Introduction
Technical and Legal Introduction
Technical Guidelines - Outcomes from the MIMO Project
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is MIMO?
MIMO is the acronym for Musical Instrument Museums Online. The name was originally applied to the project run by a consortium of eleven museums which sought to create a single online access point to their collections.
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- What is the MIMO Toolkit and who is it for?
The MIMO toolkit is a resource aimed at other museums that wish to add their content to the MIMO collections.
The toolkit operates on a variety of levels, ranging from introductory level explanations for museum curators wishing to explore the possibilities of contributing, to more in-depth descriptions aimed at technical staff.
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- What do we have to do to add our content?
Step 1 - in the process is to review the information contained in this web site and consider whether your museum has the resources and technical expertise to offer digital content.
Step 2 - is to complete the content checklist and submit this to MIMO for consideration. We will then contact you with follow up questions.
Step 3 - is for your submission to be considered by the MIMO selection panel who will advise on whether we can add your content, if any additional work is required and a likely timescale. This panel meets annually.
Step 4 - if your request is accepted we will then issue a formal contract which will have to be completed before any content is uploaded.
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- What does it cost?
The cost of hosting MIMO content will be covered by the existing MIMO partners from 1st September 2011 for a five year period, until 31st August 2016, so there will be no hosting charge for new members during that period. Hosting costs after that will be split between the museums contributing at that point. Charges will be reviewed in Year 4 of the period covered by the initial agreement.
The only external cost to new members to the consortium will be for technical support (i.e. advising, consultancy and testing) from the existing consortium, principally via the Cité de la musique in Paris. This will also include the cost of travel and subsistence should a member of the MIMO team be required to visit a new partner.
The precise amount of work involved will depend on the technical expertise of the new contributing museum but is likely to be in the region of 13 days’ work for technical staff at Cité de la musique. Estimated minimum and maxi,um costs are shown in the table below.
Museums will have to cover their own internal costs, e.g. digitisation, database setup etc.
| Task |
Minimum Cost |
Maximum Cost |
| |
No. of days |
€ |
No. of days |
€ |
| Harvesting |
3.5 |
1,750 |
7 |
3,500 |
| Vocabulary |
0.5 |
250 |
2 |
1,000 |
| Digitisation |
0 |
- |
1 |
500 |
| Administration |
3 |
1,500 |
3 |
1,500 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
7 |
3,500 |
13 |
6,500 |
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- We already have digital photographs but not necessarily to the MIMO standard. Can we use these?
Yes, existing digital images can be used but any new images must meet the MIMO standard.
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- Our language is not represented - can we add a new language to the system?
If a museum wishes to add an additional language it will be their responsibility to do so. It means that the museums will have to translate MIMO’s Instrument keywords into the new language. They will be able to work with the MIMO vocabulary tool in order to do so.
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- Is it possible to add keywords?
Yes, the same applies to the addition of new keywords and instrument makers.
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- What happens if we add instruments to our collection?
Any metadata on new instruments that is added to museum databases will automatically be harvested by MIMO. The museum will have to corresponding transfer image, sound or video to files to MIMO-DB via FTP.
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- If data is mapped to standard LIDO can it be mapped to MIMO LIDO?
Yes, with minor adjustments. MIMO LIDO adds a few rules to standard LIDO. For instance, it is mandatory to use one of MIMO’s Instrument keyword as a classification term. Advice will be given as required.
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- What is the long term future for MIMO?
The members of the original MIMO partnership have signed a formal agreement committing themselves to the ongoing maintenance of MIMO-Db for an initial period of 5 years.
In the longer term we now see the need for a specific MIMO portal which we intend will become the single access point for information on public collections of musical instruments for the entire world. It is envisaged that this portal will offer a greater amount of information that is currently visible via Europeana.
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- Is membership of MIMO only open to European museums?
No, any public museum may contribute content. However, only European museum content will be visible via Europeana. Non European museum content will, in the short term, only be accessible via MIMO-DB but longer term it will be visible through the MIMO portal. European museums’ content will be visible via both.
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- Can private museums contribute content?
No, only public museums can join the consortium at this stage.
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- Is there is minimum or maximum number of instruments that a museum can contribute?
There is no minimum or maximum number of records required for membership. However, a museum with a very small collection is likely to incur similar set up costs to a museum with a large collection so proportionately, this may prove too expensive.
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- Why should my museum contribute?
The aim of the MIMO consortium is to create a single online access point to the world’s publicly held collections of musical instruments. The benefits of aggregation are already becoming apparent and as this resource develops these will become eve more obvious. One access point to significant amounts of high quality information about musical instruments, with images and sound or video files, will greatly ease the work of anyone searching for information on, for example:
- particular kinds of instrument
- particular makers
- instrument making in particular places
- instruments of a particular period
- collectors and collecting
- identification of instruments
As the volume of material grows we will also be in a position, in a virtual sense, to rebuild collections which have previously been dispersed in the real world, e.g. by bringing together information on all the violins built by members of the Stradivari family held in public collections, thus simplifying the work of the researcher.
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