Assignment 1 DLME Metadata

Intro

In this assignment, I chose items from two distinct cultures: Persian and Turkish. I specifically selected artifacts from the “Weapons and Ammunition” category, as I find it to be an intriguing category for comparing these cultures. The analysis of such items can provide valuable insights into the martial strategies and preferences of these cultures. The chosen artifacts are the Yataghan with Associated Silver Repousse Scabbard (representing Turkish culture) and the Spearhead (representing Persian culture). It is essential to acknowledge that drawing strong conclusions or generalizations based on just two items can be challenging and may not always be accurate. From an initial observation, it’s evident that these artifacts exhibit striking differences. The Turkish Yataghan stands out with its distinct curvatures, potentially reflecting the cultural aesthetics and combat style prevalent in Turkish martial traditions. On the other hand, the Persian spearhead is notably straight with a triangular form, suggesting different design principles and potential combat applications in Persian martial practices.

Images of above objects are below:

Metadata and its extraction

Metadata about each object can be easily obtained from HAM’s API, which I did. The HAM website provides a limited amount of metadata, which is a significant limitation. However, using the API allows us to access metadata from all the various categories. Therefore, I wrote a little Python script in order to send API requests to the /objects/{id} in order to obtain in-depth information about metadata.

Below is a simple code to get required information about object:

APIKEY = "************************"
parameters = {

"size": 100,
"apikey":APIKEY
}

def get_object_data(object_id):
    base_url = "https://api.harvardartmuseums.org/object/"

    response = requests.get(f"{base_url}{object_id}",params=parameters)

    if response.status_code == 200:
        data = response.json()
        df = pd.json_normalize(data)
        return df
    else:
        print(f"Error: Unable to fetch data for object {object_id}")
        return None

object_id = 215536

object_df = get_object_data(object_id)

Metadata examples

Below are the visual representation of the information( note: table might be big so don’t be afraid from big margins) I provided metadata table for each object below. Yataghan-Turkish:

id	objectid	objectnumber	accessionyear	dated	datebegin	dateend	classification	classificationid	medium	technique	techniqueid	period	periodid	century	culture	style	signed	state	edition	standardreferencenumber	dimensions	copyright	creditline	department	division	contact	description	provenance	commentary	labeltext	imagecount	mediacount	colorcount	markscount	peoplecount	titlescount	publicationcount	exhibitioncount	contextualtextcount	groupcount	relatedcount	totalpageviews	totaluniquepageviews	dateoffirstpageview	dateoflastpageview	verificationlevel	verificationleveldescription	imagepermissionlevel	lendingpermissionlevel	accesslevel	accessionmethod	rank	url	lastupdate	colors	images	primaryimageurl	people	places	titles	title	worktypes	seeAlso	terms.century	terms.culture	terms.medium	terms.place
215536	215536	1995.833	1995	19th century	0	0	Weapons and Ammunition	155	Steel					19th century	Turkish						78.74 cm (31 in.)		“Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums”	Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art	Asian and Mediterranean Art	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu					1	0	6	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	90	79	2010-01-22	2023-09-15	2	Adequate. Object is adequately described but information may not be vetted	0	0	1	Bequest	117407	https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/215536	2023-10-01T05:43:57-0400	”[{‘color’: ‘#e1e1e1’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#955ba5’, ‘hue’: ‘Grey’, ‘percent’: 0.5094535519125684, ‘css3’: ‘#dcdcdc’}, {‘color’: ‘#c8c8c8’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#8c5fa8’, ‘hue’: ‘Grey’, ‘percent’: 0.21672131147540982, ‘css3’: ‘#c0c0c0’}, {‘color’: ‘#fafafa’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#955ba5’, ‘hue’: ‘White’, ‘percent’: 0.1233879781420765, ‘css3’: ‘#fffafa’}, {‘color’: ‘#000000’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#1eb264’, ‘hue’: ‘Black’, ‘percent’: 0.08382513661202186, ‘css3’: ‘#000000’}, {‘color’: ‘#afafaf’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#8c5fa8’, ‘hue’: ‘Grey’, ‘percent’: 0.045846994535519124, ‘css3’: ‘#a9a9a9’}, {‘color’: ‘#323232’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#2eb45d’, ‘hue’: ‘Grey’, ‘percent’: 0.020765027322404372, ‘css3’: ‘#2f4f4f’}]”	”[{‘date’: ‘1996-10-01’, ‘copyright’: ‘President and Fellows of Harvard College’, ‘imageid’: 947, ‘idsid’: 20668746, ‘format’: ‘image/jpeg’, ‘description’: None, ‘technique’: ‘Kodak Ektapan’, ‘renditionnumber’: ‘10691’, ‘displayorder’: 1, ‘baseimageurl’: ‘https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:VRS10691_dynmc’, ‘alttext’: None, ‘width’: 1024, ‘publiccaption’: None, ‘iiifbaseuri’: ‘https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/20668746’, ‘height’: 837}]”	https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:VRS10691_dynmc	”[{‘role’: ‘Artist’, ‘birthplace’: None, ‘gender’: ‘unknown’, ‘displaydate’: None, ‘prefix’: None, ‘culture’: None, ‘displayname’: ‘Unknown Artist’, ‘alphasort’: ‘Unknown Artist’, ‘name’: ‘Unknown Artist’, ‘personid’: 23184, ‘deathplace’: None, ‘displayorder’: 1}]”	”[{‘displayname’: ‘Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)’, ‘confidence’: None, ‘placeid’: 2028384, ‘type’: ‘Creation Place’}]”	”[{‘titletype’: ‘Title’, ‘titleid’: 425755, ‘displayorder’: 1, ‘title’: ‘Yataghan with Associated Silver Repousse Scabbard’}]”	Yataghan with Associated Silver Repousse Scabbard	”[{‘worktypeid’: ‘376’, ‘worktype’: ‘sword’}]”	”[{‘id’: ‘https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/215536’, ‘type’: ‘IIIF Manifest’, ‘format’: ‘application/json’, ‘profile’: ‘http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json’}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘19th century’, ‘id’: 37525806}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘Turkish’, ‘id’: 37528785}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘Metal’, ‘id’: 2028222}, {‘name’: ‘steel’, ‘id’: 2028395}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘Middle East’, ‘id’: 2028350}, {‘name’: ‘Türkiye (Turkey)’, ‘id’: 2028384}]”

Spearhead-Persian:

id	objectid	objectnumber	accessionyear	dated	datebegin	dateend	classification	classificationid	medium	technique	techniqueid	period	periodid	century	culture	style	signed	state	edition	standardreferencenumber	dimensions	copyright	creditline	department	division	contact	description	provenance	commentary	labeltext	imagecount	mediacount	colorcount	markscount	peoplecount	titlescount	publicationcount	exhibitioncount	contextualtextcount	groupcount	relatedcount	totalpageviews	totaluniquepageviews	dateoffirstpageview	dateoflastpageview	verificationlevel	verificationleveldescription	imagepermissionlevel	lendingpermissionlevel	accesslevel	accessionmethod	rank	url	lastupdate	colors	exhibitions	images	primaryimageurl	places	titles	title	worktypes	seeAlso	gallery.begindate	gallery.gallerynumber	gallery.galleryid	gallery.name	gallery.theme	gallery.floor	terms.century	terms.culture	terms.medium	terms.place
230275	230275	1941.297	1941	17th-18th century	1600	1799	Weapons and Ammunition	155	“Watered steel, gold”			Safavid period	2363	17th century	Persian						45 cm (17 11/16 in.)		“Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund”	Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art	Asian and Mediterranean Art	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu	“The spearhead consists of two parts. The blade, made of watered steel, features three fullers on each side that run nearly the entire length of the blade. The blade itself is long, thin,… “				1	0	10	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	116	95	2011-12-13	2023-05-10	2	Adequate. Object is adequately described but information may not be vetted	0	0	1	Purchase	66000	https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/230275	2023-10-01T05:45:00-0400	”[{‘color’: ‘#e1e1e1’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#955ba5’, ‘hue’: ‘Grey’, ‘percent’: 0.6693333333333333, ‘css3’: ‘#dcdcdc’}, {‘color’: ‘#c8c8c8’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#8c5fa8’, ‘hue’: ‘Grey’, ‘percent’: 0.18753623188405796, ‘css3’: ‘#c0c0c0’}, {‘color’: ‘#fafafa’, ‘spectrum’: ‘#955ba5’, ‘hue’: ‘White’, ‘percent’: 0.04846376811594203, ‘css3’: ‘#fffafa’}]”	”{‘begindate’: ‘1989-09-23’, ‘enddate’: ‘1990-01-17’, ‘citation’: ‘Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990’, ‘exhibitionid’: 2575, ‘title’: ‘Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern’}”	https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUAM:VRS38099_dynmc	”[{‘displayname’: ‘South Asia, India, Rajasthan’, ‘confidence’: None, ‘placeid’: 2028377, ‘type’: ‘Creation Place’}]”	”[{‘titletype’: ‘Title’, ‘titleid’: 779889, ‘displayorder’: 1, ‘title’: ‘Spearhead’}]”	Spearhead	”[{‘worktypeid’: ‘351’, ‘worktype’: ‘spearhead’}]”	”[{‘id’: ‘https://iiif.harvardartmuseums.org/manifests/object/230275’, ‘type’: ‘IIIF Manifest’, ‘format’: ‘application/json’, ‘profile’: ‘http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json’}]”	2019-11-06	2590	2590	South Asian Art	South Asia in the Medieval and Early Modern Eras	2	”[{‘name’: ‘17th century’, ‘id’: 37525788}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘Persian’, ‘id’: 37528308}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘Metal’, ‘id’: 2028222}, {‘name’: ‘steel’, ‘id’: 2028395}]”	”[{‘name’: ‘South Asia’, ‘id’: 2028358}, {‘name’: ‘India’, ‘id’: 2028369}, {‘name’: ‘Rajasthan’, ‘id’: 2028377}]”

Metadata conclusion

If we were to use only the website, we could see metadata such as Object Number, People, Title, Classification, Location, Date, Culture, Medium, Dimensions, Contact, Permission, etc. Now, let’s see what additional metadata we obtained after making an API request for both objects. Those are Totalpageviews, totaluniquepageviews, dateoffirstpageview, dateoflastpageview, verificationlevel,verificationlevel, description, imagepermissionlevel, lendingpermissionlevel, accesslevel, accessionmethod, rank, url, lastupdate, colors, images, primaryimageurl, people, places, titles, and title worktypes. It is understandable why this metadata was omitted, however we can obtain crucial information like how popular is this item in web searches, how many unique visitors saw this image, and etc. For example, Yatagan was seen 79 times, while Spearhead has 95 totaluniquepageviews. Although there are huge difference between numbers of objects in HAM from Turkish and Persian culture, we see these two items are in a similar web-rank.

Metadata is a crucial aspect for each of the above cultural items of the Harvard Art Museum. Metadata is crucial for the Harvard Art Museum’s digital assets. In SEO, it’s foundational for search engine understanding and ranking. Well-structured metadata, like titles and descriptions, enhances visibility and drives organic traffic. For cultural institutions, accurate metadata ensures easy discoverability, preservation, and broader audience engagement, promoting cultural heritage online.

Even though it is a museum, I want to encourage HAMs to write more lengthy blogs or posts regarding specific objects, as it is one of the valuable metrics for search engines to rank their pages. Metadata is important, but it is often short and limited, even for the description metadata. One possible reason for the pageview stats being around 100 could be that the page rank is not very high. After trying to search for those items, search engines were most helpful when I included metadata like dimensions and title. It is challenging for users to organically visit these pages.

API or Website

In comparing the usability of the Harvard Art Museum (HAM) website and the provided CSV file, the CSV data proves to be a more efficient option. Utilizing CSV data allows for direct visualization of the art pieces and expedites automation and pattern recognition. Unlike the website search, which can be time-consuming, accessing and analyzing the data in a structured CSV format enables faster and automated processes, aiding in the fast identification of patterns and insights within the art collections. And what is more powerful tool is API. With API we can easily get information about each page_view, can create color clusters and many more; we will introduce them below.

Let us compare some basic info about above two cultures, Turkish and Persian!

Below, we can see a table illustrating the number of objects per culture based on HAM’s API. It is evident that the number of objects associated with Turkish culture is significantly less compared to Persian culture, with Persian culture having approximately 18 times more objects. There can be many reason for that related to the “Scholarly/Public Interest”, “Availability of Artifacts”, “funding” and many more. It is hard to know what exactly affects this.

Word Clouds

Next, let’s discuss word clouds. We can observe that some of the most common words for Persian culture include “manuscript,” “compendium,” and “Shah Sulayman.” For Turkish culture, a prevalent term is “prayer carpet.” Interestingly, we also notice the inclusion of more everyday words like “square” and color names such as “brown” and “dark.”

Persian Culture:

“Manuscript”: This indicates a significant focus on manuscripts in Persian culture. Persian manuscripts often showcase the rich literary and historical heritage of the region, encompassing various topics including poetry, history, and philosophy. “Compendium”: This suggests a concentration on compilations or comprehensive collections. In Persian culture, compendiums may encompass diverse subjects such as art, literature, or historical artifacts. “Shah Sulayman”: This likely refers to historical or cultural significance associated with Shah Sulayman, a notable figure in Persian history. It could represent an exhibition or artifacts related to his era or reign.

Turkish Culture:

“Prayer Carpet”: This highlights the importance of prayer carpets in Turkish culture, reflecting the significance of prayer and religion in Turkish society. Prayer carpets are a prominent aspect of Islamic art and culture. “Square”: The mention of “square” could suggest a focus on architectural or urban aspects of Turkish culture, as public squares are often central to social life in Turkish cities. Color names like “brown” and “dark”: These color names might be associated with the colors commonly found in Turkish traditional textiles, ceramics, or architectural elements, reflecting the aesthetic and design preferences of Turkish culture.