Multimedia guide
St Paul’s tour
The cathedral comes to life with this digital tour, says Jonathan Knott
This new multimedia guide features a wide range of audio and video material that helps bring out the richness of St Paul’s Cathedral’s past and present.
Rather than being downloadable, the guide is preloaded onto touchscreen devices that are included in the ticket price and handed out on arrival. Content is offered in nine languages.
A series of short clips provides background material on different aspects of the cathedral, including the architecture of its famous dome, the paintings and mosaics that fill the building, and the many monuments and tombs.
Visitors learn about military heroes Wellington and Nelson, as well as Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition, St Paul’s during the Blitz, and many other stories. These atmospheric vignettes encompass a range of media such as film footage, photographs and voiceovers.
Alongside these, video testimonials from congregation members and staff build up a picture of modern-day life at the cathedral. And you can take a break with peaceful segments that encourage reflection, containing Bible readings and prayers.
The tour is broadly structured according to the different areas of the cathedral and within this, visitors determine their own route and pace. The format works well and allows people to tailor tours to their interests.
But it does mean that any realistic itinerary involves missing out a large amount of content – something that completists may find distressing. There’s also a condensed highlights tour designed to take 30 minutes.
Navigation is generally straightforward, but with no detailed map, it can be hard
to locate some of the memorial stones in the crypt.
Other content includes a family tour featuring activities and an animated Phoenix character, and a virtual gallery tour, which could be helpful for people unable to climb the cathedral’s many stairs.
This guide helps bring the silent stones of St Paul’s to life. But visitors should remember to take their headphones off from time to time to experience the building unfiltered too.
Website
Malware Museum, Infectious fun
This online museum is doing a good job of broadening the parameters of the current trend in retro-chic to computer viruses.
The Malware Museum is a collection of about 80 simulations of malicious software, mainly viruses, from the 1980s and 1990s. The destructive power of each programme has been neutered, allowing them to be experienced safely.
This is more absorbing than it may sound, partly because of the nostalgia of reliving the MS-Dos experience of old computers and partly because many of the viruses incorporate a strong dash of personality, often showing a graphic or message once they infect a computer.
Some fill the screen with psychedelic patterns or animations. One declares “legalise cannabis” and another reassures the user: “Don’t be afraid. I am a very kind virus.”
In Q Casino, the recipient is given the chance to play a slot game. If they hit the jackpot, they get to keep their data, but if they lose five times they lose it all.
The collection is fun and provides an insight into the curious mindset of computer
hackers, which combines creativity with apparent malice, or at least indifference. More
interpretive material explaining or discussing the culture these programmes sprung from would be welcome. JK
Website
Fashion Rules Restyled
The royals did it in style, says Jonathan Knott
This website accompanies a revamped exhibition at Kensington Palace that features 18 couture dresses worn by three royal women: Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret and Diana, Princess of Wales.
The show explores the complex dynamics of their lives: though required to follow rules dictated by their duties, these royal ladies were able to influence fashion through their position in the public eye.
The site includes a range of eye-catching images that highlight the exhibition’s visual appeal. Accompanying text and video interviews with museum staff focus on points of interest, such as the relationships the women developed with particular designers, the significance of details in their immaculate clothing and the diplomatic sensitivities of state visits.
The material here suggests that the exhibition might help illuminate its subjects as human beings as well as political figureheads.
The website’s bold, responsive design works well on mobile devices and should attract interest from a wide range of audiences.
St Paul’s tour
The cathedral comes to life with this digital tour, says Jonathan Knott
This new multimedia guide features a wide range of audio and video material that helps bring out the richness of St Paul’s Cathedral’s past and present.
Rather than being downloadable, the guide is preloaded onto touchscreen devices that are included in the ticket price and handed out on arrival. Content is offered in nine languages.
A series of short clips provides background material on different aspects of the cathedral, including the architecture of its famous dome, the paintings and mosaics that fill the building, and the many monuments and tombs.
Visitors learn about military heroes Wellington and Nelson, as well as Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition, St Paul’s during the Blitz, and many other stories. These atmospheric vignettes encompass a range of media such as film footage, photographs and voiceovers.
Alongside these, video testimonials from congregation members and staff build up a picture of modern-day life at the cathedral. And you can take a break with peaceful segments that encourage reflection, containing Bible readings and prayers.
The tour is broadly structured according to the different areas of the cathedral and within this, visitors determine their own route and pace. The format works well and allows people to tailor tours to their interests.
But it does mean that any realistic itinerary involves missing out a large amount of content – something that completists may find distressing. There’s also a condensed highlights tour designed to take 30 minutes.
Navigation is generally straightforward, but with no detailed map, it can be hard
to locate some of the memorial stones in the crypt.
Other content includes a family tour featuring activities and an animated Phoenix character, and a virtual gallery tour, which could be helpful for people unable to climb the cathedral’s many stairs.
This guide helps bring the silent stones of St Paul’s to life. But visitors should remember to take their headphones off from time to time to experience the building unfiltered too.
Website
Malware Museum, Infectious fun
This online museum is doing a good job of broadening the parameters of the current trend in retro-chic to computer viruses.
The Malware Museum is a collection of about 80 simulations of malicious software, mainly viruses, from the 1980s and 1990s. The destructive power of each programme has been neutered, allowing them to be experienced safely.
This is more absorbing than it may sound, partly because of the nostalgia of reliving the MS-Dos experience of old computers and partly because many of the viruses incorporate a strong dash of personality, often showing a graphic or message once they infect a computer.
Some fill the screen with psychedelic patterns or animations. One declares “legalise cannabis” and another reassures the user: “Don’t be afraid. I am a very kind virus.”
In Q Casino, the recipient is given the chance to play a slot game. If they hit the jackpot, they get to keep their data, but if they lose five times they lose it all.
The collection is fun and provides an insight into the curious mindset of computer
hackers, which combines creativity with apparent malice, or at least indifference. More
interpretive material explaining or discussing the culture these programmes sprung from would be welcome. JK
Website
Fashion Rules Restyled
The royals did it in style, says Jonathan Knott
This website accompanies a revamped exhibition at Kensington Palace that features 18 couture dresses worn by three royal women: Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret and Diana, Princess of Wales.
The show explores the complex dynamics of their lives: though required to follow rules dictated by their duties, these royal ladies were able to influence fashion through their position in the public eye.
The site includes a range of eye-catching images that highlight the exhibition’s visual appeal. Accompanying text and video interviews with museum staff focus on points of interest, such as the relationships the women developed with particular designers, the significance of details in their immaculate clothing and the diplomatic sensitivities of state visits.
The material here suggests that the exhibition might help illuminate its subjects as human beings as well as political figureheads.
The website’s bold, responsive design works well on mobile devices and should attract interest from a wide range of audiences.