Website
Imperial War Museums
A stylish and informative gateway to military heritage, says Jonathan Knott
The new Imperial War Museums (IWM) website, which boasts a wealth of content presented in a user-friendly way, makes an immediate impact. At the time of writing, an eye-catching photo of HMS Belfast loomed large at the top of the homepage, conveying the epic drama of war. This links through to a stylish multimedia timeline telling the ship’s history.
The visual emphasis continues lower down, with a video of the artist David Cotterell, whose work is included in a current exhibition at IWM London, talking about making art in Afghanistan. Apart from this, the homepage consists of links to other content on the site. These include individual pages for each IWM venue, which provide information such as opening times, admission and details of exhibitions and other programming. A more unusual touch is the advice on how long to leave for a visit.
The site also features a large number of stories, covering diverse topics such as fashion, the Gallipoli campaign in world war one and the Holocaust. They include articles of varying length as well as lists (some with Buzzfeed-style headlines such as “20 incredible photos from the first world war home front”).
Users can also search digital records for around 800,000 items from IWM’s varied collections, including 20,000 art and design objects, and 33,000 sound recordings. Some records can encourage serendipitous discoveries – one led me to an interview with a conscientious objector imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs between 1917 and 1919.
Another key element of the website is the “what’s on” section, which is straightforward to navigate using “where”, “what” and “when” categories. Other features include the online shop and information on school visits. The design, with a grey, red and black colour scheme, lends it appropriate gravitas, while avoiding the stuffiness that sometimes afflicts military heritage sites.
Website
Mollusca Types in Great Britain
This database brings together records of mollusc specimens from eight museum collections in England, Scotland and Wales.
Supported by funding from the John Ellerman Foundation, the project was led by Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales) and the Natural History Museum (NHM). The NHM’s mollusc collection is displayed on its own data portal rather than here due to its size.
The records provided are of “types” – specimens used to formally define and classify organisms. The majority include large images of the specimen and its label. Many also have other details such as the collector and where they found the item.
Making collections more unified and accessible in this way will help researchers but those who don’t know their holotypes from their lectotypes can also gain a lot from browsing the site, not least from viewing the specimens as aesthetic objects. JK
Website
Culture Jersey
Funded by the government of Jersey and managed by Jersey Library, this site mainly comprises listings relating to culture on the channel island and includes pages dedicated to events, organisations, courses and grants.
The events page can be searched by category, keyword and date, displaying results against a striking pink background. It highlights the richness of Jersey’s cultural offer, with current listings including an exhibition at Jersey Museum & Art Gallery on life on the island in the 1980s, store tours at the Sir Francis Cook Gallery and lunchtime talks at the library.
The clubs and societies page includes details of organisations dedicated to preserving all aspects of the German Occupation of Jersey during the second world war, and to promoting Jersey’s language, Jérriais. Courses and workshops on offer range from clowning at Jersey Arts Centre to family history at Jersey Library.
The page on grants includes details of a foundation that supports community projects and a scholarship that enables residents to visit museums and galleries off the island. Blogs on the site take a more discursive approach, covering arts news and general cultural topics.
The straightforward design makes it easy to navigate the considerable amount of information provided, and by bringing it all into one place, the site is doing much to increase access to arts and heritage in Jersey. JK
Imperial War Museums
A stylish and informative gateway to military heritage, says Jonathan Knott
The new Imperial War Museums (IWM) website, which boasts a wealth of content presented in a user-friendly way, makes an immediate impact. At the time of writing, an eye-catching photo of HMS Belfast loomed large at the top of the homepage, conveying the epic drama of war. This links through to a stylish multimedia timeline telling the ship’s history.
The visual emphasis continues lower down, with a video of the artist David Cotterell, whose work is included in a current exhibition at IWM London, talking about making art in Afghanistan. Apart from this, the homepage consists of links to other content on the site. These include individual pages for each IWM venue, which provide information such as opening times, admission and details of exhibitions and other programming. A more unusual touch is the advice on how long to leave for a visit.
The site also features a large number of stories, covering diverse topics such as fashion, the Gallipoli campaign in world war one and the Holocaust. They include articles of varying length as well as lists (some with Buzzfeed-style headlines such as “20 incredible photos from the first world war home front”).
Users can also search digital records for around 800,000 items from IWM’s varied collections, including 20,000 art and design objects, and 33,000 sound recordings. Some records can encourage serendipitous discoveries – one led me to an interview with a conscientious objector imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs between 1917 and 1919.
Another key element of the website is the “what’s on” section, which is straightforward to navigate using “where”, “what” and “when” categories. Other features include the online shop and information on school visits. The design, with a grey, red and black colour scheme, lends it appropriate gravitas, while avoiding the stuffiness that sometimes afflicts military heritage sites.
Website
Mollusca Types in Great Britain
This database brings together records of mollusc specimens from eight museum collections in England, Scotland and Wales.
Supported by funding from the John Ellerman Foundation, the project was led by Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales) and the Natural History Museum (NHM). The NHM’s mollusc collection is displayed on its own data portal rather than here due to its size.
The records provided are of “types” – specimens used to formally define and classify organisms. The majority include large images of the specimen and its label. Many also have other details such as the collector and where they found the item.
Making collections more unified and accessible in this way will help researchers but those who don’t know their holotypes from their lectotypes can also gain a lot from browsing the site, not least from viewing the specimens as aesthetic objects. JK
Website
Culture Jersey
Funded by the government of Jersey and managed by Jersey Library, this site mainly comprises listings relating to culture on the channel island and includes pages dedicated to events, organisations, courses and grants.
The events page can be searched by category, keyword and date, displaying results against a striking pink background. It highlights the richness of Jersey’s cultural offer, with current listings including an exhibition at Jersey Museum & Art Gallery on life on the island in the 1980s, store tours at the Sir Francis Cook Gallery and lunchtime talks at the library.
The clubs and societies page includes details of organisations dedicated to preserving all aspects of the German Occupation of Jersey during the second world war, and to promoting Jersey’s language, Jérriais. Courses and workshops on offer range from clowning at Jersey Arts Centre to family history at Jersey Library.
The page on grants includes details of a foundation that supports community projects and a scholarship that enables residents to visit museums and galleries off the island. Blogs on the site take a more discursive approach, covering arts news and general cultural topics.
The straightforward design makes it easy to navigate the considerable amount of information provided, and by bringing it all into one place, the site is doing much to increase access to arts and heritage in Jersey. JK