文物詮釋資料標準之研探

Abstract

「文物」是指人類在歷史發展過程中遺留下來具有歷史、藝術及科學價值的遺物和遺蹟。在全球性網路數位典藏盛行的風潮影響下，國內不少單位因文化遺產的數位化而致力於制定各種詮釋資料標準，以作為文物藏品資訊在記錄、交換、儲存以及檢索上的依據。文物詮釋資料的建立一向是文化資產典藏單位(亦即圖書館、檔案館及博物館等)共同的工作重點。為求作業標準化以交換及分享資訊資源，有史以來，詮釋資料標準存在已久。尤其越來越多文化資訊以電子形式出現於網際網路，將更凸顯文物詮釋資料標準的重要性。國際上兩大機構對文物詮釋資料標準的建立扮演相當重要的角色，一為The Getty，一為Visual Resources Association(VRA)。The Getty發展文物詮釋資料值標準例如Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)、Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)、Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)及資料結構標準Categories for the Description of Works of Art(CDWA)等。VRA則為文化資產界發展VRA Core及第一套文物描述資料內容標準Cataloguing Cultural Objects(CCO)。CDWA、VRA Core 及CCO形成文物詮釋資料標準的重要基礎。為進一步了解這些工具，筆者試從相關文獻探討其歷史發展背景、範圍、特色等，尤其是互連性及互操性，期能提供國內圖書館、博物館或檔案館相關人士合作共創文物詮釋資料的參考。

To provide digital information about and access to cultural objects, many organizations of Taiwan in cultural heritage community have been working toward the development of metadata standards for describing, retrieving and sharing. Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO), published by American Library Association in 2006, is an initiative of the Visual Resources Association (VRA) and was developed for museums, archives, visual resources collections and libraries. Together with CCO, highly recognized and widely used data standards such as CDWA and VRA Core, have formed the foundation of metadata practices in the communities of museums, as well as libraries, special collections and archives whose personnel work with cultural objects. In order to gain more understanding about these tools, the author explores theirs historical backgrounds and the characteristics, especially interconnection and interoperability, in literary review.