Rowena Kathryn Loverance
The British Museum plans to celebrate the millennium, and its own 250th anniversary in 2003, by opening up the Great Court, the hidden space at the heart of the building. At its core is the historic Round Reading Room, which, after the departure of the British Library, will become a public information centre on the Museum's collections and the cultures which they represent.
A collections multimedia public access system, COMPASS, (COllections Multimedia Public AccesS System) is being developed for use in the Round Reading Room. COMPASS will also give an important boost to creating the virtual British Museum, accessible on the WWW before, after or instead of an actual museum visit, which will extend the Museum's role as a collection of universal importance into the 21st century.
The Museum is working on a COMPASS prototype in partnership with a group of four companies led by Systems Simulation Ltd. The basic specification is for an object database, building on the Museum's existing collections documentation system, and for thematic treatments of subjects related to the collections, and for the two sides to be fully integrated. The prototype will be available in spring '97 and will be subjected to a stringent evaluation process by representatives of all the potential user groups, both on and off the Museum site.
KEY WORDS Museums, multimedia, database, 3D imaging, evaluation, education