Author: Seth van Hooland
Publisher: Facet Publishing
ISBN: 1856049647
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Libraries, archives and museums are facing up to the challenge of providing access to fast growing collections whilst managing cuts to budgets. Key to this is the creation, linking and publishing of good quality metadata as Linked Data that will allow their collections to be discovered, accessed and disseminated in a sustainable manner. This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Metadata experts Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh introduce the key concepts of metadata standards and Linked Data and how they can be practically applied to existing metadata, giving readers the tools and understanding to achieve maximum results with limited resources. Readers will learn how to critically assess and use (semi-)automated methods of managing metadata through hands-on exercises within the book and on the accompanying website. Each chapter is built around a case study from institutions around the world, demonstrating how freely available tools are being successfully used in different metadata contexts. This handbook delivers the necessary conceptual and practical understanding to empower practitioners to make the right decisions when making their organisations resources accessible on the Web. Key topics include: - The value of metadata Metadata creation – architecture, data models and standards - Metadata cleaning - Metadata reconciliation - Metadata enrichment through Linked Data and named-entity recognition - Importing and exporting metadata - Ensuring a sustainable publishing model. Readership: This will be an invaluable guide for metadata practitioners and researchers within all cultural heritage contexts, from library cataloguers and archivists to museum curatorial staff. It will also be of interest to students and academics within information science and digital humanities fields. IT managers with responsibility for information systems, as well as strategy heads and budget holders, at cultural heritage organisations, will find this a valuable decision-making aid.
Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums
Author: Seth van Hooland
Publisher: Facet Publishing
ISBN: 1856049647
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Libraries, archives and museums are facing up to the challenge of providing access to fast growing collections whilst managing cuts to budgets. Key to this is the creation, linking and publishing of good quality metadata as Linked Data that will allow their collections to be discovered, accessed and disseminated in a sustainable manner. This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Metadata experts Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh introduce the key concepts of metadata standards and Linked Data and how they can be practically applied to existing metadata, giving readers the tools and understanding to achieve maximum results with limited resources. Readers will learn how to critically assess and use (semi-)automated methods of managing metadata through hands-on exercises within the book and on the accompanying website. Each chapter is built around a case study from institutions around the world, demonstrating how freely available tools are being successfully used in different metadata contexts. This handbook delivers the necessary conceptual and practical understanding to empower practitioners to make the right decisions when making their organisations resources accessible on the Web. Key topics include: - The value of metadata Metadata creation – architecture, data models and standards - Metadata cleaning - Metadata reconciliation - Metadata enrichment through Linked Data and named-entity recognition - Importing and exporting metadata - Ensuring a sustainable publishing model. Readership: This will be an invaluable guide for metadata practitioners and researchers within all cultural heritage contexts, from library cataloguers and archivists to museum curatorial staff. It will also be of interest to students and academics within information science and digital humanities fields. IT managers with responsibility for information systems, as well as strategy heads and budget holders, at cultural heritage organisations, will find this a valuable decision-making aid.
Publisher: Facet Publishing
ISBN: 1856049647
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Libraries, archives and museums are facing up to the challenge of providing access to fast growing collections whilst managing cuts to budgets. Key to this is the creation, linking and publishing of good quality metadata as Linked Data that will allow their collections to be discovered, accessed and disseminated in a sustainable manner. This highly practical handbook teaches you how to unlock the value of your existing metadata through cleaning, reconciliation, enrichment and linking and how to streamline the process of new metadata creation. Metadata experts Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh introduce the key concepts of metadata standards and Linked Data and how they can be practically applied to existing metadata, giving readers the tools and understanding to achieve maximum results with limited resources. Readers will learn how to critically assess and use (semi-)automated methods of managing metadata through hands-on exercises within the book and on the accompanying website. Each chapter is built around a case study from institutions around the world, demonstrating how freely available tools are being successfully used in different metadata contexts. This handbook delivers the necessary conceptual and practical understanding to empower practitioners to make the right decisions when making their organisations resources accessible on the Web. Key topics include: - The value of metadata Metadata creation – architecture, data models and standards - Metadata cleaning - Metadata reconciliation - Metadata enrichment through Linked Data and named-entity recognition - Importing and exporting metadata - Ensuring a sustainable publishing model. Readership: This will be an invaluable guide for metadata practitioners and researchers within all cultural heritage contexts, from library cataloguers and archivists to museum curatorial staff. It will also be of interest to students and academics within information science and digital humanities fields. IT managers with responsibility for information systems, as well as strategy heads and budget holders, at cultural heritage organisations, will find this a valuable decision-making aid.
Ethics in Linked Data
Author: Kathleen Burlingame
Publisher: Library Juice Press
ISBN: 9781634001335
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Publisher: Library Juice Press
ISBN: 9781634001335
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Linked Data for Cultural Heritage
Author: Ed Jones
Publisher: ALA Editions
ISBN: 9780838914397
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
In this book, the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) gathers a stellar list of contributors to help readers understand linked data concepts by examining practice and projects based in familiar concepts like authority control.
Publisher: ALA Editions
ISBN: 9780838914397
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
In this book, the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) gathers a stellar list of contributors to help readers understand linked data concepts by examining practice and projects based in familiar concepts like authority control.
Digital Preservation for Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Author: Edward M. Corrado
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442278730
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
This new edition of Digital Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums is the most current, complete guide to digital preservation available today. For administrators and practitioners alike, the information in this book is presented readably, focusing on management issues and best practices. Although this book addresses technology, it is not solely focused on technology. After all, technology changes and digital preservation is aimed for the long term. This is not a how-to book giving step-by-step processes for certain materials in a given kind of system. Instead, it addresses a broad group of resources that could be housed in any number of digital preservation systems. Finally, this book is about “things (not technology; not how-to; not theory) I wish I knew before I got started.” Digital preservation is concerned with the life cycle of the digital object in a robust and all-inclusive way. Many Europeans and some North Americans may refer to digital curation to mean the same thing, taking digital preservation to be the very limited steps and processes needed to insure access over the long term. The authors take digital preservation in the broadest sense of the term: looking at all aspects of curating and preserving digital content for long term access. The book is divided into four part: 1.Situating Digital Preservation, 2.Management Aspects, 3.Technology Aspects, and 4.Content-Related Aspects. Digital Preservation will answer questions that you might not have even known you had, leading to more successful digital preservation initiatives.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442278730
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
This new edition of Digital Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums is the most current, complete guide to digital preservation available today. For administrators and practitioners alike, the information in this book is presented readably, focusing on management issues and best practices. Although this book addresses technology, it is not solely focused on technology. After all, technology changes and digital preservation is aimed for the long term. This is not a how-to book giving step-by-step processes for certain materials in a given kind of system. Instead, it addresses a broad group of resources that could be housed in any number of digital preservation systems. Finally, this book is about “things (not technology; not how-to; not theory) I wish I knew before I got started.” Digital preservation is concerned with the life cycle of the digital object in a robust and all-inclusive way. Many Europeans and some North Americans may refer to digital curation to mean the same thing, taking digital preservation to be the very limited steps and processes needed to insure access over the long term. The authors take digital preservation in the broadest sense of the term: looking at all aspects of curating and preserving digital content for long term access. The book is divided into four part: 1.Situating Digital Preservation, 2.Management Aspects, 3.Technology Aspects, and 4.Content-Related Aspects. Digital Preservation will answer questions that you might not have even known you had, leading to more successful digital preservation initiatives.
Publishing and Using Cultural Heritage Linked Data on the Semantic Web
Author: Eero Hyvonen
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031794389
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 145
Book Description
Cultural Heritage (CH) data is syntactically and semantically heterogeneous, multilingual, semantically rich, and highly interlinked. It is produced in a distributed, open fashion by museums, libraries, archives, and media organizations, as well as individual persons. Managing publication of such richness and variety of content on the Web, and at the same time supporting distributed, interoperable content creation processes, poses challenges where traditional publication approaches need to be re-thought. Application of the principles and technologies of Linked Data and the Semantic Web is a new, promising approach to address these problems. This development is leading to the creation of large national and international CH portals, such as Europeana, to large open data repositories, such as the Linked Open Data Cloud, and massive publications of linked library data in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Cultural Heritage has become one of the most successful application domains of Linked Data and Semantic Web technologies. This book gives an overview on why, when, and how Linked (Open) Data and Semantic Web technologies can be employed in practice in publishing CH collections and other content on the Web. The text first motivates and presents a general semantic portal model and publishing framework as a solution approach to distributed semantic content creation, based on an ontology infrastructure. On the Semantic Web, such an infrastructure includes shared metadata models, ontologies, and logical reasoning, and is supported by shared ontology and other Web services alleviating the use of the new technology and linked data in legacy cataloging systems. The goal of all this is to provide layman users and researchers with new, more intelligent and usable Web applications that can be utilized by other Web applications, too, via well-defined Application Programming Interfaces (API). At the same time, it is possible to provide publishing organizations with more cost-efficient solutions for content creation and publication. This book is targeted to computer scientists, museum curators, librarians, archivists, and other CH professionals interested in Linked Data and CH applications on the Semantic Web. The text is focused on practice and applications, making it suitable to students, researchers, and practitioners developing Web services and applications of CH, as well as to CH managers willing to understand the technical issues and challenges involved in linked data publication. Table of Contents: Cultural Heritage on the Semantic Web / Portal Model for Collaborative CH Publishing / Requirements for Publishing Linked Data / Metadata Schemas / Domain Vocabularies and Ontologies / Logic Rules for Cultural Heritage / Cultural Content Creation / Semantic Services for Human and Machine Users / Conclusions
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031794389
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 145
Book Description
Cultural Heritage (CH) data is syntactically and semantically heterogeneous, multilingual, semantically rich, and highly interlinked. It is produced in a distributed, open fashion by museums, libraries, archives, and media organizations, as well as individual persons. Managing publication of such richness and variety of content on the Web, and at the same time supporting distributed, interoperable content creation processes, poses challenges where traditional publication approaches need to be re-thought. Application of the principles and technologies of Linked Data and the Semantic Web is a new, promising approach to address these problems. This development is leading to the creation of large national and international CH portals, such as Europeana, to large open data repositories, such as the Linked Open Data Cloud, and massive publications of linked library data in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Cultural Heritage has become one of the most successful application domains of Linked Data and Semantic Web technologies. This book gives an overview on why, when, and how Linked (Open) Data and Semantic Web technologies can be employed in practice in publishing CH collections and other content on the Web. The text first motivates and presents a general semantic portal model and publishing framework as a solution approach to distributed semantic content creation, based on an ontology infrastructure. On the Semantic Web, such an infrastructure includes shared metadata models, ontologies, and logical reasoning, and is supported by shared ontology and other Web services alleviating the use of the new technology and linked data in legacy cataloging systems. The goal of all this is to provide layman users and researchers with new, more intelligent and usable Web applications that can be utilized by other Web applications, too, via well-defined Application Programming Interfaces (API). At the same time, it is possible to provide publishing organizations with more cost-efficient solutions for content creation and publication. This book is targeted to computer scientists, museum curators, librarians, archivists, and other CH professionals interested in Linked Data and CH applications on the Semantic Web. The text is focused on practice and applications, making it suitable to students, researchers, and practitioners developing Web services and applications of CH, as well as to CH managers willing to understand the technical issues and challenges involved in linked data publication. Table of Contents: Cultural Heritage on the Semantic Web / Portal Model for Collaborative CH Publishing / Requirements for Publishing Linked Data / Metadata Schemas / Domain Vocabularies and Ontologies / Logic Rules for Cultural Heritage / Cultural Content Creation / Semantic Services for Human and Machine Users / Conclusions
Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Author: Suzanne M. Stauffer
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538118912
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
This is the first book to consider the development of all three cultural heritage institutions – libraries, archives, and museums – and their interactions with society and culture from ancient history to the present day in Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The text explores the social and cultural role of these institutions in the societies that created them, as well as the political, economic and social influences on their mission, philosophy, and services and how those changed throughout time. The work provides a thorough background in the topic for graduate students and professionals in the fields of library and information science, archival studies, and museum resource management, preservation, and administration. Arranged chronologically, the story begins with the temple libraries of ancient Sumer, followed the growth and development of governmental and private libraries in ancient Greece and Rome, the influence of Asia and Islam on Western library development, the role of Christianity in the preservation of ancient literature as well as the skills of reading and writing during the Middle Ages, and the coming of the Renaissance and the rise of the university library. It continues by tracing the gradual division between archives and libraries and the growth of governmental and private libraries as independent institutions during and after the Renaissance and through the Enlightenment, and the development of public and private museums from the “cabinets of curiousities” of private collectors beginning in the 17th century. Individual chapters explore the further growth and development of libraries, archives, and museums in the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the public library and public museum movements of those centuries, as well as the rise of the governmental and institutional archive. The final chapter discusses the growing collaboration between and even convergence of these institutions in the 21st century and the impact of modern information technology, and makes predictions about the future of all three institutions.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538118912
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
This is the first book to consider the development of all three cultural heritage institutions – libraries, archives, and museums – and their interactions with society and culture from ancient history to the present day in Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The text explores the social and cultural role of these institutions in the societies that created them, as well as the political, economic and social influences on their mission, philosophy, and services and how those changed throughout time. The work provides a thorough background in the topic for graduate students and professionals in the fields of library and information science, archival studies, and museum resource management, preservation, and administration. Arranged chronologically, the story begins with the temple libraries of ancient Sumer, followed the growth and development of governmental and private libraries in ancient Greece and Rome, the influence of Asia and Islam on Western library development, the role of Christianity in the preservation of ancient literature as well as the skills of reading and writing during the Middle Ages, and the coming of the Renaissance and the rise of the university library. It continues by tracing the gradual division between archives and libraries and the growth of governmental and private libraries as independent institutions during and after the Renaissance and through the Enlightenment, and the development of public and private museums from the “cabinets of curiousities” of private collectors beginning in the 17th century. Individual chapters explore the further growth and development of libraries, archives, and museums in the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring the public library and public museum movements of those centuries, as well as the rise of the governmental and institutional archive. The final chapter discusses the growing collaboration between and even convergence of these institutions in the 21st century and the impact of modern information technology, and makes predictions about the future of all three institutions.
Organization, Representation and Description through the Digital Age
Author: Christine M. Angel
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110395991
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
Cataloging standards practiced within the traditional library, archive and museum environments are not interoperable for the retrieval of objects within the shared online environment. Within today’s information environments, library, archive and museum professionals are becoming aware that all information objects can be linked together. In this way, information professionals have the opportunity to collaborate and share data together with the shard online cataloging environment, the end result being improved retrieval effectiveness. But the adaptation has been slow: Libraries, archives and museums are still operating within their own community-specific cataloging practices. This book provides a historical perspective of the evolution of linking devices within the library, archive, and museums environments, and captures current cataloging practices in these fields. It offers suggestions for moving beyond community-specific cataloging principles and thus has the potential of becoming a springboard for further conversation and the sharing of ideas.
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110395991
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
Cataloging standards practiced within the traditional library, archive and museum environments are not interoperable for the retrieval of objects within the shared online environment. Within today’s information environments, library, archive and museum professionals are becoming aware that all information objects can be linked together. In this way, information professionals have the opportunity to collaborate and share data together with the shard online cataloging environment, the end result being improved retrieval effectiveness. But the adaptation has been slow: Libraries, archives and museums are still operating within their own community-specific cataloging practices. This book provides a historical perspective of the evolution of linking devices within the library, archive, and museums environments, and captures current cataloging practices in these fields. It offers suggestions for moving beyond community-specific cataloging principles and thus has the potential of becoming a springboard for further conversation and the sharing of ideas.
Materializing the Web of Linked Data
Author: Nikolaos Konstantinou
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319160745
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 146
Book Description
This book explains the Linked Data domain by adopting a bottom-up approach: it introduces the fundamental Semantic Web technologies and building blocks, which are then combined into methodologies and end-to-end examples for publishing datasets as Linked Data, and use cases that harness scholarly information and sensor data. It presents how Linked Data is used for web-scale data integration, information management and search. Special emphasis is given to the publication of Linked Data from relational databases as well as from real-time sensor data streams. The authors also trace the transformation from the document-based World Wide Web into a Web of Data. Materializing the Web of Linked Data is addressed to researchers and professionals studying software technologies, tools and approaches that drive the Linked Data ecosystem, and the Web in general.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319160745
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 146
Book Description
This book explains the Linked Data domain by adopting a bottom-up approach: it introduces the fundamental Semantic Web technologies and building blocks, which are then combined into methodologies and end-to-end examples for publishing datasets as Linked Data, and use cases that harness scholarly information and sensor data. It presents how Linked Data is used for web-scale data integration, information management and search. Special emphasis is given to the publication of Linked Data from relational databases as well as from real-time sensor data streams. The authors also trace the transformation from the document-based World Wide Web into a Web of Data. Materializing the Web of Linked Data is addressed to researchers and professionals studying software technologies, tools and approaches that drive the Linked Data ecosystem, and the Web in general.
Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum
Author: Mike Jones
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100040532X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 111
Book Description
Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum provides the first interdisciplinary study of the digital documentation of artefacts and archives in contemporary museums, while also exploring the implications of polyphonic, relational thinking on collections documentation. Drawing on case studies from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the book provides a critical examination of the history of collections management and documentation since the introduction of computers to museums in the 1960s, demonstrating how technology has contributed to the disconnection of distributed collections knowledge. Jones also highlights how separate documentation systems have developed, managed by distinct, increasingly professionalised staff, impacting our ability to understand and use what we find in museums and their ever-expanding online collections. Exploring this legacy allows us to rethink current practice, focusing less on individual objects and more on the rich stories and interconnected resources that lie at the heart of the contemporary, plural, participatory ‘relational museum.’ Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum is essential reading for those who wish to better understand the institutional silos found in museums, and the changes required to make museum knowledge more accessible. The book is a particularly important addition to the fields of museum studies, archival science, information management, and the history of cultural heritage technologies.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100040532X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 111
Book Description
Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum provides the first interdisciplinary study of the digital documentation of artefacts and archives in contemporary museums, while also exploring the implications of polyphonic, relational thinking on collections documentation. Drawing on case studies from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the book provides a critical examination of the history of collections management and documentation since the introduction of computers to museums in the 1960s, demonstrating how technology has contributed to the disconnection of distributed collections knowledge. Jones also highlights how separate documentation systems have developed, managed by distinct, increasingly professionalised staff, impacting our ability to understand and use what we find in museums and their ever-expanding online collections. Exploring this legacy allows us to rethink current practice, focusing less on individual objects and more on the rich stories and interconnected resources that lie at the heart of the contemporary, plural, participatory ‘relational museum.’ Artefacts, Archives, and Documentation in the Relational Museum is essential reading for those who wish to better understand the institutional silos found in museums, and the changes required to make museum knowledge more accessible. The book is a particularly important addition to the fields of museum studies, archival science, information management, and the history of cultural heritage technologies.
Web-Scale Discovery Services
Author: Roberto Raieli
Publisher: Chandos Publishing
ISBN: 0323902995
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
Web-Scale Discovery Services: Principles, Applications, Discovery Tools and Development Hypotheses summarizes and presents the state-of-the-art in WSDS. The title promotes a middle-way between finding the best tool for each particular need and the search for the most reliable systems. The title identifies basic theoretical problems and offers practical solutions for librarians. The volume offers a summary of ideas from around the world, giving a new perspective that is backed up by strong theory. Offering a vision for libraries, this book also allows archivists, museum specialists, computer scientists, commercial operators and interested users to deepen their culture and information literacy. The great number of information sources now available and the changing habits of web users has led to the development of Web Scale Discovery Services (WSDS). The goal of these systems and techniques is to make catalogues, databases, institutional repositories, Open Access archives and other databases searchable and discoverable through a single point of access. The diffusion of systems and connections between data disseminated by libraries and published by other institutions poses a challenge to understanding discovery in the modern library. - Lays out the state-of-the-art in WSDS for contemporary libraries and institutions - Presents an innovative take on information retrieval and digital document management - Grounds thinking on a bibliographic basis, combining academic, practical and commercial aspects - Offers a perspective on how WSDS and discovery tools are seen and used internationally - Provides a version of culture and information literacy of relevance to a broad-range of cultural specialists
Publisher: Chandos Publishing
ISBN: 0323902995
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
Web-Scale Discovery Services: Principles, Applications, Discovery Tools and Development Hypotheses summarizes and presents the state-of-the-art in WSDS. The title promotes a middle-way between finding the best tool for each particular need and the search for the most reliable systems. The title identifies basic theoretical problems and offers practical solutions for librarians. The volume offers a summary of ideas from around the world, giving a new perspective that is backed up by strong theory. Offering a vision for libraries, this book also allows archivists, museum specialists, computer scientists, commercial operators and interested users to deepen their culture and information literacy. The great number of information sources now available and the changing habits of web users has led to the development of Web Scale Discovery Services (WSDS). The goal of these systems and techniques is to make catalogues, databases, institutional repositories, Open Access archives and other databases searchable and discoverable through a single point of access. The diffusion of systems and connections between data disseminated by libraries and published by other institutions poses a challenge to understanding discovery in the modern library. - Lays out the state-of-the-art in WSDS for contemporary libraries and institutions - Presents an innovative take on information retrieval and digital document management - Grounds thinking on a bibliographic basis, combining academic, practical and commercial aspects - Offers a perspective on how WSDS and discovery tools are seen and used internationally - Provides a version of culture and information literacy of relevance to a broad-range of cultural specialists