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Metadata creation and enrichment using artificial intelligence at meemoo
Journal of Digital Media Management,
13
(2),
110-123
(2025)
Abstract
This paper discusses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications for the creation and enrichment of descriptive metadata at meemoo, the Flemish Institute for Archives. We begin by explaining why we use AI tools for metadata creation and enrichment, and which AI applications we specifically employ. We then describe our evolution from small-scale pilots to large-scale projects, and how meemoo aims to transition from a project-based approach to a structural operation in using AI applications for metadata creation and enrichment. We provide details on our approach, results, lessons learned and future steps, and describe how the use of AI applications poses not only technical challenges but also raises a series of legal and ethical questions. This paper highlights our journey into AI as a service organisation supporting over 180 organisations in the cultural, media and government sectors in Flanders — not in isolation but in close collaboration with our partners, leading to shared solutions.
Keywords: cultural heritage collections; metadata enhancement; artificial intelligence; facial recognition; speech-to-text; named entity recognition; named entity linking
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Bart Magnus is an expertise officer at meemoo. His work focuses on metadata enrichment, Wikimedia platforms and the legal and ethical aspects of digital heritage. He led the ethical component of the FAME project.
Matthias Priem is the Archiving Manager at meemoo, overseeing infrastructure and processes related to preservation and metadata. He was project leader for the GIVE project and acted as a liaison between the technical team, project partners and end users.
Nastasia Vanderperren is an expertise officer at meemoo. She is involved in various projects for describing cultural heritage collections using artificial intelligence. She was responsible for the name list and reference set in the FAME project.
Peter Vanden Berghe is a data science consultant and MLOps Competence Center Lead at Sopra Steria. Within the GIVE metadata project, he was responsible for research, implementation and integration of the artificial intelligence metadata pipelines.
Ellen Van Keer is an expertise officer at meemoo. She works on metadata and the legal aspects of digital heritage content. She was in charge of the legal part of the FAME project.
Rony Vissers is the Expertise Manager at meemoo, responsible for knowledge operations. He was the project leader for the FAME project and served as a liaison between the technical team and project partners.
