Art historians - it looks like the Getty Provenance Index, one of our most indispensable tools, has become almost unusable thanks to a new update. Our best hope is they retain the old version. www.arthistorynews.com/articles/870... - ThreadSky

bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social • 15 days ago

Art historians - it looks like the Getty Provenance Index, one of our most indispensable tools, has become almost unusable thanks to a new update. Our best hope is they retain the old version.

https://www.arthistorynews.com/articles/8709_Getty_Provenance_Index_Update_ctd

Comments

feelinglistless.bsky.social•15 days ago

The problem from a usability perspective is the shift from a more card based database to something more relational, the idea being if you want to see everything by an artist you can click on it. The problem is the presentation of the data is horrible at present.

feelinglistless.bsky.social•15 days ago

Even after reading the manual it wasn't until I put my librarian head on that I realised that the left hand pane offered a basic keyword search and the facets in the right hand allow you to narrow it down by selection option which appear in the middle.

feelinglistless.bsky.social•15 days ago

It's also not helped by the use of phrases like "Timespan of Birth Event" and "inhabited places". It feels like the kind of information resource I'd have to learn to use in the 1990s from a CD-ROM rather than something designed in 2025 for instant usability.

bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social•15 days ago

Not designed by anyone who's ever actually researched provenance, is the problem!

feelinglistless.bsky.social•15 days ago

Yup. I wonder if it’s a modified off the shelf system which is being utilised for the wrong thing.

ggunhouse.bsky.social•15 days ago

Just as technology for teaching seems to have been designed by people who haven't actually done any teaching.

bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social•15 days ago

Thanks. Even then, I still can't get it to generate as useful results I could get in the old system in just seconds (and without swearing).

feelinglistless.bsky.social•15 days ago

Back in the 90s I was cataloging the Walker in Liverpool’s collection and used an even earlier text only version through the very slow dial up internet. Even that was more user friendly than this.

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