Online since 2015, the platform Museus BR (Museums BR), a tool developed by the Ministry of Culture (MinC), using resources from the free software Mapas Culturais, gathers information on museums from all Brazilian states. It is possible to find information on more than 3700 public and private museums of Visual Arts, Sciences, History and other areas. In addition to get information, anyone can collaborate with the platform by suggesting the inclusion of other institutions.
The data already available on Museus BR undergoes constant update and comprises the results of a work that began in 2006 with the National Register of Museums. Rose Moreira de Miranda, from the General Coordination for Museums Information Systems of the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram), responsible for the management of the platform, says that the opportunity to make the information accumulated over the last years available in a single online environment was received with enthusiasm. “It is important for the follow-up of public policies for museums”, she says.
Once in the platform, the user can search by location, theme, museum type or keyword. The search results can be viewed through the points on the map or in a list view. In addition to the basic data, such as the address and contact of the museum, the platform provides other information of public interest, such as days and opening hours, tickets’ price, gratuitousness policy, accessibility and if the institution has an archive department and a library.
Anyone can collaborate by submitting museum suggestions to be updated on the platform. Before registering, the team conducts a search to verify if such place can be considered a museum, taking into account criteria such as preservation of cultural assets and public access.
In the beginning of the year, the registration of museums – required by law – started to be centralized in the platform. Representatives of the museums who complete the register and send the requested documents receive a login, so that they can manage the data of their own institutions within the platform, contributing to make a more dynamic information update process.
In 2017, changes are planned to promote the use of Museus BR. The aim is to make all platform information available on an open data format. Additionally, other thematic surveys carried out by Ibram (other than the survey on Brazilian museums) will use Museus BR.
Rose Moreira emphasizes the importance of the platform for the monitoring of public policies and the availability of data that can be used by researchers, students and anyone who wants to know a city and find out about their museums. “Museus BR offers real and reliable quality information to Brazilian society”, she says.
