workflow

This project was created for the INFO-684 Museum Information Management class at Pratt School of Information.
Under the guidance of Professor Iris Lee and Professor Jennifer Cwiok, with support from Grafis Nusantara, Claudia Noverica, and Europeana, along with accessible digital collections from the Rijksmuseum via API.

DATA ACQUISITION

Tools used: Postman (API Development) & Europeana API (API Source)

Review items in Europeana

I chose Europeana as my primary data source due to its comprehensive European collections and robust metadata practices. This was particularly relevant for my Dutch-Indonesian colonial ephemera research. Two key factors influenced my API decision: content relevance to the geographical focus and the high quality of metadata available for my collection needs.

Develop API Keywords

My API preparation involved studying Boolean operators, wildcards, and query filters to craft better searches from the Europeana Search API documentation. I began with basic queries before refining them with specific parameters for medium (paper/papier), subject (verpakking/packaging), and company (Van Nelle). Through iterative testing, I troubleshooted encoding issues to develop effective search parameters.

Convert JSON > CSV

My final successful HTTP query used specific filters to target the desired items:

https://api.europeana.eu/record/v2/search.json?query=van+AND+nelle&wskey=******&qf=subject:verpakking+AND+pak*&rows=10&profile=rich

When troubleshooting technical issues with Europeana's faceting system, I temporarily switched to Rijksmuseum's better-documented metadata. This approach helped me overcome challenges with inconsistent item classification by using wildcards (pak*) creatively. The final output was a JSON file that I converted to CSV format for further processing.

DATA PROCESSING

Tools used: Google Sheets (Storage), Open Refine (Cleaner) & Omeka S (Digital Collection)

Review Resource template & field mapping

I found inconsistencies in multilingual material descriptions (approximately 25 languages) and redundant period-time columns in the raw data. To address this, I relied on my designed resource template (API) as the normalization framework to accommodate Europeana's cultural context metadata. This template provided the structure needed to standardize the diverse data formats.

Data Cleaning with Open Refine

My normalization process began with the CSV files from the API, analyzing the data structure, then transforming it to align with my resource template for auto-map import into Omeka S. OpenRefine proved invaluable for data cleaning, allowing me to efficiently match my API data to the resource templates' fields. I recently learned this tool from my information visualization class and a Metadata Interest Group workshop, which significantly improved my workflow efficiency.

COLLECTION IMPLEMENTATION

Automap CSV on Omeka S

My primary technical challenge emerged during upload to Omeka S, which was resolved through careful mapping between spreadsheet columns and resource template fields. By ensuring proper column naming and data formatting in my CSV, I was able to use Omeka's auto-map functionality to correctly import the data.

Adjust the data fields that have Structured Vocabularies

After import, I needed to refine data fields with structured vocabularies to ensure proper organization and searchability. This involved standardizing terms and ensuring controlled vocabulary usage across the collection. This final step completed the workflow process, resulting in a properly organized digital collection.

Item Set

Coffee, Cigar & Tea: The Ephemera Reclamation of Dutch East Indie Trade Goods.

This mini digital collection features trade labels documenting Indonesia's commercial art evolution through three primary commodities: coffee, tobacco, and tea. Starting with Van Nelle Factory's colonial-era trademarks and extending to Grafis Nusantara's contemporary archives with additional other sources, these ephemera serve as vital historical documents, offering unique insights into Indonesia's cultural transformation through commercial design. The collection combines historical trade labels from Dutch archives with Grafis Nusantara's curated Indonesian ephemera, revealing how everyday commercial artifacts capture pivotal moments in Indonesia's journey from colony to nation.

Coffee, Cigar and Tea API Collection

Explore More

Metadata →

Discover the structured framework

Key Partners →

Meet the supporting organizations

Workflow →

See how everything comes together