alison bean: online exhibitions- top tips and creating the buzz -
DESCRIPTION
Talk presented as part of Creating Online Exhibitions on 2 Nov 09 at the British Museum, run by the E-Learning Group for Museums, Libraries and ArchivesTRANSCRIPT
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Online Exhibitions- Top tips and creating
the buzz -Alison Bean
The British Postal Museum & Archive
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Who are we?The British Postal Museum & Archive was
established in 2004 to manage the public records of The Royal Mail Archive, and to develop access to the museum collections of the former National Postal Museum, which closed in 1998.
www.postalheritage.org.uk
LocationsFreeling House,
London• Storage of Archive
and high-value material
• Public Search Room
• Small exhibition space
Museum Store, Essex
• Storage of Museum collection (large objects)
• Some public access and events
www.postalheritage.org.uk
In-house exhibitions
Space is limited to three display cabinets in our Search Room used to display philatelic material
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Museum Store displays
• Primarily a working Museum Store, although objects are arranged with visitors in mind
• No room for exhibitions
www.postalheritage.org.uk
New CentreA new home for the British Postal Museum &
Archive, opening in 2013 in Swindon. It will offer the full Museum and Archive experience for the first time.
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Online exhibitionsOnline versions of real life exhibitions
e.g. Designs on Delivery: GPO Posters 1930-1960
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Online exhibitionsBenefits• An affordable way to mount an exhibition• Raises the profile of a real-life exhibition• Raises the profile of the institution• Demonstrates what an institution can do• Provides greater access to the exhibition and
collection• Online exhibitions allow you to display more
material, in more detail, than you could in real life
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Online exhibitionsGentleman on Stamps – Stamp designs
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Making the most of online• If you don’t have the budget for a bespoke
mini-site, get a flexible CMS designed with online exhibitions in mind
• Structure your exhibition to suit the medium• Text should be engaging, intelligent and
interesting rather than short for short’s sake• Consider what different audiences will want or
expect (i.e. zoomable high quality images)
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Making the most of online• Add details and extras for those that want them
– Informative image captions– Links to related material on your website and
elsewhere– Related products you may be selling
• Include multimedia elements– Audio and video– 3D scans– Interactive elements and comments boxes
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Social media and web 2.0
Build, generate and target audiences, and let them find you through tags and searches– Blog and tweet about the progress and process
of your exhibition– Put material from your exhibition on sites such
as Flickr or You TubeFlickr is a cheap and easy alternative to
building an online exhibition from scratch
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Using FlickrFlickr Groups• Add your photos
to special interest groups (e.g. London at war)
• Members will not only view your pictures, but may know more about them than you!
www.postalheritage.org.uk
Using FlickrFlickr Notes• The notes feature in
Flickr allows you to draw a box around part of a photo and annotate it.
• The annotation can include a hyperlink
• Any Flickr user can add a note
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Using Flickr
www.postalheritage.org.uk
AragoAn innovative
website from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum– Online catalogue– Online
exhibitions portal
– Volunteer involvement
– User interactivity
http://www.arago.si.edu/