BIHM: connecting books and objects
A digital route through medical history, linking the books and objects held by a Lausanne institution.
Two collections, a shared history
The Institute for the History of Medicine and Public Health in Lausanne held both books and historical medical objects. Their records lived in separate databases: the library catalogue was accessible online, while the object collection was not. BIHM: books x objects grew from a question about access: how could visitors explore the objects and discover connections with the books?
The aim was to bring written and material sources into the same field of view. A medical instrument and a book can offer different ways into the history of a practice.
Exhibit 1DiagramRead left to right
Two databases, one field of view
Books and historical medical objects lived in separate records. Matching library classifications with object categories gave the hackathon prototype a way to show them together.
From a hackathon to a shared tool
The idea took shape at the third Swiss Open Cultural Data Hackathon, held at the University of Lausanne on 15–16 September 2017. Our team compared the library classification with the object categories and produced a prototype that could present corresponding groups together.
I subsequently co-developed BIHM: books x objects with Magdalena Czartoryjska Meier and Roxane Fuschetto of the Institute of Humanities in Medicine, CHUV–UNIL. Estefania Sánchez Pineda created the images. The library records this project under 2017–2019.
Exhibit 2TimelineFilled points are my milestones; hollow points are the context they sit in
From a weekend to a tool
Exhibit 3PeopleCredit where the work was shared
The team
- Magdalena Czartoryjska MeierCo-developer, Institute of Humanities in Medicine.
- Roxane FuschettoCo-developer, Institute of Humanities in Medicine.
- Estefanía Sánchez PinedaCreated the images of the project.
Part of this archive
This project connects software, cultural heritage and the history of science. It belongs here alongside my physics and education work: another way of helping people find, explore and use knowledge.
Exhibit 4ResourcesOpen the thing itself, not a description of it
Where to go from here
- RecordBIHM: institutional project record and team credits, 2017–2019bihm.lescollections.ch
- SiteBIHM: books x objects applicationbihm.lescollections.ch
- SiteBIHM: original project presentationihm.universidad.ch
- RecordOpendata.ch: Medical History Collection hackathon project and original teamopendata.ch
- RecordOpendata.ch: third Swiss Open Cultural Data Hackathon, 15–16 September 2017opendata.ch