Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery (RAMM) offers free wifi so that its visitors can easily access information on its collections website, which contains a growing number of curated records.
The aim of the website is to enhance the visitor experience by providing extra interpretation, videos and links for objects on display and from the wider collection.
Curatorial staff select records from the museum’s collections management system (via an app created using Filemaker Pro) and digital asset management system for a monthly export to the collections website.
This ensures a common name and a description of the object is included to help explain what visitors are looking at. The aim is to include at least one photo with a record.
Staff do not have targets to meet as the emphasis is on quality not quantity and a good user experience. RAMM’s content is also carried through to the South West Collections Explorer website that acts as an aggregator for participating museums.
The website also allows staff as well as visitors to groups objects by themes. This enables the provision of selected web content for use on kiosks in exhibitions or a digital resource for events, such as dementia workshops that use object images and information.
The content created in the collections database is also used elsewhere from print to websites to social media, and means object photography, new information and other material is part of a workflow resulting in fresh information online on a regular basis.
RAMM’s digitisation efforts also targets researchers. The collections website has a research section that highlights parts of the collection that offer research opportunities. It also includes a summary of current research and a blog.
This formed part of a wider project in 2014 to let researchers know about the museum’s collections. The research collection was promoted by print and social media, and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Background and funding
RAMM started off by generating 5,000 records online by setting curators quarterly targets. Since then the collections website has undergone two major changes.
The first was in 2013 to improve usability by building in social media sharing; the ability for visitors to save information and staff to create themed groups of objects, linking to print on demand sales and videos.
A larger website was also developed for collections from the South West and the Museum of Somerset’s collections were added. All of this was funded by Major Partner Museum funding from Arts Council England (ACE).
Over the last year the collections website was moved to WordPress because the previous platform’s provider was changing its business model. RAMM worked with Thirty8 Digital to produce a new website and as before sought to improve usability.
Refinements include an improved application process interface for sharing the data; a tiered offer for museums wishing to join in with the South West collection group website; reduced costs on open source software. A Culture Object plugin links content to other RAMM websites.
The aim of the website is to enhance the visitor experience by providing extra interpretation, videos and links for objects on display and from the wider collection.
Curatorial staff select records from the museum’s collections management system (via an app created using Filemaker Pro) and digital asset management system for a monthly export to the collections website.
This ensures a common name and a description of the object is included to help explain what visitors are looking at. The aim is to include at least one photo with a record.
Staff do not have targets to meet as the emphasis is on quality not quantity and a good user experience. RAMM’s content is also carried through to the South West Collections Explorer website that acts as an aggregator for participating museums.
The website also allows staff as well as visitors to groups objects by themes. This enables the provision of selected web content for use on kiosks in exhibitions or a digital resource for events, such as dementia workshops that use object images and information.
The content created in the collections database is also used elsewhere from print to websites to social media, and means object photography, new information and other material is part of a workflow resulting in fresh information online on a regular basis.
RAMM’s digitisation efforts also targets researchers. The collections website has a research section that highlights parts of the collection that offer research opportunities. It also includes a summary of current research and a blog.
This formed part of a wider project in 2014 to let researchers know about the museum’s collections. The research collection was promoted by print and social media, and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Background and funding
RAMM started off by generating 5,000 records online by setting curators quarterly targets. Since then the collections website has undergone two major changes.
The first was in 2013 to improve usability by building in social media sharing; the ability for visitors to save information and staff to create themed groups of objects, linking to print on demand sales and videos.
A larger website was also developed for collections from the South West and the Museum of Somerset’s collections were added. All of this was funded by Major Partner Museum funding from Arts Council England (ACE).
Over the last year the collections website was moved to WordPress because the previous platform’s provider was changing its business model. RAMM worked with Thirty8 Digital to produce a new website and as before sought to improve usability.
Refinements include an improved application process interface for sharing the data; a tiered offer for museums wishing to join in with the South West collection group website; reduced costs on open source software. A Culture Object plugin links content to other RAMM websites.