Theme Day Haloo Akseli – This Is Tarvaspää! we continue to collect material for the archive with the help of digGLAM digitizing robot. At the same time we’ll discuss the ideas behind the project: in panel discussion Art, Archives & Commons we talk about digital archives and the objectives, aims and future of making archives open.

Photos, postcards or stories connected to Akseli Gallen-Kallela, his contemporaries, or Tarvaspää region – visitors are invited to bring material to the Haloo Akseli! web archive. During the Theme Day we’ll also hear local memories of the Tarvaspää region and get a guided tour to the exhibition How Many Gallen-Kallela Paintings of the Same Name? In children’s workshop My Places everyone gets to make their own map based on memories.

Free entrance to anyone who brings a photo, story or other memory to the Haloo Akseli archive!

Entrance fees without memories 8 € / 7 € / 6 € / 4 € / under 18 free admission

Welcome!

Haloo Akseli – This Is Tarvaspää!
at Gallen-Kallela Museum on Sunday March 9th at 11 – 17

11 – 15 Workshop for digitizing memories
11 – 15 My Places nonstop workshop for children. Drawing maps based on memories and
decorating key rings for the keys of important places.
11.30 – 12 Haloo Akseli! – What is it?
12 – 13 ”Värikästä taiteilijaelämää Leppävaaran alueella” lecture (in Finnish)
13 – 13.30 A guided tour to the exhibition
13.30 – 14.30 ”Art, Archives & Commons” panel discussion. In English.
14.30 – 15 Haloo Akseli! – What is it?
15 – 15.30 A guided tour to the exhibition

Gallen-Kallela Museum
Gallen-Kallelan tie 27, Espoo
Gallen-Kallela Museum on the map: www.gallen-kallela.fi/kartta.html
Phone (09) 849 2340
www.gallen-kallela.fi

For more information:
Phone 041 504 7788, Anna Virtanen
anna.virtanen@aalto.fi