Tips for using the portal
In Porta Cultura, content and information from various cultural institutions can be researched across disciplines. The interface is available in five languages and the content is displayed in the language in which it was submitted for publication.
Various search options
Various entry points allow for searches to be conducted in Porta Cultura.
On the main page, there is a search bar where entries can be searched. This includes all metadata (descriptive information) and texts of all digitally available documents, provided they are in PDF format and have been processed with OCR.
Additional search entry points are offered on the main page, such as by type of record (objects/records, people/organisations, geographical locations, events, structures, historical events/customs, places of discovery).
At the top of the platform (in the header), short texts about stories, themes, events, and institutions with links to individual entries and collections offer further access methods to the extensive content.
Entering a search term
The usual Boolean operators can be used in the search. This allows you to refine the search. The use of NOT excludes the term that follows NOT. For example, if you search for "Giovanni NOT Giacometti", no results with Giovanni Giacometti will appear. With OR, all results containing one of the two search terms appear, while terms linked with AND must all be present in a data record for the data record to appear in the results list. The operators must be entered in English and in capital letters.
Results list
Once a search has been performed, the results list appears. There are various tabs listed. The first tab includes all records. The other tabs are divided by type of data. When a tab is clicked, only those records of that type will appear in the search results list.
The results can be sorted and filtered by various criteria.
The various locations that appear in the data records are displayed visually on a map. Please note that the places are not (primarily) the locations of the objects, but places that are mentioned in the data records (such as a depicted place or a person's place of birth). Not all data records are georeferenced.
Zooming in on the map allows individual points to be clicked and the record at that location to be selected.
Detail page
When a record from the results list is selected, the detail page appears. The information blocks can be expanded by clicking on the arrow or the block label.
Various terms are underlined. Depending on the field, this can have three different effects:
- Triggering a new search with the term in the respective field
- In the "Institution" field, it leads to the description of the institution that provided the record.
- Links to external pages
The button with the icon of the four arrows "Viewer" opens the digital copy in full screen mode. You can share the digital copy if the copyright permits. You can use the circled "i" to display the metadata, the description. You can switch between the digitized documents with the arrows if a record contains multiple digitized documents.
The hierarchy icon in the "Archive plan" button takes you to the entire archive plan of the archive holdings.