New approaches to Art and visual culture
CHArt Nineteenth Annual Conference
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CONVERGENT PRACTICES New approaches to Art and visual culture |
Ann Borda and Alpay Beler, Science Museum, UK
Science and Culture: An Interactive Community
This paper focuses on the design of a cross-disciplinary website - 'Science and Culture' - that will serve as a rich online resource for life-long learners on aspects of discovery, creation and invention. The site will be one of several partner sites linked from a portal.
The resources on the site are split into two types; primary records (40,000 images and bibliographic references from across three institutions) that comprise a visual catalogue of collections; and themed accounts, which place the primary material in context.
The themed material will be developed on several levels. By browsing on each level of information the user will go on a 'voyage of discovery' and begin to consider areas of cultural & scientific life. There will also be opportunities for users to interpret the material for themselves.
One of the key strengths of the site design is the interface that provides users with access to related material by making different navigational routes available. These are supported by visual trails and markers and run in an environment that is intuitive and simple to use.
In conjunction with the development of the interface and visual trails, Science and Culture will support the creation of a personalised and interactive environment by allowing users to custom-build their own user experience by adding resources to a lightbox, creating their own links, narratives and galleries. In addition, users passing on e-cards and personalised gallery pages to friends and colleagues will create communities around our e-content. As well as interactive debates around our content, we would like to couple the site and the built-in interactive functionality to the Museum's galleries with the aim of enriching visitor experience.