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MAKING A DIFFERENCEwith online exhibitions
Colin Wight
Web EditorThe British Library
9 January 2013
Introductory remarks…
From my perspective, not intended to be corporate boasting!
Not a blueprint for success, but about what we’ve learned so far
It helps to work in a permissive culture where you can dip a toe in the water
It also helps to discuss your ideas within a team
I hope some of our experiences will be of interest and of value
Online resources linked to physical exhibitions
‘Henry VIII Man and Monarch’: Summer 2009
Website did not attract as many users as we had hoped, but…
Curator’s Blog had 56 posts = 3 every week; 20,000+ views during the exhibition
Lots of podcasts, which had thousands of downloads each month
Online resources linked to physical exhibitions
‘Points of View’: Winter 2009
Website did not attract as many users as we had hoped, but there were more comments
Curator’s Blog was a great success, owing to a man on a bike with a camera
‘London 1870s and now’ was dreamed up by the web team and added to the exhibition at last minute!
Using a Google map & ‘locative messaging’
Online resources linked to physical exhibitions
‘Magnificent Maps’: Summer 2010
Curator’s Blog was actually written by the curator; a first!
Just 4 maps from the exhibition, with deep zoom & hotspots
Perhaps less can be more
Stephen Walter’s ‘The Island’ went viral...!
Online resources linked to physical exhibitions
‘Evolving English’: Winter 2010
Three curators now writing the blog…
Lots of podcasts
Map your Voice: a genuine crowd-sourcing research project
Twitter came along at just the right time for us
A near fatal dose of Mr Tickle
Online resources linked to physical exhibitions
‘Royal Manuscripts’: Winter 2011
Curators’ Blog already running before the exhibition opened
Decision to build the exhibition in Facebook albums… reaching a secondary audience
A very nice iPad app
And Turning the Pages online – showing beautiful books as well as we can
Online resources linked to physical exhibitions
‘Writing Britain’: Summer 2012
Not very visual, so only a few key items on the web pages
All about showcasing the physical exhibition, which was priced (during the Olympics…)
Pin-a-Tale: a genuine crowd-sourcing research project?
Moderately successful, in a format we can re-use – surprisingly hard to scope in terms of usability
In conclusion: a few points to consider
Fragmentation – do your exhibition objects integrate with others on your site and elsewhere, so they can be cross-searched, and with similar tools (such as zoom, share)?
Rise of the blog / Facebook etc. – you could build your online exhibition without a website
Copyright and licensing of images: do you have an access and reuse policy? CC BY, Public Domain?
SEO – do the images have alt tags, keywords?
Teamwork – do the ‘curators’ respect ‘marketing’?