Digital
We review the latest websites and apps
Website
Postal Museum
The Postal Museum’s website, created to accompany the institution’s opening in London this month, brings out the human side of a potentially dry subject.
The site makes an immediate visual impact, with large images of tunnels and a colour scheme prominently featuring cyan. The content is equally engaging. The reference to the postal system as “the first social network” makes clear the museum’s determination to demonstrate the importance of post in enabling communication.
Naturally, the site promotes the museum’s temporary exhibitions, the first of which, Writing Home, focuses on how the postal service has helped people connect with others in difficult situations such as conflict or moves overseas.
But there is also an emphasis on less traditional aspects of the museum such as “Sorted!” – a play space for children with an interactive sorting office and mini-neighbourhood of streets and houses.
The museum attraction given the most prominence on the site is Mail Rail – a train ride along a subterranean railway network used to transport post between London sorting offices until 2003.
Visitor information is presented clearly and there is a helpful explanation of the collections held by the museum, as well as a searchable catalogue of 120,000 items. There is also plenty of editorial content on postal history, including articles on topics such as stamp design and the Post Office during the first world war, and embedded online exhibitions hosted by Google Arts and Culture. Taking a more informal approach are blogs by museum staff. Highlights include the senior curator’s unashamedly geeky accounts of the types of postboxes he has encountered on countryside walks.
In a thoughtful touch, a small image from the museum’s archive is displayed on the bottom right hand corner of the website. Links below this allow visitors to choose to see another item or go to the page on visiting the archive. This feature encapsulates the site’s potential to cater for people with knowledge of its subject matter, while drawing in those with a more casual interest.
Website
Google art search
Google has better integrated its Arts and Culture project with its Street View and search functions to create a richer, more joined-up user experience.
When you Google an artist such as Vincent van Gogh, the information panel on the right-hand side of the results page now lists museums around the world where his art is on view, as well as highlights of his work – some of which you can zoom in on.
In addition, the Street View function, which is used to map the insides of many museums to enable virtual visits, has been updated with detailed information. Now, when browsing a museum in Street View, you can click on artworks on the walls to find out more about them. You can also click through to view a high-resolution image on Google Arts and Culture.
These changes undoubtedly make for a better experience and have the potential to increase access to and interest in museum collections. But the sector needs to think carefully about the implications of this huge private corporation becoming an increasingly influential steward of, and gateway to, its content.
Mobile website
The Green Book of South Carolina
The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission has created an online guide providing information on more than 300 African-American heritage sites and cultural attractions across the US state. The name makes reference to a guide for black travellers first published in the 1930s, when this group would have been turned away from many establishments.
Some key locations included are Redcliffe Plantation, where African-American families were enslaved or worked during the 19th century, and Atlantic Beach, which was established in the 1930s as an oceanfront resort for black people.
The website also provides details of churches, schools and cemeteries. A page for each site includes a brief description and map location, often alongside contact details and a web link. They can be filtered for different categories, with results displayed in list or map format. There are also three suggested tour itineraries.
The information provided here looks set to encourage and enable more exploration of the region’s African-American heritage. The format could also prove useful for other areas of heritage whose sites are spread over a particular geographic area.
Postal Museum
The Postal Museum’s website, created to accompany the institution’s opening in London this month, brings out the human side of a potentially dry subject.
The site makes an immediate visual impact, with large images of tunnels and a colour scheme prominently featuring cyan. The content is equally engaging. The reference to the postal system as “the first social network” makes clear the museum’s determination to demonstrate the importance of post in enabling communication.
Naturally, the site promotes the museum’s temporary exhibitions, the first of which, Writing Home, focuses on how the postal service has helped people connect with others in difficult situations such as conflict or moves overseas.
But there is also an emphasis on less traditional aspects of the museum such as “Sorted!” – a play space for children with an interactive sorting office and mini-neighbourhood of streets and houses.
The museum attraction given the most prominence on the site is Mail Rail – a train ride along a subterranean railway network used to transport post between London sorting offices until 2003.
Visitor information is presented clearly and there is a helpful explanation of the collections held by the museum, as well as a searchable catalogue of 120,000 items. There is also plenty of editorial content on postal history, including articles on topics such as stamp design and the Post Office during the first world war, and embedded online exhibitions hosted by Google Arts and Culture. Taking a more informal approach are blogs by museum staff. Highlights include the senior curator’s unashamedly geeky accounts of the types of postboxes he has encountered on countryside walks.
In a thoughtful touch, a small image from the museum’s archive is displayed on the bottom right hand corner of the website. Links below this allow visitors to choose to see another item or go to the page on visiting the archive. This feature encapsulates the site’s potential to cater for people with knowledge of its subject matter, while drawing in those with a more casual interest.
Website
Google art search
Google has better integrated its Arts and Culture project with its Street View and search functions to create a richer, more joined-up user experience.
When you Google an artist such as Vincent van Gogh, the information panel on the right-hand side of the results page now lists museums around the world where his art is on view, as well as highlights of his work – some of which you can zoom in on.
In addition, the Street View function, which is used to map the insides of many museums to enable virtual visits, has been updated with detailed information. Now, when browsing a museum in Street View, you can click on artworks on the walls to find out more about them. You can also click through to view a high-resolution image on Google Arts and Culture.
These changes undoubtedly make for a better experience and have the potential to increase access to and interest in museum collections. But the sector needs to think carefully about the implications of this huge private corporation becoming an increasingly influential steward of, and gateway to, its content.
Mobile website
The Green Book of South Carolina
The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission has created an online guide providing information on more than 300 African-American heritage sites and cultural attractions across the US state. The name makes reference to a guide for black travellers first published in the 1930s, when this group would have been turned away from many establishments.
Some key locations included are Redcliffe Plantation, where African-American families were enslaved or worked during the 19th century, and Atlantic Beach, which was established in the 1930s as an oceanfront resort for black people.
The website also provides details of churches, schools and cemeteries. A page for each site includes a brief description and map location, often alongside contact details and a web link. They can be filtered for different categories, with results displayed in list or map format. There are also three suggested tour itineraries.
The information provided here looks set to encourage and enable more exploration of the region’s African-American heritage. The format could also prove useful for other areas of heritage whose sites are spread over a particular geographic area.