Welcome to the handbook
Here you will find guides for everyday work in the museum. You do not need any technical knowledge.
Where would you like to start?
The chapters in the menu correspond to the sections in CONTXT. You can give the Assistant material such as a purchase email, a PDF or an exhibition catalogue. It can create entries from it. Each guide shows what you write to the Assistant, what you check afterwards and how to record by hand.
Look things up during everyday work
| What you want to do | Where to read on |
|---|---|
| Sign in or invite colleagues | Getting started |
| Find an entry or start a task | Search |
| Get an overview of your working day | Dashboard |
| Read personal notifications and review assignments | Activity |
| Maintain the details of a collection object | Objects |
| Understand the fields of an object | Object data |
| Record location, condition or loans | Collection management |
| Connect an object to collections and other entries | Connections |
| Record an artist, a lender or a museum | People & Organizations |
| Update texts, participants and object lists | Exhibitions |
| Store images and source files | Documents & Media |
| Maintain work instructions and research texts together | Wiki |
| Get help with searching and editing | Assistant |
| Set up an online collection or a visitor guide | Channels |
| Review and apply proposed corrections | Changes |
| See who changed a detail | Change Log |
| Manage institution details, access and the basics of recording | Settings |
Three terms to start with
- A register is an overview, for example the list of all objects. This is where you search and filter.
- A record is a single entry with texts, images, documents and connections.
- A connection links two records, for example an object to its creator. This way you record an artist only once, even if she has many works.
How the information fits together
Take as an example an exhibition with a painting from your collection.
- Under Objects, you record the painting.
- Under People & Organizations, you record the artist if she is missing. On the object, you connect her as the creator.
- Under Exhibitions, you create the exhibition and add the painting.
- Under Publishing → Channels, you choose what your audience sees.
The painting remains a single record, even if it is shown in a second exhibition. So you correct a wrong date on the object. A catalogue number that applies to only one exhibition you enter on the object within that exhibition.
Before you record anything
Check that the right institution is selected. Which fields and buttons you see depends on your institution's settings and on your permissions.
If you cannot edit something, contact the person who looks after CONTXT at your institution. A new record does not solve the problem. More under Roles & access.
A first tour without changes
- Open Objects and search for an object you know by its title.
- Open the entry and follow a connection to the creator or to an exhibition.
- Open Assistant, paste the link to the object and write: "Summarize what is recorded for this object. Name the sources and what is still open. Don't change anything."
The summary stays in the chat. It is not saved on the object.
Record, save, review, publish
| What you do | What applies afterwards |
|---|---|
| Fill in a form | Nothing is saved yet. |
| Choose Create or Save changes | The details are saved in the record. |
| Prepare a change request | There are proposals that someone must review. Nothing in the record has changed yet. |
| Publish a channel | What you selected and approved for the channel is visible there. |
Save before you leave the page. Images and connections sometimes have their own save button. Watch for the confirmation.
Record only details that a source supports. Leave unknown details empty and keep wordings such as "c. 1900" or "attributed to". If the source has a question mark, do not turn it into a certain statement.
Start with an object or read how to give the Assistant a clear request.