MUSEUM AS A VISUAL LAB? CULTURE-TECHNOLOGY NETWORKS IN CBIR PROJECTS

Should any museum or scientific library consider itself as an information technology laboratory?This article explores the lives of several pioneering museum and library projects focused on digital image retrieval techniques (CBIR). The research aims to contribute critical evaluation of museum and information technology domain relations in the field. The outcomes may be applied in the planning of future co-operative endeavours. The analysis begins with a discussion of projects in which a museum or library played the role of data pro- vider for image analysis development and testing (i.e. SWIC, Collage, SHREW systems). This is followed by a study of schemes focused on technology and implementing a standard image search methodology used for access to museum collections (i.e. QBIC, Artiste). The final part of the paper deals with the projects animated by museums or libraries themselves (BSB, Oxford Ballads Online, PrintArt) and the example of a consort that focuses on the specific type of visual resources (the Bernstein project).