Andrew Greg (University of Glasgow and Director of the National Inventory Research Project) on the Your Paintings Tagger initiative and Art Detective and the successful collaboration with the BBC. Talk give at Workshop 2 on "Crowdsourcing, Co-curation, Co-creation in the Cultural Heritage Sector" of the Scottish Network on Digital Cultural Resources Evaluation, Glasgow, The Lighthouse, 1 December 2015

1. Crowd-sourcing and public engagement
around the UK's painting collections:
the experience of 'Your Paintings
Tagger' and 'Art Detective'’
Andrew Greg
Director, National Inventory Research Project &
University of Glasgow
Andrew.greg@glasgow.ac.uk
Crowdsourcing, Co-curation, Co-creation in the Cultural Sector
2nd workshop of Scottish Network on Digital Cultural Resources Evaluation
Tuesday December 1st 2015

2. The National Inventory Research Project
Aims:
• Improve public and academic
access to information about
museum collections
• Help museums research their
collections
• Promote smaller museums and
galleries online
• Encourage appreciation of
collections, collection research
and encourage future research.
A regional museum store © University of Glasgow

3. NICE Paintings painting page: core and full records on VADS of two Teniers paintings
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/NIRP/index.php

4. 2003-7 funded by the National Gallery Trust,
the AHRC, the Getty Trust, the Kress
Foundation and the Pilgrim Trust: 8,000
paintings in 200 UK collections.
2009 grant from the Kress Foundation to work
with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the
Royal Academy and Apsley House.
2014-15 Current project NIRP in the North
funded by Kress Foundation, John Ellerman
Foundation and Pilgrim Trust, in National
Museums Liverpool, Manchester Art Gallery,
Leeds Museums and Galleries and York Art
Gallery: an additional 1,300 paintings.
Jan 2016 c.10,300 newly researched painting
records NICE Paintings: the National Inventory
of Continental European Paintings at
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/NIRP/index
.php
The National Inventory Research Project
Of 32 project researchers and Neil MacGregor
Scholars (above, with Neil MacGregor and Dr Susan
Foister), 12 now in curatorial posts, 7 in academic art
history posts and 3 freelance art historians.
© University of Glasgow

5. The National Inventory Research Project
Luca Giordano 1634-
1705, The Death of
Seneca, c.1650-75,
Bolton Museum and
Archive (right). A
museum store before
and after NIRP research
(bottom) © University
of Glasgow
Other outcomes: conservation, store
improvements and exhibitions
Discoveries: New
Research into British
Collections, National
Gallery, London 2007-
8
Research on
Paintings: Art History
and Connoisseurship,
Victoria and Albert
Museum, London,
2013 (top left)
Exhibitions in other
regional museums
resulting from NIRP
researchers’ work.

6. Public engagement with collection research:
Your Paintings Tagger and Art Detective
NIRP has worked increasingly closely
with the Public Catalogue Foundation
since 2004:
Initially sharing NIRP data with ‘Your
Paintings’ and PCF giving NIRP access
top digital images digital images.
University of Glasgow is now
academic partner with the PCF and
has worked on ‘Your Paintings Tagger’
and ‘Art Detective’, providing
experience of academic, curatorial
and audience perspectives.
The PCF at work © Public Catalogue Foundation

7. ‘Your Paintings’
contains images
and limited info on
all 211,000 oil
paintings in public
ownership in the
UK.
In 3,000
collections ranging
from hospitals to
national museums.
On line at
www.bbc.co.uk/arts/
yourpaintings
To be relaunched as
ArtUK in 2016
Note links to NICE Paintings and
Art Detective)

8. To create additional data for effective
searching of ‘Your Paintings’ requires tags:
– ‘Social tags’
– Structured content keywords
– Names of people, places and
events
– Types, or genres
And specialised data on:
– Dates and periods
– Artistic styles and movements
Your Paintings Tagger
Malcolm Drummond (1880-1945), 19 Fitzroy Street,
1912-14, © Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne

9. Your Paintings Tagger
The constraints:
– 211,000 paintings
– Respond to
research on user
needs
– Reliable and
consistent
– Minimise cost
– Short timescale
The conclusion:
– Crowd sourcing
Willem van Haecht (1593-1637), The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest,
1628, oil on panel, 100 x 130 cm, © Rubenshuis, Antwerp

10. Your Paintings Tagger
www.galaxyzoo.org
Encouraged by example of
Galaxy Zoo:
• Launched July 2007
• 1,000,000 images of
galaxies
• 150,000 worldwide
volunteers in first year
• 50,000,000 classifications
in first year
Principles of Galaxy Zoo:
• No expertise required
• Images delivered at
random
• Multiple classifications
(thresholds)
Results as good as
professionals

11. Your Paintings Tagger
e.g. Things and ideas: type in
‘lace’ or select ‘lace’ from
drop-down dictionary

12. Launched 2011
9,500 taggers
created 4.2m
tags in two years
23,000 paintings
now tagged
Paintings
delivered at
random*
*(though can select
region – about 400 are
tagging London
collections)
Your
Paintings
Tagger

13. Your Paintings Tagger
The first 2,278 completed
paintings received an average of:
– 61 different free text
tags, of which 22 were
accepted (threshold of 2)
– 15 different subject
terms, of which 7 were
accepted (threshold of 2)
– A total of 87 different
tags and keywords of
which 30 were accepted.
N.B. Structured tags currently not
implemented by BBC. Dates and
styles/movements thresholds too
high; alternative tagging strategy.
Detail of ‘Your Paintings’ webpage showing public tags
for: Emily Mary Osborn (1828-1925), Study for
'Nameless and Friendless', oil on wood, 1857, © York
Museums Trust

14. Art Detective
Your Paintings contains
• 17,591 paintings by
‘unknown’ artists,
• 3,117 by unidentified ‘British
School’ artists
• 3,733 by ‘British (English)
School’, artists, and
• well over 1,000 by unknown
Continental European artists.
• 2,021 paintings with
‘unknown’ in the title.
At least 15% of the paintings in
the UK’s public collections are in
some way unidentified or
erroneously described.
Unknown artist, Dorothy and Marjory Lees, © Gallery Oldham; Unknown artist,
Portrait of an unknown Rheumatologist, © Royal Free Hospital; Cornelius Johnson,
Unknown Burgomeister, © Salford Museum and Art Gallery; Unknown artist, London
Bridge, © Atkinson Art Gallery. Identifications all improved through Art Detective.

15. Art DetectiveLaunched May 2014
Free-to-use online interface
bringing together:
• Curators in search of
information on their
collection
• Academics, experts and
members of the public
with specialist
knowledge
Aims:
• Improve the knowledge
curators and collection
managers have about
their collections
• Enable and improve
communication between
curators and experts
• Engage the public in
discussions around art
history, historical
research and
connoisseurship.
A previous homepage for Art Detective
http://www.thepcf.org.uk/artdetective/

16. Art Detective
The PCF management hub
receives new Proposed
Discussions via a link on the
painting’s page on ‘Your
Paintings’ website. The PCF and
collections select those
appropriate as a Public
Discussions.
Collections can use Art Detective
to ask academics, fellow
curators and the informed public
questions about a painting
(right)
And, informed members of the
public can provide information
or opinions and thereby also
start and contribute to a Public
Discussion.

17. Anyone can contribute an opinion to a
Public Discussion:
Art Detective

18. Discussions are
linked to one or
more of 27 Groups
of users with an
interest in a
particular subject.
Discussions can be
viewed by Group.
Each Group has an
expert leader
whose role is to
bring discussions
to a conclusion.
Art
Detective

19. Art Detective
The Group leader’s conclusion
or recommendation is passed to
the hub management, then to
the collection.
Inconclusive discussions can be
referred to a senior panel of
experts.
If the collection accepts the
recommendation, amendments
are announced (right) and made
to the PCF’s database and then
to the ‘Your Paintings’ website.
194 Public Discussions so far, of
which 94 ‘completed’.

21. Art Detective Registered Public Users
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500

22. Of first 2,000 registered public users:
Discussions
proposed
Number of
users
Comments
made
Number of
users
Proposed any
discussions
1,564 Made any
comments
116
Proposed 1 - 9
discussions
1,552 (of
whom 1,404
only proposed
one
discussion)
Made 1 - 9
comments
99 (of whom
60 only made
one comment)
Proposed 10 - 49
discussions
6 Made 10 - 49
comments
10
50 - 99 3 50 - 100 1
100 - 149 1 100 - 150 2
150 - 199 1 150 - 200 0
Over 200 1 over 200 1

23. Art Detective
Core values:
• Direct personal links
between museums in
search of knowledge and
expertise and external
sources of such expertise
• Public education through
transparency of research
process (see ‘Fake or
Fortune’)
• Increasing value of the
profession and the
processes of research
and connoisseurship.

24. Public Engagement:
Tagging the Treasures
Tagging the Treasures: A Fylde DFAS (Decorative and Fine Art Society) project funded
by the Heritage Lottery Fund to research and catalogue the artworks in the Lytham St.
Annes Art Collection, now in the Fylde Gallery at Booths Store, Haven Road, Lytham.
Above: researcher training.
Right: The presentation by John Booth of the
'Herd Lassie' by Richard Ansdell to the
Corporation of Lytham St. Annes in 1925.
http://www.lythamstannesartcollection.org/

25. Crowd-sourcing and public engagement …
Andrew Greg, University of Glasgow Andrew.greg@glasgow.ac.uk
NICE Paintings: the National Inventory of Continental European Paintings
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/NIRP/index.php
The Public Catalogue Foundation http://www.thepcf.org.uk/
Your Paintings http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/
Your Paintings Tagger http://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/
Art Detective http://www.thepcf.org.uk/artdetective/
Tagger and Art Detective designed by Keepthinking: http://www.keepthinking.it/
George Bernard O'Neill,
Public Opinion, © Leeds
Museums and Galleries