musicSpace mspace.fm/projects/musicspace

1. David Bretherton (D.Bretherton@soton.ac.uk), mc schraefel (PI), Daniel Alexander Smith, Richard Polfreman, Mark Everist, Jeanice Brooks, Joe Lambert. musicSpacehttp://www.mspace.fm/projects/musicspace

2. Musicologists consult many data sources

3. . . . but what if they could use just one?

4. Our data partners

5. The problem we’re addressing • Musicological data is segregated into numerous digital repositories. • Researchers have to use numerous online portals. • Research is time consuming. • Metadata from one source cannot be used to explore another source. • Extracting large tranches of factual information can be difficult/impossible. • As can running multi-part/cross-source search queries.

6. Examples of ‘intractable’ questions • Which scribes have created manuscripts of a composer’s works, and which other composers’ works have they inscribed? • Which poets have had their poems set to music by Schubert, which of these musical settings were only published posthumously, and where can I find recordings of them? • Which electroacoustic works were published within five years of their premier?

7. Need to consult several sources … and metadata from one source cannot guide searches of another source. Multi-part queries have to be broken down and results collated manually. Pen and paper! Insufficient granularity of data and/or search option. Solutions:Integration Optimally interactive UI (‘mSpace’) Increase granularity What makes these queries ‘intractable’ (not readily tractable)?

8. What are some of the challenges to implementing these solutions, and how is musicSpace meeting them?

9. Our partners use a variety of data formats • MARC-XML • MODS-XML • Custom MARC • Source-specific XML • Tables/CSV (some relational databases) • We import these as RDF

10. Metadata hierarchy • We use a two-level hierarchy based on metadata type. • This allows for both broad and narrow searching.

11. Adding granularity • Where possible we add granularity to the metadata on import.

12. Co-reference mapping • The identifier for a given entity may vary within and between data sources. Gazetteer Bach Bach, JS Bach, J. S. Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johan Sebastian Bach, Johann Sebastian

13. Benefits of using a gazetteer • Semi-automated, but musicologists check and update the mappings as necessary. • Any updated or new records re-use the manually corrected gazetteers. • We can resolve inconsistencies in our data partners’ records without having to maintain copies of their databases for ourselves.

14. We’re currently building a tool to harvest Grove Metadata

15. Screencast 1: • ‘Which scribes have created manuscripts of Monteverdi’s works, and which other composers’ works have they inscribed?’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otYlnfDzb8s&hd=1

16. Initial testing and evaluation took place during April-May 2009

17. Feedback on speed and ease of use: • ‘All the information showed up very quickly, and it was easy to find material. It was really good to have different kinds of material in the same place.’ • ‘[musicSpace offers] a speedier way to research crossed search pathways.’ • ‘Excellent interface – very simple to understand.’

18. Feedback on browsing around a subject or changing the search paradigm: • ‘I would recommend musicSpace for its ability to manipulate queries in order to get results that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get [without starting over].’ • ‘I liked the ability to explore around a topic once you’ve identified something of interest.’ • ‘The ability to switch columns around and add new columns was most useful.’

19. Feedback on improved data granularity: • ‘[Without using musicSpace] it would not be at all easy to do an opera character search. You would have to use printed reference books like Pipers Enzyklopädie des Musiktheaters, but even this does not have an index of characters, so you’d have to look at the entry for each opera and manually collate information. You would also have to know what you were looking for before starting out!’ • ‘I used musicSpace to explore how many operas have a character named Alceste. This information simply isn’t get-at-able using other search interfaces – you’d have to sort through the information by hand.’

20. Screencast 2: • Character search for ‘Alceste’; • Viewing records in their original context; • Saving, sharing, exporting features. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y762uP13Lx4&hd=1

21. Where next?

22. Timetable • Summer ’09: revise mSpace code; internal testing. • September ’09: Integration of remaining data sets. • From November/December ’09: Stage of user testing open to all. • Assessment of take-up and impact on research (both qualitative and quantitative evaluation); • Log newly tractable research queries; • Log already tractable research queries; • Effect on publication of research.

23. An invitation . . . We’re looking for musicologists working in the following areas to take part in our trials: • Monteverdi recordings • C19th opera buffa • Schubert songs • C20th electroacoustic music

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