MCN2015

Invisible architectures are not restricted to the people, knowledge, data, and systems of a single cultural institution. They also exist…as pent up, latent potential…between all of these resources across organizations. This latent meaning and potential utility is mostly inaccessible unless institutions work together to implement meaningful conceptual connections between them. We understand that we’re missing out on potentially powerful insights and serendipitous discoveries without the support of connective structures that could make our currently disparate collections of data and information appear as one holistic graph of cultural knowledge.

Challenges arise when attempting to build these connections between information resources and the systems that manage them. Traditionally, the heterogeneity of system interfaces, data schemas, and vocabularies is a barrier. How might we solve this problem, creating visible conceptual architectural connections between our disparate resources? How do we create and sustain the collaborative partnerships required to accomplish this work through persistent and consistent attention over the long term?

The American Art Collaborative (AAC) was established to pursue the potential of Linked Data to solve critical aspects of this connection challenge. Through the commitment of the project’s fourteen partner institutions, AAC is navigating the challenges of leveraging newly maturing technologies, standards, and tools while working at the appropriate level of scale for both institutions and information resources.