Assistant
The Assistant reads your material, such as a purchase email, an object sheet or a catalogue. From it, it creates records or adds to them, as far as your permissions allow. It finds and compares records, checks details against literature, suggests objects for exhibitions, researches public sources, drafts Wiki pages, summarizes changes and creates tables and files. Which of these are available depends on your institution and your access rights. You find it in the menu under Assistant.
Check a source with the Assistant shows an illustrated example.
Start your first chat
- Open Assistant and choose New chat.
- Describe the task. For an existing record, include its link or a unique title. For something new, write that the object has not been entered yet.
- Add the email, text or files and write what the result should be.
- Send the message. Answer follow-up questions, for example when several records could match.
- Open the linked results and check them.
A search is a good first try. Add: "Do not change any records."
You can also use the Assistant next to an open page. It then recognizes which record you mean. If that is unclear, include the link.
To continue on the same topic, keep writing in the same chat; for a new task, choose New chat. You find earlier chats in the chat history or with Search chats.
Write a good request
Name the object, the exhibition or the selection, the task and the sources allowed: internal only, a specific file or public sources as well. Also say what you want back: a text, a table, a change request or a saved record.
Instead of "Check the date", write for example: "Check the date of 'Ufer im Abendlicht' against the attached catalogue text, page 42. Keep any 'circa' or 'attributed to'. Do not change the record yet." For a correction, say exactly which detail you mean.
Tell a response, a proposal and a saved change apart
| You want | Write it like this |
|---|---|
| an assessment in the chat | "Explain the contradiction. Do not save anything." |
| a correction to review | "Prepare the correction as a change request. Do not apply it yet." |
| a change to the record | "Correct the date based on this source and show me the saved record." |
Depending on permissions and review rules, the Assistant saves directly or submits the changes for review. It does not necessarily ask before every save. If you write "Create an exhibition", you get a new exhibition.
Whether something is saved you can see only in the record or in the linked change request, not in the chat. If in doubt, ask: "What did you save, what did you only propose and what is still open?"
Create new records from your material
Give the material directly to the chat. For an email, copy the text including sender, date and subject into the chat and attach the attachments as files. For a PDF, catalogue or dossier, name the object and the pages or entries. If an object has already been entered, paste its link.
Create the new object from this material. Use only details that appear in it, and use existing people and terms. Assign the images, save the files internally on the object and ask me if anything contradicts itself.
Compare the saved record with the originals. Pay attention to roles: the gallery writing to you did not necessarily create the work. If a catalogue describes several works, the entry must be on the right object.
The individual steps are shown in Record an object and Prepare an exhibition. If more material arrives later, include the link to the existing record and ask only for the addition.
Provide sources, links and files
For longer documents, name pages or sections; for an image, the detail, such as an inscription on the back.
Select files with the message or drag them into the input field, if that is possible for you. Send only once everything has uploaded. Retry or remove a failed upload. You can add up to 20 files of at most 20 MiB each. If you have more, provide an excerpt.
An attached file belongs to the chat and is not yet saved on the object. If it should be stored there, say so explicitly. Then check the documents in the record.
A table the Assistant creates does not change the object data.
Research internally or on the web
Internally, the Assistant uses your institution's records, Wiki pages and readable documents that you have access to. To keep it that way, write: "Use internal sources only."
Externally, it searches and reads public sources on the web. Name the topic and period and, if needed, websites or a region. Use only search terms that may become public, no unpublished concept texts or internal notes.
Scanned texts are sometimes recognized incorrectly, and some websites cannot be opened. If the Assistant finds nothing, that does not mean nothing exists. Ask which sources it read and what is missing.
Review results and apply changes
Some research returns a results card. Under Review findings it lists the proposals, confirmed details and open questions; under Research & sources, the evidence.
For each proposal, check that it concerns the right record and that the detail really appears at the stated place in the source. An "attributed to" must stay. If a detail does not fit with the others, resolve it yourself.
From a change request, apply only what is correct, as described under Change requests. Check what the Assistant saved directly in the record and in the Change Log.
Use templates and Skills
A Skill is a saved instruction for a task that comes up again and again. The templates in a new chat are such Skills, for example "Check an object's literature" under Research. Under Exhibitions you find "Create an exhibition from source", "Find objects for an exhibition concept (internal)" and "Find similar exhibitions (external)".
Read a template before you send it. A template that creates something can save records. If you want only a review first, add that.
To create your own Skill:
- Open Manage skills and choose New skill.
- Give it a clear name and write a description and instructions.
- Save the Skill and try it with Use in chat.
At first, only you see your own Skills. If you share a Skill with the workspace, its members can use the instruction but cannot see your chats. A changed instruction applies from the next use.
When a task stalls or does not finish
Even if a task stops, individual steps may already be saved. Stopping does not undo them. Check the reported results and say exactly what is missing, so that nothing is entered twice:
The record has been created, but the source link is missing. Check the current state and complete only this step.
Correct a wrong detail in the record or through a change request.
What you decide yourself
The Assistant can misread sources or confuse people. Check attributions, dates and conclusions in particular, and whether it identified people and works correctly.
It can do only what your access rights allow. Publishing, setting up channels and the institution's settings remain with you. It assigns existing terms to records; it does not change the vocabularies or their settings.
If it suggests objects, that does not mean they can be lent, are in good condition or are available.