Project Title: Final API Project: SNAC Reconciliation Project on legendary artist Nam June Paik
Class: INFO 684 – Museum Information Management: Collection Cataloging & Digital Technology
Project Description: For my final project in Museum Information Management, I demonstrated how to link objects to SNAC (Social Networks and Archival Context) entities. I selected the artist Nam June Paik. After creating an OMEKA archive of Nam June Paik for my mid-term project, I chose Nam June Paik again as the subject of this final project to enrich Nam June Paik’s SNAC record. The main goal of this project is to gain knowledge of documenting a museum collection and cataloging cultural objects, and then identify external open data repositories (DPLA) that contain data pertaining to Nam June Paik’s object to ultimately fill in the gaps in the SNAC data collection.
Methods: For the project, I analyzed the existing data for what was missing in biographical history, linked sources and linked relationships.The search for Nam June Paik brought two results. I chose the first one listed as Paik, Nam June (SNAC ID: 25653507) for the analysis since the second item ‘Nam June Paik, Jack Shuai Shu’ was not direct information on Nam June Paik. Next, I conducted research to find various repositories with information related to Nam June Paik and found out that there is a missing relationship with Fluxus Members such as Yoko Ono (SNAC ID: 73893189), Joseph Beuys (SNAC ID: 19218433) and Wolf Vostell (SNAC ID: 30193318). I then extracted the data from DPLA using an API and listed them.
My Role: I am the single author of this work.
Learning Outcome Achieved: Museum Information Management & Technologies
Rationale: This project required that I use best practices for controlled vocabularies and APIs. It required that I demonstrate the ability to solve problems relating to the digital record of an individual. My final project included solutions to make the record of the legendary artist Nam June Paik more accessible and visible.
Jiyoung Lee 