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    Understanding and managing patchy data in the UK museum sector

    Candlin, Fiona and Poulovassilis, Alexandra (2020) Understanding and managing patchy data in the UK museum sector. Museum Management and Curatorship 35 (4), pp. 446-459. ISSN 0964-7775.

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    Abstract

    It is well accepted that the museum sector has a longstanding problem with data collection and management. This article begins by exploring problems with gaining access to data, poor archiving and coverage, and the absence of data. We then explain how the Mapping Museums research team set out to remedy the lack of longitudinal data on the UK museum sector in the period between 1960 and 2020. Initially we collated and supplemented existing information on UK museums but it was impossible to fill some gaps or resolve some inconsistencies in the data. Here we discuss how we designed a database that was sensitive to the patchiness of the material, and that could model uncertain and absent data in computational terms. To close, we briefly comment on how our data enables research on museum history and on how the problems with data collection in the sector might be remedied in the longer term.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis, available online at the link above.
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Conceptual modelling, data collection, data loss, archiving, visitor numbers, opening and closing dates
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Research Centres and Institutes: Innovation Management Research, Birkbeck Centre for
    Depositing User: Fiona Candlin
    Date Deposited: 30 Jul 2019 14:58
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 17:52
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/28263

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