We've received the following proposal from the GII. Your reactions would be appreciated.

GETTY INFORMATION INSTITUTE PROPOSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN ART MUSEUM IMAGE CONSORTIUM

INTRODUCTION The Getty Information Institute (GII) is pleased that Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) recognizes the role that the GII vocabularies and standards can play in this pioneering project. The Information Institute is very interested in working with AMICO by:

(1) Providing free access to the GII vocabularies on our server (or on a server mounted by a third party); (2) Providing orientation in the development and use of our vocabularies; and (3) Incorporating the names of artists, locations, objects, and associated information from AMICO source data into the GII vocabularies, which will gradually result in a more robust resource for AMICO and for the cultural heritage community at large.

In return for our role, the Getty Information Institute asks that AMICO work with us through a committee of representatives from the membership (or an agreement with individual members) to contribute candidate terms via a contribution format to be mutually developed that will expedite processing of new terms into our system. We understand that the concept of "authority" work may differ among the AMICO members, and we will accept some of the AMICO contributions (i.e. artist names) as an authority. Nevertheless, it will be mutually beneficial to develop a distributed collaborative process around vocabulary coordination that captures the intellectual work needed to create a valid new vocabulary record.

LIMITATIONS This proposal is based on current financial limitations, which alter AMICOâs expectations as follows:

The volume of AMICO contributions of existing and new concepts is unknown. It is difficult to predict how much research and data entry work will actually be generated by this project, how much can be automated, and how much will need to be done by hand. The GII Vocabulary Program as currently staffed lacks the resources to meet AMICOâs proposed expectations. The Getty Information Institute will strive to process AMICO contributions, but cannot commit to a specified time frame. Nor will the Getty Information Institute be able to run a match program to check whether AMICO terms are already represented in our resources before they are submitted as candidate terms; this work will need to be done by AMICO. Under these conditions, AMICO will need to provide candidate terms in the mutually developed exchange format. The Getty Information Institute will seek additional staff and technical resources as we determine what will be necessary to work with AMICO. But we cannot guarantee what additional resources will be made available, if any at all (unless AMICO is prepared to subsidize them).

There are many technical and content questions associated with the successful implementation of the proposed vocabulary flow. Resolving these will require our staff to begin to interact with the AMICO technical operations committee as soon as possible.

PROPOSED MODEL An overview of the proposed AMICO-GII Vocabulary Flow is illustrated in the attached chart. This diagram represents the ideal model that we would like to work towards implementing. The following points outline the work that the Getty Information Institute is prepared to do to support the development of the AMICO library.

á Getty Information Institute staff will work with AMICO members to develop a process to collect new terminology. The Vocabulary Program has conducted a preliminary survey based on recent exhibition catalogs from the AMICO Founding Members list. The result of a random search on artists was that 60ö90% of these artists are already in the Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) (with the exception of the Asia Society Gallery, which is not within our current scope and emphasis). To test the AMICO-GII vocabulary flow, we propose to prototype the process with one vocabulary÷the ULAN, followed by Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) and Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) as soon as feasible. The Getty Information Institute will require written permission from AMICO to use contributed terms in the GII vocabularies and subsequently to redistribute them. á AMICO members should ultimately check the GII vocabularies, and submit candidate terminology in the appropriate exchange format. Draft exchange formats indicating the minimum information required as well as the full range of elements that can be held in a GII vocabulary record have already been supplied to AMICO (revised copies are attached). This will be a two-way exchange, where the AMICO library will provide contributions of new terminology and the Getty Information Institute will work with AMICO members to create new terminology records as appropriate. á If the information supplied by AMICO is insufficient to complete a transaction in the GII vocabulary, further interaction with the AMICO member museum may be required. We particularly look forward to the development of these interactive relationships with AMICO museums, since they will be the key to the long-term sustainability of the authority process. á Vocabulary resources that include AMICO terminology on an Internet-accessible server should be sufficient for supporting access to the AMICO library. We think that the need to report "match" and "add" transactions to AMICO will be redundant and unnecessary to meet AMICO needs as we understand them. As offered initially, the Getty Information Institute is also willing to license vocabulary data files at no charge for non-profit uses should this be useful to AMICO and its members. The GII will update its vocabulary server and data files at least twice each year.

The Getty Information Institute feels that the AMICO project is extremely important. Please be assured that we will do whatever is possible to ensure the development of useful terminology resources to support the AMICO library.